[0:00] Let's turn to the Lord in prayer, ask his help as we prepare to hear his word proclaimed. Our God, we know that your words are given to us.
[0:16] They are without error. They're without failure. They are sufficiently clear to understand all that we need to know to be saved and to obey you.
[0:33] And yet, we do not often have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand. So may you grant us these things, Lord. Open our eyes, unstop our ears, soften our hearts to receive your word.
[0:49] And we need this, Lord, because we have many longstanding patterns of behavior, longstanding ways of responding to hardship, longstanding ways of relating to other people and to you.
[1:02] We have these patterns of sinful behavior that we have not often examined. And Lord, give us the ability to examine, to see ourselves clearly, but more than that, to see clearly how good you are and how good Jesus Christ is and long to be righteous like he is righteous, to be holy as he is holy.
[1:28] Make us like him as much as any human being can possibly be. Amen. Well, let's start with a question that you can turn and ask your spouse or maybe call up a close friend and ask.
[1:46] Here's a question to turn to your spouse or to a close friend and ask them about yourself if you wish to know the answer, if you dare to know the answer. Am I a fixer or a feeler?
[1:58] You can ask them, am I a fixer or am I a feeler? Now, if you're wondering what does that mean, I think one of the best ways to find out is on our website, on our Facebook page.
[2:14] A couple days ago, I shared a video that's titled, It's Not About the Nail. And in this video, it's not about the nail. A man, it's just a short two-minute clip, but a man listens as his wife complains.
[2:28] And she just is talking about the hardship she's enduring, this feeling in her head, this sense of just relentless pressure, a fear that this pressure is just never going to stop.
[2:39] And her concerned husband responds. And he suggests that maybe she ought to be removing the big nail that's sticking out of her forehead. And at once, as soon as he suggests that she remove the nail, she replies, stop trying to fix it.
[2:58] And as you can imagine, the argument goes from there. Have you ever had arguments in your marriage or arguments with friends that sounded like that?
[3:09] The stereotype is that the husband is a fixer, the wife is the feeler. Perhaps in your marriage, it's actually the other way around.
[3:20] Perhaps you cut against the stereotype. And I'm sure you felt that exasperation, that exasperating relationship at times. When you encounter someone who is a feeler, who emphasizes the experience of hardship, and they're not fixing.
[3:41] Or maybe you're the feeler, and you've felt the exasperation at times. You've encountered someone who's a fixer, and they respond just immediately with advice rather than with a listening ear.
[3:51] Now, we tend to handle our own problems the same way. Maybe you're more of a fixer, and that's how you handle pain, suffering, hardship, and life.
[4:08] You experience these hardships, these afflictions, and you immediately start looking for solutions. I need to fix this. I need to make this go away. You just immediately shift into fixing mode.
[4:19] Or maybe you're more of a feeler. You experience pain and suffering. And rather than just springing into action, you tend to stop and focus on the experience and how to handle it.
[4:37] You look for a listening ear, or instead of looking outside for a listening ear, you start ruminating in your own head. Or maybe you just don't know what to do with it, so you find a way to distract yourself to get to some sort of sense of relief from what's going on.
[4:55] So now you're wanting to know, okay, well, fixer or feeler, who's got it right? Who's doing it the right way? Well, when we read Psalm 62, we learn that there is, in fact, a third way to live.
[5:09] There's a third way beyond being a fixer or a feeler, and that is the way of the worshiper. There is a way of worship. This worshiper takes a different path because the way of worship runs our fixing and our feeling.
[5:27] It first runs it through our faith in God. It runs it through our faith in God. And we can see that happening in Psalm 62, in this model of the way that we approach the hardships, the afflictions, the pain, the suffering of our lives.
[5:46] So here's what the poet King David writes in Psalm 62. To the choir master, according to Jeduthon, a psalm of David, For God alone my soul waits in silence.
[6:02] From him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
[6:19] They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence.
[6:35] For my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory.
[6:50] My mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, oh people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.
[7:03] Those of low estate are but a breath. Those of high estate are a delusion. In the balances they go up, they are together lighter than a breath.
[7:17] Put no trust in extortion. Set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken.
[7:29] Twice have I heard this, that power belongs to God, and that to you, oh Lord, belongs steadfast love, for you will render to a man according to his work.
[7:43] This is the word of the Lord. Now there are different ways to think through this psalm, and I'm going to break this psalm down into three parts.
[7:54] First, in verses one through six, we are introduced to a painful assault that David is enduring.
[8:06] And in these verses, verses one through six, we are called to be like David, to remain still for a saving God. Second, in verses seven and eight, we transition to the heart of the psalm, to the core and the center of it, where David reflects on God as his mighty rock and refuge.
[8:26] And like David, we are called to entrust your heart to a sheltering God. And then third and finally, in verses nine through 12, we arrive at the conclusion of the psalm, where David then turns and instructs us in what will fail us and what won't fail us in this life.
