Well, good morning, everyone.
I'm going to be speaking this morning about resilience as I introduce these sounds,
but perhaps a really lovely form of resilience is Alan and Christine here before us this morning,
celebrating 50 years of marriage on Friday.
So.
Well, resilience.
Resilience and the need to build resilience has become very, very popular in recent years,
especially in response to the pandemic and terrible bushfires and floods and things like that.
We even had a commissioner for resilience at one point.
So what is it to be resilient?
Well, I think to be resilient is to be able to deal with whatever life throws at me.
Trauma, tragedy, adversity, threats, significant sources of stress that might come to us from verbal attacks or from relationships.
It means being able to absorb the blows that are part of everyday living.
But not only to absorb the blows, but actually to bounce back from them and be able to thrive in life.
And so I think buried into resilience, there's the notion of happiness.
That is a sense of being secure, a sense of being safe, a sense of being content and enjoying life.
That's got to be part of resilience.
And I think also then resilience needs a sense of peace.
We need to feel as if there's some order in life.
There's some sense of control.
Some sense that there is a pattern, a plan, a peace in the life in which we live.
And particularly in our inner landscape, in our hearts and minds.
And so here's where it gets really practical because resilience is sprooked at the moment from every level of society.
Right from governments, all the time talking about the need for resilience.
Right down to early childhood teachers are being taught now to teach children resilience.
It's the buzzword.
But as I listen into these conversations, I get the feeling that resilience is not much more than a new word for old-fashioned self-reliance.
Self-interested commitment to, dare I say, hassle-free living.
Wanting to blend in.
Demanding acceptance and perhaps even avoidance of conflict.
And so if I'm right in that, then the irony for us again as a nation and as a culture is
that the very notion of resilience that is being pushed and built is actually at odds with the realities of life.
And so I think people can chase resilience in terms of how our society is teaching
but never actually be able to be resilient.
Because the way they're building the resilience just doesn't work.
It's an odd sort of thing, isn't it?
In sharp contrast, I want to suggest this morning, in Psalm 11, 12, and 13,
we have three pictures of God's character, God's beauty.
Three perspectives which will deliver incredible resilience in times of crisis and attack.
Whether it's from external sources or from the internal source of our own hearts, our own minds.
And in the end, I keep saying that's why I'm drawn back to the Psalms regularly.
They really are my go-to piece of scripture.
Why?
Because I easily identify with David's struggles.
I easily identify with his confusion at circumstances.
Fear in the face of threats.
Weariness in the daily struggles for faithfulness to the Lord.
And yes, I have to say, even frustration.
Frustration with God.
As I try to make sense of my life from my perspective.
And I think the point is this.
As I come back to the Psalms, I think I've learned this from them over many years.
And that is, sometimes we only see God's answers when we actually ask the right questions.
Put it the other way around.
Put it negatively.
Sometimes we wonder what God's trying to say to us.
And that's because we're not asking the right questions.
So, this morning, I want to put before you and bring you with me into these three Psalms, these three poems.
What is it to lean into the Lord for true resilience in these three circumstances?
What is it to lean into the Lord for true resilience when, first and foremost, we're fearful and intimidated by the real threat of physical violence?
Now, Simon's going to come up and read Psalm 11.
And then we'll repeat this process over two more Psalms.
So, Simon, if you'd come up and read Psalm 11 to us.
Thanks.
Psalm 11.
To the choir master of David.
His eyes see.
His eyelids test the children of man.
The Lord tests the righteous.
But his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Let him rain coals on the wicked.
Fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
For the Lord is righteous.
He loves righteous deeds.
The upright shall behold his face.
So, David's starting point in this Psalm is a decision that he's made at some point in the past.
The Lord is my refuge.
In other words, David's already decided that the Lord is his place of safety.
His place of shelter.
His place of protection.
That's what a refuge is.
It's a beautiful picture.
And the important thing here is that that decision in the past shapes his response in this time of extreme crisis.
The immediate perspective before David is his faith.
The Lord is my refuge.
And the appealing but unacceptable option to David of flight.
The situation seems to be that ruthless, wicked enemies are on the attack.
They're determined to be rid of King David.
And determined to be rid of everything that King David as God's person represents.
It seems to be the threat of unexpected attack is constant.
They're lining up to shoot in the dark.
It's a terrible situation for him to be in.
And verse 3.
It's not really easy to decide what the foundations are.
But it seems like things are so bad that the foundations, perhaps the foundations of the nation, that is God's covenant, appears to be under threat.
