Overcoming Anxiety, part 1

[0:00] We're talking to Psalm 62 this morning, Psalm 62, and we're going to be, when we're talking! through this series about a resilient life as a Christian and dealing with the things and situations! of life, the things that happen, and one of them is anxiety. You know, people get anxious about a lot of things. And sometimes there's a reason to be anxious, you might say, but how do we respond to that is important. And God gives us some direction and what to do, how to trust Him in those moments when life seems to be overwhelming our soul. Because really, that's anxiety is when the situations of life overwhelm us to the center of who we are. Anxiety can set in, and this idea of a seal of rest, of peace here is important. And, you know, and how we deal with that is important. Because, you know, some of you, have you ever heard of a store called J.C. Penney's?

[1:14] You know, James Cash Penny was the founder. We find that after he founded the store in 1902, the next 17 years, he had amazing growth and profit and everything. But in 1929, something happened.

[1:30] There's a major stock market crash, and everything went down. In order to make a payroll, he borrowed against his life insurance policies. And by the end of the Great Depression, he and the company were in financial ruin. And the personal toll of this stress took Penny, on Penny was tremendous, both physically and emotionally. You know, when things like that happen, it weighs on us both. The overwhelming nature of that, and we find that he eventually got to the point he checked himself into a hospital. And one night, as he was prescribed a sedative that quickly wore off, he awoke believing that he would die that night. And he wrote a letter to his family and fell asleep. The next morning, he woke up surprised that he was still alive.

[2:21] As he heard people singing a very familiar song, God will take care of you. He woke up to hearing it down sung in the chapel down the hall. And he found his way and listened to the singing and the message with a heavy burden upon his heart. But later, he said this, I felt as if I'd been instantly lifted out of the darkness of a dungeon into a warm, brilliant sunlight.

[2:46] I felt the power of God has never been felt before. I realized that I alone was responsible for my troubles. I knew that God and his love was there to help me. And that day to this, my life has been free from worry.

[2:59] And it's all because he realized God would do one simple thing. God would take care of him. That God is still there. That God is able to overcome the situations of life. And, you know, today there's really no shortage of anxiety in our world today. I mean, we live in a high stress, high dynamic. We have a lot of social tension. We have political tensions that cause anxiety. You know, what's going to happen next. You have just life anxieties that happen. You know, you got bills that come or unexpected news, or you have all these different elements involved in life. So there's no failure or no lack of things to be anxious for, because it's almost in life, if you notice things that make us anxious seem to be knocking all the time, something new all the time. Hey, I'm here.

[3:51] You know, you got this, or you got that. You got an unexpected bill, or something didn't come through, or, you know, there's things that happen all over the place in life that cause us to be distressed.

[4:02] Saying, how am I going to get through this? How am I going to overcome these things? And so today we're going to look at Psalm 62, because David here is dealing with something that is just overwhelming in his life. And this is one of those Psalms, we don't know exactly what time in David's life this was written. And the reality is this, sometimes anxiety, I think it's good we don't know when it was happening, because you know what, what David's dealing with is something we all deal with all the time. I believe David dealt with it in his life perpetually or continually. And we're going to see this, because we're going to focus here for a moment in Psalm 62, because it speaks about waiting on God. Let's look here in verse 1. It says this, truly my soul waiteth upon God, for him cometh my salvation. He is my rock and my salvation, he is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. How long will I imagine mischief against man? Ye shall be slain all of you as a bowing wall, shall ye be and a tottering fence. They only consult to cast down from his excellence, and they delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

[5:20] Asila, O soul, thou only upon, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Now look at verse 8. This is going to be the theme of our lesson.

[5:44] It says, trust in him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come before you this morning, Lord, as we understand the situations of life, Lord, everybody's is unique and to them, but Lord, it also has things of us learning to trust you as we walk through the challenges of life and the problems that it brings.

[6:14] And Lord, as we look here, the resilient life of overcoming anxiety and worry, and we do that by faith, by trusting you in the midst of the craziness of this life, knowing that you are the rock, you're the one that does not move, that you do not change. Lord, help us to always be mindful of those things as situations in life come and challenges are present, but Lord, that we know that you're there with us. Lord, that you'll get us through even the hardest moments that we face in this life. And Lord, we just ask it all in your precious name. Amen. You know, as we look here at Psalm 62, this passage speaks specifically about waiting on God. You know, part of our anxiety is because we say, well, God should deal with this on my timetable. Have you ever noticed that some of our anxiety, it's like, why God, why haven't you stepped in and take care of this? Why haven't you done this?

