So, what determines the impact that hardship has on our soul, on our faith?
And the first question that this psalm would have us ask is,
Is God primary in your heart?
Is He the first thing? Is He the main thing?
Does He take priority over everything else in your heart?
Over the last few months, I've actually learned a lot about myself
and how I respond in the face of challenge and hardship.
For instance, when COVID first hit back in March,
when we began to realize how big this thing was and how life-altering it was going to be,
the first thing I did, my knee-jerk response, was to dive into the news,
to dive into the internet.
And I just started voraciously reading everything I could get my hands on.
And it was only after the fact, weeks later,
that I realized that my first response was not to go to my knees in prayer.
My first response was to dive into the internet
and to try to read as much as I possibly could.
And as I've reflected about that in the subsequent weeks,
I've realized that I think one of the things that I was trying to do there
and one of my patterns is that when I face hardship,
it makes me feel out of control.
And so my knee-jerk reaction is to want to try to regain
as much of a sense of control as possible.
And for me, that often looks like trying to learn as much as I can
and get my mind around something so that I can then feel that I'm in control again.
And so another way of saying this is what I've learned about myself is
when I face hardship, my tendency is to run to the God of control,
to go to the altar of control,
and to put my hope in and to make that need for control primary in my life.
And that's where I go for comfort.
And so just realizing that about my own heart has been tremendously helpful.
And so as we talk about idols,
idols are anything that we run to for that sense of comfort, right?
Idols are the things that we go to as a knee-jerk reaction when we face hardship.
And so an idol is anything that we look to as a replacement for God.
Anything that we look to to give us things that only God can give us.
And in Scripture, we see three ways that we can do this,
three sort of categories of idolatry.
First, the first category is people can take anything,
any ordinary thing out of life,
whether it's a thing or a person or a relationship or an idea,
we can take ordinary things and turn them into idols that we worship.
So we can do this with control.
We can do this with money.
We can do this with politics.
We can do this with success.
We can do this with our kids.
We can take any ordinary thing and begin treating it like a God,
making it primary in our hearts.
But there's a second category that this psalm draws our attention to
that merits a little bit of reflection on our parts.
In some cases, idols can actually have a real spiritual force behind them.
It's not just a cognitive thing.
Idols can actually have a spiritual force behind them.
David says in verse 1,
Before the gods I sing your praise.
He says before the gods.
Now what's he talking about there?
Well, there's various explanations for what he's talking about.
But what we realize, if we take into account all of Scripture,
is that there are several places in the Bible
where Scripture seems to suggest
that there are numerous supernatural beings
that exist beyond our perception.
That it's not just God and God alone.
There are in fact all kinds of spiritual beings that exist,
even though we can't perceive them.
So for instance, Psalm 82 talks about God taking his place in the divine council.
That's a very mysterious reference.
Job makes a similar reference as well.
And then when we look in the New Testament,
Paul, a very well-known passage in Ephesians,
Paul says there that our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the spiritual rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
So all of these would lead us to believe
that there are actually spiritual beings,
entities that exist and that impact human lives
and impact the world in various ways.
And so we need to recognize that some of our idols
actually have a spiritual force behind them.
In some cases, a malevolent spiritual force behind them.
I think that there's a way in which things like anger,
rage and resentment,
things like fear,
things like lust,
that these things can gain such a power over us.
They can come to dominate us so much
that we recognize that there's a spiritual force driving them.
So this is another thing that we need to understand about idolatry.
And then the third thing that we need to recognize,
or a third form of idolatry,
is this happens when we think that we are worshiping the true God of Scripture.
And yet, in fact, what we've done is we have refashioned that idea that we have of God
into the kind of God that we would prefer to believe in,
that we would prefer to worship.
And so we've actually lost sight of the true God,
and we're worshiping a God of our own imagination.
One of the things that we need to ask ourselves from time to time is,
as I think about the God I believe in,
does that God just happen to agree with me on every major issue?
So if you think about the God that you worship,
does that God just happen to agree with you on every major issue?
Do they share all of your social stances?
Do they share your political views?
Does that God just happen to kind of align with you in all of those ways?
And then I would say, if that's the case,
don't you think that's an odd coincidence?
That the infinite God of the universe who created the cosmos
just happens to line up with you on every major issue?
And if that's the case,
we need to recognize that we have probably recast God in our own image
rather than worshiping the God of Scripture.
And the thing that we need to recognize about idols is,
the problem is,
idols don't often look like idols.