It seems like everything is about to fall over.
And God's covenant was about God's special people being ruled and protected by God's anointed king in the context of peace and justice and righteousness.
And things have come to such a point that David fears that all of that is just about to be swept away, to be lost.
And then into that situation, it appears that King David's advisors said, listen, this is the time to pack up and run for the hills.
So if you look at the end of verse 1, where it says from flee like a bird to the end of verse 3, that's an inverted quotation mark.
So David is actually interacting with and reflecting back advice, well-intentioned advice he's got from his advisors.
And what's his advisors saying?
Well, the situation's lost.
Hanging around is futile.
Wicked have the upper hand.
So King David, the best thing we can say to you is head for the hills and hide.
Protecting yourself at this point is paramount.
Now David's response to that is really quite intriguing.
And then halfway through verse 1, he says,
How can you say to my soul, in other words, guys, I appreciate your advice, but how can you be telling me to flee?
How can you say to my soul, flee?
Flight was unacceptable.
And perhaps, depending on how you read the text here, I think even offensive to David.
Now, what would his concern be here?
I don't think he resisted the urge to fly because he was frightened of being considered cowardly as a soldier or as a king.
Now, I think why he resisted flight here is because he didn't want to be considered unbelieving or untrusting in the Lord of the covenant,
the one who had actually placed him there as God's covenant king in God's special people.
So for David to flee, I think in his mind, was to trash God's honor and God's reputation.
It wasn't about David, I think, if we can read between the lines.
His safety wasn't paramount.
God's honor was paramount.
And so in verses 47, we see that David opts for faith over flight.
And that's the picture, I want, of leaning into the Lord as his refuge.
Now, let's jump to verse 7 and then we'll come back and unpack it.
Now, here's the situation.
Terrible crisis.
Immediate threat.
Real threat.
Threat of life.
So how can somebody like David so consistently opposed, hated, and attacked,
how can he say in verse 7 with conviction,
the Lord is righteous.
He loves righteous deeds.
The upright shall behold his face.
That beholding his face is just a technical term throughout the Old Testament of being aware of God's presence,
being full of a sense of God's goodness and grace and protection and care.
In other words, the upright will know God to be a refuge.
So how can he say that?
Well, the answer is because David's got a much bigger perspective that he's living in the light of.
And that is longing to experience God's love and commitment and beauty.
Verse 4.
David leans into his knowledge of God's character.
And he does so by picturing heaven or God's city, if you want to call it that.
The foundations of David's city are shaken.
The future is looking terribly uncertain when David pictures in his mind's eye heaven.
Nothing shaky or uncertain about heaven.
God is in his temple.
God is in his throne.
His temple symbolizing his presence among his people.
His commitment to dealing with sin.
God is on his throne.
God is in his throne, symbolizing the complete sovereignty and power and ongoing rule of the Lord.
Again, it's hard to know what the whole thing with eyelids is.
But the best I can come up with is that, you know, something like,
the Lord is so powerful in this big world that seems to be so out of control
that just with a mere glance or in the blink of an eye,
God knows exactly what is happening, where and when.
That's how much control he has.
And it's in contrast to David's shaggy, vulnerable world.
Verse 5.
It's quite clear, I think, that David is totally in the dark as to God's purposes in his circumstances.
And we can well understand that.
But this is what David hangs on to.
That every one of his circumstances is being used by the Lord for his good.
That's the idea of God testing.
Testing, by definition, is evidence of God's love and commitment and grace.
And testing actually helps us lean into the Lord with a new confidence in his goodness
and his power and his love and his care.
Now, again, in the Psalms work on contrast all the time, verse 6.
Those who are David's enemies are also in the dark about God's purposes in their immediate circumstances.
They think they've got the upper hand.
But in the reality, they are being used...
Sorry, God will bring judgment on them.
They don't understand that however things appear, they cannot succeed, they cannot win.
They will not even survive.
Because the picture there is the picture of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And how just, again, in an eyelid, in a blink, in an instant,
God's judgment fell from heaven
and wiped away a whole generation, several generations, in those two cities.
Big perspective.
Neither seems to know what's going on.
One, those circumstances for King David, circumstances for good, for growth.
The other, imminent judgment and destruction.
Simon's going to read verse...
Psalm 12, my voice. Thanks.
Psalm 12.
To the choir master, according to the Shemineth.
A Psalm of David.
Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone.
For the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbour.
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts.
Those who say,
With our tongue we will prevail.
