God Our Refuge in Times of Trouble

Chris, Lou is going to be bringing God's Word to us this morning.

And just, you know, we tend to think that singing is worship,

and then the rest of the service is something different.

Actually, we're going to continue worshiping God by listening and responding to His Word.

This is one of the ways that we worship, is we listen and we respond to God's Word.

So our worship continues, just because there's not music involved doesn't mean we're not worshiping.

So we're going to continue to worship by listening to God's Word.

Chris is going to bring God's Word to us this morning.

And in many ways, I don't need to introduce Chris, because he serves in so many ways.

And Leo leads the production team, so the sound, they lead that team.

Chris also helps lead a CG.

He also serves in the worship team from time to time.

Some of the songs that we sing at church, Chris wrote those songs himself.

He's a great musician and a songwriter.

But Chris, you've also got a great grasp of God's Word.

And we've got a preaching cohort that meets once a month, and we go through texts.

And Chris has preached a few times there.

And Chris, you've got a great grasp of God's Word.

But you're also somebody who, as Isaiah 66 says, you've got a humility before God's Word.

You bow down before God's Word.

And you don't sit over in judgment.

You let God's Word speak to you.

And I really respect you for that, your humility before God and His Word.

So it's great to have you share Psalm 11 with us this morning.

Just one thing before Margo comes up.

So at Watermark, one of the things you'll notice is we quite often have a wide variety of people leading things, leading the service, leading communion, preaching.

And one of the reasons is we don't want to be a church that's so excellent, have such a high standard that we never give people opportunities.

We want to be a church that's constantly raising and developing people, giving people chances to minister.

The only way you grow is by getting a chance.

And so we want to be a church that part of our culture is to say, let's give people chances.

We don't need to have such a high standard.

We actually want to be raising people up and giving people chances.

So it's part of our culture.

So on that note, Margo, will you come and read Psalm 11 to us?

And let's listen to the reading of God's Word.

Hello.

We're reading from Psalm 11 today.

Starting in verse 1, we read,

In the Lord I take refuge.

This is the word of God.

Check.

Can you guys hear me?

But, yep, so as Kevin introduced me, my name is Chris.

And I don't actually work at Watermark, but I am preaching today by Kevin's invitation.

And, yeah, I work as an accountant.

I don't actually normally talk this much.

I normally sing a lot on stage.

And I think some people in my CG probably haven't even heard my voice before.

But, yeah, here I am.

I'm going to be trying to talk for 30 minutes.

So that's a challenge.

But, anyway, enough chit-chat.

For those who know me, you may know that I go bouldering quite a bit, which involves climbing up walls.

It's around, like, five meters tall or so.

And I grab onto a hose of various shapes and sizes, all without the assistance of a harness or a rope.

And on a good day, I can probably attempt a new climb and get it done in one go.

But on a bad day, usually trying a new route takes time and time of trial and error and trying to figure out where my hands go and where my feet go.

So sometimes it's putting all my weight, all my trust on a hold that's probably not that much bigger than a golf ball.

And sometimes it involves taking a bit of a leap of faith, jumping from one hold to another hold, hoping that my feet will land right where it needs to be.

And climbing can be representative of our daily lives, too.

Sometimes factors within our control can affect the outcome of our lives.

But sometimes factors outside of control, like the Typhoon 3, can affect them.

Sometimes we succeed in climbing the corporate ladder, but sometimes others beat us to the top.

Sometimes our high-risk, high-reward investments, like GameStop stock, makes us a lot of money.

But other times we lose money even on low-risk investments like bonds.

And while it's easy for us to praise God when we feel like we're at the top of the world and are doing well,

what happens when the hard times kick in?

Where do you place your faith in then in the midst of your hard times?

The chance to remain faithful in the midst of adversity isn't something that is much different from what David,

who was the author of Psalm 11, experienced.

And to give some background, David is the second king of Israel,

and he's most famous for, out of all the people of Israel, he was the one that beat Goliath,

who was a 10-foot-tall, formidable warrior.

