Psalm 34

Right. Am I on? It sounds like I'm on. Okay, good.

Yeah, so today we are in Psalm 34. Let's turn our Bibles there.

Now, before I read together, I'm going to turn there too because I should probably have the Bible open, you know, preaching. It's good.

So before I read, let me tell you the context of this psalm.

You see the heading of David when he changed his behavior before Abimelech so that he drove him out and he went away.

He escaped. Right. So a little backstory about David.

So Saul was the anointed king. He became king and he did some things that lost favor with the Lord.

And so God appointed and anointed another king to succeed Saul, David.

David was humble. Saul was tall and arrogant and kind of everything you might think of as a king.

David was kind of the opposite, smaller, humble.

And because of this, Saul was very angry and he actually sought to kill David.

He saw him as a rival, even though David didn't do anything against Saul.

And so David seeks refuge from a priest.

He's a local priest and he needs a weapon because Saul is pursuing him really with his army.

And so he goes to the priest. Do you have any weapons?

And the priest, this is a, this is a, we don't have weapons in the temple.

Oh yeah, we have Goliath's sword.

You remember you fought Goliath and killed him with his own sword.

We have that sword. There's none like it.

Okay. Yeah, I'll take that.

It's a gigantic sword and it's very obvious what it is.

This is the sword of Goliath of the Philistines.

So I'm not exactly sure why, but David then sought refuge in the land of the Philistines with Achish.

Says Abimelech here, that's maybe a title for Achish.

Achish was the fiercest of the Philistine kings.

And here's David coming with Goliath's sword.

I'm not sure this is the wisest plan.

And the Philistine king, they're made aware, hey, this is David of the Israelites.

Saul killed his thousands, but David killed his ten thousands.

He's just a dangerous man.

And so David sees this happening and he figures, oh no, I'm in serious trouble.

Achish and his band, they're going to kill me.

And so what David does is he pretends to be insane.

So much so that he drools even on his own beard and the spit goes down.

And this is just gross.

And I mean, it's gross today, right?

But even back then, a beard, that's like a sacred thing.

You know, you see guys with the like really nice beards and all trim and stuff like that.

Imagine drool coming down that.

And that's just an indignity.

And so, I mean, you've got to be insane to do that or you're acting insane.

In which case, who would do that?

That's just, that's crazy.

And so Achish is repulsed by this.

And David is able to kind of escape because he pretended to be insane.

And so that's where we find ourselves with this psalm.

And so let's read it.

And we see David's perspective on this whole matter.

And I think it's a lot different perspective than if you read this story in 1 Samuel.

Psalm 34.

I will bless, well, let me say this before I read this.

Because I'm going to read this when it says Lord, all capital letters, right?

This is a little aside, but that means Yahweh.

Yahweh, I am that I am.

We just sang about that.

The great I am.

That's his covenant name.

So I think we should use it sometimes.

And so I'm going to use it here as I read in place of Lord.

I'm going to say Yahweh.

That's just his covenant name.

I am that I am.

And so it's the name that God has given us for himself.

You don't have to use that name, but I'm going to do that this time.

So here we go.

Psalm 34.

I will bless Yahweh at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

Let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify Yahweh with me and let us exalt his name together.

I sought Yahweh and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant.

And their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried.

And Yahweh heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that Yahweh is good.

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Oh, fear Yahweh, you his saints.

For those who fear him have no lack.

The young lions suffer want and hunger.

But those who seek Yahweh lack no good thing.

Come, oh children, listen to me.

I will teach you to fear Yahweh.

What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

Turn away from evil and do good.

Seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

The face of Yahweh is against those who do evil.

To cut off the memory of them from the earth.

When the righteous cry for help, Yahweh hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

He keeps all his bones.

Not one of them is broken.

Affliction will slay the wicked.

And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.

Yahweh redeems the life of his servants.

None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you.

Thank you that we know you by many names.

Your covenant name, Yahweh.

Father.

We know Jesus, your Son.

We know the Holy Spirit.

You've helped us and let us see glimpses of you and revealed much about yourself.

But Lord, more than knowledge today, we want to experience you and your presence.

Jesus, we want your presence here today.

Holy Spirit, we want your presence.

And you have promised us presence today.