Our lips are with us.
Who is master over us?
Because the poor are plundered.
Because the needy groan.
I will now arise, says the Lord.
I will place him in the safety for which he longs.
The words of the Lord are pure words.
Like silver refined in a furnace on the ground.
Purified seven times.
You, O Lord, will keep them.
You will guard us from this generation forever.
On every side the wicked prowl.
As vileness is exalted among the children of man.
David's starting point in this poem is that God saves.
God is a saviour figure.
God delivers from the horrible, destructive expressions of sin and rebellion.
That's all around us in life.
God delivers from that into the good life of truth and right that God's image bearers were created to enjoy.
God delivers from the good life of truth and right that God saves.
God delivers from the good life of God.
And David longs for that because his world is filled with debased stuff.
Damaging, horrible, worthless words and communication.
And we can again identify with David's world and David's situation.
It seems to David that lies and deceit and manipulation and threats are what make the world go around.
Are the key to success.
While truth and righteousness is swept aside.
And those, quite literally, those who seek the Lord are a very critically endangered species.
As David sees it.
But then he starts to dig into what he sees.
And behind that facade of society niceness.
Political correctness as we would use terms today.
David sees something really ugly.
That is, when push comes to shove, people hate each other.
They compete with each other for permanence.
And achievement.
They're two-faced.
Double-minded with each other.
Saying one thing and doing something completely different.
And they do so, verse 4, with incredible arrogance.
Both with respect to those around them.
And especially with respect to God.
They boast that they will set their own pathway.
And that their own words will define and control that pathway.
And ultimately, they will not answer to anybody except themselves and their own words.
It's an incredible confidence.
It's an incredible arrogance.
And yet, David here sees it as totally debased.
And if we step back from it for a minute and ask the question,
well, what is it about language and reason that's so horrible when it's used like this?
And I think the answer is this.
This is at least the answer I can come up with this week.
That is, the two greatest gifts that the Lord gave his image bearers,
by which we can reflect his character,
is the gift of words or language,
and the gift of reason or thinking.
These are creative things that most reflect God's character.
But these two things are what's used most to destroy other image bearers.
To assert autonomy against God.
To build community and relationships which exclude God.
And make self a demigod.
And so, when we see words used like this,
it's particularly offensive, I think.
Particularly damaging.
Because something so good has been turned.
And therefore, because of its creativity,
in a sense,
excuse me,
in a sense we can say that people are really creative
in how they wound and destroy one another.
I'm sure we identify with King David's alarm
at the collapse of truth.
So again, a question.
Given that situation,
how could David in verse 7 and 8 then say,
you, O Lord, will keep them?
You will guard them from this generation forever.
Even as he says,
on every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
How can David say that?
How can David say that when he's so caught up in the daily evil of verbal wickedness and violence?
How can he remain confident of God's salvation and deliverance and protection and vindication?
Well, once again, it is confidence in God's character.
And it's expressed more clearly, most clearly, in that phrase, pure silver words.
The words of the Lord, verse 6, are pure words, like silver.
Pure silver words, which are powerful and effective,
and which are God's currency of communication.
And again, verse 5 and 6,
I think David is reporting what his advisor has said to him.
Only this time, his advisor is the Lord himself.
And God says, I will now arise.
I will place him in the safety for which he longs.
God is stirred to action
by the plight of those destroyed
or damaged by false destructive words.
And what does God do?
God speaks.
And the result is,
salvation is delivered.
God saves through his word.
Silver, in those days, was the currency of choice.
It was something that was easy to demonstrate.
It was pure.
It was the genuine article, you might say.
In currency and communication,
it got things done.
Well, I think that's the picture.
God's word is his currency to get done
what he determines to do in his world.
And what does his word do?
It exposes debased words.
Sinful rebellion.
Life built around lies and deceit and exploitation and autonomy.
And brings it to account.
And it delivers.
It delivers those who long to see God's name honored,
who long to serve him in truth and righteousness.
It delivers them into that very place they want to be.
The safe place of the good life lived under the Lord,
in his truth, by his words.
Psalm 13.
To the choir master, a psalm of David.
How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God.
Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.
Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him.
Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love.
My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.
So, leaning into the Lord when fearful and intimidated.
Leaning into the Lord when battered and bruised.
And this Psalm 13.
Leaning into the Lord for his true resilience
when weary and distressed
by persistent inner turmoil of heart and soul.
David's starting point in this poem
that he believes God's promise of steadfast love.
He believes the promise.