But his life took a hard turn, though.

Not by his fault, but the previous king, Saul, disobeyed God and lost favor in God's sight.

And Saul became jealous of David.

In 1 Samuel 18, we read that as David and the men of Israel were returning home from battle after beating Goliath,

the Israelites were chanting,

Saul has struck his thousands and David his 10-thousands.

And now, I'm sure that the Israelites meant this as a chance to celebrate how the Israelites won the war over the Philistines.

But hearing Saul being compared like this obviously made him very jealous.

And Saul even wanted to kill him,

which forced David to flee from Saul and his army as they went after him.

And it was during these times of trials when David probably wrote this psalm.

So let's dive into this psalm together.

In verse 1, David starts with his main point by declaring that God is his refuge.

He writes,

In the Lord I take refuge.

How can you say to my soul,

Flee like a bird to your mountain.

So in light of David's security in God, the idea to flee or to run away is out of the question.

David doesn't ask others to validate his opinion by asking them what they think,

as if David needed someone else to tell him that finding his refuge in God is the right thing.

But he instead asks this rhetorical question to challenge the advice that he's receiving from his advisors.

So through the psalm, David wants to show us that we can place our trust in God during our trials

because he is our holy and righteous judge.

Let me repeat that again.

Trust in God during our trials because he is the holy and righteous judge.

And when bad things happen or when evil comes upon us,

we can still trust in God even if the world says otherwise.

And we'll take a look at the psalm in the following sections.

First section, the insufficient advice.

And second section, the holy and righteous judge.

So let's look at the first point, the insufficient advice.

Verses 1 to 3 reads,

So in these verses, David's advisors are essentially telling him to run away

so that David can preserve all that he's built his life upon.

Now, from David's perspective, this might not seem like a bad or unwise thing to do.

As mentioned earlier, at this point in history,

David already established himself as a valiant warrior,

and he was already in line to be the next king.

He was also anointed by the prophet Saul and has the favor of God upon him.

So if David doesn't flee, he might lose his popularity contest to Saul.

But also, if Saul wins, then Saul might continue ruling over Israel

and leading the Israelites down a path of moral destruction.

But David here isn't necessarily trying to prove that fleeing is bad or wrong.

In fact, as mentioned earlier, David actually physically fled from Saul.

But rather, David is highlighting how his advisors' advice to flee

is based on their limited view of who God is.

His advisors think that God isn't strong enough for David to place his foundation in.

And his advisors want to ensure that David,

especially when Saul or others are against him,

has some sort of backup plan just in case God fails.

And if we look at our own lives,

do we have our own backup plans in case God fails?

And what does that say about our view of God?

Do we believe that God is the sure and steadfast anchor

who is worthy of our faith and trust?

In verse 2, then reveals the immediate dangers that David was facing.

Let's look at verse 2 together.

So David's advisors are using the imagery of archery

to show us that the wicked, which refers here to Saul and his army,

are attacking the righteous, which refers to David and his men.

And on one hand, there's a sense of secrecy and surprise

when wicked are shooting in the dark.

Being in the darkness reduces our ability to understand our surroundings

and it gives the wicked an upper hand.

But on the other hand,

the image of the wicked shooting in the dark

also shows us how we often feel defenseless when we're being attacked.

Unlike someone standing right in front of you,

wielding a sword and slashing you or stabbing you,

archers are not only able to attack you from a distance,

but at the same time, it's also harder for you to retaliate and attack them back.

And before we move on to the next section of this psalm,

let us reflect on what this psalm means for us in our world today.

The Bible often portrays mountains as a picture of strength,

of stability, of security,

and that's how our countries would want our governments to be too.

But in a time when tensions are escalating between nations

and the stability of the global economy is at risk,

where do we run to?

Or if we look specifically more into our own lives,

in the midst of our own struggles,

what are the mountains that we flee to?

And where do we turn to to find security?

