”Resting in Our Refuge” // Psalm 61 // Lakeview Bible Church

Thank you very much. Great to be here

today for your summer series on Psalms

and Eric Estrada, pastor of the Hill

Country Bible Church, Pflugerville,

which is now called Parkway Bible

Church. Did that for about 23 years and

now work with this network of churches

and one of the big things I do is just

care for the pastors in our network. The

problem is is that I spend so much time

caring for Eric.

His needs are so great that he just is a

monopolizes my time. I'll get a call

from Heather. Hey, could you talk to

Eric about X, Y, Z. No.

>> [snorts]

>> Anyway,

I just I love love your pastor. Love

what God's doing with you guys here.

We've been following your story from

before the launch and then the launch

and just very jazzed about what God's up

to. If you have your Bible with you or

your device or whatever you you

use, open up to Psalm 61.

Psalm 61. That's where we're going to be

this morning and we'll look at one of my

favorite, if not the favorite Psalms for

me, has been a mainstay for much of my

life. So, what I'll do is I'm going to

I'll read this passage for us and then

we'll jump in.

So,

here in verse one of chapter 61, hear my

cry, oh God, listen to my prayer. From

the end of the earth I call to you when

my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock

that is higher than I. For you have been

my refuge,

a strong tower against the enemy. Let me

dwell in your tent forever. Let me take

refuge under the shelter of your wings.

For you, oh God, have heard my vows. You

have given me the heritage of those who

fear your name.

Prolong the life of the king.

May his years endure to all generations.

May he be enthroned forever before God.

Appoint steadfast love and faithfulness

[snorts]

to watch over him.

So will I ever sing praises to your name

as I perform my vows day after day.

In uh 1957,

a young boy by the name of Stanley

Willoughby, 7 years old, uh walked out

of his home in Portland, Oregon to greet

a new day. He walks out, he looks to the

left, looks to the right, and his

attention is just grabbed by the sight

of this big steamroller

out on the street repairing the streets,

laying new asphalt.

And he he's immediately attracted to it

cuz the young boy and and he follows and

he's he's uh gets closer, uh mesmerized

really by this massive piece of

machinery. And uh the bright yellow

color and the noise and he you know, he

finds himself walking closer and closer

when all of a sudden he's walking

directly behind

the steamroller.

And the driver, not knowing that he's

behind him,

puts the steamroller in reverse and

rolls completely over the lower half

of Stanley Willoughby's body.

When he discovers what's happening, he

of course jumps down and

not knowing what to find and he's

surprised to find that Stanley

Willoughby has been

somewhat comfortably pressed in this

warm bed of moist asphalt,

unhurt.

Now, I I wonder as you hear that if

you're not mindful of your own

steamroller

that's threatening your life.

Maybe not a physical steamroller,

but we all face incredible pressures in

our life, don't we?

If we took the time to go around the

room, every one of you would say, "Well,

my steamroller is XYZ."

Could be professional, could be

personal.

Could be financial.

Could be the pressure of waiting for uh

results from the doctor.

It could be that incredible pressure

of worrying about

the welfare of one of your kids,

teens, adult kids,

or your parents.

Uh pressure about your future,

what it's going to be like,

and will are we going to be able to

you know, to

outlive our money, or will our money

outlive us?

Uh what what is the steamroller in your

life?

Because as we think about rest in this

series of Psalms this summer,

I want you to know that there is a rest

that comes

from experiencing God as our refuge.

Much better than a warm bed of of voice

asphalt.

But similar in that God is a place

of refuge.

And the steamroller may come,

but it doesn't crush you.

Because you're in a place of refuge in

your relationship with God.

A place of protection.

A place of preservation.

Place of safety.

Security.

That's what God says you can find in

him.

Now, all of us are immediately attracted

to that. I mean, sign me up for that.

I want to experience God

as my refuge.

And the question before us this morning

is primarily, how do you do that?

How do you experience

God as your refuge?