When two or more are gathered, you are here with us.

And you, Holy Spirit, indwell each believer.

Lord, you are here with us.

Lord, you are here with us.

What a blessing that we have.

This side of the cross.

And Lord, help us as we see this psalm and read it and meditate on it.

I pray that we would do that this week as well and further continue meditating on the psalm.

May we taste and see that you are good.

may we experience it and know it

and have confidence in Your goodness

and in Your presence.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So how I would summarize this psalm for us

is simply this.

Seek the Lord,

and He will answer you and deliver you.

Seek the Lord,

and He will answer you and deliver you.

It's a very simple theme,

but one, it's a good reminder.

We need to seek the Lord,

especially when we're in times of troubles,

but even when we're outside of trouble,

we need to seek the Lord.

And He'll answer you,

and He'll deliver you out of your troubles.

And two,

there's an important part here,

is how.

How in the midst of difficulty

can we seek the Lord?

How does He answer us?

So, let's get to my first point.

Verses 1 to 7.

Cry out to the Lord.

This is our first step.

Cry out to the Lord.

This is kind of two parts here,

and I don't always agree

with how the ESV separates little sections

and how the paragraphs are,

but I think it does a pretty good job

of this psalm specifically.

And so, 1 to 7,

you've got two parts there.

1 to 3,

and then 4 to 7.

I think that's a pretty good way

of breaking that up.

And so, that first part,

1 to 3,

that's commitment and confidence in God.

And that second part,

that's testimony of David crying out.

So, the first part, confidence

because of the second part.

It's really a summary of,

or a conclusion,

really before He shares

the rest of what's happening,

but at the beginning.

So, verses 1 to 3.

I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in Yahweh.

Let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify Yahweh with me.

Let us exalt His name together.

Let's praise His name together.

So, 1, there's a commitment to praise.

He's committed to praise.

He's going to do it.

He's saying,

this is what I'm committing to.

Verse 2,

His boast is in the Lord.

My soul makes its boast in the Lord.

He's proud that He knows Yahweh.

He's going to boast.

Hey, I know God.

God knows me.

And then an encouragement

for others to praise Yahweh.

Hey, come and join me.

I'm doing this.

I'm making my boast in the Lord.

Come and join me.

Let's praise God together.

Why?

Why should we do that?

Why should we join David in praising God?

Well, let me tell you a testimony.

A testimony of crying out to the Lord.

Verse 4,

I sought the Lord.

I sought the Lord,

and He answered me

and delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look unto Him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed.

This poor man cried.

And Yahweh heard Him and saved Him out of all His troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him

and delivers them.

So as I said,

David was being pursued by the army of Saul

to put him to death.

It's kind of one of these situations

where David is being pursued by Saul,

and he's in the fire.

He's in trouble.

And so he goes and finds refuge in the Philistines,

except there's no refuge there for him to have.

He's even more in trouble.

So it's kind of like you're out of the frying pan

and into the fire kind of thing that's happening here.

But we should know.

We should know how David sees this.

He takes, David, remember,

he takes clever actions.

He pretends to be insane

in order to get out of that circumstance.

But how does he recall the event here?

He sees and recounts these events here in Psalm

in kind of a much different way than you might expect.

Scripture is full of encouragement to take action, right?

So David's wise

in that he pretends to be insane

in order to get out of this circumstance.

So Scripture is full of encouragement

to take action.

You must do this.

You must do that.

You must be wise.

There's a whole book, Proverbs,

dedicated to saying this is wisdom.

This is wisdom.

This is folly.

This is wisdom.

Use wisdom.

Take action.

You must do this.

And yet Scripture is also full of showing

how God is sovereign.

God is over all things.

He controls all things.

There's nothing out of His hands.

Both are true.

Life isn't one or the other.

We can't just take action

and hope things will work out

apart from God.

And we don't just pray and cry out to God

and kind of twiddle our thumbs

and hope that He does something

and hope that He fixes everything

without moving or doing anything.

Praying is good.

Taking action is good.

But we are to cry out to God

for help and take wise actions.

That's what David did.

And that's what we see, actually,

in much of Scripture.

People taking action,

praying,

and you see God's hand moving

and moving and moving.

Let's look at the particulars, though.

