Psalm 27
Message Transcription
Well, good morning, everybody. I'm glad to be here with you this morning. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Brian Brunson. I'm one of the ministers here on staff. And I would be remiss if I didn't just start by saying this series, this summer Playlist series in Psalms has been an immense blessing in my life. And so I just want to I want to glorify God through what's happened, through the preaching and teaching of this church about four, four weeks ago. Right? It was a long time. Brandon Fredenburg led us through why the Psalms, how to study them, why we're doing it this summer, and just kind of took us down the wealth of knowledge that he has around that subject. And then following that, we kind of took a short little break. I know we started a series and then took a week, but that was important for us because we did a children's ministry vision Sunday where Carl and Mackenzie sat up here, right? Y'all were on chairs and everything. I think I'm remembering this, right? Okay. Mackenzie is nodding her head, so I paid attention that day. Hopefully you did, too. And they cast a vision for what it looks like to disciple young children in this day and age. That was one of Mackenzie's first times in front of you guys to cast that. And it was a blessing to hear that. As someone who has a two year old in children's ministry, it was great to hear the plan that she has to help raise my child in faith to equip me while also being very intentional in his life.
And then you heard from Carl, Psalm 23. You might not have heard from Carl in a very long time, but that is for very good reason. The last two weeks he's spent on a study break and this week him and his family are going on vacation. So safe travel to the family. If you guys are watching and this community of faith is praying over you guys in your travels. But he shared with us that 23rd Psalm and it was absolutely beautiful. I encourage you, if you weren't here to hear it a couple of weeks ago, go back and listen to it. And then last week I wished that I was here. Instead of blown out tires, I crossed the state line back into Texas last week. I would have killed to be with you guys instead of changing a tire on the side of the road with no service with a wheel that wouldn't lower and all. It was a horror story. You can come ask me about it afterwards. I don't want to relive my trauma here on stage. It was really hard, but Brian Harrison brought you guys a word and as I went back to look at that, something happened with the live stream, so I didn't get to hear Brian.
But also I would be remiss if I didn't say I'm so thankful for the people who have stepped up and helped lead worship over the last few weeks. And I know Gary's going to nod his head in agreement with this. We are so thankful to have Gary back. Can we have a big round of applause for all those people who have done amazing and great things? And I think that it's important to recognize that it's not just your ministers that are doing this, but it's it's our regular members who are stepping up and carrying this burden of teaching, of preaching, of doing all of these great things, of leading us in worship and communion thoughts. This is a community led church and we lean on you guys just as much as we lean on our own staff. And so this morning we're in Psalm 27. If you want to go ahead and turn there in your Bible, this psalm is really kind of split up into two separate parts. And you might be like, well, 14 verses. If we divide that by two one through six, seven through 14, that's the easy way to do it. Brian Well, but that's the way that the author really kind of made it work out. It just works really well for me to explain it that way. So the first six verses of this Psalm Express express profound and very explicit trust in God in the face of terrifying opposition, as we'll read here in just a few minutes, while verses seven through 14 contain accounts of individual lament laboring under oppression greater than what was first depicted in the Psalm.
And this voice changes pretty quickly. And so if you read those first few verses, let's read them together. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid when evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall though an enemy encamp around me. My heart shall not fear though war arise against me. Yet I will be confident. And I don't know if you're anything like me. David is expressing this awesomeness of God. These things are happening, but also the enemy's encamped around me. People are trying to eat my flesh and it kind of feels like the world's falling apart. How many of you have entered into a prayer time like that? With God? Things are really great, but also they're pretty terrible too. You've entered into a conversation with somebody that kind of looks like that. And whenever you look at this, this imagery of of light and salvation, I like to tie the two of those together. Whenever you think of your faith journey, I want all of you to kind of think back. If you would just close your eyes for a second, I want you to think back to your faith journey, that moment where you felt like it was the most important thing in the world to give your life to Christ, to follow him, that you were in need of that salvation.
