The Rock Of Our Refuge

Introduction

Good morning. How is everybody today? Are you awake? That’s always a good thing.

It is a tremendous blessing for me to be with you. I’ve been looking forward to spending time with the brethren here. So many of you I haven’t had the opportunity to meet, but one of the blessings about serving the Lord is that wherever you go, it seems like you’re able to renew old acquaintances and people that you know and love and appreciated. And I think that’s just one of the blessings we have as gospel preachers. We’re able to be with brethren in a variety of areas. And so I look forward to the joy of worshiping together with you this week. I’m so thankful for you inviting me to be with you. You might turn your Bibles to the book of Psalms. I know that’s a pretty large book, and that doesn’t tell you where we’re exactly going.

But we’ll get there. But go ahead and be turning your Bible somewhere in that vicinity anyway. There was a man by the name of Natan Sharonsky. He was a Soviet Jew that was jailed in 197 for his outspoken support of freedom. When he was released in 1986, he was only clinging really to one possession. You think about that span of time because he was so outspoken regarding several things the government was doing at that time in which he lived, but especially the communistic view and the suppression of freedom and freedom of expression when it came to religious convictions, especially.

He had one thing in his hand. And it was a copy of the Psalms of the Old Testament. Of all the things he might be clinging to. And while we certainly pray that he would come to faith in Jesus Christ, that tells you something I hold about the power of the Psalms. A power that I don’t know that we always tap into, like we should as Bible students and as children of God. His wife had basically smuggled this into him. Soviet guards had confiscated it and taken it. But then finally, because of his cries as he’s leaving. Now think about it. You’re leaving this prison. You’re probably glad just to be out, aren’t you? But before he leaves, he falls down in the snow and demands his copy of the Psalms that meant that much to him.

And they brought it to him and gave it to him. He refused to take another step without this copy of Old Testament scripture that had the Psalms within it. He later wrote a book, and that book was entitled Fear No Evil, actually. And in that book, he states that the Psalms enabled him to maintain spiritual independence against the kingdom of lies. If it was that powerful to a man who has not yet, to my knowledge, embraced faith in Jesus Christ, how powerful should the Psalms be to those of us who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

I want to think with you about the Psalms in general. And there are different perspectives about ways in which we should read the Psalms, but I hope this will be beneficial to you. And not only beneficial, but will help give us some discernment about how to, the method to use to go about making sense of the Psalms. When you read poetry in the Old Testament, any poetry, we find this is the case, but especially biblical poetry. It’s not like reading what’s called prose. You know, when you come to the book of Acts, for instance, it’s a pretty black or white thing. It’s written in prose, very factual narratives and that kind of thing. When you read poetry, there are a lot of figures. And a lot of things you have to interpret.

And some people I think stay away from biblical poetry or even figurative language in the Bible, and that’s unfortunate for that very reason. There are things that poetry can convey that narrative can’t exactly. But it’s so powerful, it demands figurative language. And so as a Christian, as a Bible student, I don’t need to be afraid of that. I need to see that the power of the Psalms, and there is tremendous power. There are several phrases that have been used by biblical scholars regarding the Psalms, the Psalm Book of Israel, the mirror of the soul, the dialogue with God. When you read Psalms, you see the raw reality of life and the world and faith and exchange and experience with God. Some have called it the picture of life unfiltered, and I really like that.

We’ll come back to that in a few moments. By reading the Psalms, our approach to teaching and edification in so many ways will be enriched. And I think as we progress, you’ll see exactly why I say that. When you think about this rich language in the Psalms, it gives expression to nearly every emotion you can think of. And for those of you who’ve read very much from the Bible, and I think the majority of you in here have, when you think about the Psalms, there’s certain Psalms that just pop up in your mind, don’t they? Of course, some of the more familiar ones, such as Psalms 23, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Think about the richness of that language. In the Psalms, you see this expression of assurance.