Verse 4,

He delivered me from all my fears.

When David escaped the Philistines

after he pretended to be insane,

his problems,

they didn't end there.

Saul still sought to kill him.

Absalom, David's son,

after that,

tried to kill him.

And then there were other troubles.

And you probably studied those

at some point.

David's life was full of trouble.

And he admits that he was fearful.

We can identify with that, right?

Somebody's seeking to kill you,

you're probably going to have some fear,

even if that fear is sinful.

Even if we're not supposed to worry,

well, it's hard not to.

We identify that.

But here's the thing.

He says,

God delivered him from all his fears.

Out of all his troubles.

And verse 5 says,

Never be ashamed.

Those who trust in God,

never be ashamed.

That's kind of a contrast

for David,

who just drooled on his own beard.

David probably maybe felt some shame

in doing that,

but maybe trusted God all the more.

This is what I'm supposed to do

to get out of this circumstance.

And so he's not ashamed.

He's not going to be put to shame,

even if he has to do something

that's a little crazy

to get out of the circumstance.

God directed him to do that.

Maybe the Holy Spirit told him.

I don't know how it all worked,

but David did this.

And so he reflects on the matter.

He's not ashamed.

Even though he suffered

a great indignity before the Philistines,

even though he's running for his life,

he's not ashamed.

He never will be ashamed.

God is here.

And then look at the contrast

between verse 7,

the angel of the Lord

camps around those who fear him

and delivers them.

Versus,

verse 4,

he delivered me from all my fears.

You see, David knew to trust in God

where experience gave him

all the more confidence.

And we see he's fearful, yes,

but he feared God as well.

And there's a stark contrast

between David's fears

and Saul's fears.

Right?

So we get to my second point,

which is repent and turn to the Lord,

8 to 14.

Repent and turn to the Lord.

Saul feared the loss of being king.

He wanted kingship.

He didn't want to lose it.

And David feared for his life.

Both sinful fear.

But David also feared the Lord.

And I'm not sure what you think of Saul.

It's hard to think of Saul

as a redeemed character in Scripture.

But Saul didn't have the fear of the Lord

like David did.

David feared the Lord above all else.

And so we see this play out

in this middle section here.

And so there's, again, two parts.

Verses 8 to 10 and 11 through 14.

8 to 10 is telling of the good of the Lord.

And 11 to 14 is encouragement

to fear God and keep his ways.

What does this have to do

with what we just shared before?

Well, we'll get to that.

The first part is confidence

in God's goodness.

Let's read in 8 to 10.

Oh, taste and see

that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man

who takes refuge in him.

Oh, fear the Lord,

you his saints,

for those who fear him

have no lack.

The young lions suffer want and hunger,

but those who seek the Lord

lack no good thing.

He is wanting you,

and I am wanting you

to know and experience the Lord.

I don't want you just to have

knowledge about the Lord.

I don't want you just to read your Bible

and to know all the things

about theology.

I want you to know the Lord

and experience him.

Know him in a relationship.

Not just as a God out there,

an abstract idea.

God is a person

who you can know

and have a relationship with you.

And that's what David wants for you.

That's what I want for you,

to know the Lord

and experience the Lord.

And he wants you to know,

and I want you to know,

that you will lack

no good thing.

Isn't that a really interesting phrase

that you will lack

no good thing?

Fear the Lord.

Those who fear him

have no lack.

I think it's hard for us

to think that way, right?

We'll lack no good thing

because there's lots of good out there,

and I want some of that,

but I don't seem to get it.

Right?

You don't always get

the thing that you want.

The thing that seems good,

and in Scripture,

it says it's good,

but I don't get it.

Why don't I get it?

Well, because not every good thing

out there,

even when it's a good thing to desire,

maybe you're single,

you want to be married,

that's a good desire.

Maybe you want a better job.

It's a good desire.

What is the good thing

that you want

and you don't have?

You lack no good thing.

How does that work together?

Well, God is sovereign.

He knows what you need.

And sometimes we want things

that if we got them,

wouldn't necessarily work out

in our favor.

He knows that you need to grow

as a person.

He knows that you need patience.

He knows that you need to trust Him.

If everything in your life

always went the way that you wanted,

you wouldn't have any mind for God.