But he's struggling to have any real or practical experience of it
because of inner turmoil.
It seems like in this Psalm,
he's just struggling.
He's overwhelmed with despair.
He's feeling at the point of this,
the battle in his heart, in his mind, is lost.
He feels as if he's actually shaken to the very core of his being,
the very core of his faith.
And I think we know only too well
the threat of external violence.
We know what it is to be battered by rubbish words.
But there's something also equally powerful
about our own internal struggles, aren't there?
It's pernicious.
It just chews away at you day and night.
Persistent gives you such black thoughts
and very little relief.
And King David describes this raging battle so well.
The bleakness.
The incredible persistence
with which that inner struggle can present.
And as I say, he's shaken to the very core of his faith
in God.
And it's in that point
that these questions start to come out.
Questions that are absolutely scary
to be even entertained in our mind.
Has God forgotten me?
That's a terrible question to form in your mind, isn't it?
Has God forgotten me?
Has he just got tired of me?
Because that's what we mean
when we say we've forgotten somebody.
We just get tired of their failures
or their whinging or whatever else.
We get tired and we move on to somebody else
that we perceive to be better.
Could God do that to me?
Or is God hiding his face from me?
And again, we think,
look, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying every day.
I want to be connected to the Lord.
I want to have a sense of richness and joy
and peace and calm before him.
But no matter how hard I try,
it seems there's no connection.
I just can't get a sense of his personal presence.
There's no felt experience of his goodness
or his grace or his mercy.
It's just darkness.
And run those two questions together
and they become a super scary question.
That is,
am I truly and completely loved
as God's word promises I am?
And friends, there's an equally scary answer
that goes to that.
And that is,
if we go with our feelings
or our circumstances
or our experience,
then the answer may well be,
no, I'm not loved
like I thought I was.
And so then the question becomes,
in Psalm 13,
again, the question comes out
in the last two verses,
five and six.
How could anybody like King David
so weary and distressed
by such terrible inner turmoil
say in verses five and six,
I will sing to the Lord
for he has been good to me.
Are those just empty words?
Is it just saying the right thing
but feeling something totally different?
I think that, again,
only comes from a perspective
of overflowing
with a new sense
of unshakable joy
and delight
in the Lord
and his constant love
and goodness.
The battles
on the inside
in our hearts
and mind
and our soul.
And my friends,
that's where the battle
is won also.
And it's won by focusing
on what is true
alongside
horrible feelings
and terrible fears.
If you look at verse three
and remember that
David is in the midst
of this raging internal battle
and yet he still speaks
relationally to the Lord.
Consider
and answer me,
O Lord,
my God.
David does not
give up his constant belief
that he is known
personally
by God
and indeed
in the blackness
of where he's at
in his internal
struggle,
that notion
that he's loved
by God
is the pinpoint
of light
at the end
of a very black
dark tunnel.
And verses three
and four,
he remains confident
therefore
that the Lord
will act
to protect
his reputation.
Not David's reputation
but the Lord's reputation.
The Lord will act
to protect
his own glory
against any
who will oppose him.
And what that means
for David is
that however
his experience
and his circumstances
feel,
it means he will
never be abandoned.
No matter
how tormented
in mind he is,
he knows he will
never be abandoned
because he is
the Lord's
and the Lord
is his.
And verses five
and six,
he's believed
in
and enjoyed
and been satisfied
with God's love
in the past.
past.
There's a real
personal sense
of God's presence
and comfort
and beauty
and delight
in the past.
And again,
we see that perspective
that comes through
so often
in the Psalms
that what he's
believed in the past
and what he's known
in the past
becomes the frame
and the reference point
for interpreting
what he's feeling
and struggling with
in the present.
And so focusing
on what he knows
to be true
about God
and God's character
pushes the darkness
of his inner struggle
back into
godly perspective.
Now,
what I'm not saying
is that it doesn't
push away the struggle,
doesn't make the struggle
cease,
it pushes it
into a godly perspective.
And this is something
I think we
shortchange ourselves
on.
The Bible is
realistic about life
and especially
realistic about
the inner turmoil
and struggle
that we have
all the time
or lots of the times.
And the Bible
encourages us
to believe
that this darkness
can last a long time
and it can cause
real distress.
darkness.
The Bible
never promises
anywhere,
as far as I can see,
that that darkness
will be relieved
in just a short
period of time.
It will shake us
from time to time
to the core
of our faith.
It will threaten
the overwhelm us.
But here's the rub,
my friends.