For many of us, we always find ways to distract ourselves,

to escape from our present realities,

whether it's through alcohol, through Netflix, through Tinder.

And while these things are not necessarily inherently bad,

they only take our focus off of the situation temporarily

and ultimately fail to provide the long-lasting security or peace that God gives us.

Once you've sobered up after a long night out,

you still have to wake up and go to work the next day.

And once you've finished binge-watching Netflix,

you might have to finish your homework that's due tomorrow,

assuming that chat GPT is not allowed,

but that's a different conversation.

But instead of finding our refuge in these things,

this psalm calls us to find our true refuge in God,

just as David did,

trusting that God hasn't failed,

as God showed David when he beat Goliath,

and never will fail us through eternity.

And so we've looked at the insufficient advice

that David has been receiving from his advisors,

but then what is it about God

that makes David cling to him as his refuge?

And what is it about God

that draws David to him

instead of causing David to flee?

And why should we, if we look at the psalm,

why should we cling to God

when struggles come our way?

And David proceeds to describe who God is

in verses 4 to 7,

which leads to our next point,

the holy and righteous judge.

And first, let's look at God, the holy judge,

as David establishes in verse 4.

In which he writes,

the Lord is in his holy temple.

The Lord's throne is in heaven.

His eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

So as Kevin talked about earlier,

the word holy means to be set apart.

It's to be made distinct by God from what is ordinary.

And in this verse,

David uses the word holy to describe God's temple.

And if you think about back in David's time,

the Israelites gathered to worship God,

not in a church building,

not in Ebenezer school,

but in a place that's known as a tabernacle.

And the innermost part of the tabernacle

is known as the holy of holies.

It's where the presence of God dwelled,

and is so holy and sacred that,

as Leviticus 16 shows us,

only one person is allowed to enter the room each year.

And this one person is the high priest

who entered into the holy of holies

to atone for the sins of all of Israel.

And he was only able to do so

after following a series of procedures

to ensure that he met God's standard of cleanliness.

And in fact, some accounts also mention

that they would tie a rope to the leg of the high priest

just in case the high priest might have missed a step

in cleaning himself and died in the holy of holies

so that they could track him out.

But as we see here,

God's holiness means that no one can be in his presence

without first being made clean.

And therefore, only God himself in his holiness

qualifies to live in his holy temple.

And coming back to Psalm 11,

David also shows us God's holiness

by reminding us that his throne is in heaven.

In verse four, he writes,

the Lord is in his holy temple.

The Lord's throne is in heaven.

And if you recall in the very beginning of the Bible

in Genesis 1,

we understand that on the second day of creation,

God separated the heavens from the earth.

And this is not just a physical separation

that makes it impossible for us to get there.

But it's also a reflection of how sinful our own hearts are

and how infinitely far away we are from God.

Our hearts are so full of sin that no amount of good deeds we do

outweighs the penalty of our own sin

and buys us a ticket into heaven.

And just as how we in our unholiness cannot be in the presence of God,

we can't enter heaven either.

In the last line of verse four,

David reminds us of God's vantage point.

He writes,

So David uses the imagery of God's eyes and eyelids

to remind us that God knows all things and sees all things.

Although God lives and reigns from heaven,

which, as I talked about earlier,

is separated from earth by much more than a physical barrier,

his knowledge and understanding of the world

transcends that barrier.

He sees beyond this barrier between us

and hears and knows every spoken and unspoken thought that we have.

And since God knows everything,

we can trust in him knowing that he knows what's best for us.

And this isn't meant to sound like God is creepy or intrusive or a stalker,

but that because God knows and sees everything,

he's able to judge us righteously because he has all the facts.

To give a fair and just judgment.

And this leads us to our next point.

God, the righteous judge,

which we see in verses five to seven.

David writes in verse five that,

The Lord tests the righteous,

but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves the violence.

So on one hand,

David describes God as hating the wicked,

but on the other hand,

David describes God as testing the righteous.