You wouldn't seek Him at all.

I'm confident of that.

Because when things are going well,

that's when so often

we're not seeking God.

It's in those trials

that we often meet God,

that we experience God.

And so even though the trials

and the difficulties

and troubles of this life

are not fun,

they're where we meet God so often.

And David has this testimony.

And I'll tell you a little testimony

in a little bit too

of similar.

But before that,

let's get to the second part

of this section.

Exhorting you to fear God,

to repent,

to stay away from evil,

and to seek peace and truth.

Verse 11 says,

Come, O children, listen to me.

I will teach you to fear the Lord.

What man is there

who desires life

and loves many days

that he may see good?

Keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking deceit.

Turn away from evil and do good.

Seek peace and pursue it.

You see, He's teaching us

to fear the Lord.

That might be a strange term

for some,

fearing the Lord.

Fear's not good.

That doesn't feel good to fear.

But fear,

when we talk about fear of the Lord,

it's a respect for the Lord.

A proper fear of authority.

Not one where you're running away

and cowering before Him.

One where you're respecting

His mightiness.

God is big.

Bigger than you can imagine.

And so we must fear Him.

And He's telling us

how to fear Him

as He lists out the ways

in verse 13 and 14.

Keep your tongue from evil.

That's how to fear the Lord.

And your lips from speaking deceit.

Don't lie.

That's how to fear the Lord.

Turn away from evil and do good.

That's how to fear the Lord.

And if you fear Lord,

you will seek peace and pursue it.

This is how to fear the Lord.

And so,

tasting of the goodness of God

involves turning away from sin

and turning towards God.

Now, there's maybe a common illustration

that a lot of people give

where, you know,

if you eat too much junk food

and candy

right before dinner,

then you get to dinner.

And even though dinner

is maybe your favorite dish,

you can't eat much of it

because you've filled yourself on junk.

And the junk tastes good at the time,

but you're left feeling pretty rotten afterward

if you don't have a good meal.

And I'm not saying you can't skip meals

and just have ice cream sometimes.

That's great.

But, right?

If we fill ourselves with junk,

our appetite for a real meal

becomes less.

We just don't have it.

And so that's why

as we turn into adults, right,

we have to get good habits

to feed ourselves properly

and not just eat junk food all the time.

There was a time in my life

when I was a Christian

and in high school

and in college,

I wanted a good thing, right?

I wanted to be married.

I wanted to find a girl

and get married.

It's a good desire.

And I didn't actually put this together

until yesterday.

Hold on.

I had reflected on this time

a number of times

and recognized my folly in that situation

because what I would do

is I'd get into a relationship

and my fear would take over.

My fear of not getting the good thing.

Right?

And so I'd pursue a girl

and we'd get into a relationship

and there'd be,

as every relationship,

there'd be trouble.

But my fear

would put kind of a stranglehold

on the girl.

She'd feel like,

like I wanted this too much

and she didn't want to have anything

to do with that.

And then that relationship would end

and I would be heartbroken

and then another relationship

would pop up

and I'd do the same thing again.

And then that relationship would end

and I'd be heartbroken

and then there would be another relationship

which I did the same thing again.

You'd think I'd learn by the second time,

but no.

No.

And I went through much,

much heartache

because my fear

was controlling

how I worked out those relationships.

And my fear of the Lord

kind of took a back seat

to my fear

of not getting this good thing.

And so I went through

much, much heartache.

I hope you don't have to go through that.

And I'm sure your circumstances

are much different than mine.

But I think if we take a look

at our lives

and see

what are we fearing

that we're not getting

a fear of missing out, right?

FOMO.

That's a, you know,

a term these days.

We're fearing not getting

the good thing.

And so that overrides

our fear of the Lord,

our respect for the Lord,

our putting Lord

on a higher priority.

And it wasn't until

I had finally come to the end of myself

and said,

Lord,

I'm not accomplishing this

in my own strength.

I'm not able to do that

because every time I try

and every time I try

to make it happen,

I ended up,

I ended up ruining it.

So I'm trying on my own strength.

I'm not trusting

that God would provide

a wife for me.

And no,

God doesn't always provide

everything that you desire,

every good thing

that you desire.