[8:47] David calls us to entrust your life to an unfailing God. So now we are going to move together through the three parts of this psalm. And whether you're a fixer or whether you're a feeler or maybe a little bit of both, we're going to learn how we can instead become worshipers, worshipers who know how to respond to hardships like the Lord's servant David did.
[9:12] First, let's look at verses one through six. Here we are called to remain still for a saving God. Remain still for a saving God.
[9:28] Right in the middle of this first section, these first six verses, we see David's complaint in verses three and four. And here David laments in verses three and four.
[9:41] He laments how his enemies are trying to bring him down. The person he's talking about is himself. That's who they're targeting. He's the one in the high position. They're the ones scheming to bring him down.
[9:52] He cries out, how long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
[10:04] They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. And if you know the story of David, you know that he had many enemies, many people trying to bring him down.
[10:17] If you were in David's position, wouldn't this just get you all riled up too? If you've ever been in a position of leadership, you know how alone that can feel, how you can be exposed to the criticism of many people and how there are even people who want you gone or removed or humiliated.
[10:35] were brought low. It would be hard to know that people are using, as David says, they are using slander, they are using shame, they are using subterfuge to try to ruin you.
[10:51] And David might be tempted at this point to react, to quickly react. He could be a fixer. He could spring into action.
[11:02] Let's solve this problem right now. He could rally his resources as a king. He could issue orders to all the people that he trusts. Sometimes when we spring into action that fast and quickly react, quickly respond, we make the problem so much worse.
[11:18] maybe you live with terrible regrets about times when you have had a knee-jerk response. But David, he doesn't do that.
[11:35] Not just yet. Instead, here's what David does. He takes this lament in verses 3 and 4 and he surrounds it with a resolution. He surrounds this lament with a resolution.
[11:46] David is going to remain still for a saving God. So he, before uttering his lament, he first leads into it with this resolution in verses 1 and 2.
[11:58] For God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation. My fortress.
[12:11] I shall not be greatly shaken. And so that is his resolution. Rather than reacting immediately the way a fixer would do, David hits pause.
[12:21] David slows to a halt. He remains still. He waits. Okay. Now if you're a young person watching this, maybe if, you know, you're still, you know, you're young, you're still living with your parents.
[12:35] Maybe you know what this is like, right? You get upset. Someone, maybe your brother or sister called you a bad name and you wanted to yell something mean at them or maybe you want to hit them.
[12:49] Maybe your mom or dad has said something like this to you. Stop and count to 10 before you say anything. Stop and count to 10. And you do. You stay silent.
[12:59] You sit there and you do nothing for 10 seconds. And it's amazing. I'm stopping and counting to 10. Oh, okay. All right. Instead of reacting quickly, pausing and staying still is so very helpful.
[13:16] And that's kind of like what David is doing. But David is doing something even better than just counting to 10. David is reminding himself, hey, self, I promised to wait in silence.
[13:32] You know, I promised. I was going to wait in silence. And so here's what David says to himself. Instead of counting to 10, he just says this to himself in verses 5 and 6. For God alone, oh, my soul, wait in silence.
[13:47] For my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken. So he first has that resolution in verses 1 and 2 and then in verses 5 and 6, he comes back to it and he's speaking it to himself again.
[14:08] Hey, hey, remember, you were going to do this. You were going to respond this way. You were going to be still. So in the first six verses of this psalm, we have this lament, this complaint, this frustration that David has and then he surrounds it.
[14:25] He begins with and ends with a resolution. Remain still for a saving God. Remain still for a saving God. And David writes this psalm in such a way that he, what he's doing and the way he writes it is he has this assault that he's facing and then he takes that assault that's coming at him, people are attacking him, and he surrounds them with a resolution to wait in silence for God.
[14:54] He knows that this is better than reacting right away like a fixer would do. David knows that God is a much better rock, God is a much better salvation, God is a much better fortress than he can ever fix up for himself.
[15:11] If you're a fixer, if you're hit by a hard situation like a nail in the forehead, instead of just immediately like, oh, I'm going to pull the nail out, wait, hit pause before you pull that nail out.
[15:26] Stop. There is going to come a time for action. We're not saying that, you know, David, it's not like David is just going to sit there and do absolutely nothing forever. There is going to come a time to respond.
[15:38] But before doing anything else, you need to remain still for a saving God. If you're a fixer, that's the message you need to hear. You need to remain still for a saving God.
[15:49] Don't spring into action. Don't get back at the person. Don't get your justice. Don't make the problem go away. Remain still. Now we're going to move to verses 7 and 8.
[16:06] In verses 7 and 8, sort of transition. Here's where we are called to entrust your heart to a sheltering God. entrust your heart to a sheltering God.
[16:18] In verse 7, David, he has been speaking to himself, but now he begins speaking directly to you and to me.