[7:09] Why haven't you done that? Why is this? Why are you allowing this to happen? But when we see here in Psalm 62, it points out that God is the rock of our salvation. He is the solid rock that we have in our life. It speaks about the enemies of righteousness. You know what? You're going to have enemies that stand against you. There's going to be things that stand against you. And the last part here, verses five through seven, return to the refrain of waiting on God, who is the rock of our salvation. It says, in other words, God's the rock of our salvation. We're going to have problems in trouble and people are going to be challenged, but you know what? God's still the rock of your salvation. And he says, for trusting him at all times. You know, when we are going to have to be resilient in life, we need to overcome that anxiety and worry by faith, by trusting God, because it's true that the presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional. That's a pretty good dynamic. Anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of it is optional. Because we can either let that control our lives or we can allow our lives to say, I'm going to trust God in the midst of the problem, in the midst of the situation. And it tells us that it's like, lets us free from when we trust God. It tells us that what kind of trust we need. And so we're going to look at this verse eight here this morning and unpack some dynamics here. I think it's important for us because the first one, when it comes to dealing with anxiety is to have a constant trust, a constant trust. You know, it seems to be, I don't know about you, but it seems easier to trust God when everything's going good.

[8:57] You ever notice that? It's real easy to say, I trust God when everything's going the way we think it should. You know, it's like, Hey, I'm on board with this God. This is doing good. But you know what? Psalm 62 reveals in David's life, much like in ours, that there comes a time when things didn't go well.

[9:14] Things didn't go the way David thought or things don't go the way we think. But he says, trust in God at all times, even in the midst of trouble, trust God. This word trust is very simple as this, to have confidence, to be confident, to be bold, to be secure, you know, to make secure, to feel safe. You know, that dynamic of trusting in God saying, I have a safe place to be. You know, people talk a lot about safe spaces today. The safest place and only safe space you can be is with God.

[9:52] He is the one that is there. He is the one that protects us, that walks with us because he's the one that's trustworthy. We can have complete confidence in him and in the fact that he cares. You know, there's a lot of times, you ever know, sometimes you'll tell somebody about your problems and they look at you like, I really don't care. But you know what? When we go to God, God says, I'm always care. I'm always there. I'm always available. You know, when we face situations that can cause our mind to go towards worry or anxiety, we need to refocus our minds and our thoughts and says, I know what's going on here, but I know I need to focus on God has it under control.

[10:39] That God is still over those things, those situations, to trust God at all times. And there's some times when it's easy to trust. You know, when things are going good, when God, you feel your prayers are being answered. You see results from your labors, you know, things are moving positive and, you know, you have hope and you imagine a blessing and future, but there's other times when it's harder to trust the Lord. When you've prayed for something for a long time and it doesn't seem to go away. When it doesn't seem like God is, you know, paying attention to the situation in my life where you've labored and served and you've done everything you're supposed to do. And you say, Lord, there's, there's no benefit. I don't see any benefit from all the effort I put forth.

[11:29] Because you know what? Oftentimes we do major things like, well, I put forth a lot of effort. I didn't see anything. So therefore we're going to do something different. But you know, we need to constantly, even in those moments when obstacles arise and seem impossible, you know, God is there. God wants us to trust him the way that he prescribes. And we understand in the middle of the darkness, God is still there. Faith in God is an abiding duty and a perpetual privilege that we have. He is worthy of our confidence. You know, look over to Philippians chapter one for a moment. You know, Philippians chapter one in verse six, the word of God tells us this.

[12:11] It makes it very clear. Philippians 1.6. Notice what it says there. It says what? Being confident of this very thing, that that which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Think about that for a moment. In other words, God says, if I start, if you're saved and I've started a work in your life, I will complete it.

