WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.400 So one of the questions we're always asking when we read Psalm is what is this Psalm about? 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:11.359 And most people agree that it's actually pretty clear what Psalm 81 is about because one way 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.759 you can know is just is a word repeated over and over again. 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:18.800 And when you get to Psalm 81, the word that's repeated over and over again is the word to 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:20.920 listen or to hear. 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:26.760 So the theme verse is verse eight where God says, here, O my people, while I admonish 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:27.760 you. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.360 I can't tell you how much Israel, if you would, but listen to me. 00:00:30.360 --> 00:00:33.399 And so he says here and then he says listen. 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:35.560 But in Hebrew, those are the same words. 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:40.600 So he's repeating this idea of keeping our ears open to God for emphasis. 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:43.400 And then he says it again in verse 11, verse 13. 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:45.640 He's calling us to hear him. 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:53.520 And one of the interesting things about Psalm 81 is we talk about the Psalms as if, and 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:55.799 they are. 00:00:55.799 --> 00:00:58.919 They're where we go to raise our voices up to God. 00:00:58.919 --> 00:01:03.359 So we go to the Psalms and we sing these songs to God. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:09.719 But when you get to Psalm 81, almost the entire Psalm is actually God speaking to us. 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:14.039 So it's like here in the middle of the Psalms, God interrupts our worship. 00:01:14.039 --> 00:01:18.039 And he comes down to us and it's as if he's saying, you know, you're raising your voices 00:01:18.039 --> 00:01:21.359 to me and you're asking me to hear you. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.560 But here in Psalm 81 he says, but are you listening to me? 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:30.359 You know, even as you come together and worship me, do you actually hear what I have to say? 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:34.280 And to be honest, the news in Psalm 81 is not great news on the face of it because God 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.280 is saying my people are not listening to me. 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:43.560 And it's a part of what he's doing is this is an indictment against the people. 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.000 And it's an indictment against ancient Israel. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.680 This is, you know, two, three, three thousand years old. 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:50.760 And so in one sense, this is very distant from us. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:58.240 But our series is called Songs for Life because the assumption is that when we go to the Psalms, 00:01:58.240 --> 00:02:05.439 even if it's about the Israelites, we see ourselves and that God actually placed these 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:08.599 texts here for us to see our own hearts. 00:02:08.599 --> 00:02:13.640 And if that's true, then whenever God says, will you hear me? 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:15.240 Why don't you hear me? 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:16.840 He's not just talking to the Israelites. 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:17.840 He's talking to us. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:23.200 And he's saying one of our problems is even though we claim to want to follow God so often, 00:02:23.200 --> 00:02:25.520 we don't hear what he has to say. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:29.520 And so the question this morning is really simple, which is why is it so hard for us sometimes 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:31.439 to listen to what God has to say? 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:33.640 And that's all I want to talk about this morning. 00:02:33.640 --> 00:02:38.039 And I want to give three reasons why I think from this text, sometimes it's hard for us 00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:41.840 to hear God and then what we can do about it. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:45.120 And the first reason is this, it's faulty memory. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:49.719 We forget who, by that I mean, we forget who God has been for us in the past. 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:52.920 And that actually limits our willingness and our ability to hear what he has to say in 00:02:52.920 --> 00:02:54.840 the present. 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:58.400 And that's not just some spiritual fact. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:03.200 I mean, that's the way that we communicate with other people is your willingness to listen 00:03:03.200 --> 00:03:05.960 to another person is based on who you know them to be, right? 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:11.599 So what was the problem with the boy who cried wolf? 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.400 We knew that the boy who cried wolf was a liar so that when he actually wanted us to 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:18.560 listen to him, nobody cared what he had to say. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:22.079 And so if you know that someone has a history of lying, you're not going to listen to them. 00:03:22.079 --> 00:03:23.599 But the flip side is also true, right? 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:27.680 So say you have a best friend that you've known since childhood and they have been with 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:29.639 you through thick and through thin. 