There’s times where David and others who were involved in writing the Psalms, you’ll see that assurance in God and that conviction in God. There’s times where they express doubt or concern. It’s not that they’re unbelievers, they are believers dealing with their human condition and dealing with the reality that they were living in a world that had been infected by sin. There are psalms that deal with joy and despair and devotion and anger, and we could just keep going on and on. And so there really is, and that’s really true of the Bible as a whole, but especially when you get into Hebrew poetry, and particularly when you get, I think, into the Psalms. You see that it really gets into the human emotion that we deal with.

Psalms are not only inspired by God, but they were moved by the human experience and the human struggle to understand God in the midst of a broken world.

But what was really the purpose? One of the great purposes of the Psalms is that they swallowed doubt and despair in an avalanche of praise. Did you ever notice that so many times you’ll have a psalm or a series of psalms, and they will touch on questioning and doubt. And we’ll give you some examples of that this morning. Even a challenge to God, not because the person saying this doesn’t believe in God, but because they’re in struggles. But just a few psalms later, you can read of confidence and faith and acknowledgement and recognition of God that even though they were questions and doubts, they were leading to greater faith in coping with life. And faith always disciplined those questions. And that really comes out to me.

It’s a beautiful section of Scripture. But let me say this it is brutally honest. Brutally honest. It’s not something that is in denial of reality of the way that it is in life. But ultimately would be oriented toward hope and joy. Let’s talk about the function of the Psalms in this journey of faith. And these certainly are not words explicitly taken from Scripture, but I think they’re good. This is a good way of categorizing the Psalms. There is a man, he is not a member of the Lord’s church, and theologically and biblically I would disagree with him on a variety of issues. But he has done some very good writing on Hebrew poetry, and especially the Psalms by the name of Walter Brugemann. And he states, and I think this is borne out as we study, and we’ll demonstrate it this morning, that there are really three categories we possibly could use to try to filter out our understanding of the Psalms.

And I would encourage you, and you may already be doing this, that in your times of devotion and service to God, the Psalms are very good to read. But as you read them, I’m hoping this will help all of us to read them and get the most out of the time that we’re investing in the Word of God. He says these three categories. He uses these terms. He says there are psalms of orientation. Don’t strain too hard. I’m going to explain all this, but there are psalms of orientation. There are psalms of disorientation. And then there are psalms he calls new orientation. And we’re going to move through this because I think as we move through it, you’ll appreciate what he’s trying to say and how it can help us in our Bible study.

And there’s a real purpose in us understanding how to read Psalms that we’re going to get to that’s very practical.

1. Psalms of Orientation

Let’s start with this category of the Psalms of Orientation. What exactly are we talking about when we use that phrase? Well, these are psalms that affirm a general understanding, maybe the initial understanding you had when you were in Bible class at a very young age. You remember as a child, especially if you grew up with a spiritual nurturing environment, what are the basic things you believe? And even as a new Christian, there’s certain basic things that you believe. And these things are true and they are right. But at first they haven’t been challenged yet. At a very young age, I can remember being in Bible class and understanding that God is good, God is holy. All of that’s true. God is righteous and faithful. And that the world is God’s creation.

And we can see the design and the power. And those are wonderful truths. But at the beginning, you haven’t thought about some other considerations that might challenge you. You just take those things somewhat for granted because you believe in the Bible and you believe in God. And that’s really what we’re describing as orientation. That the world, and I really want you to pick up on this language, is very well ordered. And we can see divine purposes in just about everything. Let’s read from the Psalms. Turn to Psalms 1. Psalms 1 is packed full of meaning regarding the need for a godly life and the end of the godly life. But just kind of get the feeling that, you know, God is good, this is right, this is wrong, and that’s all true.

