05.20.2012 10am - 12pm
Sunday Service
05.20.2012 5pm - 8pm
Spaghetti Dinner
05.22.2012 7pm - 9pm
Encounter Youth Group
Clothed with JOY
My wife, who has given me permission to share this with you, is very easily distracted while driving. She has dangerous tendency of steering toward whatever catches her attention, including by her own admission, clouds. When things on the right catch her eye, the car begins to drift to the right. Things get really scary when she notices things on the left. Even my kids have sometimes had to remind her to keep her eyes on the road! Without knowing it they sometimes have almost quoted Proverbs 4:25 verbatim, saying, “Mom, let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.”
Some of us may be a bit less distractible when driving a car, but don’t we all get distracted from time-to-time in other situations, obligations, and circumstances? And for those of us seeking to follow Christ, to steer our lives toward Him alone, there are plenty of distractions, aren’t there? This is why verses like Hebrews 12:1-3 are helpful reminders as we travel down the narrow road:
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
The enticements of the world, the flesh and the devil are ever-present distractions vying for our attention. They are in direct opposition to Christ being our focus. The consequences of drifting toward these things can be spiritually just as deadly as a head on collision.
As we move into the third week of Advent, we’re focusing this message on the joy that comes when we ignore distractions and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Our text this weekend is Psalm 30.
1 I will exalt you, O LORD,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 O LORD my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down into the pit.
4 Sing to the LORD, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”
7 O LORD, when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.
8 To you, O LORD, I called;
to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 “What gain is there in my destruction,
in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me;
O LORD, be my help.”
11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
“I will exalt you, O LORD,” David begins, “for you lifted me out of the depths.” David begins this Psalm by lifting up the name of God because God lifted him up from a place of despair. In verse 2 he credits his God for healing him – “O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” From his place of despair David turned to the LORD like one reaching out to his closest friend for help and God healed him. In verse 3 he acknowledges that it was God who saved his life – “You brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.”
David had a near-death experience, perhaps the result of some serious illness, and he is now, with thanksgiving, crediting God with his healing. As if the thought of dying wasn’t awful enough, he also had to deal with the thought that, upon news of his death, those who didn’t like him would likely throw a party. Before God restored him, David was in a place of great humiliation with little joy!
Ironically David’s heart had been in this place long before his physical illness. It seems that, before his illness, he had allowed himself to become distracted from God and his heart had become hardened. As we look more closely at this Psalm, we begin to see that a more significant healing, a spiritual one, was taking place in David’s life even as he was physically getting sicker. In other words, God was allowing him to experience this bodily sickness for the greater good of restoring his soul.
We’ll come back to verses 4 & 5, which further elaborate on David’s great joy after his deliverance, but first let’s take a look at verse 6. Here David moves from celebration to confession, admitting the ways in which he had allowed himself to become distracted, not by the great trials and tribulations of life, but by his success and the resulting sense of security. He writes, “When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’”
David had become distracted by pride, perhaps the strongest temptation any of us face. He focused on his success, rather than on God, the source of them. As many have already observed, it sure does seem fitting that the letter ‘i’ is in the middle of the word “pride” - for pride puts “me, myself, and I” at the center of attention.
Notice the contrast between verses 1-3 and verse 6. David’s focus in the first few verses of this Psalm are on God and on what He has done. The only thing David credits himself for doing in these verses is calling out to God for help. God was the one who lifted David out of despair. God was the one who healed David. God was the one spared David from the grave. And God was the one who silenced his enemies. Contrast that to verse 6 where God is not even mentioned once. That’s pride. Pride pushes God away, hoping someday He’ll be silenced forever.