[16:31] David, in verse 7, starts telling us where he turns when he feels like other people are trying to bring him down. David says, here's where I turn as the place of my glory.
[16:44] Here's where I am secure. Here's where I find my identity. Here's where I find my stability. Here's where I belong. And David says, on God rests my salvation and my glory.
[16:59] My mighty rock, my refuge is God. God is a refuge for us.
[17:10] And he urges us, trust in him at all times, oh people. Pour out your heart before him.
[17:22] God is a refuge for us. Now we're going to stop, we're going to stand still, and we're going to linger on this verse.
[17:35] It is, in my opinion, one of the verses, it's actually one of the most important verses in the Bible because it summarizes so much of what Scripture has to say about how we are called to relate to God.
[17:52] Verse 8 describes something that we do not do well. If you're a fixer, you probably don't do this at all. If you're a feeler, you probably don't do it rightly.
[18:09] The only people who know verse 8 and who know the peace and rest of saying, God is a refuge for us, the only people who know that are the worshipers.
[18:24] worshipers. Worshipers know how to pour out their heart before God. Now, let's first understand what the heart is.
[18:36] If you have been listening to our sermons for a while, BK and I, well, we often have to explain and re-explain this because in our culture, the word heart is often used just to describe just your emotions, just your feelings and nothing else.
[18:50] think about, though, the way that people in Old Testament times would have thought about the heart. You know, they knew that the heart was a physical organ.
[19:02] It's hidden in the core of your body. It's surrounded by other organs and tissues. It's protected by your rib cage. It is the single most protected thing in your body.
[19:14] And so, Hebrew authors like David, they used the word heart as a metaphor and that heart describes this inner, hidden, protected core of who you really are.
[19:33] This is who you really are way down underneath. The real you underneath all of those superficial words and actions you put on to get along with people, to make it through your day.
[19:48] Your heart. It is your deepest desires, your feelings, your thoughts, the core of who you are. And David says that in verse 8, it is time to take this heart and pour it out.
[20:05] think about your heart like it's a bucket of water inside of you and inside of that bucket is all your desires, your feelings, your thoughts, filling that bucket and what David is saying you need to do is you need to take that bucket and turn it upside down.
[20:23] Pour it out. Shake out every last drop. Empty your heart. You need to express it all. You need to express what is in your heart. You need to use your words.
[20:37] Now if you're a feeler, you find a way to express your heart. You already do this in some way or other feelers pour out their hearts but the thing is if you're a feeler you might have different places where you're pouring out your heart.
[20:53] So that's the first question I want to ask and I want to spend some time on this. Where do you pour out your heart? That is a very important question. First, do you pour out your heart before other people?
[21:08] Do you pour out your heart before other people? In other words, you know, to put it in perhaps more psychological language, do you externalize your desires, feelings, and thoughts?
[21:21] Do you externalize them? Do you they come out of you? And you probably did that at one time in your life regardless of who you are.
[21:32] remember, think back to when you were a young child. Maybe you are a young child and you're listening to this and you don't have to think back. You're doing it all the time. If you don't remember when you were a young child, ask your mom or dad.
[21:47] Every desire, every feeling, every thought, it was something that you poured out to the people that you trusted the most. You know, you're outside and you see a cool bug.
[22:00] Well, you bring it in, you show it to your dad. You learn quickly, don't show it to your mom, show it to your dad. This really cool bug you found. You had a scary dream at night.
[22:10] You run to your parents' room and you tell them all about it. You want a box of cookies as you're in the grocery store and you throw a tantrum on the floor of that grocery store expressing your heart and horribly embarrassing your mom.
[22:30] Basically, as a young child, you were probably a fire hydrant with legs. Your heart was just spewing out everywhere before all the people that you trusted.
[22:42] And then you began to grow up. And the thing is, as you grew up, as you matured in your ability to express yourself and your ability to work through all these desires and feelings and thoughts that you were just bursting full of, your parents taught you.
[23:05] Hey, guess what? Being a fire hydrant like that is not always a good idea. You know, when you're a kid, it can be frustrating, but it's cute. It's acceptable.
[23:16] You keep doing that as an adult, throwing tantrums on the grocery store floor, running into your parents' room when you have a scary dream, showing everybody the cool bugs you've found.
[23:28] You keep doing that as an adult. You keep spewing your heart everywhere. You keep venting every thought and feeling. You damage your relationships. You damage your relationships. You drive your family and friends nuts.
[23:42] We label people like that as childish, as immature. Sometimes, if this person is excessively negative in doing that, we even call them toxic.
[23:57] Because their desire for a listening ear has become a demand. When your desire for a listening ear becomes a demand, you need to listen to me. You need to be the person that I can just pour out my heart like a fire hydrant, whenever I want, however I want.
[24:14] It's a demand that is basically at the core of it. What that demand is, is you are saying to the people in your life, I need you to be my refuge, my safe space, my safe shelter.