[12:34] I am the one that's going to, that you can put trust in to lean upon him. You know, you know, we haven't sung it in a while, but there's an old hymn, leaning on the everlasting arms, you know, you know, that's the reason I like some of the hymns that from the past, you know what, they have a lot of substance to them, a lot of principle to them, a lot of scriptural basis of not just repeat, but foundational things. You know, the word that these everlasting arms aren't something that is just a phrase a hymn writer came up with. It's from, it doesn't honor me 33 in verse 27, where it says the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms. You know, we can learn to lean and trust God, that God is there, that God is over, these things. So when we're, have trouble, when darkness surrounds or anxiety gets ahold of us, it's when we need to trust. It's an active choice of faith because oftentimes we get the idea that faith is a one-time thing. Now, faith for salvation is a one-time thing, but trusting God is a perpetual thing because we have to constantly put, remind ourselves that God has us, that God is there, that God is over and above these things. It requires us to choose to trust him over and over again in each situation. We all go through these seasons of life. You know, it's a, I'm getting old enough now to see some seasons of life. You know, you see different things happen. You know, sometimes when you're in the middle of a season, especially when you're younger, you have this mindset, you get anxious, this will never end. You know, we have a bunch of moms, they started homeschooling and, and I remember every fall, the same thing, you know, this will never end. And they wake up one morning and they wave goodbye. And it's like, it ended. Seasons change.

[14:40] But you know what? The thing is, if we trust God in the seasons that we're in and the dynamics that's happening, it keeps our perspective correct. It helps us look at the right things. Because when your faith is weak, you can lean into God's everlasting arms that's always going to be there. And that's that active choice to choose the things of God.

[15:05] Because life is going to change. You know, one thing living very long will tell you life is going to change. Situations are going to change. You know, every time a family, when, you know, we're blessed to see a lot of young families and having babies, you know, every time a baby's added, there is change. You know, the first one's a big change. By the third one is still change, but a different change. It's like, oh, they just blend in. And then like some of these families with nine kids, it's like, how do they even know they had another one? The noise level can't change much.

[15:45] Yeah. You know, it's like this dynamic of seasons of life and pretty soon kids move out and things change. But seasons change. But even the challenges, the seasons of challenges in our life change.

[16:01] The things you're faced with today are not the same things you were faced with yesterday. And you know what? The reality is the things you might be faced with tomorrow might be totally different from the things of today and the things from yesterday. But the things you face may change.

[16:16] But the God you can trust is always the same. To trust in him at all times. To trust in him. You know, we can trust the Lord in every season of life. You know, that's one of them. If you want to see some dynamics of seasons, Ecclesiastes 3 describes those things. You know, it talks about for everything, there is a season, a time to be for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born. A time to die. A time to plant. A time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill. A time to heal. A time to break. A time to build up. A time to weep. A time to laugh. A time to mourn. A time to dance. A time to cast away stones. And a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace. And a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get. A time to lose. A time to keep. A time to cast away. A time to rent. A time to sow. A time to keep silent. A time to speak. A time to love. A time to hate. A time of war. A time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh that therein he laboreth? Have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. But you know, the next verse says this, but he hath made everything beautiful in his time. To trust in God at all times. But also to trust in God in all things.

[17:30] We need to trust God in the things of life. We live in a day when there's so much around us changing. You know? The cultural shift we've seen even in the last five years within our society is moving so fast it's hard to measure all the dynamics that have happened and the things that have changed.

[17:52] And these shifts in the mindset and you see the divisions. You see the economic shifts and the social shifts that are happening at these unprecedented speeds. And you know, it's coming faster and faster.

[18:08] You know, the one thing about I can say today that I think is different from the past, I think the pace in which things is coming at us is accelerated. The acceleration of it seems what makes it overwhelming. You know? It seems like you can deal with things easier when they're kind of slow trickling upon you. But then it feels like you got one of those walls of water come running down at you.

[18:33] You know? The quantity and the speed makes a difference. And it's not just in society, you know? They tell us this, that when the U.S. Patent Office was established in 1790, the first decade of the Patent Office, they granted 229 patents in the first 10 years. Any idea what the current rate is? The U.S. Patent Office grants 229 patents every 7.2 hours. Things are accelerating.

[19:05] Some of these changes have led the world and especially in our Western world further from biblical values. I mean, some of the economic changes have personal implications for people. I mean, just trying to survive. I mean, you get to these dynamics of markets and shifts and trying to figure out how you're going to pay for retirement and how you're going to pay for kids and how you're going to pay for college and all the different elements. I mean, things just seem to keep piling and changing.

[19:36] But all these changes around us, we can understand that God hasn't changed. The pace of change isn't something that overwhelms God. It might overwhelm us, but it doesn't overwhelm God.