But thanks be to God, He will never be silenced! David writes with 20/20 hindsight in verse 6, “When I felt secure, I said, ‘I will never be shaken.’” This is very different from saying, “When I was secure…”. David now knew that there was no such thing as security apart from being in the presence of God. In verse 7 he writes, “O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm…” David doesn’t refer to his feelings in this verse. Rather, he speaks of the unshakable truth that, when he is in the presence of God, trusting fully in Him, then and only then does he know rock-solid security. David had to learn the tough lesson that worldly security is a false sense of security. Perhaps it was from seeing his father learn this hard lesson that David’s son, Solomon, was able to write, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)
Pride was the downfall of many of the kings listed in the Bible. One of the most notorious was King Uzziah.
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. The Bible tells us in 2 Chronicles 26 that he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.
God gave him victory in battles, the city of Jerusalem prospered, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.
Sadly though the story continues, and we’ll pick it up with verse 16:
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. 18 They confronted him and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God.”
19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him.
21 King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died.
There is no record of Uzziah repenting of his pride and turning back to God before he died. Uzziah, with his pride, turned his back on God and apparently never looked back.
When David became deathly ill, he felt as if God had turned his back on him. The second section of verse 7 says, “…but when you hid you face, I was dismayed.” Verses 8-10 describe the details of his desperate prayer. As he was sinking further into despair, closer to death, he realized how his pride had robbed him of the joy of being filled with praise and to be a witness to God’s faithfulness. And now on his deathbed he prays for a second chance.
The truth is, God never turned his back on David, it only felt that way from David’s perspective. In reality it was David who had turned his back on God. A person’s face can be hidden when they turn away from you or when you turn away from them. In this case, David had turned away from God. It was only after he repented, by doing an about-face, that he once again experienced the presence of God and the joy of his favor.
In verses 4 & 5, we see David, a man who had been full of pride, full of praise. At the lowest point in his despair he had come to regret his lack of bold proclamation of God’s faithfulness - now he has been raised up to declare that God indeed is faithful, even when we are not. David makes it clear that God hates sin and that it results in His righteous anger. But with repentance, God’s anger and our weeping are removed, and we too receive his favor for a lifetime. Repentance leads to rejoicing!
We now come to the conclusion of Psalm 30, where David describes the transformation he has experienced – a transformation many of us have experienced. For who among us hasn’t sinned against God? Who here hasn’t had more pride than praise? Is there anyone present who hasn’t sought security in things of this world rather than in God at one time or other? And who hasn’t known the consequences of rebelliously turning our backs on God?
But, who among us hasn’t also experienced God’s mercy and help? Who here hasn’t been lifted out of despair by God and received his healing? Can anyone testify of having asked God for another chance to live a life of praise and witness to His faithfulness and received it?
This is why we love Psalm 30, because it’s as much our Psalm as it is David’s. When we read these final verses - “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.” – we almost forget that someone else wrote these words because they so precisely and powerfully express our experience as ones who have known God’s mercy through his Son Jesus Christ.
David had been clothed with all this world had to offer, but even that couldn’t cover up his shame. Not until he was humbled and cried out to God for mercy, asked for His forgiveness and help, and dedicated his life fully to the LORD, was he able to find freedom from his shame, new purpose for his life, and joy that would envelope him all the days of his life. He had something better that this world couldn’t offer – an intimate, personal relationship with his God and Savior!
As you reflect, during this Advent season, on the birth of Jesus Christ, it’s an opportune time to consider who, or what, has the focus of your life? Is there anything attempting to rob you of His joy? We are surrounded by plenty of distractions, especially this time of year, vying for your heart and mind. Our secular culture has turned Christmas into shopping for bargains rather than celebrating a birthday.
David was clothed with joy as he let go of the favors of this world in return for knowing the favor of the LORD. Scripture tells us of another person who knew God’s favor, and it is the birth of her child that we celebrate on Christmas.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Luke 1:30-38
May we, the Lord’s servants, also know God’s favor as we humbly seek the fulfillment of His will for our lives. May our hearts be similarly filled with praise and our words with testimonies of His faithfulness – shamelessly giving thanks to our God and Savior. May we too be clothed with joy as we ignore the distractions and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus this Christmas season.