Strength for the Soul

So, what determines the impact that hardship has on our soul, on our faith?

And the first question that this psalm would have us ask is,

Is God primary in your heart?

Is God primary in your heart?

Is He the first thing? Is He the main thing?

Does He take priority over everything else in your heart?

Over the last few months, I've actually learned a lot about myself

and how I respond in the face of challenge and hardship.

For instance, when COVID first hit back in March,

when we began to realize how big this thing was and how life-altering it was going to be,

the first thing I did, my knee-jerk response, was to dive into the news,

to dive into the internet.

And I just started voraciously reading everything I could get my hands on.

And it was only after the fact, weeks later,

that I realized that my first response was not to go to my knees in prayer.

My first response was to dive into the internet

and to try to read as much as I possibly could.

And as I've reflected about that in the subsequent weeks,

I've realized that I think one of the things that I was trying to do there

and one of my patterns is that when I face hardship,

it makes me feel out of control.

And so my knee-jerk reaction is to want to try to regain

as much of a sense of control as possible.

And for me, that often looks like trying to learn as much as I can

and get my mind around something so that I can then feel that I'm in control again.

And so another way of saying this is what I've learned about myself is

when I face hardship, my tendency is to run to the God of control,

to go to the altar of control,

and to put my hope in and to make that need for control primary in my life.

And that's where I go for comfort.

And so just realizing that about my own heart has been tremendously helpful.

And so as we talk about idols,

idols are anything that we run to for that sense of comfort, right?

Idols are the things that we go to as a knee-jerk reaction when we face hardship.

And so an idol is anything that we look to as a replacement for God.

Anything that we look to to give us things that only God can give us.

And in Scripture, we see three ways that we can do this,

three sort of categories of idolatry.

First, the first category is people can take anything,

any ordinary thing out of life,

whether it's a thing or a person or a relationship or an idea,

we can take ordinary things and turn them into idols that we worship.

So we can do this with control.

We can do this with money.

We can do this with politics.

We can do this with success.

We can do this with our kids.

We can take any ordinary thing and begin treating it like a God,

making it primary in our hearts.

But there's a second category that this psalm draws our attention to

that merits a little bit of reflection on our parts.

In some cases, idols can actually have a real spiritual force behind them.

It's not just a cognitive thing.

Idols can actually have a spiritual force behind them.

David says in verse 1,

Before the gods I sing your praise.

He says before the gods.

Now what's he talking about there?

Well, there's various explanations for what he's talking about.

But what we realize, if we take into account all of Scripture,

is that there are several places in the Bible

where Scripture seems to suggest

that there are numerous supernatural beings

that exist beyond our perception.

That it's not just God and God alone.

There are in fact all kinds of spiritual beings that exist,

even though we can't perceive them.

So for instance, Psalm 82 talks about God taking his place in the divine council.

That's a very mysterious reference.

Job makes a similar reference as well.

And then when we look in the New Testament,

Paul, a very well-known passage in Ephesians,

Paul says there that our struggle is not against flesh and blood,

but against the spiritual rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

So all of these would lead us to believe

that there are actually spiritual beings,

entities that exist and that impact human lives

and impact the world in various ways.

And so we need to recognize that some of our idols

actually have a spiritual force behind them.

In some cases, a malevolent spiritual force behind them.

I think that there's a way in which things like anger,

rage and resentment,

things like fear,

things like lust,

that these things can gain such a power over us.

They can come to dominate us so much

that we recognize that there's a spiritual force driving them.

So this is another thing that we need to understand about idolatry.

And then the third thing that we need to recognize,

or a third form of idolatry,

is this happens when we think that we are worshiping the true God of Scripture.

And yet, in fact, what we've done is we have refashioned that idea that we have of God

into the kind of God that we would prefer to believe in,

that we would prefer to worship.

And so we've actually lost sight of the true God,

and we're worshiping a God of our own imagination.

One of the things that we need to ask ourselves from time to time is,

as I think about the God I believe in,

does that God just happen to agree with me on every major issue?

So if you think about the God that you worship,

does that God just happen to agree with you on every major issue?

Do they share all of your social stances?

Do they share your political views?

Does that God just happen to kind of align with you in all of those ways?

And then I would say, if that's the case,

don't you think that's an odd coincidence?

That the infinite God of the universe who created the cosmos

just happens to line up with you on every major issue?

And if that's the case,

we need to recognize that we have probably recast God in our own image

rather than worshiping the God of Scripture.

And the thing that we need to recognize about idols is,

the problem is,

idols don't often look like idols.