[24:26] I need you to be my refuge. And most people just cannot bear that burden. They cannot be that perfect refuge you are looking for.
[24:38] They are not up to the task. And they start relating to you, like they look at you and it feels like to them like they're in deep water dealing with their own life and struggles and they see you.
[24:50] They see you drowning, desperately clawing at them and they're afraid that you are going to pull them underwater with you. And so they pull back, they pull away. Other people were never meant to be your mighty rock and refuge.
[25:10] Now, by that I don't mean that other people aren't supposed to listen to you because they sure are. They're called to imitate God by listening. But they were never meant to be that rock and refuge with a capital R.
[25:23] They were never meant to be that ultimate place of security. They were never meant to be your God. And if you were relating to other people in that way, that is something that you need to repent of.
[25:36] Are you expecting other people to be your God? If you entrust your heart to other people, you will find that they are a poor substitute for a sheltering God.
[25:50] So then, fellow feelers, perhaps you take another route. Do you pour out your heart within yourself?
[26:01] Do you pour out your heart within yourself? Do you internalize your desires, feelings, and thoughts? Do you internalize them, keep them locked up inside of you?
[26:13] That's a new tactic that you learn as you grow up. And maybe, maybe kids, you're learning that right now. You just sort of have these thoughts that you have or the feelings you have, and you just keep them locked up and you don't tell anybody.
[26:30] You learn by correction, and you learn by hard experience that pouring out your hearts onto other people all the time, fire hydrant style, just ends up wearing them out and driving them away.
[26:43] And so, you turn your desires and your feelings and your thoughts, and you turn them all inward. And when you are not very skilled at this, or when you just, you really struggle, you can't do this very well, we call it anxiety.
[27:00] You call it anxiety when you're not very good at this desires, feelings, thoughts turning inward. When you pour out your heart within yourself, and anxiety a lot of times feels like you're on this, think of it like being on a water slide, like on this corkscrew water slide that's going around and around and around and around, faster and faster in the dark.
[27:19] You're ruminating endlessly, your mind going in circles. You're catastrophizing, you know, freaking out about worst-case scenarios. Everything always goes to the worst-case scenario. This is a miserable experience, that sort of anxious turmoil within yourself.
[27:34] It's a form of unsuccessful self-reliance. It's unsuccessful self-reliance. Maybe you've gotten, maybe on the other hand, you don't notice the anxiety.
[27:50] Maybe you've gotten pretty good at pouring out your heart within yourself. You've gotten quite skilled. You know how to handle your own desires and thoughts and feelings. Sometimes we call this stoicism. Stoicism is the art of self-reliance, the art of taking your desires and thoughts and feelings and successfully handling them.
[28:07] You take all that unpleasant stuff in your heart. And maybe what you do is you, you know, you pour it into a container. You pour it into a container, you slap a lid on it, you put it on the shelf.
[28:20] Keep it away. Put it there. Now here's the bad news when you do that. No matter how good you get at that, that container always has leaks in it. That container has leaks in it, and so you have to find a way if you try to live life that way.
[28:39] You have to find a way to keep your eyes from looking over at that shelf, because over on that shelf, that container is leaking out. There's stuff dripping everywhere, and so what you have to do is you have to put your TV over here, you have to put some sort of activity over, some sort of adrenaline rush over here, and you have to go over there and fill your life with distractions and diversions, pleasures, and activities, and you have to keep your eye over here away from all the water damage that is happening over here as the container leaks everywhere.
[29:13] In the short term, pouring out your heart within yourself, trying to handle it yourself, it keeps the peace in your relationships. It makes your relationships manageable. You're easier to get along with.
[29:23] In the long term, you become consumed with anxiety or bitterness, or you become addicted to diversions, or you eventually just, the container just bursts, and you explode and pent up anger and panic.
[29:40] You were never meant to be your own mighty rock and refuge. Stoicism is a lie. You were never meant to be your own mighty rock and refuge.
[29:53] You were never meant to be your own God who handles life internally. If you entrust your heart to yourself, you will find that you are a poor substitute for a sheltering God.
[30:09] And just so you know that I'm not talking some sort of modern, oh, express yourself, you know, don't lock yourself away. This is not a modern idea. John Calvin challenges the feeler, hey, there's a better way than this to pour out your own heart.
[30:24] Don't keep it locked up inside of you. Here's what Calvin says. Usually, indeed, men show much anxiety and ingenuity in seeking to escape from the troubles which may happen to press upon them.
[30:39] But so long as they shun coming into the presence of God, they only involve themselves in a labyrinth of difficulties. Not to insist farther upon the words, David is here to be considered as exposing that diseased but deeply rooted principle in our nature.
[31:01] He calls this manner of handling things internally as a diseased but deeply rooted principle in our nature, which leads us to hide our griefs and ruminate upon them instead of relieving ourselves at once by pouring out our prayers and complaints before God.