And we're not on our own for this. We

have the insight from David himself in

Psalm 61. And as we jump back in here,

we'll move and you can kind

[clears throat] of trace

emotionally the movement from David's

crisis,

the steamroller, how he's responding to

the steamroller in his life.

And then he moves to really a a time of

comfort where he expresses that and he

ends with a time of confidence. And so

there's much we can gain from this Psalm

as we look back at verses 1 and 2 and we

think first of David's crisis.

And in these first two verses, note

emotionally

um

David's expression here.

Hear my cry, oh God.

Listen to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I call to you

when my heart is faint.

Now, this is not a praise.

This is not a celebration.

Uh this is a desperate plea

to God.

Uh twice he says, "Hear my call. Listen

to my call."

Hear my prayer.

Note the desperation.

And then I'm especially moved by the

fact when he says,

"From the end of the earth I call to you

when my heart

is faint."

Not only is there some sense of

desperation here, despair,

but there's this distance that David

feels from God.

Now, most likely he's away from

Jerusalem. He would have been away from

the sanctuary, not the temple. It hasn't

been built yet.

But he's away from God physically, but I

think also emotionally.

Like many of us when we find ourselves

under the steamroller,

"God, where are you?"

When we find something in our life

threatened,

we can often feel like, "God,

where where are you?

I need you."

And we can call out to God like this.

And so we can identify with David here.

And uh he says that his heart grows

faint.

>> [snorts]

>> All right, we can become fainthearted. I

might

guess would be some of you today

are feeling fainthearted

under the pressure of whatever

steamroller is in your life.

But then God uh David uh turns

to dependence.

The end of verse two, he says, "Lead me

to the rock that is higher

than I."

Now, this is great cuz David's going to

say, as he often does, that God, you are

my rock. You're my fortress. You're my

shelter. He He uses all this rich

imagery to describe himself. Uh David

uses that imagery to describe God. He

says, "Lead me to a rock that is higher

than I."

And what I love about this is that uh

David is is drawing a comparison. You

see that?

He says, "Lead me to a rock

that's taller than I am, that's higher

than I am, that's stronger than I am."

You ever feel like you need to be a rock

for people?

You ever feel like, "Man, I've got to be

strong for the people around me."

And there's a sense of people leaning in

on you.

And who are you going to lean on?

And David, the leader of his people, and

I think for David in the Psalm, his

steamroller is that his kingdom is under

threat. He might lose his leadership

over the nation of Israel.

And he he feels threatened in that way.

And for David being the rock for Israel,

he he's saying, "I'm not enough.

I can't do this. I need something

higher, stronger, more powerful than I

am." Now, uh let me show you a high rock

in the southern

uh part of Israel in the Judean Desert,

south of Jerusalem.

And uh in the Judean Desert, you come

across this

and some commentators would even suggest

that this could be the very high rock

that David had in mind here.

They're speculating.

But we know this this high rock and I've

I've stood there and looked at this

myself and Kathy and I went up a lift up

to the very top of this. Some 800 or 900

years later, Herod would build a

fortress on the top to the far right

side uh and uh which come to comes to us

as uh known as Masada.

But this is a massive

massive

rock.

And and from the top, you you just can't

believe how far you see and how small

you feel.

And David says, "Y'all may be a rock,

but I need a rock bigger and powerful

than I am."

And so like the first hint, the first

clue we get about how do we experience

God as our refuge? It's by relying on

God's power.

It's relying on God's size.

It's relying on his strength.

That we experience ref- ref- refuge when

we learn how to rely on God's power.

We'll we'll talk about what that looks

like, but like that's that's the first

clue.

Now, um some of you may recall that

Chevy trucks had an ad campaign built on

a song by Bob Seger called Like a Rock.

You've seen this, right? Chevy trucks,

like a rock.

And uh you know, I'm a Ford man myself.

And uh like Jesus, and

so I'm constantly, you know,

uh harassing my friends, my Silverado

driving friends. And they like to say to

me, "Well, you know, Chevy trucks like a

rock." Uh didn't you hear the story of

the high school guy who

uh interviewed for a job in Elgin at

Waterburger? He's driving on his way

home, tornado comes through Elgin,

and it hits his truck and flips it all

the way over, lands

up lands right side up and keeps

driving.