But God was really,

really gracious to me.

After I had prayed that prayer,

I don't know how long

it was after,

but it wasn't really

in the grand scheme of things.

It was not that long after

that I met Megan,

my wife.

But this time in the relationship,

I prayed over and over,

Lord,

would I have open hands for this?

If this is from you,

provide for it.

But if it's not,

I'm okay with that.

And so through the whole relationship,

praying,

not trying to accomplish it

in my own strength,

not fearing that I wouldn't get

this good thing

over the fear of the Lord,

but putting the fear of the Lord

as top priority

in the relationship.

And we've been married

for 18 years.

That's only part

of the taste and see

God's goodness,

though.

The other part

is that we put

the fear of the Lord,

and so we

turn away from evil

and do good.

What does that mean for me?

Well,

I have to be careful

with this kind of illustration,

but

it means a lot of sacrifice.

We have three kids of our own,

as Matt mentioned,

and,

you know,

that comes with its own trial.

You who have kids

or have,

you know,

babysat kids

or anything like that,

you know,

kids can be difficult.

And our youngest kid

has autism,

so it's an extra difficulty.

Some days are better

than others.

This day,

this morning,

actually was one of his

harder times.

At church,

he just had a hard time

as a sacrifice

for Megan

and for me

to care for him.

Now,

why would we,

on top of that,

go and foster

two other kids

and try to adopt them?

One three years old,

one six years old.

Well,

it's not because

I want an easy life,

that's for sure.

We feel like God

is calling us

to adopt.

It's not because,

you know,

I just want

more kids.

I actually wanted

three kids

and I was happy

with that.

Megan wanted

four or five

and so here we are

with five now.

No,

it's great.

But let me tell you,

this is the life

that I kind of

had mapped out

for myself.

And in fact,

there are lots of things

about my life

that I,

this isn't really

exactly how I

had planned it.

I'm a pastor,

right?

But I have a full-time job.

My pastoring,

I actually don't get paid for.

And I'm okay with that.

Why?

I'm okay with sacrificing

hours of my time

pastoring.

Why?

Because God is good.

Sacrificing for God,

for other people.

It doesn't lead

to an easy life,

that's for sure.

But it leads

to joy and fulfillment.

And I want you

to taste and see

like I have.

joy and fulfillment.

And so,

even though my life

is not easy

and involves

much sacrifice

and Megan

sacrifices much

as well,

our lives

are full of joy.

And yes,

there might be

afflictions,

there might be troubles.

When we face those,

when the Lord

is with us,

wow,

it's good.

I have joy.

I have much joy.

And I have much fulfillment

because of what God

has done in my life.

Not an easy life.

Not a coasting life.

But one of sacrifice

for God.

That's where my joy is.

For God.

And so,

when we repent

and seek the Lord,

not only will we

know God,

but we'll experience Him.

And not only that,

but we can take a hold

of His promise

to care for you

so that in the times

of trials,

in the times

of troubles,

God will be with you.

And God will care for you.

And you can know

that God will care for you

because He has told you

He will care for you.

And so,

my last point,

Yahweh cares for those

who seek Him.

Seek the Lord

and He will care for you.

Now,

a lot of times

we bring kind of

our theology

to a psalm like this

and miss that

the righteous here

doesn't just speak

about Jesus,

right?

In verse 15

and 17

and 19,

the righteous,

who is righteous?

Romans and Psalm 14

and 53

and many other places

in the Bible

tell us

no one is righteous.

No, not one.

So, okay,

this part doesn't apply to us.

Sorry.

I'll just close the Bible

and we'll be done.

First,

we have to understand

the psalm.

As the author wrote it

and the audience

might have heard it,

the righteous here

includes David.

He's referring to himself.

He's the righteous one.

In the context

of the psalm,

he's not changing topics

all of a sudden.

He's keeping with a theme.

It's also those

who fear him,

those who seek him,

those are the righteous.

And throughout

all the Old Testament,

David knew,

the prophets knew,

the patriarchs knew,

everyone knew

that they sinned.

They are not righteous.

They knew this.

But Genesis says,

right,

Abraham believed

and it was credited

to him

as righteousness.

All throughout

the Bible,

how God deals

with us,

how God deals

with his people

is grace.