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:30.879 They've been loyal to you. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:31.879 They've seen you at your worst. 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:33.280 They've seen you at your best. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:37.840 You know, when you needed help, they were the one that came to you and say that friend 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:42.640 comes to you one day and says, you know, you have a problem, whether that's drinking or 00:03:42.640 --> 00:03:45.280 anger or something. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:49.000 Even if you don't like that message, you're going to listen to what they have to say because 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:53.480 they've proven themselves faithful and steadfast to you. 00:03:53.480 --> 00:04:00.439 So who we know a person to be affects our willingness to listen to them. 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:06.920 And when we get to Psalm 81, almost all of the first seven verses of the Psalm is God 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:11.599 telling us who he has been to the Israelites. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:13.239 And there's an implicit criticism in that. 00:04:13.239 --> 00:04:18.959 And the criticism is he's telling them, if you really remembered who I have been to you 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:22.479 throughout all these centuries, you would listen to me. 00:04:22.479 --> 00:04:27.319 So he's almost accusing them of having either a bad memory or of ignoring what the relationship 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.759 has been in the past. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:35.360 And so the whole Psalm is structured around this idea that remembering like for us, remembering 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:40.120 our history with God and what he has done for us is essential to our ability to listen 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:41.639 to him. 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:47.560 So when you read this Psalm, one thing you notice is God doesn't just tell us about himself. 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:50.840 He tells us about himself and who he has been for us. 00:04:50.840 --> 00:04:55.439 So if you look at verse one, he says, well, excuse me, this isn't God talking, but still 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:57.639 God is navigating this conversation. 00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:02.120 It says sing aloud to God our strength. 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:05.000 Shout for joy to the God of Jacob. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.160 So the Psalmist could have said sing aloud to God who is strong. 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:10.160 And he would have been right to do that. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:11.839 And some of the Psalmists do say that. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:14.279 But what he says here is sing aloud to God our strength. 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:18.439 So he's saying, we're not just worshiping God because he's strong. 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:22.279 We're worshiping God because he has been strong for us. 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:26.680 And the same thing when he says sing aloud to the God of Jacob, we're not just praising 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:30.279 the God of the universe, even though we are praising the God of the universe. 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:34.199 We're praising the God who even though he was the creator of the universe, he came down 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:37.399 and entered into a relationship with us. 00:05:37.399 --> 00:05:42.439 And that means that we, it doesn't just mean that we're obligated to listen to him. 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:46.639 It means that it makes sense to listen to him because he's been so good to us. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.120 And then when you get to verse six, which is actually where God starts speaking for 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:59.319 himself, God says, well, every line starting in verse six is a reference to a different 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:05.000 story of when God came to his people and saved them when they had no hope. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:10.199 So in verse six, he says, I relieved you, I relieved your shoulder of the burdens and 00:06:10.199 --> 00:06:13.000 your hands were free from the basket. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:18.039 And that's a reference to when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and they carried these 00:06:18.039 --> 00:06:20.279 heavy baskets and all these things. 00:06:20.279 --> 00:06:25.600 And God is now saying, remember that time and remember when you had no hope, you had absolutely 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:28.759 no hope, I was your liberator. 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:30.240 And each line is a different reference. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:33.839 I just want to point out the last line to you, the last line of verse seven, because 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:38.199 you may be less familiar with this story, but it's just as important. 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:43.279 He just says briefly, he says, I tested you at the waters of Marybeth. 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:47.120 And you can go read that story in Exodus chapter 17. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:53.959 But what happened at Marybeth was the people have just been, just think of all these events. 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:58.680 The people have been freed from Egypt through these miraculous plagues that God has sent. 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:04.399 When they're about to be annihilated by the army of Egypt, God opens the sea so they can 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.599 walk through and he saves them. 00:07:06.599 --> 00:07:11.240 And then they are out in the wilderness and they get hungry and they get thirsty. 