WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 ...ones, in whom is all my delight. 00:00:04.560 --> 00:00:07.879 The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply. 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:13.599 Their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out, or take their names on my lips. 00:00:14.859 --> 00:00:17.420 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. 00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:19.219 You hold my lot. 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:22.280 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:24.660 Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:27.800 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel. 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:30.500 In the night also my heart instructs me. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.380 I have set the Lord always before me. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:37.060 Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:41.320 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices. 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:44.260 My flesh also dwells secure. 00:00:45.120 --> 00:00:49.380 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One seek corruption. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:52.340 You make known to me the path of life. 00:00:53.120 --> 00:00:55.000 In your presence there is fullness of joy. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.179 At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:05.000 For the next segment, Steve's going to share the message to you. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:07.640 I'm going to ask you to follow along. 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:08.460 I will see. 00:01:08.459 --> 00:01:20.939 I think it's obvious that you can often tell how someone's doing by how life is going for them, 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.059 by how they're acting or speaking. 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:26.519 We helped watch our neighbor's kids this week. 00:01:26.960 --> 00:01:30.540 And one of them was just in tears as he had to go to bed and put his toys away. 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:33.859 It was very obvious how he felt about that circumstance and situation. 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:35.900 It's like, you know, I don't want to go to bed. 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:37.799 He's setting the next toy in the pen. 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:44.799 And we all give off very clearly in different ways how we're feeling about what we're going through. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:51.879 And I think that the psalm tonight stands in contrast to that almost and in a challenge to that. 00:01:52.259 --> 00:01:56.539 And just that even in difficult circumstances, that God is good and that we find joy in him. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:57.579 He gives us joy. 00:01:57.579 --> 00:02:06.599 And so in the psalm, we see that it looks like David has either gone through a hard time recently or is going through a hard time. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.680 Verse 1, he's asking God to preserve him. 00:02:10.099 --> 00:02:17.639 And in verse 10, he mentions that basically he's almost seen death in something that's recently happened to him. 00:02:19.819 --> 00:02:24.680 And so this is David's attitude even in that difficult time. 00:02:24.939 --> 00:02:27.240 And it's impressive, as we'll see. 00:02:28.540 --> 00:02:33.560 And I think that he starts off towards the beginning saying, you know, I have no good apart from God. 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:40.520 In verse 4, he rejects and says, you know, the sorrows of those who run after another God will multiply. 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.660 And their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:52.200 And so he rejects up front, even though he's going through something difficult, other options or other attempts to fix what's going wrong. 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:56.600 I think it's really instinctive for us to try to fix what's wrong. 00:02:56.599 --> 00:02:58.460 I don't think that that's a bad thing. 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:03.439 I think we joke at my job, like I do software and website development. 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:06.240 And we joke that there weren't problems, we wouldn't have work. 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:09.700 And so, you know, I spend most of my day trying to fix problems. 00:03:09.699 --> 00:03:21.419 And I think that what probably happens with us and with serving, like, other gods and idols, like, things that we care about more than God himself, is that we misinterpret the problem there. 00:03:21.419 --> 00:03:27.000 The problem is not necessarily with the situation, the problem is more with ourself. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:39.080 And that when we're taking on idols or trying to worship other gods alongside God, we're saying we're basically trying to use more of ourself to fix the problem with ourself. 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:47.520 And so we need to look to God, who is outside of ourselves, to come in and work on us in difficult circumstances. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:54.719 And in contrasting those idols into the struggles we may face, we know that God is good. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:04:06.719 And in verses 5 through 6, David really clearly contrasts the goodness of God with just kind of the foolishness of the other options when we're going through something hard. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:13.620 He says, the Lord is my chosen portion, my cup, which kind of contrasts with the drink offerings that he talks about in verse 4. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:16.160 And he says, you know, I have a beautiful inheritance. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:18.899 And just picture, you know, vast land. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:27.060 When he says the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places, think about the boundary markers of property, which we don't see in the city much. 00:04:27.100 --> 00:04:31.040 But I grew up in the country, so I can actually think of seeing boundary markers and, like, lines of property. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:37.379 And he's saying, no, there's this vast inheritance versus the sorrows multiplying. 