[19:51] God is still the same. You know, take a look over to Matthew chapter 10 for a moment. Matthew chapter 10. And we'll look here at verse 29 as Jesus here is speaking and he's reminding us of something very important. Because sometimes we think things are so overwhelming that God isn't keeping up with it. But think about this. Look down at verse 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farling? And one of them shall not fall to the ground without your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore ye are more value than many sparrows. In other words, I grew up in the country and sparrows are like this plentiful little bird that's always pestering everything. They make a mess of everything. And it's just when one falls, nobody pays attention.

[20:42] But you know what? Jesus uses this as an illustration. What you pay no attention to, God says, I'm still paying attention to the details. And if I'm paying attention to the detail of one sparrow that falls, how much more am I paying attention to what's going on in your life?

[21:03] He says, I'm a God of details. I know the details of your life. I'm there. I know what's happening. And one of the most important things to remember is always that dynamic. You know, look at a familiar verse, Proverbs chapter 3. I mean, most of us could probably say it, you know, where it says, trust in the Lord with what? All thine heart. And do what? Lean not unto thine what? Own understanding in all thy ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. You know, oftentimes we need to apply this when we feel anxiety because you know what happens when we get anxious about situations?

[21:39] We try to rely upon how we perceive them or how we understand them to try to overcome them. Instead of saying, what has God given to me? What do I need to trust him in this area to do that?

[21:55] And to understand how God has given us the ability to walk through those situations by trusting him and relying upon him rather than just our reason. Because you know, sometimes what we feel we ought to do isn't the right thing to do. This is how I perceive it. So therefore, how I ought to react. You know, what we need to do is to trust God and say, how does God say that I need to look at this?

[22:21] How, what should be my response? Now you say, preacher, what are you talking about? You know, when people get anxious and things happen, like sometimes people lash out in bitterness and anger, and they lash out at people that they shouldn't lash out at. You know what they're doing? They're responding in their own feeling and their own understanding of a situation. So they say, how does God say that I should deal with this? How do I trust him in this? How do I walk through those things? And, and, you know, it's very difficult for those who are planners. You know, yeah, you got, you got a couple of different types of people. One is that free for all person that just, oh yeah, tomorrow will be different. Then you got that person that wants everything in detail.

[22:57] We get up at 645 and, and coffee by seven and you, you know, you have all these different things scheduled out. And then something happens and life goes upside down and, and, and they're all flustered. You know what? Sometimes they want to rely on their plan more than they want to rely upon God.

[23:21] Because, you know, the one thing I've learned is sometimes God does things or allows things for our benefit that we say, well, that wasn't very good. But you know what? You, when you look back and you'll see sometimes it's God taking care of you, God protecting you from little things that we say, well, this might be a problem. You know, think about it. If you get, if you're going down, if you're traveling and you get a flat tire and you say, Lord, why in the world did you let me have a flat tire? Then you get 10 minutes down the road and you find out there was a major accident and you're going, Lord, thank you for the flat tire.

[23:57] What we thought was horrible situation. God said, just, just hold on. I'm just holding you up to keep you protected. You know, God works in those things and we need to keep that just because it's not in our plan. It made me 10 minutes late. Okay. You know, maybe I'm speaking too fast because some of you might not be able to change a tire in 10 minutes, but some of you might be able to find a jack in 10 minutes. And it looked like, what are you talking about, preacher? 10 minutes. It's like, impact God. But you know, the reality is, is that while there's value in a plan, it's also good to understand that God is in control. And sometimes to look and see what God is doing, to learn to trust God in those things. Because notice what it tells, trust in him at all times. At all times. The good thing about trusting in the Lord, as opposed to our own understanding is that he becomes our stability in the situation. We're not relying upon what we think about it, but relying upon what, who God is. Thus, even when these external sources of strength are removed, we're still standing strong in faith. You know, to understand, to look to him, to look for him, to know, and to fellowship with him. I mean, the reality that we have, notice that Proverbs there, it says, in all thy ways, what? Acknowledge him. In all the situations of life, what do we need to do?

[25:25] We need to acknowledge God. You know, by acknowledging God, you know what it does? It changes our focus. Because we're impacted by what we're looking at the most. When we're looking at God, it keeps our focus on that which is unmovable, that which is stable. Keeps us on track in our life.

[25:43] And we understand that the importance of that, that that presence with God. And we understand the need for God. But this trusting God, trusting him at all times and in all things, but also not just a constant trust, but a complete trust. You know, notice here that Psalm 62 verse 8 says, trust in God. But notice at all times, but notice the next part there in this passage. Because trusting God, this is an important element because it's not just a mental dynamic. Trusting God is not just a mental picture because notice what the psalmist says. David reminds us this is what? Ye people, excuse me, ye people pour out your heart before him. A complete trust, pour out your heart before him.