They say, "Did you see that?

Chevy trucks

like a rock."

I said, "If it was a Ford, it would have

never flipped over."

Now, I bring that up because

if you actually read the lyrics to the

song behind this ad,

a man is basically talking about his

life from an older age looking back. He

describes himself like a rock.

And I'm just going to read just a little

bit of this because I think it's full of

insight for us.

He says, "Looking back on his life, I

stood there boldly, sweating in the sun.

I felt like a million, felt like number

one. The height of summer, I'd never

felt that strong, like a rock.

I was 18. I didn't have a care.

Working for peanuts, not a dime to

spare, but I was lean and solid

everywhere,

like a rock.

My hands were steady, my eyes were clear

and bright. My walk had purpose, my

steps were quick and light. And I held

firmly to what I felt was right, like a

rock."

And this song uh kind of makes a change.

Where basically he says, "20 years later

20 years now, where did they go? 20

years

I don't know.

I sit and wonder sometimes

where they've gone.

And he kind of goes on and he's he's

talking about like man, I I I'm not the

rock that I thought I was when I was

younger.

And I know for many of us

strong women, strong men

who

who say, "You know what? I don't trust

anybody but me."

Now, they may not admit that or put it

that clearly.

But when it comes to making my way

through life

hey baby, I'm going to push through this

thing.

I mean, I'm going to rely on my

education and my experience.

My intellect.

My money.

Like I

If I'm going to make it through life, I

don't have anyone but me.

And then many people

whether 20 days later, 20 months later,

20 years later realize they're up

against something that they're not

strong enough for.

People with addictions discover that,

right? And so uh programs like Celebrate

Recovery or uh Regen

like they they take the AA idea of a

higher power. You need a higher power

and name that power as as Jesus Christ

in those ministries.

Or it could be that you're up against

something that you really have no

control over. And the steamroller, as

much as you wish you could jump out of

the way, it's coming.

And one of the things that rob us

of the rest

which I would describe as an internal

sense of well-being.

That no matter what's going around us, I

it is well with my soul.

What robs us of that rest is that we

don't have God as our refuge

because we're relying on ourselves.

And the first thing we learn today

is that to experience God as our refuge

we must rely

on God's presence.

You know what the evidence is of uh

of that, if whether you're relying on

God's power?

It's your prayer life.

The evidence, the proof

that you're really relying on God's

power, not just something you say, but

you actually are relying on God's power

is that you spend time in prayer asking

God

Oh God, I need you.

I need you to intervene here.

God, I need you here.

God, I I need your

your strength, your provision here.

That's the proof.

Now, [snorts] David expresses his crisis

in the first part here and we learn that

to experience refuge, we've got to rely

on God's power. But the second as we

look at God's comfort

in these next few verses, we get our

second clue.

So, back in chapter 61

we continue with verse three

and uh David goes on and he says

for you have been

uh my refuge, a strong tower against the

enemy.

Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let

me take refuge under the shelter of your

wings.

Now, I I just love these verses.

And you'll see that the the comfort that

David has experienced is first kind of

looking back. Do you see that? He has a

past record with God.

For you have been

my refuge

and my strong tower against the foe.

Uh can you imagine David actually

thinking back as a young shepherd boy

and when the sheep came under attack

from the lions and bears and he fought

them off.

Uh when he faced Goliath.

When he went to war with the

Philistines.

>> [snorts]

>> When he was being chased and persecuted

by Saul.

All the different experience that God

had created a record in his past

where he was a refuge

for all the different steamrollers that

David experienced.

Refuge, a strong tower.

And then you'll notice he moves to more

of a praise, an expression of what he

aspires to.

And he says, "Let me verse four, dwell

in your tent forever.

Let me take refuge under the shelter of

your wings."

Yeah.

Man,

when you hear that,

you say, "Wow, this is He's talking

about being in the presence of God."