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:16.039 And already by the time of Marybeth, God has provided for them in miraculous ways. 00:07:16.039 --> 00:07:20.159 And then you get to Marybeth and the people are thirsty again. 00:07:20.159 --> 00:07:21.959 And they begin to complain to Moses. 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:28.359 And one of the things they say to Moses is they say, it would have been better for us 00:07:28.359 --> 00:07:35.079 if we had never left Egypt, which almost sounds like saying it would have been better for 00:07:35.079 --> 00:07:40.719 us if we had never met this God Yahweh in the first place. 00:07:40.719 --> 00:07:46.719 They were hopeless in that present moment because they had forgotten how good God had 00:07:46.719 --> 00:07:49.399 been to them in the past. 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:52.120 And Psalm 81 calls that a test. 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:57.519 He said, I tested you at the waters of Marybeth because God was testing them. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:07:59.519 Would they be faithful to him in hard times? 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:01.399 Would they be able to trust him in hard times? 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:02.799 And they failed the test. 00:08:02.799 --> 00:08:07.039 And what's even more amazing is that even though they failed the test and they complained 00:08:07.039 --> 00:08:10.399 about God, God still provided for them. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:15.000 This is the story whenever Moses takes his staff and touches a rock and water, gushes 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:16.000 out of it. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.879 But even in their faithfulness, God still provided for them. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.319 And again, the question is why dredge up all this history? 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:26.000 Why remind them this in Psalm 81? 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.079 And it's not because God is a narcissist. 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:34.879 And it's not because he has this need to say how great he is, even though he has every 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:36.399 right to say how great he is. 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:38.120 What he's doing in here is for a purpose. 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:43.440 And he's saying, it's actually the most selfless thing he could do, the most loving thing he 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:48.640 could do, because he's saying, remember how good I have been to you so that you can be 00:08:48.640 --> 00:08:54.120 wise in the present moment when you decide whether to listen to me or not. 00:08:54.120 --> 00:08:58.120 And so we can pause that narrative and put the question back on ourselves and say, why 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:01.120 is it so hard for us to listen to God sometimes? 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:08.480 And one of the answers has to be that we forget how good God has been to us in the past. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:13.639 And because we forget, and the more that we forget, we're unwilling to trust him in the 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:20.399 present. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:24.639 We cannot live the Christian life, and we cannot live through all the hard times in 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:28.240 this life unless we remember how good God has been to us. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:29.600 And God has been really good. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:35.920 And in fact, all of Christianity, the whole gospel, is based on this radical proposition 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:42.240 that what, just what if, even if you're a skeptic of Christianity, what if there is 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:50.079 a God who is infinitely powerful and infinitely wise, and not just that, what if that infinitely 00:09:50.079 --> 00:09:56.120 wise and powerful God actually loved you so much that he came down from heaven and became 00:09:56.120 --> 00:10:02.319 a man and gave his life to save you and to rescue you, and that even in the moments when 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.920 you're unfaithful, he still stands by you and loves you. 00:10:05.920 --> 00:10:08.120 Say that's a what if. 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:14.640 If that were true, would it not be good and wise and right to listen to what that God 00:10:14.640 --> 00:10:19.480 had to say because of who he was? 00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:22.720 And even a skeptic might say, well, that's just not true. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:28.680 But if a skeptic were to say, well, a skeptic would say, if that were true, then of course 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:33.439 we would listen to him because he is good and wise and not just because of that because 00:10:33.439 --> 00:10:37.519 he has entered into a relationship and he loves us. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:48.799 And that's what God is saying here in Psalm 81 is remember how kind I have been to you 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:53.319 and let that dictate whether you'll listen to me in the present. 00:10:53.319 --> 00:10:57.000 And so then the obvious question is how do we fix that faulty memory? 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.480 And there's a lot of answers we could give. 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:02.480 I mean, God has communicated himself to us in his word. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:07.120 And so we have to actively go back to his word over and over again and listen. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:08.120 What does he have to tell us? 