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:46.400 And even more than that, this is something, you know, David shows full confidence in God. 00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:50.600 You know, he says, my heart is glad my whole being rejoices. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.280 So he feels just every bit about him, just fully secure in God. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:03.019 And like I said before, he says, you know, he's basically stared death in the face, but he trusts God, even in that instance. 00:05:03.799 --> 00:05:06.799 Just that because the Lord is at his right hand, he won't be shaken. 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:12.639 And so all the language he's using here is just showing just complete confidence in God. 00:05:13.799 --> 00:05:16.359 And absolute fearlessness in the face of the situation. 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:28.800 And I think that, you know, that steadfastness and that security in God, what's interesting about this psalm is that it's, you know, it's later applied to Jesus, part of it. 00:05:29.259 --> 00:05:34.460 And it's applied to how God was faithful to Jesus in his death and his resurrection. 00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:48.359 And so when it talks about, you know, you won't let, you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, both Paul and Peter and Acts used that to say, you know, well, David ultimately died, even though he was protected in this instance. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:49.399 He went to the grave. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.219 But Jesus was raised to life. 00:05:52.919 --> 00:05:56.019 And the ultimate fulfillment of the promises here are in Jesus. 00:05:56.019 --> 00:06:03.539 And so I think that that, you know, David had the work of the Lord in his life and God was working with him. 00:06:03.599 --> 00:06:06.859 But we even have a clearer picture of what God has done in Jesus. 00:06:07.719 --> 00:06:13.319 And so when I see promises like, you know, I bless the Lord who gives me counsel, I think of the word that I hold here. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.639 And I think of the people that I sit among here who give me counsel. 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:23.199 When I think of, you know, in the night my heart instructs me, I think about the security with which I can rescue tonight. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.019 Because I know that Jesus is caring for his people. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.939 And I think of you won't abandon my soul to Sheol. 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:33.279 I think of the promise of the resurrection in Jesus that we share in. 00:06:34.060 --> 00:06:37.539 So I think that Jesus makes a lot of the promises here really clear. 00:06:39.139 --> 00:06:48.240 And what's interesting and convicting to me is that it goes beyond just that God is good, but that David acutely feels and knows that God is good. 00:06:49.579 --> 00:06:50.339 Verse 11. 00:06:50.339 --> 00:06:53.439 You make known to me the path of life. 00:06:54.119 --> 00:06:55.919 In your presence there is fullness of joy. 00:06:56.359 --> 00:06:58.539 And at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 00:06:59.539 --> 00:07:00.719 And there are other places too. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:01.819 We mentioned verse 9. 00:07:01.899 --> 00:07:02.739 My heart is glad. 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:04.919 You know, back in verse 1 it says, 00:07:05.019 --> 00:07:05.759 You are my Lord. 00:07:05.839 --> 00:07:07.199 I have no good apart from you. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:12.899 And so there's something more than just an assent to the fact that God is good here. 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:16.879 I assent every year to the fact that I have to pay my taxes. 00:07:17.500 --> 00:07:21.779 Because I don't, like, I let them come out of my paycheck and I don't try to swindle the government from them. 00:07:22.179 --> 00:07:25.539 But that's very different than finding joy. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:30.519 We know there's a difference between affirming something and really delighting in something or loving something. 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:36.379 I can tell you things that I'm very excited about for entertainment that are coming out. 00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:39.299 I can tell you about good friends that I have or how much I love Lauren. 00:07:39.979 --> 00:07:43.079 And we know, like, all those things are true. 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:46.639 But some of them are distinctly more meaningful to us. 00:07:48.419 --> 00:08:00.099 And I think that that's when the work of the Christian life and the work of prayer and living each day is really moving from, you know, 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:04.459 knowing that God is good to really growing and really specific with him. 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:11.259 Knowing that these promises are true and that they really matter to how we live day to day. 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:14.899 And that Jesus is really with us and we will not be shaken. 00:08:16.099 --> 00:08:18.779 And I think we learn that through the difficulties. 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:24.920 I know I've shared with my community group that just last week, you know, 00:08:24.939 --> 00:08:27.480 I spent a long time preparing for, like, full-time ministry. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.439 And I'm working in a totally different industry now than I expected to be doing what I'm doing right now. 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:35.120 And, you know, the Lord's been really good in that. 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:37.679 You know, I'm going into, I've had a good job. 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:38.939 I'm going into another good job. 00:08:38.940 --> 00:08:47.280 And it's learning God's goodness in situations not always dependent on what we see. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:51.940 And so I think that if we, you know, wrap back around, 00:08:52.300 --> 00:08:57.840 it's not necessarily that the situation is good or bad in our attitude towards that, 00:08:57.880 --> 00:09:04.380 but that the situation that we have with Jesus and the way that God loves us supersedes all other situations that we're in. 00:09:04.379 --> 00:09:12.320 And so his promise of goodness looks so great in life, so much greater than anything else that we face. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:12.480 Thank you.