[26:36] You know, when you trust something, you're open to share. You're open to let know what's happening. Because we see here an emptying trust, an emptying of ourselves, you know, of when we can just talk about those situations. You know, the value of a friend who you feel you could sit down with and tell anything and they're not going to look at you any differently than before. The value of having a friend that's not going to judge you or misunderstand the situations. You know, physically with friends, that's a pretty rare case that you have somebody that you can really trust at that level.

[27:16] But the reality is God is a friend with whom you can fully and completely trust. It says to pour out your heart before him. You know, now this is important because when we understand this idea of pouring ourselves out, it's giving to God, unburdening ourselves by speaking it to God. To say, God, here's my heart before you. Now I want you to understand, God already knows your heart, but there's something that God understands that our need to vocalize or to put forth that towards him is important. It's part of the way God designed us to tell him what's happening.

[28:04] He knows it, but he still invites us to share it. It has an ability to lift your spirit and meet the needs of your heart, to empty your soul before the Lord. You know, that's hard to do because thinking about emptying your thoughts before God, things that bother you, the things that worry you, the things that scare you, you know, to pour your heart before God says, God, I know you know, but I'm going to tell you anyways. I'm going to tell you what's actually going on inside. To give those things to God. And, you know, the Bible gives us a few things of how we pour our heart out before the Lord. You know, as a believer, we need to make sure that we stand ready to give and tell him what we've done. You know, look over to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9 in this.

[28:57] 1 John is to believers. It deals with our fellowship with him. You know what fellowship is? It's communication and hanging out and being there. 1 John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You know, part of pouring yourself out is to confess your sins, knowing that God is ready because you have a child of God. He is ready to forgive and to deal with those things. He can because he has already paid for it. He has already accomplished everything that is needed. As a believer, we still struggle with sin. You know, it's a misconception that people have. Well, you know, when I get saved, I'll no longer sin. No, you're still in this body. You're going to have a struggle.

[29:45] No. The Bible says you just created a conflict because now your old nature is battling with your new nature. But we need to rely upon God because it makes the nature he gives to us a new nature, his spirit working within us. It changes our perspective. It keeps us focused on the right things. It's an emptying trust to confess your sins, but also to share your needs, you know, to know that he's there. You know, think about Psalm 46 and verse 11, where it says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. You know, God is there with us. He is that present help in trouble. We can tell him what's going on, tell him our worries, confident that he's able to give peace. You know, I'll look over Philippians chapter 4 for a moment. Philippians chapter 4, you see here in verse 6 and 7, something important here that as a principle in our lives, you know, Philippians chapter 4, it says this, what? Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, notice this, let your what? Request be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ

[31:04] Jesus. That's the practical application because when we pour our heart out to God, God says that he will give us peace in the circumstances. It doesn't say the circumstance is going to go away. It doesn't say the circumstance is just going to be instantaneously gone, but you know, the one thing I think you can learn very quickly in life, when you have peace in the midst of the storm, it helps that your perspective of the storm is different. You're able to think clear. You're able to do what needs to be done because you're trusting God, that emptying trust to trust him and that he's the one that's going to keep our hearts and minds where they ought to be, but also an earnest trust. There's an earnestness to what David's saying to pour out your heart before him. This is because God already knows everything. You know, in Psalm 139, David said this, he begins, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. In other words, you're at liberty to talk to God because he already knows anyways. The information you give is not something new. They already know. God already knows. He's there. We understand that God is there through the midst of all those things.

[32:19] To understand that God tells us to put our thoughts and our deepest parts of our hearts to the Lord, to pour them out to him. And, you know, in Psalm 139, you know, at the beginning, it says that God has searched him. And now notice here in Psalm 139 in verse 24, it says, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. He says, God, you already know what's going on. Now, Lord, direct me in the way I need to go. To give me what I need, but also an engaging trust. You know, sometimes we think of trusting God as more of a passive decision, something we just sort of do in the background while at the same time exhausting all the other options. Until something works out, you know, of course we say, I'm trusting God, but I just need to also, and you can fill in the blank.

[33:18] Because sometimes we can intellectually say, I trust God, but our actions say we're doing something different. Because we're not really trusting him and to actively trust him. You know, the Bible pictures trust here as an active trust. You know, look back a few pages, go to Psalm 37 for a moment, because I want you to see trust isn't passive, trust is active. Trust directs.