But it’s really not challenged in this Psalm or anything like this. You don’t see any doubt coming out or questioning coming out or discussion coming out. He just says, Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night, and he will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season. And its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Really hang on to verse 5. You’ve got to see that, you know, all that’s true. But there’s no area of him trying to figure out why is the world like it is and all that. This is the way it is. And that’s true. And that’s where we have to begin in our journey of faith as Christians. And that’s where we need to begin in our Bible classes with our small children. Because that’s where they’re going to end up. But you have to begin there. Because if you don’t begin there, you’ve not laid that foundation which is going to endure. Psalms 104. Psalms 104. We’re going to be reading excerpts from several of these Psalms. But the 104th Psalms. And we won’t read all of it, but he said, look at the praise.

It’s just very orderly. Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with splendor and majesty, etc. Very worshipful type of psalm. Psalms 11. Psalms 11. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company of the upright and in the assembly. Greater the works of the Lord, etc.

And we could go on. And if you would like a list of these songsalms in these different categories, I’d be happy to give them to you. There are several.

And in these Psalms that fall into this orientation state, this initial state where you begin learning about God and understanding God, and things are kind of black or white. And truth is black or white. But that’s the initial place. Not worried about what’s going on necessarily around me, not even considering that so much. Here is God. We praise God. The world’s very orderly. And as I mentioned to you, that’s where we begin. That’s where every child begins. That’s where every new convert begins. And it is a necessary step in faith to build the proper foundation. But let me say this to you. If, and this happens, if people stay in that state forever and never work through their questions, they will fall. If they act as if we don’t live in a sin, infected, fallen world.

And I know, I know Christians will do this a lot. Let’s just not talk about that. That’s kind of discouraging and uncomfortable. Let’s not talk about suffering. Let’s not talk about the world. Let’s not talk about all that. God is good. Yes, God is good. God is good. But this is a little bit more complex than I’m going to ignore the reality. And brother, we need to recognize we are living in a pluralistic society. We are living in a society. In fact, I would argue that the one religious perspective that will continue, if not physically, certainly socially, to be persecuted will be Christianity. I mean, you could be anything else just about, but if you’re a Christian and you believe in the Bible, get ready for the condescension.

Get ready for being marginalized. And so we have to face the facts that those are issues we have to deal with our children and with our grandchildren. And we want their faith to go deep. But we begin with God is good and the world declares his greatness. But we can’t stop there. We had a lady, it was a family of four. And they were with us and seemed to be very faithful. But this particular lady, well, her husband gave in to the false philosophy of atheism. And I won’t go into all the reasons why that happened, but he did.

Her family is just dismantling, you know, right in front of her eyes. And at that point, you really find out what kind of faith you have. You know, we can sit on the pew and sit back and say, Well, I’ll tell you what I do. Because I’ve heard people say that I do this and I do that. Well, I hoped you would do that. But you don’t know what you do until you’re in that situation. And I could see, and I realized it didn’t take me very long. She was stuck in stage one. She hadn’t, she had been a Christian for years. And had never asked, why do I believe? Yes, I believe in God. I believe God is good. I believe the world declares his greatness.

Why do you believe that? We start in this category, but your faith has to deal with the questions. And if there is any book in the Bible that demonstrates that to us, it’s the book of Psalms.

I think that there are people that really don’t want to go to that place. Because they’re stuck here. And they’re comfortable. Yes, it’s a lot more comfortable just to say, we’re not going to talk about the world and suffering and challenges to faith and all that, because you’ve got to work to do that. And you have to think a little bit to do that. And we really didn’t come to worship to think. I had somebody tell me that one time, actually.

Really? Well, see, what happens is a person like that is vulnerable. They’re vulnerable. Vulnerable to all kinds of things. You have to begin in this place. You have to begin in this place. But you have to also move on. Don’t be stunted that way. So, Psalms of Orientation. God’s good. The world shows us goodness, etc. But let’s go a little further. Let’s talk more, and you can see how that would transition into Psalms of disorientation. Yeah, there are Psalms that are very worshipful and praiseworthy of God and how great he is, and those are things we do need to remember and need to talk about on a regular basis. But again, let Psalms, I understand it’s in the Old Testament, but we can learn from the Old Testament, even though we’re not under the Old Testament.