And you may have picked up on just the

literary

artistic

ability of David here

because he moves progressively

from a [snorts] high rock

to a strong tower

to inside the tent

and then under his wings.

And do you, as you think about your

life,

do you see it's a growing, progressive

intimacy with God?

Where all of that is valuable, and all

that enters into what it means to find

refuge in God, that he is a high rock

and a strong tower.

But you

experience that in the closeness with

him,

in his very presence in the tent,

underneath his wings.

You see that second key here is that we

experience refuge when we remain in

God's presence.

When we remain in his presence,

>> [snorts and clears throat]

>> close to him,

that's where peace is.

That's where rest is.

And so, whether we're in the word of God

at some time during the day, or

throughout the day, we're mindful of

him,

leaning in on him,

abiding in him,

that's where we find peace.

Now, Kathy and I recently acquired a uh

little puppy.

A Cavapoo named Daisy.

And I have to tell you, uh Daisy

is um

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daisy is a codependent on Kathy.

I mean, almost fully dependent. Like,

she

is all about Kathy. Now, she likes me,

she tolerates me. It's nice, you know,

she doesn't bark at me. I mean,

but I tell you, she is all about Kathy.

And if Kathy, like, walks out the you

know, the utility the the the

room out to our garage, like,

Daisy will just camp out there and just

stare at the door waiting for her to

come in.

And she'll wait there and I I can

I

I can hear her.

She'll start singing,

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.

There's only darkness when she's away."

And like she's totally depressed. And

she'll wait there and then and then

she'll finally, okay, she's not coming

back in, so she sprints through the

kitchen and through the den and into our

bedroom and through our bathroom and

into our closet and she finds one of

Cathy's shoes.

And she just lays down on it.

Just kind of waiting.

Or maybe she'll drag it out to the den,

chew on it for a little while.

But man, when Cathy returns, oh my

goodness, you wouldn't believe. She's

just so excited and she jumps up on the

couch and Cathy walks over and she just

buries her head. And when Cathy sits

down, she'll jump up in her lap.

And she'll fall asleep.

You see, for Daisy, there's no rest

apart from Cathy.

And let me tell you,

there's no rest for us

apart from the Lord.

Now, we can know a lot about God.

But it's by leaning into him,

listening to him,

acquiring more material

for hero worship.

It is spending time listening

and

being reminded of his power and his

goodness and his greatness.

A.W. Tozer has a good word on this.

I love it.

He says, "Whatever keeps me from my

Bible is my enemy.

However harmless it may appear to be,

whatever engages my attention when I

should be meditating on God and things

eternal does the injury to my soul."

Let the cares of life crowd out the

scriptures from my mind and I have

suffered loss where I can least afford

it.

Let me accept anything else instead of

the scriptures and I have been cheated

and robbed to my eternal confusion.

There's simply

is no other place

for refuge than with the Lord.

When I was a young boy, I I grew up in

Spring, Texas,

actually where The Woodlands now is. The

Woodlands wasn't there when I

grew up, but

um I lived there. I went to school in

Conroe and my dad drove into Houston,

downtown Houston every day for work in

this import-export business.

And uh occasionally I I forget why, but

Dad would need Mom to kind of drive in

at the end of the day and pick him up

from work. And so uh we'd get in the car

with Mom, drive into Houston 30 35 mi.

And the closer we got to downtown, the

more anxiety

I would just sense

in the car with my mom. She was

uncomfortable.

You know, when you're not used to it,

you you get downtown and these high big

buildings and one-way streets and horns,

you know, and people impatient drivers

and she would just, you know,

and I would feel that.

But sure enough, we'd pull up to the

intersection where my dad's building was

and he'd be standing out on the corner

waiting.

We'd pull in and my mom would put it in

park, slide over the passenger seat, my

dad would get in

and everything changed.

You know, that just calm would enter the

car.

Because my father was in control, he

knew the place.

He was comfortable in it.

It was completely different.

And I would sometimes fall asleep on the

way home.

There really is no rest

apart from the presence of God.