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:12.080 And then we go to things like small groups and we hear other people say how they have 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:15.000 seen God be faithful to them in their lives. 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:21.679 And we remind ourselves every day this really is a good God who loves us. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:28.639 I heard someone one time say that the whole Bible paints a picture of God and you could 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:33.519 actually read a very small portion of it and know everything you need to know to be saved. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:37.719 But the more you read the Bible and the more you understand how that story fits into our 00:11:37.719 --> 00:11:43.039 lives, the more you see the fuller picture and how beautiful God actually is and it changes 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:44.039 you. 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:47.079 So the first problem we have here in the Psalm, why can't we listen to God? 00:11:47.079 --> 00:11:49.279 And one answer is our faulty memory. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:52.000 We forget how good he's been to us in the past. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.679 The second reason is this interference. 00:11:54.679 --> 00:12:00.399 And when I say interference, I mean we allow other voices to speak to us and we give them 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:03.879 the place that only God should have in our lives. 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:10.639 So if you look at verse eight, God says, here, oh, my people, while I admonish you, oh, Israel, 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:15.319 if you would but listen to me, there shall be no strange God among you. 00:12:15.319 --> 00:12:18.879 You shall not bow down to a foreign God. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:20.120 Now that's the first commandment. 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.000 So he's saying, he's repeating the first commandment and saying, you shall not worship 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.360 another God. 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:28.200 And God here is not just pointing to a hypothetical problem. 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:34.120 When you read the Old Testament, it is filled with stories of people, of God's people, even 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:39.299 while they would say we still love God and want to follow him, they would go worship 00:12:39.299 --> 00:12:40.759 other gods at the same time. 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:45.919 They would go worship the God Bail in the high places. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:51.519 And what God does here in this psalm is he doesn't just say that is bad and it's wrong, 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:53.039 even though he does say that. 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:54.879 He explains why it's wrong. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:57.559 And I want to talk through that logic for just a minute. 00:12:57.559 --> 00:12:59.639 So if you look, so in verse, what is it? 00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:03.039 Verse nine, where he says there shall be no strange gods among you. 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:07.719 And then in verse 10, he says, I'm the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land 00:13:07.719 --> 00:13:08.719 of Egypt. 00:13:08.719 --> 00:13:12.559 So he's repeating that theme of don't forget who saved you. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:19.879 And then he says, open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:22.959 And that may seem like some disjointed logic at first. 00:13:22.959 --> 00:13:24.799 So he says, don't worship idols. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:29.079 And then he says, open your mouth wide and I will fill it, which is like hunger language. 00:13:29.079 --> 00:13:31.439 I will satisfy you. 00:13:31.439 --> 00:13:37.079 And the point that he's making is you are going to idols because you're looking to be 00:13:37.079 --> 00:13:38.079 satisfied. 00:13:38.079 --> 00:13:40.719 There's something missing that you're looking to be satisfied. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.800 And you're going to the idols to be satisfied. 00:13:44.800 --> 00:13:49.080 But if you would come to me, I would give you as much satisfaction as you could possibly 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:51.960 long for. 00:13:51.960 --> 00:14:00.600 And what he's doing is he's locating the issue of idolatry in the context of satisfaction. 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.879 So he's saying, you go to these idols because you want them to bless you. 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:09.160 You want to be blessed or you want to be protected or you want to be content and you go to those 00:14:09.159 --> 00:14:14.120 idols and God's saying, I'm the only one who can truly satisfy the deepest longings of your 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:15.120 heart. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:20.399 I heard a pastor one time say, it's not that God is saying, please pick me. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.639 It's that he's saying, no one else is coming for you. 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:26.079 You worship these things that aren't real. 00:14:26.079 --> 00:14:31.279 And I'm the only one who has ever been here saying, I will be with you till the end. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:38.000 And idolatry can sound like a foreign language because few of us are tempted to worship things 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:43.399 like animal gods and gods of fertility and gods of the sun. 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:48.039 But the way that this connects to us is the fact that God places this all in the context 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:52.720 of satisfaction because all of us are looking for satisfaction. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:59.600 And it's so easy to search for satisfaction in something else in a way that only God can 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:00.600 provide it. 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:06.600 And so the challenge for us is not saying, what gods are we worshiping in our house? 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:08.440 What idols do we need to throw in the trash can? 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:13.440 But he's saying, where are we looking for satisfaction in a place that only God can provide it? 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:18.960 And one example, just one example, even though there's many would be money. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:25.519 And Colin came up here and gave an amazing presentation on the good power that money 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:28.800 can have for the kingdom. 00:15:28.800 --> 00:15:30.920 You could say that money is morally neutral. 00:15:30.920 --> 00:15:33.800 I guess that's another theological topic we can talk about another time. 00:15:33.800 --> 00:15:36.080 But it has a tremendous power for good. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:40.360 And yet over and over again in the New Testament, Jesus has to warn the people that are listening 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:44.560 to him, be careful about the power that money can have over you. 00:15:44.560 --> 00:15:47.759 And he actually sometimes talks about it in terms of idolatry. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:53.120 So there's a point where he says, don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but 00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.639 store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. 00:15:55.639 --> 00:16:00.360 And he concludes that by saying, no one can serve two masters. 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.960 You cannot serve both God and money. 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:05.280 And that's idolatry language. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:11.319 He's saying some of you are looking for money to provide a comfort and a sense of protection. 00:16:11.319 --> 00:16:15.240 And money does offer a sense of protection sometimes. 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:19.720 If you have enough money, you can keep yourself safe. 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:21.279 It does offer a level of comfort. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:25.159 But he's saying make sure that the comfort you're looking for isn't the comfort that 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:27.839 should only come from God. 00:16:27.839 --> 00:16:34.839 And the idols in the Old Testament, they offer practical benefits like comfort, safety, contentment, 00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:38.720 and God is saying that always only comes through me. 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:39.720 It's the problem of interference. 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:44.000 We're going to listen to other voices that say we can offer you this. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.399 And did you see what the tragedy is in Psalm 81? 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:51.120 What is the awful thing that God does to people who worship idols here? 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:57.160 If you look in verse 11, what he does is he lets them go. 00:16:57.160 --> 00:16:58.920 He lets them do what they want to do. 00:16:58.920 --> 00:17:03.360 He says, but my people did not listen to my voice. 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:06.000 People would not submit to me. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:11.920 And so God says, so I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their counsels. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:17.120 So the punishment of someone who worships idols is that they spend their whole life 00:17:17.120 --> 00:17:19.799 pursuing something that can never satisfy them. 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:24.640 It's worshiping idols is in one way its own punishment. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.920 And you could say it's like trying to satisfy your thirst by drinking from the ocean. 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:35.080 And what God says to us is whatever you love in this world more than me. 00:17:35.080 --> 00:17:37.240 Maybe that's the best way to think about what an idol is. 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:39.759 It's anything that we love in this world more than God. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:45.200 And God's saying, whatever you love in this world more than me, even when you have it 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:48.480 in your grasp, it will never satisfy you like I can. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:51.120 It will only leave you hungry. 00:17:51.120 --> 00:17:56.880 And so what we have to do as Christians is, it's something that has to be done at an 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:57.880 individual level. 00:17:57.880 --> 00:17:59.520 We have to search our own hearts. 00:17:59.520 --> 00:18:04.760 And we have to say, what voices are telling me I can make you happier? 00:18:04.760 --> 00:18:11.160 I can satisfy the deepest desires of your heart in a way that only God can. 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:17.000 And then we look to God and we say, God, here are these desires that I have, but I want 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:18.560 to love you more than anything else. 00:18:18.560 --> 00:18:21.760 Can you help me? 00:18:21.760 --> 00:18:24.640 So we've mentioned two reasons why it's hard to hear from God sometimes. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:29.040 One is this problem of faulty memory, we forget how good God has been to us in the past. 00:18:29.040 --> 00:18:32.320 The second is that it's interference. 00:18:32.320 --> 00:18:36.280 So we begin to listen to other voices and we search for satisfaction in other things 00:18:36.280 --> 00:18:38.280 besides God. 00:18:38.280 --> 00:18:42.920 And the last one I want to talk about is misinterpretation. 