[31:25] So then, feeler, you who have been pouring out your heart before others or pouring it out within yourself, so then, feeler, do you pour out your heart before God?
[31:39] Do you pray your desires and your feelings and your thoughts? Do you entrust your heart to a sheltering God?
[31:54] Now, sometimes we think of prayer as you get on your knees and you bow your head and close your eyes and fold your hands and you start asking God for stuff. I'm not even talking about that.
[32:04] Sometimes we just, that's a fixer way to pray, by the way. God, give me this. God, do this. Do this. Fix this. Solve this. Amen. That's not even what David is talking about.
[32:17] I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about praying to God and giving him your heart. Giving him your heart. Taking that bucket of desires and feelings and thoughts and turning it upside down and emptying it all out before him.
[32:32] The way that the Israelites of the Old Testament would pour out a sacrifice on the altar. Pour out a drink offering on the altar.
[32:43] Pour out your heart. Express all your desires and feelings and thoughts. Find the words. Tell him what is going on in your heart. Tell him, not only is this affecting me spiritually, it is affecting my soul, but tell him how, even how this is playing out in your body, the suffering that your body is enduring that is hard for you, the way that the stress you're facing and the way your anxiety is affecting your body.
[33:11] Tell him your suffering. Tell him all of it. Tell him about your sins. Confess them before God. Tell him everything. Pour out your whole heart. Treat him as your refuge.
[33:25] That is where prayer begins. That is where worship begins. That is where the real you meets the real God. Look again at what David writes in Psalm 62 verse 8.
[33:39] Trust in him at all times, O people. That's line one. Line two. Pour out your hearts before him. Line three. God is a refuge for us.
[33:51] So those three lines, trust in him, pour out your heart, God is a refuge. David is saying the same thing in three different ways. What does it look like to trust in him at all times?
[34:04] Well, it looks like this. Pour out your heart before him. What does it mean to believe that God is a refuge for us? It means pour out your heart before him. Well, when do you do this?
[34:21] Do you, is it just only in certain, only when you're happy? Sometimes that's what we think is, well, yeah, when you're, you know, in a state of mind where you're happy and joyful and loving God and enjoying life, yeah, praise him.
[34:33] Pour out that heart. That's acceptable. We write a lot of worship songs about how awesome God is, how great he is. That's when you pour out your heart. The other times, no, no, no, no. God doesn't want to hear that. That first line says, here's when you do it.
[34:49] Trust in him at all times. At all times. In success, in failure, in prosperity and adversity, in sickness and in health, you pour out your heart. In fact, I would encourage you, use your feelings, use your emotions as a signal.
[35:07] I'm feeling something. That means it's time to pour out my heart. I'm feeling anxious. I'm feeling sad. I'm feeling insecure. I'm feeling angry.
[35:18] I'm feeling lonely. I'm feeling happy. I'm feeling excited. Pour out your heart. Pour out your heart. Pour out your heart. Trust in him. God is a refuge for us.
[35:32] This is what trust looks like. This is what faith looks like on a moment-by-moment basis. This is what worship looks like. This is what relationship looks like.
[35:43] If you are a worshiper, you pour out your heart before God. Anything less than that. Anything kept in reserve.
[35:56] And you are holding yourself back from him. Maybe you hear this and you're thinking, I don't know if I ever do this.
[36:10] I don't know if I ever really just tell God all the stuff I'm feeling or thinking or wanting. I don't know if I do that.
[36:21] Well, I'd encourage you, if you can go from doing it 0% of the time to 5% of the time, your life will be transformed.
[36:35] If you've never done this, then you have never known what it means to worship God. Let me say that again. If you have never done this, you have never known what it means to worship God.
[36:52] You may be a feeler, but not a worshiper. Now, if you're like me, eventually you get to pouring out your heart before God when you finally just can't handle it yourself or when other people aren't able to be that refuge you want them to be and when you can't fix the problem.
[37:17] And, you know, when all other means are exhausted and all the fixing and feeling doesn't work, finally you become a worshiper. You get there eventually. Eventually, you turn to prayer.
[37:29] It's kind of like prayer as a last resort, right? That's not what a worshiper does. That's a pattern I am having to unlearn. I think I'm maybe at that 5% mark where I am praying first 5% of the time.
[37:46] And boy, that makes all the difference. I can't wait until I get to 10%. A worshiper goes to God first. The order, by the way, is critical.
[37:57] The order is critical because the first place you go is the place of your refuge. Psalm 62, verse 1. For God alone my soul waits in silence.
[38:09] He alone is my rock and my salvation. Where is the first place David goes in the psalm? God alone. Nowhere else. I'm going to God first. A worshiper prays first.
[38:20] A worshiper remains still and goes to God first. That is the worshiper's first resort, not last resort. Only after prayer does a worshiper start, hmm, okay, thinking and planning.