The problem with idols is they look exactly like God,
just without the parts that we don't like.
And so we need to be very discerning in,
when we worship God,
what God are we worshiping?
Are we worshiping the true God of Scripture?
And if we want a strong soul,
if we want that kind of resilience in our faith,
the first thing that we need to make sure of
is that we're worshiping the true God
rather than an idol,
something that we've turned into a God
or some way that we have reimagined God
to fit our liking.
And so as David says in verse 2,
God has exalted His name and His word above all things.
And so one of the places that we go to make sure
we're worshiping the God of the Bible is Scripture.
And we want to compare our idea of God
with the way God has revealed His name
and revealed His nature through His word.
So this is the first thing that we see in this psalm
and in David's life.
God was always primary.
And any time that David fell into sin
or rebelled against God,
it was always connected to the fact
that God had ceased to be primary in his heart.
The second thing that we see in this psalm,
the second question that we might ask is,
are God's purposes the aim of your life?
Are God's purposes the aim of your life?
David says in verse 8,
The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.
Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
And I love this.
No matter what David faced,
whether it was in a time of flourishing
or a time of suffering,
in good times and hard times,
David's starting place for making sense of his life
was the assumption that no matter what,
God's purposes were unfolding in his life.
No matter what the circumstances may be,
he knew God loves me,
His steadfast love is with me,
and God's purposes are unfolding in my life.
And that was the foundation
of how he made sense of everything else.
And what's amazing is,
that was David's assumption,
but David had no idea how God might use him.
But we see much later in Scripture,
in Acts chapter 13,
Paul is preaching a sermon,
and he's recounting all of the ways
that God has worked throughout history.
He's recounting the story of Israel.
And at one point in this sermon,
in Acts chapter 13,
he says,
for David,
after he had served the purpose of God
in his own generation,
fell asleep and was laid with his fathers.
Isn't that fantastic?
I love,
it's one of my favorite places in Acts.
He summarizes David's entire life
with these words.
He served God's purposes
in his own generation.
It reminds me of people like Esther,
if you know the story of Esther.
You know,
Esther,
whom God,
the most unlikely person,
whom God positioned
in the halls of power
for such a time as this,
so that she was able
to be used by God
to save thousands of people
from being annihilated.
She served God's purposes
in her own generation,
and then she was laid to rest.
And I gotta be honest,
as I've thought about that
over the years,
man,
I hope somebody says that
about me when I die.
I hope that after I am gone
that people say,
you know,
he served God's purposes
in his own generation,
and then he was laid to rest
with his fathers.
I hope people say that about me.
I hope they don't say
he spent all of his time
on his iPhone.
I hope they say
he served God's purposes.
I can't imagine anything better
for somebody to say about you
after you pass away.
And so the question
that I want you to think about is,
what do you hope
that people say about you?
After you're gone,
after you're laid to rest,
how would you want somebody
to summarize your life?
What would you want them
to say about you?
And so in other words,
what is the aim of your life?
What are you focused on?
Another way of thinking about this,
or asking the question,
would be to say,
how do you define success
in your life?
What's your definition
of a life well lived?
This is something
really worth thinking about.
Because it's easy
to start going down
a path in life,
aiming at the things
that we think
that we should be aiming at,
but never really taking
the time to ask ourselves
and to ask the Lord,
what does a life well lived
actually look like?
What am I actually aiming at?
What does success mean?
Is a successful life,
does that mean
being financially stable?
And if so,
what does that mean?
How much do you need
in the bank
to feel financially stable?
Is a successful life,
does that mean
that you get married?
Does it mean
that you have kids?
Does it mean
that your kids
turn out well
and don't hate you too much
when they grow up?
Does it mean
that you get a PhD
and then you've arrived?
Does it mean
that you make a difference
and have a lasting impact
in the world,
a kind of legacy?
What does a successful life
actually mean?
Is it just to be healthy,
free from suffering,
happy, content?
If you had to sit down
and write it out
on a piece of paper,
how would you answer
this question?
Because the thing is,
all of those things
that I've just described,
they're all goals
that are good,
that people aim at,
that we hope we have,
but none of those things
is guaranteed.
None of the things
on that list
are guaranteed.
You might have money,
you might not.
You might be destitute.
You might do all
the right things
and still be destitute.
You might be healthy,
you might not.
You might end up
struggling with chronic pain
that you never thought
that you would have
to deal with.
You might run every day
and be super healthy
and eat all the right foods
and get cancer.
None of these things
are guaranteed.
None of these things
can we count on.