00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:47.120 Sometimes we can hear everything that God has to say and we can still misinterpret what 00:18:47.120 --> 00:18:49.400 he's saying. 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:54.240 And this is especially true when criticism is involved just in human relations, right? 00:18:54.240 --> 00:19:00.680 So if you do a job, someone can give you 10 compliments and one constructive criticism 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:05.039 right there at the end and you walk away saying, boy, that was harsh. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:08.680 And what they're actually trying to do is to help you and to help you do an even better 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:15.039 job next time, you can miss the point of what the person is actually saying. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:21.039 And so the question that I want to ask as we kind of wind towards the close here is, 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:22.680 what is this Psalm really about? 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:25.120 What's the main point? 00:19:25.120 --> 00:19:27.320 And I mean, I know it's about hearing, but hearing what? 00:19:27.320 --> 00:19:28.320 What is God trying? 00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:30.799 Like what's the takeaway here? 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:37.360 And you could say, well, this Psalm is about God's judgment on idolatry and sin. 00:19:37.360 --> 00:19:40.920 And certainly there is truth to that, isn't there? 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:47.680 And we don't need to sugarcoat that, that God in this Psalm takes sin and idolatry very 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.160 seriously. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:56.040 And He's telling them, if you don't turn to me, things will not go well for you and you'll 00:19:56.040 --> 00:19:57.560 destroy yourselves. 00:19:57.560 --> 00:20:04.400 And one of the most unnerving aspects about this Psalm to me is how open-ended it is. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:07.600 So God tells them, turn to me. 00:20:07.600 --> 00:20:11.920 But this isn't like a story that tells you, well, in the end they did turn to Him. 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:16.680 It's as if this Psalm is presented to each of us and God is saying, will you turn to 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:22.279 me, but then the decision is for us to make. 00:20:22.279 --> 00:20:26.480 So there's this hypothetical possibility that you could listen to this Psalm and you could 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:29.759 still follow your idols and it will destroy you. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:31.039 And all of that's true. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:33.960 Judgment is a serious theme in this Psalm. 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:38.960 But if that's what we say the Psalm in the end is about, I think we missed the point 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:41.480 of what God is doing here. 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:45.640 Because what is the context of all those hard words? 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:46.840 Is it not this? 00:20:46.840 --> 00:20:53.160 God's saying, as much as you have forgotten me, as much as you have not listened to me, 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:58.280 and as much as you have drowned out my voice with all the other idols in this world, God 00:20:58.280 --> 00:21:03.640 says, even now, if you will hear me, even now, after everything you've done, if you will 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:07.600 listen to me now, I can heal you. 00:21:07.600 --> 00:21:09.920 And that's mercy. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.800 And that's the heart of God that we see in this Psalm. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:18.879 So you notice after every really harsh thing God has to say in this Psalm, he follows it 00:21:18.879 --> 00:21:21.440 up by holding out hope. 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:26.720 So in verse 13, God says, oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:28.319 in my ways. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:30.119 That's a lament. 00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:31.240 And then he says, what does he say? 00:21:31.240 --> 00:21:38.720 I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:44.319 So he's saying, God's people so often look elsewhere for security, but God says, if they 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:47.920 would just turn to me, I would destroy their foes for them. 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:53.839 I mean, when the God of the universe is on your side, that's a fortress that you have 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:54.839 on your side. 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:58.600 And God was saying, all it takes is for you just to turn to me. 00:21:58.600 --> 00:22:04.200 And then in the very last verse of the Psalm, it's a reference to Marybeth again. 00:22:04.200 --> 00:22:08.880 So what does God say here in the last verse, he says, if they would turn to me, I would 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:13.880 feed you with the finest of wheat and with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you. 00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:17.960 He says, with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you, which is, he's one-upping himself. 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:21.880 He's saying, at Marybeth, you were thirsty and I gave you water. 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:25.600 But if you would listen to me now, I would do even more. 00:22:25.600 --> 00:22:28.680 I would give you honey from the rock. 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:35.759 And nowhere is God's mercy more clear in this passage than in verse 10, where God says, 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:38.000 open wide your mouth and I will fill it. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.519 That's a food metaphor, and we've already talked about it a little bit. 