2. Psalms of Disorientation

Paul said that. What sort of things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. So there’s some things Psalms should be teaching us. You have these Psalms of orientation, but you also have these Psalms of disorientation. These Psalms reflect the brokenness of life when it’s it doesn’t look orderly. Now God is still good, and the world still declares his greatness, but we’re having to deal with the contrast that we live in a world that is no longer exactly the way in which God made it. Sin has affected it. I don’t believe we inherit the sin of Adam or anything like that, but we see the effects of sin in the world. Physical death is just one of those things, sickness and other very negative thoughts and experiences about the human condition.

I would say to you, God’s plan is to restore us in a relationship with Him so we might enjoy redemption in heaven. Let’s look at some Psalms that would fall into this category. Psalms 13.

Listen to him. This is where, yes, I you know, I believe God is good and the world is orderly, but all at once I look around and it doesn’t look so orderly. It looks a little chaotic to me. And what’s going on here? And out of that may come questions, why do I believe in God?

If you’re asking that question because you don’t want to believe in God, that’s a different matter than someone who does believe in God and wants to believe in God, but needs more foundation for their faith that they have not explored. Those are two different perspectives. And so he says in the 13th Psalm, how long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? He still believes in God. But he is expressing the guys. God is very confident. You’re not going to hurt his ego. He’s very confident. This is called a relationship. And so he understands our limitations. How long shall I take counsel and my soul have him sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have overcome him, and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted in your loving kindness.

This is called the fight and a race for a reason. Psalms 22 is messianic. Isn’t it interesting that when you read Psalms 22, that Jesus, and I believe it’s foretelling of the Messianic suffering, but the Messianic Psalm that foretold of the Messianic suffering is what we would call in our categories a psalm of disorientation. You might think about that. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I personally believe that to only see that verse as being messianic instead of the entirety of the psalm is a great mistake. There’s a reason. He wasn’t just quoting scripture, he was quoting scripture that was foretelling of his present experience. But he meant for us to understand, not just to go read Psalms 22, one, read the Psalm.

And by the way, their thought, what were the Jews saying about Jesus when he was on the cross? They were saying, you know, if he’s really the Son of God, he would come down from the cross. Isn’t that what they were saying? When you look at the 22nd Psalm, and you read it was foretelling of not only Jesus, but of them. In Psalms 22, verse 2, oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer and by night, but I have no rest. But then he says, he continues to trust God. He says, verse 6, I’m a worm and not a man of reproach of men and despised by the people. Look at verse 7. All who see me sneer at me, they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, Commit yourself to the Lord.

Let him deliver him, let him rescue him, because he delights in him. Kind of interesting, isn’t it? There’s Psalms 32, there’s Psalm 79. We could read a lot of these Psalms, but I want to do something here. Go to Psalms 130, and then we’re going to kind of pull this together.

Psalms 130. Verse 1. Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand. But there’s forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul does wait. And in his word do I hope. But I want you to turn to the 73rd Psalm. And even though there are different authors here, it’s going to make the point. And if you’re really talented, or you’ve got more than one marker in your Bible, be able to flip back and forth with Psalms 1 and Psalm 73. And you’ll see what we’re talking about this morning.

He has a wonderful transformation. Now, push pause for a minute. What’s really intriguing to me, there are times where a whole psalm may fall into a category. So when you’re when you’re really dismayed or discouraged, those are psalms that are especially beneficial to you. But what I really like is there are a few psalms in which you have them bouncing between these categories, you might say, which is showing you the spiritual journey. And we’ll try to flesh that out more in a moment. But you may have a part of the psalm that is that initial, God is good, you know, everything’s supposed to be great. And then you’ll have another section where they fall into this kind of disoriented, what’s going on? I’m crying out to God.