Darkness
is also
a mercy.
mercy.
It's a horrible
place to be
in one sense,
but in another sense
it's a wonderful
mercy.
How could I say
that?
Well,
there's no
better place
to learn
new appreciation
of God's love
and mercy
and grace
than in darkness.
There's nothing
that will help
us appreciate
the light
of life
than the darkness
of our inner struggle
when we feel
as if we're
on our own.
Because by
very definition,
light shines
into darkness.
That's what
the New Testament
tells us.
Light
gives us
comfort
that the
tunnel
will end.
It may be
a ways ahead
of us,
but there is
light at the
end of the
tunnel,
and that
light is
life.
That light
is God.
That light
is Jesus.
And ultimately,
that light
that is coming
toward us
will totally
dispel
darkness
because the
two can't
coexist.
And that,
my friends,
is the outcome
for King
David.
Focusing
on God's
character
has lifted
him above
his fears.
Hasn't totally
removed his fears.
Doesn't change
his circumstances
or the inner
struggle.
But it lifts
him above
those fears
and allows
him to have
a godly
perspective on
them again.
And that
is where he
gets his
comfort and
joy in the
tunnel,
in the
darkness.
happiness.
And there's
a delightful
anticipation,
therefore,
that he will
once again
see God's
face,
that he will
once again
have a real
and immediate
practical sense
of God's
presence
and God's
goodness
and God's
grace and
God's love.
So,
friends,
just moving to
the conclusion
now,
I want you
to take away
from this
morning that
true God-shaped
resilience is
in knowing
that God's
righteous character
is my refuge.
He is my
safety,
he's my
security.
He gives me
a peace that's
even greater
than physical
safety or
physical peace.
God's
enduring
word is
my salvation.
Quite
literally,
God saves
me and
delivers me
by his
word,
the Lord
Jesus.
The pure
word,
the true
word,
the word
that will
never be
debased.
It saves
me,
it defines
me,
it keeps
me,
and it
builds
me to
maturity.
And God's
love for
me is
unfailing
and generous.
And when
we grasp
that
perspective
then,
as David
himself
experienced,
we overflow.
What do we
overflow with?
Joy.
We overflow
with joy or
happiness,
praise.
Why?
Because we've
seen the
face of the
Lord.
And what do
we see?
Something that's
incredibly
comforting,
something that's
incredibly
beautiful,
something that's
incredibly
desirable,
and something
that's incredibly
satisfying.
And when
we have those
things all
tucked up in
our inner
landscape,
quite literally,
hell, we can
be going to
hell in a
basket,
as it were,
to use a
colloquial term
about the
awfulness of
life.
And we can
have joy and
peace and
security.
And all of
that means,
my friends,
that Jesus is
our ultimate
source of
resilience.
As I've
said, quite
literally, he
is the word
of truth and
life.
He renews us
from the
inside out.
He puts us
in the place of
safety and
refuge, the
very place we
long for.
He enables us
to experience
joy and
demonstrate the
good life of
God's true
word.
I think, my
friends, I just
want to sum up
with Matthew
11, verses
28 and 29.
Jesus says,
come to
me.
Come to
me, all
you who
struggle and
are weighed
down with the
struggle of
life.
And I will
give you real
rest, real
resilience.
Come alongside
me and learn
from me, for I
am gentle and
lowly in heart,
and you will
find rest for
your souls.
Happiness,
joy, freedom,
and delight.
All I give
you will be
helpful, good,
and satisfying
in comparison to
anything the
world offers
you.
So, friends,
let's remember to
preach that
gospel to
ourselves.
The gospel of
Psalm 11, 12,
and 13, made
clear in the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
rest.
And let's
remember to
move from our
circumstances to
engagement with
God in prayer.
That's what it is
to lean in to
the Lord.
Rehearse his
character.
Find new
confidence and
rest in his
true word.
Lord, let
that be the
shaper and
interpreter of
your circumstances.
Let your
perspective be his
security and
his joy and
his delight and
his satisfaction.
My friends, that
is the resilience
that we all long
to have in the
challenges of life.
Pray with me.
Lord, keep us
from going around
the old circle
time and time
again of
self-reliance
and trying to
create our
resilience from
our own
resources.
For, Lord, that
will just continue
to disappoint and
frustrate.
For we cannot
deliver to
ourselves, Lord,
that which we
long for.
Help us instead
to lean into
you, your
character,
your love,
your satisfaction,
your delight.
I pray in
Jesus' name.
Amen.