[38:38] Oh, okay, maybe I'm going to go talk with others. Maybe now it's time to start acting to fix this problem. The sequence, that order, you begin with prayer.
[38:52] You begin with pouring out your heart to God. God. That's what sets apart a worshiper of God from people who are just using God. Maybe that's something we need as individuals.
[39:06] How about as a family? Is this something that you, parents, that you do with one another? Maybe your spouse comes to you, oh, with all this complaint.
[39:16] Can you listen carefully to them and say, let's talk with God about this. Oh, let's pour out our hearts before God. What if your children come to you and they come with a complaint or they come with a cool bug?
[39:30] What if we say, oh, wow, that's really cool. That's amazing. And you listen carefully and you say, let's talk with God about this. Let's pour out our hearts before God. What if after years of doing that, your children start to think, you know what?
[39:42] I'm going to talk with God about this first. He alone is going to be my refuge and my rock. Hit pause, be still, pray, pour out your heart.
[40:01] What if we did this as a church? What if all the activity and the planning and the things that we did, and rather than pouring all that frenetic energy into that, what if we first got together and we prayed together and talked with God, Lord, what do we do?
[40:19] Lord, here is what we're struggling with. Here's the situation. Here's what's hard about it. Here's what we wish were happening. Here's how we feel about it. Oh, Lord, what do we do?
[40:31] Oh, Lord, hear our prayer. Listen. Listen. Only once you have done this should you then start turning inwards and seeking counsel within yourself.
[40:44] That's when you can turn inward, only once you've prayed first. That's when you can turn outwards to other people and start seeking counsel and processing with them once you've prayed first and poured out your heart before the Lord.
[40:56] And what you'll actually find is that when you do that, that inward turn of your heart or the outward turn towards others, all of a sudden becomes so much better, so much more productive, so much more helpful, and quite frankly, so much more relieving for all the people around you.
[41:16] Because now you are turning there in wisdom. You are no longer seeking refuge within yourself. You're no longer seeking refuge from other people. You are no longer demanding what they cannot deliver.
[41:26] All of a sudden, you have healthy relationships. Only once you have done this can you then, once you've done this, this turn towards God, pouring out your heart before him, then, fixers, you can start acting.
[41:42] You can start fixing things. Because then you aren't just trying to get out of the hardship and avoid it. Like Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 that we read earlier, you have to first be able to say, before you take action, you first have to say, I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.
[42:02] You have to first be able to say, if at all possible, towards other people when you start sharing with them what's going on, you know, I've been pouring out my soul before the Lord. And by the way, just in case you're one of those people whose someone keeps pouring themselves out to you, if they're doing that regularly, instead of chiding them, like, go talk to God first, then come to me, a much better way to approach that is this.
[42:27] Listen to them, hear them, and then say, let's talk to God about this. Let me be your advocate before God. Let me serve as a priest of the living God for you. And let's talk with God about this.
[42:40] Let's pour out our hearts before God together. Let me serve as a priest. Now, why don't we do this? You know, Calvin talked about sometimes we've got this diseased heart that's trying to handle everything ourselves.
[42:56] But I think sometimes we think that the Lord, we don't understand that he is so holy and so good that he wants this from us.
[43:09] He wants us to pour out our hearts and that he can handle it and he enjoys it. He delights in our hearts poured out to him. It is a sacrifice that is pleasing in his sight for us to be honest.
[43:25] Maybe you think the Lord just will not put up with your fire hydrant heart. Maybe just the way other people have responded, they've shut you down, they've locked you out, they've run away from you when you're like this.
[43:35] Maybe he's just tired of you. Let me reassure you with these words from John Barrage.
[43:50] The word poor plainly signifies that the heart is full of grief and almost afraid to empty itself before the Lord.
[44:02] So that's John Barrage's response. He's saying, you know, sometimes we're just afraid to empty ourselves before the Lord. What does he say to you? Come and pour out all your trouble before me.
[44:13] He is never weary with hearing the complaints of his people. Therefore, you should go and keep nothing back. Tell him everything that hurts you and pour out all your complaints into his merciful bosom.
[44:29] That is a precious word. Pour out your heart before him. Make him your counselor and friend. You cannot please him better than when your hearts rely wholly upon him.
[44:44] You may tell him if you please. You have been so foolish as to look to this friend and the other for relief and found none and you now come to him who commands you to pour out your heart before him.
[45:00] first, remain still for a saving God. Second, entrust your heart to a sheltering God.
[45:15] And then third and finally, entrust your life to an unfailing God. Entrust your life to an unfailing God. David concludes Psalm 62 by showing us, he shows us two of the most significant places that fail to be the refuge we want them to be.
[45:37] Two of the most common places of refuge. And the first one is in verse 9 where David writes, those of low estate are but a breath. Those of high estate are a delusion.