And now this might seem confusing

as we would expect God's reaction to the righteous

to be the opposite of hate,

which is love.

But David's choice of words here

give clarity and insight as to how God demonstrates his love toward the righteous,

which is by testing them.

And in the same way,

despite how Saul is trying to kill David,

David so firmly believes that God loves him

and is using this opportunity

as a way to test him.

And if you look at verse six,

verse six further,

David further elaborates what God does to the wicked.

David writes,

Let him rain coals on the wicked.

Fire and sulfur and a scorching wind

shall be the portion of their cup.

So David shows us that God himself,

and not David,

is the one who will enact vengeance against the wicked.

David also reminds us that the wicked deserve God's punishment,

which isn't meant to be a light warning,

but it's so severe even to the point of death.

And in the same way that God is just in punishing the wicked for what they deserve,

he is equally just in rewarding the righteous for what they deserve,

which is by testing them.

Let's look at verse seven together.

For the Lord is righteous.

He loves righteous deeds.

The upright shall behold his face.

The word righteous is normally used to describe someone or something

who is morally right or justifiable.

For instance, if you refer to someone as a righteous man,

that someone would be someone who stays on the right side of the law,

even when he's tempted to disobey it or pressure to break it.

But here in verse seven,

David reminds us that God is righteous,

that he is the ultimate standard of righteousness.

And the fact that God is righteous

is not different from how he is holy.

In fact, God's righteousness works hand in hand with how God is holy.

God's perfect righteousness shows us

what his perfect standard of holiness is.

It shows us that we fall infinitely short of his standard

and how much we are in desperate need

of his all-sufficient grace to save us.

And David doesn't end by describing God as righteous,

but he also adds another sentence

by saying that God loves righteous deeds.

And does it sound like David is unnecessarily repeating himself?

By placing these two ideas together,

David reminds us that a righteous God must love righteous deeds.

And it would go against God's character for him to love unrighteousness

or be in the presence of any unholiness.

And this is exactly what gives David the confidence

to place his trust in God,

that God in his holiness

will be able to see that David is in the right

and that Saul is in the wrong.

That God in his righteousness

will help David, the righteous one,

win the battle while judging Saul, the wicked one,

by punishing him according to what he did to David.

But what does David finding his refuge in God mean for us?

Like David, we too might feel like

we are often unjustly persecuted

for doing the right thing.

If you're in school, maybe you feel like your teacher

should have given you the A

instead of giving it to your lazy classmate

who slacked off during a group project.

And if you're in the workplace,

maybe you feel like your clients are always

blaming you for sticking too closely to the rules,

especially when bending the rules just a tiny bit

can help them save money,

which really appeals to me because I'm a tax accountant.

So yeah.

But regardless of how others are treating you,

we can rest assured

knowing that God is the holy and righteous judge

who notices these things,

whether big or small.

His knowledge of everything in our lives

makes him worthy of our full trust and devotion.

And just as David finds his refuge in God

during hard times,

we too can find our refuge in our holy and righteous God,

even when our struggles seem too big

and when God seems small.

So from reading the psalm,

maybe you think that you don't need God

or maybe you think that you're the righteous one

in a story just like David is.

And because of that,

you don't deserve God's punishment.

But we fast forward a few chapters to Psalm 14.

David writes,

there is none who does good,

not even one.

And even David himself,

the seemingly righteous man

who is being attacked

and pursued by the wicked Saul,

comes to this conclusion

that he himself is not good.

And Paul also writes something similar

in Romans as well.

He says that,

for all have sinned

and fallen short of the glory of God.

Even the great apostle Paul himself

knows that he is inwardly a sinner.

The Bible shows us that all of us

are unable to meet God's standard of righteousness

by our own efforts.

And it's due to our own sin

that makes it impossible for us

to save ourselves.

We are inherently wicked

and we rightfully deserve

the fire, the sulfur,

and the scorching wind

to come upon us,

just as David shows us in this Psalm.