Now,

David didn't know

how it all worked out,

but he's trusting God.

God calls him righteous

because he has faith,

because he seeks

the Lord,

because he fears

the Lord.

And so,

now when we read

this section again,

keep this in mind.

The righteous

is for those

who you,

it's including you,

if you fear the Lord,

if you're seeking

the Lord,

then you're part of this.

Verse 15,

the eyes of the Lord

are toward the righteous

and his ears

towards their cry.

The face of the Lord

is against those

who do evil

to cut off the memory

of them from the earth.

When the righteous

cry for help,

the Lord hears

and delivers them

out of all

their troubles.

Yahweh is near

to the brokenhearted

and saves

the crushed

in spirit.

Many are the afflictions

of the righteous,

but the Lord

delivers him

out of them all.

He keeps all his bones.

Not one of them

is broken.

Affliction will slay

the wicked

and those who hate

the righteous

will be condemned.

Yahweh redeems

the life

of his servants.

None of those

who take refuge

in him

will be condemned.

Now,

before we apply

this to Jesus,

right,

we know Jesus

is the righteous one,

but let's

hold off on that.

If you're Israel,

how are you

receiving this psalm?

If you're hearing this,

you don't know

about Jesus coming.

You haven't experienced

that yet.

But if the eyes

of Yahweh

are towards

the righteous,

his ears are

toward them,

he hears their cry,

he delivers them

from out of all

of their troubles,

then I want to be

part of the righteous.

I want to be

included there.

Don't you want to be

one who God

hears you cry?

You want to be

one who God

delivers you

from out of

all your troubles.

And so,

what are we to do?

Well,

we can't achieve

righteousness,

right?

But look at the psalm

itself,

verse 22.

It gives us a clue.

The Lord redeems

the life of his servants.

None of those

who take refuge

in him

will be condemned.

So,

like I said,

David didn't know

how this all

worked out,

nor Israel,

they didn't know

how it all worked out,

but they trusted God.

They took refuge

in God.

You're not going

to be condemned

if you take refuge

in God,

if you seek him.

Now we get to Christ.

How does Christ

fit in here?

And how do we

fit in here?

Well,

Christ is here.

As we see

in verse 20,

God keeps all his bones.

Not one of them

is broken.

Is God promising

you'll never break a bone?

Do Christians

never break bones?

No,

I don't think

that's the application

here.

So,

what is verse 20?

Verse 20

is a testimony

of David.

David's on the run

from Saul.

He's seeking

refuge,

running away

from an army

that's dead set

against him.

Not one of his bones

are broken.

You know,

if David

was running away

from an army,

if he had broken

a bone,

right,

he would have been

in serious trouble.

And I think

it's a little bit

more serious

in their day and age

than modern day,

right?

They have casts

and all that good stuff

now.

they didn't quite

have the medical

technology that we

have back then.

Breaking a bone

was a serious

problem.

But more than that,

this is also

a prophecy.

It's a prophecy

of Jesus.

You don't have to

turn there with me,

but in John 19,

it speaks about this.

verse,

so this is

John 19,

31.

Since it was

a day of preparation,

this is Christ

on the cross,

he's dying,

right?

Since it was

a day of preparation,

and so the bodies

would not remain

on the cross

on the Sabbath,

for the Sabbath

was a high day,

the Jews

asked Pilate

that their legs

might be broken,

that they

may be taken away.

So the soldiers

came and broke

the legs of the first

and the other

who had been

crucified with them.

Remember,

Christ is on the cross

with two others.

But when they came

to Jesus and saw

that he was already

dead,

they did not

break his legs.

But one of the

soldiers pierced

his side with a spear,

and at once there

came out blood

and water.

He who saw it

was born witness.

His testimony is true,

and he knows

that he is telling

the truth,

that you also

may believe.

For these things

took place

that the Scripture

might be fulfilled.

Not one of his bones

will be broken.

And again,

another Scripture

says,

they will look

on him

whom they

have pierced.

Christ

died on the cross

for our sin,

for your sin.

But not one

of his bones

were broken.

He was pierced

on the side

for your sin.

We can know

this is true.

There's eyewitness

testimony of it.

And so,

this is how

it works out.