[45:50] In the balances, they go up. They are together lighter than a breath. Both fixers and feelers, they may be tempted to turn to other people.
[46:03] You know, feelers demand that listening ear. Other people will be my listening ear. Fixers want the helping hand or they want other people to be an advocate for me, speak up for me, get on my side, get on my team.
[46:18] That's what David could have done when he was being confronted by people trying to bring him down. He could run and say, all right everybody, rally around me and let's fight back. And David instead says that all people, whether they're big or whether they're small, they are but a breath and a delusion.
[46:39] A vapor. David uses the vivid image of a balance, balance, one of those scales that has two pans on each side and you put a weight on one side and another weight on the other side and see which one outweighs the other.
[46:54] And one commentator writes, imagine trying to weigh a breath, which is what David calls people both small and great. Imagine trying to weigh that breath, the pan with this item of non-substance and it shoots into the air as the pan with the weights and it bangs down on the other side of the balance.
[47:15] This vivid picture in the balance is they go up, they shoot up. They are together lighter than a breath. There is no weight, there is no substance to other people.
[47:26] They disappear, they pass away, they don't last. They are a terrible refuge, they are a terrible place to put our trust. And then there is the other place of great trust in verse 10, our other solution where we try to find refuge.
[47:46] Put no trust in extortion, set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. Money and possessions, oh boy, oh boy.
[48:02] A feeler says, if only I had enough money or if only I had this or that or this or that, then I'd feel, whew, I'd feel like I'm safe, I'm secure. Life would be okay.
[48:13] A fixer springs into action and looks for ways to get that money or get those things as fast as possible. I want this, okay, I'm going to go out and buy it.
[48:27] Money answers everything. Sometimes the quickest way to safety, and this is why David emphasizes extortion and robbery, sometimes the quickest way to safety is getting money the sleazy way.
[48:40] And boy, there's no faster way than cheating someone or extorting someone or ripping someone off. But David says that whether gained honestly or whether gained dishonestly, don't set your heart on riches.
[48:54] Set not your heart on them. Don't trust your investments. Don't trust the deed on your property. Don't trust the balance in your bank account.
[49:05] This, too, will fail to be the refuge you want it to be. So where do you turn for refuge? Where do you turn for refuge when you are under assault or when you are enduring affliction?
[49:20] You entrust your life to an unfailing God. You entrust your life to an unfailing God. In verses 11 and 12, David concludes, once God has spoken, twice have I heard this, that power belongs to God and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love, for you will render to a man according to his work.
[49:49] David first reassures us power belongs to God. God. We have a God who is great, a God who is powerful, a God who is capable and can do whatever he wills.
[50:04] He is able to do whatever he wills, whatever he wants to do. This is the God who faced off against the army of Egypt at the shore of the Red Sea.
[50:16] And in Exodus chapter 14, we remember this scenario, this scene. Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord which he will work for you today.
[50:31] For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent. Does that sound like something we have heard?
[50:46] For God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. And Moses says, stand firm, see the salvation. You have only to be silent.
[50:58] A fixer wants to pull out the weapons and try to fight the huge Egyptian army coming at them. A feeler wants to run around complaining and crying out to all the people around them and complaining and crying out to Moses.
[51:13] But we pour our hearts before the Lord. We stand still. We stop. A worshiper knows God is great. God is powerful.
[51:24] You can remain still for a saving God. Maybe you don't struggle so much to believe that God is great and God is powerful.
[51:37] But, boy, just deep down you have this feeling that God, that, yeah, he's great, he's powerful, but he's harsh and severe like some of the authority figures I've known. And maybe his power is no comfort to you.
[51:51] Maybe you hide from him in this servile dread. And David reassures you, oh, this is not what God is like. In verse 12, he says, this is a God who is good.
[52:04] To you, oh Lord, belongs steadfast love. He is a God who is good, a God of steadfast love. He is gracious. He is gracious, showing kindness and favor that you and I don't deserve.
[52:18] He is gracious just as he is powerful. You can come to him in trembling fear and you can pour out your heart before him and know that he is not only great, he is good.
[52:35] Alistair Groves and Winston Smith, they've wrote a really helpful book called Untangling Emotions and they go into a lot more detail about how Psalm 62, verse 8, helps us unravel the emotions and the experience of our lives and they write these words, the Bible will not compromise on this point.
[52:55] We really can trust God. We have every reason to believe he is utterly committed to doing good to us and that he is more trustworthy in caring for us than we are in caring for ourselves ourselves.
[53:12] And we need every bit of it if we are going to pour out our hearts to him. It's all too instinctive for us to remain distant, disappointed, or demanding and as a result to pull back and keep our hearts to ourselves.
[53:31] God is good. God is gracious. And so you can entrust your heart to a sheltering God. And so we take comfort in the final line of verse 12.
[53:43] You will render to a man according to his work. That's not a threat. That's a promise. Fixers, take heart.