And even after we die,

we are destined to live

and burn in hell

for all eternity.

But the story doesn't end here.

God doesn't just leave us

in our place of sin and despair

to fend for ourselves.

In fact,

he provides a way out

of our hellbound trajectory

by sending his own son,

Jesus Christ,

who is both fully God

and fully human

to this world

to show us how he wants us to live.

Which sounds like good news, right?

Except,

because of our sin,

we didn't want Jesus.

Instead of making Jesus our king,

we rejected him

and made ourselves

our own kings,

just as Kevin talked about last week.

And we hated Jesus so much

that we gave him

his death sentence

by sending him

to the cross

where he died.

But when Jesus died,

something amazing happened.

The Bible tells us

that at that moment,

there was a big earthquake

and the curtain

that once separated

the Holy of Holies

that I talked about earlier

from the rest of the temple

was torn in two.

And this means that

from that moment onward,

we no longer needed

a high priest

or a sacrificial offering

because Jesus himself

is the great high priest

and the sacrificial lamb

who paid for all of our sins.

Those who turn to him

and trust him.

And he bore the death penalty

that we,

wicked sinners,

deserved.

And in doing so,

he spared us

from the punishment

of God's judgment.

But then Jesus' death

was not the end though.

Three days later,

he rose from the grave.

And Romans 6, 9

tells us that

death no longer

has dominion

over Christ.

So we too,

if we place

our full faith in Jesus

and trust that

the blood he shed

on the cross

is more than sufficient

to cover our sins,

then we too

will be resurrected

in heaven

after we die.

So what does Psalm 11

mean for us?

As David shows us,

when it seems like

evil and chaos

are surrounding you

and your life

is crashing down,

we should still

find our refuge

in God

because he is

our holy

and righteous judge.

And like David,

we don't have to look

to anything else

or anyone else

to find our refuge.

But we can instead

remind ourselves

of who God is

and let the truth

of who God is

draw us to him.

He resides

in his holy temple

in heaven

and righteously

judges us

for his own glory.

And the refuge

we find in God

is exactly

what we need

to survive

the enemy's attacks

on us.

But the Christian life

isn't just

about surviving though.

It isn't just

about the here

and now.

If you look

at verse 7,

David writes

that the upright

shall behold

his face.

And what does

David try to say here?

To behold something

is more than

just looking at something.

It also has

an aspect of gaze,

of contemplation,

of looking at

something intently.

The first song

we sung today

was Behold Our God

in which the chorus

says,

Behold Our God

seated on his throne,

come,

let us adore him.

And we aren't

here just trying

necessarily say,

hey,

there's God,

let's look at him

and sing to him.

But we are instead

fixing the eyes

of our hearts

on God

who sits on the throne

and using all

that we have

with all enthusiasm

to ascribe to God

the praise

and the glory

that he alone

deserves.

So now we know

what the word

behold means,

but

what does David

mean when he says

that the upright

shall behold

his face?

Can we even see

the face of God?

God tells Moses

in Exodus 33

that you cannot

see my face

for man shall not

see me and live.

And as we looked

at just now,

because of our sin

and unholiness,

we cannot even be

in the mere presence

of our holy God.

And much less

are we physically

able to see

God's face.

So David here

is instead

showing us

that the ultimate

end goal

of the Christian life,

beyond all the trials,

the tribulations,

the suffering

in your life

that God puts us

through

is to see

the face of God.

To be able to see

not a God

hidden behind a veil,

but instead

see God

for who he really is.

not the seemingly

evil and cruel God

that we tend to see,

not just the God

that punishes

the wicked,

but to instead

see him as

the holy God,

the righteous God

that demonstrated

his love for us

by sending his son

Jesus

to die on the cross

for us.

And he is the God

in whom we can place

our full trust in,

just like David did

when he was being

pursued by Saul.

And so,

now we know that

we need to survive

until our journey ends.

But what about

the here and now?

What are ways

that we can find

our refuge

in our holy

and righteous God

in our daily lives?