There's only one thing,
in fact,
as we think about
what is the aim of my life,
there's only one real thing
that we can aim at
that is guaranteed.
And that is,
if the aim of your life
is to serve God's purposes,
that is absolutely guaranteed.
It will happen.
If you want to give yourself
to God
and you want to say,
I want my life to be about
serving your purposes,
God can and will use you.
And it's a completely different way
of thinking about life
and it's a completely different way
of defining success.
If you give your life to God,
just like David,
just like Esther,
just like Moses,
just like all of these people
we read about in Scripture,
God can and will use you
for His purposes.
And if that is your metric
for success,
it makes all of the difference.
Because whether you're rich
or poor,
whether you're single
or married,
whether you have kids
or don't have kids,
whether you have a job
that you love
or a job that you just tolerate,
whether you're healthy
or you struggle with health issues
all of your life,
no matter what your life looks like,
the one thing that you can count on,
the one thing that you know for sure
is that God is using
everything in your life
to serve His purposes.
God doesn't waste any of it.
It all gets wrapped into,
woven into,
this great unfolding tapestry
of history
that is God's sovereign will.
And so here's the thing
that we need to wrestle with.
It could be
that the greatest
you ever achieve
in your life
is middle management.
It could be
that that's as far as you get.
You know,
for those of us
who are entering
the kind of middle years of life,
I think one of the biggest fears
that many of us have,
the fear is not so much
a fear of failure.
The fear is a fear
of mediocrity.
It's a fear
of only ever
being okay
but never really
being the best
at anything.
It's a fear
of achieving
mediocrity
and recognizing
that's all I was able
to do in my life.
And maybe
that's how the world
sees you.
Maybe according
to the world's economy
and the world's metrics
for success,
that's how you get labeled.
But let me tell you this.
If you are the kind
of person
who has given
your life to God
and aimed your life
at God's purposes,
when you pass away,
when you are laid to rest
as Scripture says,
all of the hosts
of heaven
will sing out
in praise to God
as they welcome you home
and they will cry out,
there is one
who served God's purposes
in their generation.
All of the heavenly hosts
will celebrate
as you come home.
They'll drown out
the voices of the world.
And of course,
the greatest example
of this
is the cross itself.
You know,
when Jesus Christ
allowed himself
to be executed,
there weren't people
standing around saying,
look at this example
of greatness.
Look at this example
of success.
Look at how amazing
this man is.
Look at what he's willing
to do for the people
he loves.
No, nobody said that.
No, he died
a common death
of a common criminal
executed like a traitor
to the empire.
And that was it.
And then everybody
went home
and nobody celebrated.
And yet,
in the eyes of heaven,
as that happened
on the cross,
there were shouts
of joy and triumph
because finally,
victory over sin
and death
had been won.
So we need to ask ourselves,
whose metrics
define success for us?
What are we aiming at?
What is our life
really about?
What voices
am I going to listen to?
What are my priorities?
And you know,
I know that there is
great hardship right now.
I know that there's
tremendous unrest.
I know that COVID-19
has disrupted
virtually every aspect
of life.
I know that there's
political turmoil.
I know that there's
deep social animosity
and division.
I know all of these
things are true.
But there is also
an opportunity here
for us to completely
re-examine
what we are aiming
at in life.
What matters?
And if you want
strength in your soul
to be resilient
and to be the kind
of person that
when you face hardship
your trust grows,
your faith grows.
If you want to be
that kind of person,
first make sure
that God is primary
in your heart
and not some substitute
God in His place.
Put your faith
and your trust in Jesus.
Exalt God's Word
in your own life
the way God does.
And then make
God's purpose
the aim of your life
so that no matter
what circumstances
you find yourself in
you know
He is using me
even now.
If you do these things
no matter what may come
God will fulfill
His purposes
in your life.
And one day
when you have been
laid to rest
until Jesus comes again
people will say of you
there is someone
who served God's purposes
in their own generation.
Let's pray.
Lord we thank you
and
we pray that
even as we
reflect on
these words
and on
your people
whom we read about
in Scripture
we pray that this
would give us
the courage
to re-examine
our own lives
and our own hearts.
That we would
have
a vision
of life
that reflects
your glory
and reflects
your purposes
and that the voices
of the world
and the metrics
of the world
would be distant
and that they would
fade in the light
of your glory
and your unfolding
sovereign plan
in the world.
Lord we want
nothing more
than to be part of that
and we pray this
in your Son's
holy name.
Amen.