The problem with idols is they look exactly like God,

just without the parts that we don't like.

And so we need to be very discerning in,

when we worship God,

what God are we worshiping?

Are we worshiping the true God of Scripture?

And if we want a strong soul,

if we want that kind of resilience in our faith,

the first thing that we need to make sure of

is that we're worshiping the true God

rather than an idol,

something that we've turned into a God

or some way that we have reimagined God

to fit our liking.

And so as David says in verse 2,

God has exalted His name and His word above all things.

And so one of the places that we go to make sure

we're worshiping the God of the Bible is Scripture.

And we want to compare our idea of God

with the way God has revealed His name

and revealed His nature through His word.

So this is the first thing that we see in this psalm

and in David's life.

God was always primary.

And any time that David fell into sin

or rebelled against God,

it was always connected to the fact

that God had ceased to be primary in his heart.

The second thing that we see in this psalm,

the second question that we might ask is,

are God's purposes the aim of your life?

Are God's purposes the aim of your life?

David says in verse 8,

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.

Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

And I love this.

No matter what David faced,

whether it was in a time of flourishing

or a time of suffering,

in good times and hard times,

David's starting place for making sense of his life

was the assumption that no matter what,

God's purposes were unfolding in his life.

No matter what the circumstances may be,

he knew God loves me,

His steadfast love is with me,

and God's purposes are unfolding in my life.

And that was the foundation

of how he made sense of everything else.

And what's amazing is,

that was David's assumption,

but David had no idea how God might use him.

But we see much later in Scripture,

in Acts chapter 13,

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Paul is preaching a sermon,

and he's recounting all of the ways

that God has worked throughout history.

He's recounting the story of Israel.

And at one point in this sermon,

in Acts chapter 13,

Acts 13 · chapter mention

he says,

for David,

after he had served the purpose of God

in his own generation,

fell asleep and was laid with his fathers.

Isn't that fantastic?

I love,

it's one of my favorite places in Acts.

He summarizes David's entire life

with these words.

He served God's purposes

in his own generation.

It reminds me of people like Esther,

if you know the story of Esther.

You know,

Esther,

whom God,

the most unlikely person,

whom God positioned

in the halls of power

for such a time as this,

so that she was able

to be used by God

to save thousands of people

from being annihilated.

She served God's purposes

in her own generation,

and then she was laid to rest.

And I gotta be honest,

as I've thought about that

over the years,

man,

I hope somebody says that

about me when I die.

I hope that after I am gone

that people say,

you know,

he served God's purposes

in his own generation,

and then he was laid to rest

with his fathers.

I hope people say that about me.

I hope they don't say

he spent all of his time

on his iPhone.

I hope they say

he served God's purposes.

I can't imagine anything better

for somebody to say about you

after you pass away.

And so the question

that I want you to think about is,

what do you hope

that people say about you?

After you're gone,

after you're laid to rest,

how would you want somebody

to summarize your life?

What would you want them

to say about you?

And so in other words,

what is the aim of your life?

What are you focused on?

Another way of thinking about this,

or asking the question,

would be to say,

how do you define success

in your life?

What's your definition

of a life well lived?

This is something

really worth thinking about.

Because it's easy

to start going down

a path in life,

aiming at the things

that we think

that we should be aiming at,

but never really taking

the time to ask ourselves

and to ask the Lord,

what does a life well lived

actually look like?

What am I actually aiming at?

What does success mean?

Is a successful life,

does that mean

being financially stable?

And if so,

what does that mean?

How much do you need

in the bank

to feel financially stable?

Is a successful life,

does that mean

that you get married?

Does it mean

that you have kids?

Does it mean

that your kids

turn out well

and don't hate you too much

when they grow up?

Does it mean

that you get a PhD

and then you've arrived?

Does it mean

that you make a difference

and have a lasting impact

in the world,

a kind of legacy?

What does a successful life

actually mean?

Is it just to be healthy,

free from suffering,

happy, content?

If you had to sit down

and write it out

on a piece of paper,

how would you answer

this question?

Because the thing is,

all of those things

that I've just described,

they're all goals

that are good,

that people aim at,

that we hope we have,

but none of those things

is guaranteed.

None of the things

on that list

are guaranteed.

You might have money,

you might not.

You might be destitute.

You might do all

the right things

and still be destitute.

You might be healthy,

you might not.

You might end up

struggling with chronic pain

that you never thought

that you would have

to deal with.

You might run every day

and be super healthy

and eat all the right foods

and get cancer.