That we can

seek refuge in God

because he has

taken our sin

on the cross.

and now

we can be forgiven

because he wipes

our slate clean.

So those of you

who seek God,

you're free from danger,

free from real danger.

The real danger,

sin.

You won't be

overcome

by evil.

No.

Because your sin

has been taken care of.

Many are your afflictions.

You have

verse 19,

Yahweh delivers

you out of them all.

How can that be true?

It's because

this life is not

all that there is.

Living a life

for Jesus,

it really is

living your best

life now,

but it's not free

from difficulty

and trouble.

But it will be joy.

It will be filled

with joy.

It will be fulfilling.

And life,

life is but a blink

compared to eternity.

And I know

that's hard to think

of right now.

As you work

day to day

and as you go

through life

and difficulties

are there

and day after day

you struggle

with faith

and you struggle

not to doubt

is God good?

Is He there?

I don't feel like

He hears my cry.

I feel like

I'm never going to

get out of this

trouble.

Or once I get

out of that trouble

just another trouble

comes by.

It's hard

when your family

and your friends

they don't approve

of your religion.

They don't approve

of your beliefs.

It's hard

when the world

thinks that your beliefs

are ugly

and they're intolerant.

And there

are many more

difficulties

in this life

and some of those

difficulties are shared

by non-Christians,

right?

Everybody experiences

difficulties in this life.

But there's also

some extra ones

because you're

a Christian.

If you believe

you will

have difficulties.

You'll experience

afflictions.

But I think

American Christians

in general

I think we just

don't know

how to suffer

very well,

right?

We're angry

when we're

inconvenienced.

We feel

persecuted

and criticized

even when it's

not really about

our faith

but because we're

a jerk.

We feel

alarmed

and we feel

hopeless

when the world

surprisingly

doesn't share

our values.

Right?

The world

is going to act

like the world.

And it can be

disheartening.

I'm not

making light of that.

But the thought

of heaven

and eternity

I think for

American Christians

especially

when we think

about heaven

and eternity

it's not

hope filled.

We're scared

of it.

I've heard

so many people

so many Christians

think about heaven

oh that

what are we

going to do

for eternity?

That just seems

kind of boring.

Heaven is

supposed to be

out there

for us.

Eternity

looking forward

to that.

It's supposed

to give us

hope.

It's not

going to be

boring.

I tell you

I guarantee

you heaven

will not

be boring.

Heaven's

going to be

wonderful.

Think of

the best

things in

this life.

They're

going to

be a

million times

better.

Infinitely

better in

heaven.

I think

we're going

to sing

in heaven.

I think

maybe we'll

have even

jobs in

heaven but

we don't

have to

earn money

in order

to feed

ourselves.

We can

work in

the garden

or something

like that.

Maybe you

don't like

gardening but

I'm hoping

there will

be tech

in heaven

still.

Maybe there

will be

an internet

still but

it won't

go down

at all.

I don't

know.

I don't

know what

it's going

to be

like but

it's going

to be

good.

Trust God.

It's going

to be

good.

We can

look forward

to it so

that this

life even

if it's

full of

troubles even

though we're

afflicted with

troubles taste

and see that

God is good

and not just

out there

someday.

But today

taste and

see that

God is

good.

But here's

why.

Here's why

I think we

especially as

American

Christians

struggle with

these kinds

of things.

We have

lost our

identity in

Christ when

the heat

is on.

We don't

identify with

Christ when

the heat

is on.

When there's

difficulties

we think

this is so

difficult.

I'm going

to cry out

to God

but we

don't see

that Christ

is our

brother.

God is

our father.

He cares

for you.

He's near.

And because

you are

identified with

Christ if you

are a believer

God's

surrounding

you with

love.

And he is

going to

deliver you

and will

deliver you

out of all

your troubles.

us.

And so

what can

we do?

How can

we identify

with Christ

better as

American

Christians?

Or if you're

not American

that's okay

too.

This applies.

Fear the

Lord.

Fear of the

Lord will

displace fear

of man.

Fear of the

Lord will

displace

those

difficulties

and those

trials.

trials.

So that

when you

walk out

those

trials

you can

walk them

out with

joy.

I actually

think I've

been thinking

about this

lately in

terms of the

songs that

we sing.