And then at the very end, they come back to what we’re going to look at as this new orientation, which is, I have looked my doubts right in the eye. I have faced the challenges of faith. And yes, I believe God is good, and I believe the world declares this goodness, not because I’ve ignored the challenges to my faith, I have looked at them, and this is a very healthy place in which I find myself. And that’s the journey of faith. And by reading it in a psalm, it’s very powerful. But notice again, Psalm 73, you try to set this up.

God is good. And that is the powerful truth. But it’s rich. But then he says, but as for me. As for me, my feet came close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped. Now, what state would you say he’s in?

Thank you. Disorientation. Is it okay to be there? You’re going to be there sometimes. In fact, there will be multiple times in your life in which you’ll find yourself in that place. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped, he says in verse 3, I was envious at the arrogant. I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat, and they are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace, and a garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. Their imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from a high, they have set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth.

Therefore, the people return to this place, and waters of abundance are drunk by them. They say, How does God know? And is there knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are the wicked, and always at ease. They have increased in wealth. Surely, look at verse 13. In vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. Have you ever felt that way?

Verse 16, when I ponder to understand this, I was trying to figure this out, and it didn’t make any sense of me. From a human perspective. Take God out of the equation, even though I’m trying to trust God. If I just look at this, if I just look at the prosperity, have you not thought this before? I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They look like they’re doing pretty good to me. But yet I see the godly, and they’re over here suffering. But I began in Bible class with God is good. Now, how do I deal with this? Oh, let’s not talk about it, make us uncomfortable. No, that’s not how you deal with it. Was, from a human standpoint, was the writer of this Psalm stating the way it appears to be?

Sure. There’s more to the story. You know what he did? How did he get into that new orientation? How did he get into that new place? How did he get past this? Look at verse 17. He said, that’s how I was thinking until I came into the sanctuary of God.

Then I understood their end. See that? And now he starts talking about praising God and glorifying God. Now here’s what I want you to say. Look at Psalm 73, verse 1. That was his initial understanding. But then you have the challenge in verses 2 through 16. See that? We just read that. He feels very disoriented. Connor has memorized the word. I don’t think he knows what it means. Discombobulated. So he goes around. He can’t really get it all out. So I won’t say discombobulated. But he’s kind of like that. Things don’t feel right. Don’t look right. How do I believe God is good and takes care of the pure? This is what it looks like. But then he says, I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end.

And he starts thinking about eternity. He puts God back into the equation. And he says, I looked out right in the eye. And I’m telling you, God is good to Israel. It’s just long term.

But what about Psalms 1? Remember we start in Psalms 1? Blessed is the man who walketh out in the council of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners. And he talks about the assembly of the righteous. That initial understanding is comprehensive and rich, but you have to balance things out. And Psalms balances them out. It is not a sin, brethren, to cry out to God in righteous frustration if we want a deeper understanding. There is a place in our worship assembly for the expression of these things. There’s a place for the basic understanding of God, and that needs to come out. But that’s not the only thing that comes out in our study. That’s not the only thing that comes out in our worship assemblies.

That’s not the only thing that comes out in our examination of Scripture. There’s a place for the broken. There’s a place for the hurting. There’s a place for the pain stricken in Scripture. Not to stay in that place. That would be unhealthy too. But to grow into a new place. For the person who’s going through the pain of a broken relationship or the loss of a dear loved one, whereas we had recently a couple who lost a son who had embraced unbelief to suicide. Who are extremely faithful Christians. And you walk with me into that house when they’ve just found out this.

You think they weren’t broken? You think they weren’t hurting? You think their souls were not aching? Sure they were. There’s a place for that. But that should cause us to grow further. God has no intention of leaving us in this place, but he does recognize that we live in a sin sick world, but he will be the rock of our refuge. And so with a person who is going through that pain, the loss of a dear loved one, the disappointment of tribulation, sorrow over past sins of which they’ve repented, you can go on to new heights. Now, Psalms of new orientation, and we’ll do this pretty quickly.