None of these things

are guaranteed.

None of these things

can we count on.

There's only one thing,

in fact,

as we think about

what is the aim of my life,

there's only one real thing

that we can aim at

that is guaranteed.

And that is,

if the aim of your life

is to serve God's purposes,

that is absolutely guaranteed.

It will happen.

If you want to give yourself

to God

and you want to say,

I want my life to be about

serving your purposes,

God can and will use you.

And it's a completely different way

of thinking about life

and it's a completely different way

of defining success.

If you give your life to God,

just like David,

just like Esther,

just like Moses,

just like all of these people

we read about in Scripture,

God can and will use you

for His purposes.

And if that is your metric

for success,

it makes all of the difference.

Because whether you're rich

or poor,

whether you're single

or married,

whether you have kids

or don't have kids,

whether you have a job

that you love

or a job that you just tolerate,

whether you're healthy

or you struggle with health issues

all of your life,

no matter what your life looks like,

the one thing that you can count on,

the one thing that you know for sure

is that God is using

everything in your life

to serve His purposes.

God doesn't waste any of it.

It all gets wrapped into,

woven into,

this great unfolding tapestry

of history

that is God's sovereign will.

And so here's the thing

that we need to wrestle with.

It could be

that the greatest

you ever achieve

in your life

is middle management.

It could be

that that's as far as you get.

You know,

for those of us

who are entering

the kind of middle years of life,

I think one of the biggest fears

that many of us have,

the fear is not so much

a fear of failure.

The fear is a fear

of mediocrity.

It's a fear

of only ever

being okay

but never really

being the best

at anything.

It's a fear

of achieving

mediocrity

and recognizing

that's all I was able

to do in my life.

And maybe

that's how the world

sees you.

Maybe according

to the world's economy

and the world's metrics

for success,

that's how you get labeled.

But let me tell you this.

If you are the kind

of person

who has given

your life to God

and aimed your life

at God's purposes,

when you pass away,

when you are laid to rest

as Scripture says,

all of the hosts

of heaven

will sing out

in praise to God

as they welcome you home

and they will cry out,

there is one

who served God's purposes

in their generation.

All of the heavenly hosts

will celebrate

as you come home.

They'll drown out

the voices of the world.

And of course,

the greatest example

of this

is the cross itself.

You know,

when Jesus Christ

allowed himself

to be executed,

there weren't people

standing around saying,

look at this example

of greatness.

Look at this example

of success.

Look at how amazing

this man is.

Look at what he's willing

to do for the people

he loves.

No, nobody said that.

No, he died

a common death

of a common criminal

executed like a traitor

to the empire.

And that was it.

And then everybody

went home

and nobody celebrated.

And yet,

in the eyes of heaven,

as that happened

on the cross,

there were shouts

of joy and triumph

because finally,

victory over sin

and death

had been won.

So we need to ask ourselves,

whose metrics

define success for us?

What are we aiming at?

What is our life

really about?

What voices

am I going to listen to?

What are my priorities?

And you know,

I know that there is

great hardship right now.

I know that there's

tremendous unrest.

I know that COVID-19

has disrupted

virtually every aspect

of life.

I know that there's

political turmoil.

I know that there's

deep social animosity

and division.

I know all of these

things are true.

But there is also

an opportunity here

for us to completely

re-examine

what we are aiming

at in life.

What matters?

And if you want

strength in your soul

to be resilient

and to be the kind

of person that

when you face hardship

your trust grows,

your faith grows.

If you want to be

that kind of person,

first make sure

that God is primary

in your heart

and not some substitute

God in His place.

Put your faith

and your trust in Jesus.

Exalt God's Word

in your own life

the way God does.

And then make

God's purpose

the aim of your life

so that no matter

what circumstances

you find yourself in

you know

He is using me

even now.

If you do these things

no matter what may come

God will fulfill

His purposes

in your life.

And one day

when you have been

laid to rest

until Jesus comes again

people will say of you

there is someone

who served God's purposes

in their own generation.

Let's pray.

Lord we thank you

and

we pray that

even as we

reflect on

these words

and on

your people

whom we read about

in Scripture

we pray that this

would give us

the courage

to re-examine

our own lives

and our own hearts.

That we would

have

a vision

of life

that reflects

your glory

and reflects

your purposes

and that the voices

of the world

and the metrics

of the world

would be distant

and that they would

fade in the light

of your glory

and your unfolding

sovereign plan

in the world.

Lord we want

nothing more

than to be part of that

and we pray this

in your Son's

holy name.

Amen.