I'm a

worship leader

at our

church.

There's so

many great

songs that

a lot of

the black

communities

sing.

They're filled

with tales

of trials

and difficulties

but the

tone of

their music

is so

much joy.

And I

think it's

hard to

find songs

that evangelical

Christians tend

to sing like

we tend to

sing that

are filled

with trials

admitting the

trials and

difficulties in

this life but

also filled

with joy.

I want more

songs like

that.

And I'm

going to find

some.

I'm sure

they're out

there.

But it's

so good.

And I'm

going to learn

some of the

black gospel

songs too that

are like that.

We already

have that

art church.

But that's

what life

is.

That's life

as a

Christian.

It's

difficulties

and troubles

and trials

but joy

meets you

in the

world.

Confidence

in God.

Taste and

see that

God is

good.

The eyes

of the

Lord are

towards the

righteous.

And he

hears their

cry.

If you're

in Christ

you're

part of

the

righteous.

He's

forgiven

you.

So his

eyes are

on you.

His ears

hear your

cry.

The face

of the

Lord is

against

those who

do evil

to cut

off the

memory of

them from

the earth.

Yeah,

you've

done evil

but God

doesn't see

you like

that because

of Christ.

You identify

with Christ.

You're in

Christ.

So you're

not going

to be cut

off.

You're not

the evil

that this

is speaking

of.

When the

righteous

cry for

help,

the Lord

hears.

Because you're

in Christ

in Jesus,

the Lord

hears you.

The Lord

is near to

the broken

hearted and

saves the

crushed in

spirit.

Just think

of how

Christ dealt

with those

who were

crushed in

spirit,

who were

depressed,

who were

going through

difficulties.

He reached

down to

them every

time,

cared for

them.

That's how

he cares

for you.

Many of

the afflictions,

many are the

afflictions of

the righteous,

but the

Lord delivers

him out of

them all.

You know

who God

didn't deliver

out of all

the difficulties?

Jesus.

Jesus took

our sin,

all our

troubles,

on the

cross so

that we

could be

forgiven.

So now

we get

to have

a clean

and forgiven

state.

And now

Jesus died.

An innocent

person died.

Jesus,

the only

innocent

person,

died.

Jesus,

our God

and Savior,

died for

our sin.

Do you

believe that?

Do you

take hold

of that?

So that

we can be

forgiven.

And the

best part

of that is

that Jesus

didn't stay

in the

grave.

He rose

from the

dead so

that we

can have

hope in

him.

So

application.

How do we

apply this

psalm?

Well,

one,

obviously,

take your

troubles to

God.

Cry out to

him.

He will

give you

grace.

And so

a question

for you

is how

can you

remember to

pray to

God more

in the

midst of

your

difficulties?

You know,

I experience

this the

most at

work.

I run

into

troubles at

work,

banging my

head against

a problem,

and I

just don't

think to

pray to

God,

God,

help me.

Help me

figure out

how to

code this

piece of

Python that

I'm just

struggling

against.

Python's a

programming

language.

It's fine.

I just,

I'm in

trouble,

right?

I can

try it

in my

own

strength,

but I

pray to

God,

God will

help me.

Maybe he

won't give

me the

answer,

but he'll

help me

be more

at peace

with it,

right?

Two,

seek the

Lord.

Seek the

Lord in

everything.

And a

question for

you is what

might be an

area that

you haven't

quite handed

over fully

to God,

right?

That's where

we know we're

supposed to

hand everything

over to God,

but there

are those

little areas

of our

lives,

that we

like control

of,

we like

this good

thing,

and I

want this

good thing,

and I

must have

this good

thing.

So you

grasp it,

you hold

on to it,

you don't

let go,

you don't

give it up

to God.

Or maybe

it's a sin

that ensnares

you,

you don't

want to

let go

of.

Give that

over to

God.

And last,

magnify the

Lord with

me.

It's

corporate.

And so

a question

for you

is,

what might

you be

filling

yourself

with

instead

of

the

Lord?

There's

lots of

good

things

out

there,

right?

But fill

yourself

with

God,

and you

won't be

hungry.

Fill

yourself

with God.

Look

forward to

the times

when we

gather

corporately

to sing,

to hear

the word