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:46.320 But I want us to take seriously what God is saying here in verse 10. 00:22:46.320 --> 00:22:48.640 Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:52.560 And God is saying, He's not just saying, He'll give us enough. 00:22:52.560 --> 00:22:57.400 He's saying, as much as much blessing as you're willing to receive, that's how much blessing 00:22:57.400 --> 00:22:59.840 I'm prepared to give you. 00:22:59.840 --> 00:23:04.560 He's saying, our problem is not that we're, the problem is not that God is too stingy 00:23:04.560 --> 00:23:05.560 with His blessings. 00:23:05.560 --> 00:23:07.240 It's that we're not asking for enough. 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:11.519 And I have to tell you, I almost laughed out loud this week when I was sitting in my study 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:15.560 at New College because I was reading John Calvin's commentary on this. 00:23:15.560 --> 00:23:17.960 And Calvin, it'd be worth going back and reading. 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:21.759 He almost sounds sarcastic when he says this, and that's what made it funny, but it's a 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:22.759 serious point. 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:28.440 Because I'm paraphrasing here, Calvin said, there's so many people in this world who want 00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:35.079 God to bless them, that want to be fed by God, but they just don't open their mouth. 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:39.920 And it reminded me of how often I want to feed my children, and they complain about how 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:40.920 hungry they are sometimes. 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:43.799 I love my kids, but sometimes they complain about how hungry they are. 00:23:43.799 --> 00:23:46.960 When I have a delicious meal sitting right in front of them, but they just want to open 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:47.960 their mouth. 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:52.319 And that's what God is saying here is, if you just ask for the blessing, I have always 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:54.759 been here willing to give it to you. 00:23:54.759 --> 00:23:57.559 It's not that your desires are not strong enough. 00:23:57.559 --> 00:23:59.879 It's that they're pointed in the wrong direction. 00:23:59.879 --> 00:24:04.480 And C.S. Lewis has this really great quote where he talks about how the problem is not 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.799 that we desire too much, but that we go to the wrong place to satisfy it. 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:14.960 And he says this, he says, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.639 but too weak. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:22.960 We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:24.720 joy is offered us. 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:29.840 And like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he cannot 00:24:29.840 --> 00:24:37.280 imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea, we are too far easily pleased. 00:24:37.280 --> 00:24:43.120 So God is saying, you know, he has made us to be desiring creatures, but he's also saying, 00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:47.559 just know that all those desires were meant to be fulfilled in me, and wherever else you 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:51.000 go to fulfill them, you will be hungry. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.799 And so as much as this Psalm is a lament, and it is recognizing real problems in this 00:24:55.799 --> 00:25:00.459 world, God is saying, if you will turn to me, I can satisfy you. 00:25:00.459 --> 00:25:04.079 And that's what, in a way, this mirrors the gospel, right? 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:06.039 Because God does the same thing in the gospel. 00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:07.359 He never sugarcoats our sin. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:12.759 He says, your sin is real, and you have real problems that are deadly serious. 00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:16.559 But if you would turn to me, I can satisfy you. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:24.279 I'll close with this as the band marches down the way for me. 00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:29.000 If God can really satisfy all of the needs of our hearts, and if that's what he's offering 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.599 when he says, open your mouth wide and I can feel it, then that means that he can also 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:38.279 satisfy the one need that this Psalm tells us that we have, which is the ability to listen 00:25:38.279 --> 00:25:39.279 to him. 00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:43.839 And so if you've ever found yourself struggling to listen to God and saying, God, so often 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:50.519 I want to hear you and I want to obey you, but I find myself turning away from you, we 00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:54.759 can actually ask God to help us to hear him. 00:25:54.759 --> 00:25:58.000 And because God is generous, he'll meet even that need. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:01.000 God helped me to hear you so that I can obey you. 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:02.000 Let me pray. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.639 Heavenly Father, we love you. 00:26:04.639 --> 00:26:07.839 We praise you for your kindness and your goodness to us. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:11.559 And we pray that as we go throughout this week that you would be with us and that you 00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:15.759 would help us to hear you, not just with our ears, but with our hearts and that that hearing 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:17.639 would turn into obedience. 00:26:17.639 --> 00:26:19.359 And we ask all this in your son's name. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:37.879 Amen.