[33:47] Notice what it says here in verse 3. Notice what it says, trust in the Lord, and what? And do good. Verse 6.

[34:24] We are to delight in him. We're to find joy in him and to be thinking and rejoicing of who God is. You know, think about Philippians 4 in verse 4. It says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say what? Rejoice. Because how we're thinking impacts how we deal with the situation.

[34:44] Our perspective has a direct impact, but also to commit. You know, to commit, we need to trust the Lord. We are to commit our way to the Lord. That is, we are pressing forward, trusting him for the outcome.

[34:59] Trusting God is not static, but it's active. It's moving forward in spite of the obstacles that might be there. To say, I'm going to actively trust God as we move forward in our life.

[35:16] To say, I'm going to trust him in those situations, in those dynamics that are happening. You know, to commit our way unto him. You know, we need to let trust God in the midst of our trials. We should let trials motivate us to trust the Lord and not let trials and tribulations hinder our trust for the Lord.

[35:39] You know, our very nature is this. When something happens, we do what? Lord, why did it happen? Really, the question is, Lord, how do I need to trust you in the midst of this?

[35:51] Changes our perspective because God is there. He brings us through. He comforts us in life, in situations that happen. And we realize that God is there. God is the one that is overcoming the situations and the dynamics of our life.

[36:12] And we need to always be focused upon that and to focus upon what God would desire in our life. You know, as we look over into 1 Corinthians here, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, or excuse me, 2 Corinthians.

[36:26] Let's get over on the right one here. Look at verse 4 here. Or excuse me, we'll pick up verse 3. Blessed be the God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

[36:51] When we commit ourselves to God, we experience God's comfort, His encouragement alongside us as an individual. But also, it tells us that we're going to hear in Psalms 37 in verse 6, tells us that He's going to bring forth thy righteousness as light and thy judgment as noonday.

[37:10] In other words, our trust in God is going to be seen of others. Your trust in God is going to be something that's going to impact other people. It's going to be seen, something that's shining there.

[37:24] As we delight in the Lord and commit our ways, He will cause us to shine in times of darkness. You know? Now, I want you to understand, your impact of trusting God is greater sometimes than what we imagine.

[37:43] How people watch you walk through a circumstance or a situation. You know, to understand the importance, you know, Matthew chapter 5 records what Jesus said this.

[37:54] He says, Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. To trust God in the midst of problems. Because God is a safe confidant, you can empty your soul before Him and place your trust in Him and delight and commit ourselves unto Him.

[38:15] That not only a constant trust and a complete trust, but also a confident trust. To be confident in Him. You know, we know David wrote Psalm 62 and we don't know when it was composed or what exactly was happening.

[38:31] But, you know, David is definitely one that understands the factor of problems. Have you ever read through the life of David? I mean, he had some situations in life that were rough.

[38:44] And he had situations in life just like us. Some of them he had no control over. He had some rough things happen he had absolutely no control over. The same token, David made some choices that caused some disruption in his life.

[38:59] You know, both are true of us. Sometimes there's things we have no control over. Absolutely no control over the situation. A situation that just comes and hits.

[39:09] And there's situations that we sometimes self-inflict. But, you know, it doesn't matter whether it was expected or self-inflicted. God is still there with you. God's the one that we need to trust.

[39:20] As David, you think about it, he was relentlessly hunted by a jealous king. He was in the midst of many wars and battles. He experienced a military coup by his own son.

[39:33] I mean, that's some rough situations. He had family strife. And, I mean, you think about that. That's putting it lightly. I mean, David had one of his sons kill the other son.

[39:45] As a parent, I couldn't imagine. But you know what? Look back there in Psalm 62. Look at the end of that verse. It says, God is a refuge for us. God is our refuge.

[39:58] He is there. That's personal. I want you to understand that that's a personal dynamic. A refuge is a safe place. A place that protects.

[40:09] But he's also our defense. What did God as his rock, salvation, and refuge mean for David? It meant that God was his place of defense, his stability and safety.

[40:23] When the difficulties arose, when the enemies assaulted, when his footing slipped, David could run to the Lord knowing he had a place of protection and security.

[40:35] That God was always there. You know, to understand the importance of that, he is where we need to run as and find rest.

[40:48] When we trust him, we pour ourselves out to him knowing he is our refuge. He is our place of security that we can always turn to.

[41:01] Let's pray. Let's pray.