My judgment is, is that if you didn't grow up in the church, that that moment was pretty dark for you. That there might have been an addiction, that you were struggling with a relationship that was fractured, that you needed repair in that area of your life. And it felt like you couldn't see past you. Like if you just put your hand out, you couldn't see further than that and you were in desperate need of somebody to just drop a light right there to guide you on that path. Salvation oftentimes finds us in the dark, but it doesn't leave us there. It gives light to those who sit in the valley of the shadow of death in just a few Psalms earlier, David is talking about that valley of the shadow of death that he is indeed walking through. But salvation finds us in the dark. It doesn't leave us there. It gives light to those of us who sit in that valley of the shadow of darkness. And this trust is being built over these 2 or 3 verses. He's telling you all of these things have happened and are going to continue to happen to the nation of Israel. Right. David is going to continue to fight battles.
David is going to continue to ultimately sin. David is ultimately going to have to lead these people on this path. And he's reciting all those ways that God has come. And he even mentions this is how you will show up. This is not even just a question that he's asking of the president. It's a question that he's projecting out into the future as well. So when we look at verses five through seven, he goes, One thing I've asked of the Lord and I was I was thinking about this this morning if Solomon was the wisest person who ever lived and he asked for wisdom. And David is a man after God's own heart. And he says, the one thing I've asked of the Lord. We would probably be really wise to also ask that of ourselves. So let's read there. We just read it just a few moments ago. One thing I've asked of the Lord that I will seek after that I will dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. To inquire in his temple, for he will hide me in the shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon the rock. And sometimes we think, Well, David's talking about heaven, obviously, right? Not necessarily. If he's talking about the temple, we're talking about the actual temple that is built for you to go and worship and be with the people of God.
David's NOtrillionUNNING to something greater that's there in the future. He's recognizing that in the land of the living, he can go and be in the presence of God. Sometimes we often try and project that out. Guys, I would love to be in heaven. Like if that happened for me tomorrow. Peace out. All right. And I think that a lot of us would feel the exact same way. But David is saying that he's trying to encounter God in the temple, and so he's going to run there every single chance that he gets. And my prayer is that as you walked in this morning, you did so not out of a requirement of, well, my wife really wants me to come to worship or my husband really wants me to come to worship or I'm coming because it's important that my kids are there. But I would much rather spend time doing whatever else. My prayer is that you didn't come here today with that checklist mentality, but rather you came here into the presence of God to gaze upon his beauty. Because when you look at the people to your left and your right, I want you to just survey the crowd for a second. I kind of ask you guys to interact a lot whenever I'm here, but I'm not going to continue preaching until I see a lot of you start to look around.
All right. I think about seven more seconds and you guys will be just fine. When David's talking about gazing upon the beauty of God and he's running to that temple, he is not doing it alone. He's asking the entire nation of Israel to come and worship with him. Let us all gaze upon the beauty of God, because each of us has that story of salvation, the way that that light was shown, the warmth that was given to us through meeting in that place. My prayer is that as you look to somebody, to your left and your right, that you felt that and this is going to sound a little weird, but go with me for just a second. As I looked at some of you and I've known you for longer periods of my life, or I knew that you were involved in my parents life in college or in high school and all of these different things. Even though I wasn't around. I feel that warmth. I know the stories that you would tell. So when I look out to you guys, I see. The beauty of God. I see broken people coming together to lift up those stories of light and salvation that our world desperately, desperately needs. The stories that we bring are things that God has redeemed, that he's reclaimed in each of our lives, the beauty that we've seen around us.
So whenever I had to leave Ruidoso and come back to Lubbock, do you think it was a little bit of a let down for me? Just a smidge. Okay. Because it was also 75 degrees. And then I got back and when I was changing the tire, my back was completely covered in tar. My shoes were covered in tar, my Nike shorts were covered in tar. And I just was like, This is not how I see the beauty of God in changing this tire on the side of the highway, like seven miles outside of Plains, Texas. Because I think that if many of you have made that drive, there ain't much out there. Okay? Not much beauty to gaze upon the Lord, especially whenever you're kicking a tire, hoping that it's going to come down from the bottom of your car. Right. But we see that in beauty. We see that in nature, and we see that that is why we gather here. Because we see that light in you and we lean upon that. And in verse seven, David begins this shift. This is David's prayer right here. Hear O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. You have said seek my face. My heart says to you your face, Lord, do I seek? Hide Not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help cast me off.