If you want to experience God as your

refuge, you've got to rely on his power

and not your own. Remain in his

presence.

And then the last one as we turn and

we see David's confidence. And I just

love this part of the Psalm.

Uh he says,

Um for you have heard my vows.

You have

uh given me the heritage of those who

fear your name.

Prolong the life of the king.

May his years endure to all generations.

May he be enthroned

uh forever before God appoints steadfast

love and faithfulness to watch over him.

So will I ever sing praises to your name

as I perform my vows day after day.

Now, in this I would suggest to you the

confidence he feels. First of all,

there's a sign of his confidence when he

says, I will fulfill my vows of praise

in verse five, for you have heard my

vows. In other words, that David would

have confidence that God was going to

respond to him.

And as such, he would vow to praise God

in public for his deliverance.

It was his way, his anticipating what

God was going to do. In fact, he

finishes the Psalm in that same kind of

thought, I will perform I will ever sing

praises to your name.

So, that was the the sign, the evidence

of his

his confidence.

But, the source of his confidence is

incredible.

You may have noticed as I read it that

when he moves to verse six,

he grammatically he changes from the

first person singular

to the third person plural.

Now, I know all of us love grammar.

You excelled in English grammar.

But, let me tell you your grammar will

serve you well here.

Because while David has been talking

uh

Lord, you are my refuge.

Uh you are my rock. Lead me to a high

rock. Hear my cry. I long to dwell in

your presence. I I I.

And now he turns like he's talking about

somebody else.

Do you see it?

It says, "Prolong the life of the king.

May his years endure to all generations.

May he be enthroned forever."

Now, I want to suggest to you

that what David is doing is alluding to

a very specific promise that God had

given him.

It's what theologians call the Davidic

Covenant. You find it in 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7.

Where God said to David, "Your lineage,

your line, your dynasty,

your house, I am going to extend forever

and ever."

Your leadership, your legacy is going to

extend and eventually that legacy would

lead to the birth of Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus, the son of God, the son of David.

That Jesus in his coming reign will be

the literal fulfillment

of this never-ending reign of David.

And David thinks back to this promise

that God made to him of this extended

reign and he finds encouragement

as he's fearful of losing

leadership over Israel.

And I I love it because it it really

presses in this last idea that to

experience the refuge of God

we do that by relying on God's promises.

Uh you you could say by resting on God's

promises.

We That's how we experience refuge.

That God's made promises to us

and in that we experience refuge.

Now, one of my um

very favorite uh Peanuts cartoons

is one where Linus and Lucy are looking

out and uh maybe you've seen this, but

uh it's pouring down rain. They're

looking from outside into the rain and

Lucy says, "Boy, look at it rain.

What if it floods the whole world?"

I love this. And Linus says to her,

"It will never do that.

In the ninth chapter of Genesis, God

promised Noah that would never happen

again and the sign of the promise is the

rainbow."

See what she's doing?

She's calling God out on his promise.

He's calling uh the promises of God out

to Lucy.

And Lucy responds, "You've taken a great

load off my mind."

To which Linus says, "Sound theology has

a way of doing that."

>> Amen.

>> I love that.

You see, if you want to experience the

refuge of God, experience God as your

refuge,

you've got to know his promises.

You've got to be able to embrace them,

reckon them as true,

and believe that and take comfort from

that.

That's what

God intends.

Now,

there's so many promises that we don't

have time to name them all, but can I

just show you very quickly what have

been five promises of God that have been

a mainstay for my life?

The first one

is a promise of provision.

And what we mean by that is Jesus says

in Matthew 6, "Hey, like don't worry

about what you're going to eat or drink

or wear.

Like God knows that you have needs, and

like he takes care of the birds of the

air, he's going to take care of you. So,

seek first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness, and all these things will

be added to you." He says, "Don't worry

about those things."

Promise of provision. A second one is a

promise of presence.

Like God has said, "I'll never leave you

or forsake you." In Hebrews 13, the

writer is addressing

people who are going experiencing

persecution but because of their faith.