[53:55] When you find things that you just can't fix, God is going to set things right in the end. That's what his promise is. We want God to set things right in the end. He's going to do it. Even if you can't fix it, God will repay the wrongdoer.
[54:08] God will reward the faithful worshiper. He will take care of it. You can entrust your life to an unfailing God. It's not a call to being passive and inactive. This is a call to, hey, even if I can't fix it, God will take care of it.
[54:22] He will render to a man according to his work. God is great and God is good. And so this entire psalm leads us to long for this God. If God really is this great, if God really is this good, I want this God to be with us.
[54:37] I don't want him to be far off and distant and far away where he can't hear my prayer and hear my cry and attend to me. The good news of the Bible is that God is with us.
[54:50] God has come to be with us. God sent his only son, Jesus Christ. When Jesus walked on this earth, he was fully God and fully man.
[55:03] And guess what? He remains fully God and fully man. He will remain that way forever and ever. Even now, Jesus is just as human as he was when he walked the earth among us.
[55:17] And he always will be that way. He always will be sympathetic and understanding. He always will be awesome and powerful. And so not only is Jesus God with us, Emmanuel, Jesus also sets a perfect example for us to follow.
[55:33] He is our pioneer, showing us this new way to live in God's kingdom, in God's family, showing us the pathway because Jesus is the perfect man.
[55:45] He is not less human than you and I are. If anything, he is more human. And what I mean is that Jesus, just like David, Jesus did this even better than David did.
[55:56] Jesus remained still for a saving God. Jesus entrusted his heart to a sheltering God. Jesus entrusted his life to an unfailing God.
[56:09] You know, I can't say it any better than Groves and Smith do in their book where they say, let's start with the most vivid example, the Garden of Gethsemane.
[56:22] When Jesus says, my soul is very sorrowful even to death, what does he do? He falls on his knees and pours out his heart to his father just as Psalm 62 urges.
[56:39] What did it sound like? He didn't rail in anger or bargain. Instead, the cries that echoed through the trees to his disciples that night were the stuff of pure relationship and profound trust.
[56:55] In the simplest terms, Jesus put his heart, his pain, his hopes, and his horrified anticipation of agony in utterly trustworthy hands.
[57:08] Jesus actually needed to pray. He needed to bring his heart to his father to pour out his concerns for himself, for those he loved, and for his mission.
[57:19] into the only ears that truly understand all, the only hands that can truly help. And Jesus went to the cross that next morning in full obedience and total trust to his father.
[57:39] he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our sins.
[57:51] He was able to endure the entire storm of affliction that broke over him because Jesus knew how to pour out his heart before God.
[58:02] And Jesus died on that cross, but God raised him from the dead. and he did that so that you and I may have that same relationship with his father that he has.
[58:14] That you and I may pray with that same spirit of boldness and confidence that he prayed with. He died so that we would be forgiven of our sins, reconciled to God if we believe in him.
[58:29] And only if you believe in him can you have this kind of relationship with God where you can turn to him as your refuge. If you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ, you cannot do this.
[58:39] You cannot be a true worshiper. You must remain as the fixer or feeler. You must keep trying to get other people to be your refuge. You must keep trying to get yourself to be the refuge.
[58:51] And you will never know the real hope, the real peace, the real rest that comes from pouring out your heart before God, casting your anxieties on him because he cares for you, celebrating mourning as a true worshiper when life is good, mourning as a true lamenter when life is hard.
[59:14] Only by entrusting ourselves to him, only by believing that he died and rose again will you be saved from the penalty and the power of sin over you. And only then will you finally know the joy and finally know the experience of worship, of being a worshiper and being set free to pour out your heart before God just like Jesus.
[59:39] Father, I thank you that your son has pioneered the way for us. He showed us how to live. He is the perfect fulfillment of Psalm 62.
[59:50] It could have been him praying those prayers and in a sense it was. It was you were his refuge and strength.
[60:05] May we turn to you in the same way. He who knew your heart, may we know your heart in the same way and may we pour out our own hearts before you. Lord, teach us to relate to you in this way.
[60:18] Oh, if we did this, how transforming that would be in our own interior worlds, in our own minds, how transforming this would be to all of our relationships, how different we would be as a church, how different our families would be, I can't even begin to imagine.
[60:39] Lord, move us from doing this 0% of the time to 5% of the time. Lord, if there are people who are doing this 5% of the time, move them to 10%. Move us more and more progressively from one degree of glory to another.
[60:53] move us more and more to be like Jesus Christ. And if there is, if there are those who are listening who do not even have this relationship, this, this, with Jesus Christ, who do have not entrusted themselves to him and believed in him for eternal life, may you win them over.
[61:15] Open their eyes to see, give them eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to understand. that this is a God who is good, who is great, and who is with us. Lord God, show us that you are better and show us that you are a refuge for us.
[61:33] Amen.