Cast me not off. Forsake me not O God of my salvation. For my father and mother have forsaken me. But the Lord will take me in. Here's a judgment that I have and I'm going to own it as mine. If you have a different one, that's perfectly fine. A lot of times when we're hurt by people in our life, it's the people closest to us, right? If you're married in the room, just gently nod your head. I won't tell your spouse. Okay? They'll look away for just a second. We are hurt by people who we really, really love. And David, even in this moment, saying my mother and father, the people who are supposed to have my best interests at heart from time to time have forsaken me. There's nobody else that I can count on. So, God, I'm begging you, I'm imploring you. Don't turn your face away from me. And it looks like if you read this psalm carefully, the heart of what David is trying to communicate is not that he's scared of war because we know that when David was a teenager, he killed Goliath. Right. I think that he understands that God's going to go before him in battle to defend his his people. David is much more concerned about losing his relationship with God. He's afraid that one day he won't be able to gaze upon his beauty, that he won't be welcomed into the temple, that he'll be turned away and forsaken, just like he's been by so many people in his past.
And whenever those things happen. There's 1 or 2 things that happened in that relationship. Whenever someone forsakes you or hurts you in a way. You just begin to to push him away. And if it's just if it's just some small things and they're starting to add up, you just push them away because, you know, at some point it's going to really hurt you. But if you start to push them away sooner, it's going to soften the blow. Right. And especially if I'm the one making the decision instead of you, if you even feel that coming on, you're going to start to just push that person away. You're going to begin to even alienate yourself. To get away from people so they don't hurt you. Especially the people that you trust. And David is trying to tell, you know, we've got to turn inward to the face of God, to the face, the beauty of the creation that he's made. And he goes from confidence to prayer, where he's appealing God to get closer to him. And the gospel doesn't say, What have you done for me lately? The gospel doesn't say, What have you done for me lately? It asks us to look at who Jesus is and what He's done, not what have you done to win his favor? Because he sent Jesus for that. If God wanted your favor.
He's got it.
And because of that, because he sent that that son of his to the world. We don't have to worry about that. We can come to the table boldly and say, Hey, they are camped against me. They're trying to eat my flesh. I hope nobody is trying to eat your flesh. That's my prayer for you today. Among all of the things I hope nobody is trying to actively eat your flesh or kill you. Those are the two things. But we have this relationship with him that we can boldly come to the table because of the grace and love that he's lavished upon us. And David is imploring God to act on him. Let me see. Raise your hand if you have a child under the age of four in this room right now. Oh, some of you aren't raising your hands boldly. We're talking about boldness a little bit this morning, people. Do you not love your children? Raise your hand a little bit higher. All right. Some of you raise your hands higher. Some of you actually put them down all together. Okay. There's a sense of urgency with with toddlers and young ones, right? So during the school year, most of the time, Sarah has gone to school to teach the first grade kiddos, which is a task in and of itself to get yourself amped up and motivated to do that over and over and over again. Teachers have a very special place for you in my heart, which means that I'm the one who gets up with Barrett for the most part.
Sometimes he's awake before she leaves. But whenever we wake up and I grab him out of bed and I was like, How'd you sleep? Good. I'm like, okay, cool. Maybe I could start getting ready. And about the time that I set him down with some toys or whatever, he starts screaming for a bar or a pancake or milk or watermelon. Like he likes to eat watermelon at 630 in the morning because don't we all. Is that not what you crave at 630 in the morning when you wake up is watermelon. And so then all of a sudden, if I don't get it for him at about 10 or 15 seconds, what happens? There is a nuclear explosion wherever he's around, if he's right there by his toys, all of his toys are out. If he's in the kitchen, all of the cupboards are open, all our pans are being pulled out. And I'm like, okay, I feel like I've created a little bit of a monster here. But there's two reasons that I think that he is telling me about this thing. One, he's he's hungry, okay? He's telling me I have a need that has to be filled right now. But the second thing and I think probably the most important thing he's communicating is, is I can't do it on my own. I can't reach into the freezer because we have to go by like the 200 pack of pancakes from Sam's and Costco and all that stuff, because that's how quickly he goes through them.