3. Psalms of New Orientation

You’re going to go through those moments. The new orientation psalms reflect the surprise of new possibilities that are experienced as a gift of God, and these powerful psalms are descriptive of a faith that has endured. And if you notice Psalms 103, and we’ve kind of already demonstrated this, so I won’t do it again. You see them, the psalmist coming out of this and speaking of. In fact, when he speaks of God’s greatness and glory now, it seems to even transcend what you might have said initially. Because you’ve experienced a faith that has grown and you have dealt with challenges by the sinful world, and now you’ve grown to very well informed faith.

4. Worship to God Should Be Instructive

When we look at the Psalms, there are psalms that instruct. We need instruction. There are psalms, by the way, the most common form of psalms are what are called Psalms of Lament. There’s a place for that. It’s okay to cry out to my God, as long as I have a godly perspective. It’s okay. If I’m seeking to grow in that relationship, there are Thanksgiving Psalms. Are we engaging in Thanksgiving? There are psalms of confidence. That’s where we should end up. That’s where we should end up. And I wanted to make this point regarding our worship and what we might learn in principle. And a lot of these truths you could also see in New Testament passages as well. But what do we need to learn? One of the first things I want to say to you is that worship to God should be instructive.

Yes, I’m offering praise to God. There’s psalms that offer praise to God. But it needs to be instructive. You know, sometimes I will hear people say, and the way it’s presented is as if here’s worship, we’re going to go worship, and then there’s preaching. Have you heard that? And I’ve had people, not where I worship, but I’ve heard people say, well, we need, you know, what we need is, we need more praise, higher praise. We praise worship. I thought we were praising. But their idea is, you know, let’s let’s state really what they mean is let’s just talk about how great God is, and certainly we need to talk about that. And let’s sing and let’s praise in these other ways, but let’s dumb down, study from the Word of God.

As if that’s not worship. Psalms, which is praising God and worshipful toward God, has instruction in it. Let me tell you something. You will never, and as an older preacher friend of my life say, I’ll say you can write this down and take it home with you. You will never engage in high praise of a holy God if you don’t dig deep into his word. You can’t go high if you don’t go deep. Do you know why when we sing the old hymn, Amazing Grace, that means so much to the brother or sister who’s been a Christian for so very long. Because they’ve read the book of Romans and they’ve read through the New Testament, and they understand what Christ has done for them. They understand He’s my propitiation, they’ve looked at the scriptural teaching about justification.

These scriptural principles enrich every verse they sing, every word they read. And that can happen for you too. But don’t think for a moment you’re going to dumb down reading God’s word, and somehow your praise is going to be high. No, that’s man-centered praise. That’s not God-centered praise. And so you see how that comes out even in Psalms. And especially as we come to the New Testament, we see that principle. So we see teaching, we see there’s a place to cry out to God with a desire to seek his will. But then finally, there is a place for true praise. Praise is not only when things are going like I want them to go. I praise in the high points and the low points. But joy is a discipline.

We think of joy as an emotion, and we confuse, while the Bible speaks, I think, to happiness. We sometimes confuse happiness and joy and think that when everything is like I want it, then I have the joy of the Lord. No. Even when things aren’t the way we would consider them as being ideal, we can have the joy of Christ. That’s Paul’s point in Philippians. Rejoice in the Lord when? Always. Always. And again I say, rejoice. And he says, the Lord is near. I don’t think that’s talking about the return of Christ. I think he’s talking about the Lord being near in that verse in Philippians 4. His presence is near me. Always. I rejoice always because of him. My joy comes from him. And that’s why, as you read the psalmist, while they deal with challenges and they deal with difficulties and that disoriented state, sometimes in tribulation, they seem to always come back around to seeing how great God is.

Thank you for your good attention.