The one,

if life is good,

recognize that

you still need God.

Finding our refuge

in God

starts with us

knowing that

we need him.

Maybe you feel

like you're doing

well right now

and you don't want

to change the status quo

or maybe you think

that God is something

that only the weak

and the broken people need.

But that is exactly

why we need to first

understand about ourselves

is that we are

inherently weak

and broken people.

Whether life is good

or bad,

our works still

cannot save us.

And regardless

of our circumstances,

we are still

in desperate need

of God's grace

to save us.

So even when life

is good,

remember that

you still need God.

And two,

if life is a struggle,

remember that

this journey

isn't over.

In defending his ministry,

Paul writes

in 2 Corinthians 4, 17,

that for this light

momentary affliction

is preparing us

for an eternal

weight of glory

beyond all comparison.

So whatever you're

struggling with right now,

maybe it's a job situation

you're in right now

or maybe you're

struggling with sin.

Maybe you are

struggling with depression

or maybe you've

lost a loved one

recently.

But know this,

we can trust in God

knowing that he

is preparing us

for an eternal purpose.

And just as David

trusted that God

is testing him

through his trials,

we too can trust

that God

is using our situations

to shape us,

to mold us

into something greater.

And we can rest assured

with the assurance

that one day

we will see Jesus

face to face

as David described,

free from the sin

and the suffering

in this world.

And if you're here today

but don't consider yourself

to be a Christian,

then perhaps ask yourself,

where does your hope

lie?

And even if you don't agree

with anything that I said

over the past hour,

I hope that this question

resonates with you.

And I do want you to know

that this is also a question

that Christians struggle with

all the time.

Where does your hope lie?

Where does your hope lie?

Where does your hope lie?

And I myself,

as I was reflecting

on this question

while preparing

for this message,

I've been thinking

about how much hope

I've been placing

on an internal transfer

application I put in

that has been in limbo

for quite a while.

I got support

from my boss,

I had my interviews,

and HR even told me

that the interviews

went well.

And I was very optimistic

that I would be starting

in my new department

at the beginning

of this year,

thinking that it would

deliver me out of

the misery and the boredom

and the repetitiveness

of my current position,

and instead give me

long-lasting happiness

and fulfillment.

But fast forward to now,

I'm still on my same job.

Though through this long

and arduous process,

I do feel like God

has been working within me.

He's been challenging

my convictions,

he's been testing

my patience,

and while I still

don't fully know

why he's placed me

or kept me where I am,

I know that he has

a specific purpose

for doing so.

And in the meantime,

even though my transfer

hasn't happened yet,

or maybe it won't even happen,

I am still trusting God

knowing that he is

sovereign over my life

and that he,

as the holy and righteous judge,

is in control over my life.

And this is just my story,

but I'm sure that all of you guys

have similar stories

of placing your trust

in other things

than in God.

And in every situation

that we are in,

we can still place

our trust in God

knowing that he is

our holy and righteous judge.

And even when it seems

like our struggles never end,

even when it seems like

our world is crashing down on us,

we can still place

our full faith in him.

And as we will sing later,

Jesus is the solid rock

on which we stand

as we navigate life

on this earth.

watermark,

let us seek Jesus

in everything that we do

and build our foundation

in him

from now

until the day

we will see him.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father,

I thank you for

being the holy

and righteous judge

over our lives.

And God,

we're sorry that

we've placed our hope

in our education,

in our career,

in everything else

but in you.

But God,

I pray that

you help us see that

whether it's in the midst

of our struggles

or whether we are doing good,

you are still the God

that we can place

our trust in.

Help us trust in you

knowing that

through our testing,

you are transforming

our hearts

to become more like yours.

And help us trust in you

knowing that

our journey isn't over,

that we have something

to look forward to

at the end.

And Jesus,

help us look forward

to that day

when we will be with you,

when we will be free

of the sin

and the suffering

and the trials

of this world.

In your name I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Eig New