And so we get them from the freezer. So don't judge me. I don't make pancakes for my son every morning. Most of the time I put them in the in the microwave. So like just everybody be very kind and gentle to the brunsons over the next few weeks. Don't judge us too hard for that. But I'll make like a plate of like eight of these mini pancakes and he's eating them and he's like, water, water, water. And it's just the next thing. But he's telling me this because he's relying on me to meet his needs. He can't reach into the fridge. He can't grab those things. He can't reach up to the microwave. I'm the one who has to do it for him. And David is imploring God in this conversation, in this prayer that he has for him. I can't do it without you. I'm not worried about everybody else. I'm worried about losing trust and faith in our relationship. I'm afraid that you are going to turn away from me. You might have read the very first part of this psalm and thought that I was going to say something great about a war that each of us have a war to fight. And your cause is to pick up the sword for Christ and engage in battle.
Sometimes it calls for that. But David is asking us to lean into God. And ultimately we get to this point here in verse 11. I want everybody to grab your Bibles real quick. And I want you to look at verse 11. And if you're going to underline anything, underline this. Lead me on a level path. Notice the other part, David is not asking for God to solve all of his problems. He's not. Don't ask God to solve all of your problems. I was talking to Brandon about this like. Five minutes before worship started. Okay. So you can kind of credit him and I with this point. So we'll give him a slap on the back if this is the best part you heard today, he simply asked to just put me on a level ground, all that stuff going on around me, it's going to happen. You don't have to fix it for me, but give me stable ground right here so that where my two feet are set, I know that you and I are good. If I'm on level ground, I have faith that you're going to come through for me, that you're going to give me the strength that I need to get through what is going on. And in verse 13 and 14, this is this is David's benediction. I don't even know if we put it as a benediction in the worship order anymore, but this is how we end. And David ends it by saying this.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. He's not talking about heaven. He's saying that I'm going to see God where I sit right now. I see it in the people that I lead. I see it in the people who I'm getting advice from. I see it all around me. I see the goodness of God in the land of the living. And then here's the most important thing that he says. Church. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Be strong. And let your heart take courage. Wait on the Lord. He says it twice right there. In the end, if something's repeated, it means that that's almost the heart of what he wants us to get. Because David knows the real battle is in waiting, not in the war that's being completely waged around him. In verse 14, he waits on the Lord and he does so in a strong and courageous manner. And when you look to Christ, you can also see that there are moments that that he had to wait a very long time. And we have the we have hindsight of we have the New Testament. David had no idea about the New Testament. He wasn't there when it was written. But Jesus waited 30 years before God's Spirit descended on him like a dove at his baptism. 30 years. He was in the desert for 40 days being tempted.
And then he's rescued.
And Jesus's resurrection power shows us that God's presence is never wasted time. That we all were waiting here. We're not wasting time. We're seeing that beauty. Our time is well spent because of the ways that we're doing it here among this community. And when we wait for God's presence like David, we join the story of Jesus on the cross. We wait on God to come and defeat his enemies and our enemies with his light and his salvation. And we're called to be those image bearers as we interact with the world around us, at our jobs, at our schools, even in our church. We're called to be that not just outside so that we can come here and recharge the batteries. We're even called to be the image of Christ here in this building. I want to read that benediction one more time for you guys. And I'm going to pray and we'll have the worship team come back up here. But I just want to leave you with this, David. A man after God's own heart boldly says these words. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.
Father, we come to you today as. At least I do as an impatient person that sometimes I want very, very quickly resolutions to problems that I very quickly want to see your will in something. And father, I recognize that that that is somewhat foolish of me that that I am called to wait on you just like your servant. David commands all of Israel and commands us even today. God may this Psalm. May the words that David provided to us be a blessing to us today. May we stand firm in believing that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living? God, would you give us patience? Would you give us strength? Would you give us courage as we as we wait on your will? And sometimes it's not in the way that we want to wait, that we want to we want to do it much quicker. God. But, Lord, would you allow us to join the story of your son, Jesus on the cross? Would you allow us? To be patient with you. God. May we see your face to day? May we dwell in your temple? May we experience you, Lord, in your son's name, that we pray. Amen.