And he says, "Why do you worry about

what men can do to you? Like do not

fear. Has not God said, 'I'll never

leave you or forsake you?'"

So, we have the promise of God's

presence, that even when you feel, "Hey,

hey Lord, the steamroller's coming.

Where are you?" God says, "I'm with

you."

The third promise that's been a mainstay

for me is one of power.

That God's at work giving us strength,

sustaining us.

In Philippians 4:13, when he says, "I

Philippians 4:13

can do all things through Christ who

strengthens me,"

the context is one of contentment.

Paul says, "Hey, I've known times of

abundance in my life,

prosperity

in times of poverty.

I've been through hard circumstances

and less hard circumstances.

And I know that no matter what I face

that God sustains me and gives me

strength to go through it.

He Paul would say elsewhere, "Hey, that

I I I work

powerfully

with the power

that works within me."

God gives us strength to sustain us and

to help us serve him. A fourth one is

peace. As we've mentioned already

several times, but uh Philippians 4, he

says, "Be anxious for nothing.

How often are we anxious? Be anxious for

nothing,

but with prayer and supplication with

Thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God that passes all

understanding will keep your hearts and

mind in Christ Jesus."

It's that mindset,

remaining in God's presence, resting on

his promises.

That peace, that internal sense of

well-being.

Like, it's well with my soul.

That comes, the promise of God as we do

this, we pray.

Last one is the providence of God.

His ability to somehow, even in the hard

things of life, to bring about something

for our good and his glory.

Romans 8, for God's able to make all

things work together for good for those

who love the Lord and called according

to his purposes.

I believe that.

Like, I believe that God is always up to

something good and his glory.

And even when it's my maybe not exactly

how I would have written the script.

Like I take great comfort in this.

That God is not distant and uncaring,

but he's involved and he's orchestrating

the affairs to bring about his good

purposes.

That's what I believe.

Those are five promises of God.

And they'll sustain you.

Let me tell you.

The steamroller is real.

And the steamroller comes.

But the steamroller doesn't have to

crush you.

Because God says, "I am your refuge."

And you can experience that

by relying on my power, remaining in my

presence, resting on my promises.

Now, the first great

application of that

is when you come to terms with the

incredibly

overbearing, powerful, heavy

steamroller

of guilt

for our sin.

There's no more serious steamroller

than the guilt of our sin, our high

treason against God.

Of going our own way and trying to make

life work on our own.

And God said, "This steamroller will

crush you."

But Jesus says, "You can find refuge in

me."

Cuz Jesus went to the cross and carried

our guilt and shame and sin with him and

died for our sins to pay the penalty for

our sin, so that whoever believes and

says, "I believe that, God. I need you

as my savior.

I want your death to count as payment

for my sin. Come into my life."

And whoever in simple faith does that,

they find in Jesus a refuge from that

steamroller.

And beyond that, whatever else pressures

and stresses come,

God can be your refuge.

About a month ago, I

received my fourth diagnosis of cancer.

I had three previous experiences

uh with it.

And uh uh cancer that was removed last

this time last year is now back.

And I have to tell you, you know,

you think, well, of course you have to

say this, but I'm telling you, as God is

my witness,

it's not that there

aren't the temptation of fear or worry

or anxiety

and what might happen and what might

come.

I mean, all of that is always present at

the edges.

But God for me

has been my rock.

He has been my refuge.

Look, I I've been down this road since

2017.

And he

says, Danny, your times are in my hands.

Psalm 31.

He says, Danny,

my peace I leave with you.

Peace I give you, not like the world

gives it.

So, don't let your heart be troubled and

do not be afraid.

If there is,

despite whatever may I may go on and by

the way, I I feel good. I'm doing good.

But uh whatever may come,

there is an internal sense of well-being

from being in the

with him.

And under his wings.

Resting on his promises, believing in

his power.

Like the leper before Jesus, he says,

"Lord, if you're willing, I know you can

make me clean."

We'll see what the Lord does.

But,

I'm good.

Rock of ages,

cleft for me.

Let me hide myself in thee.

Father God, we just bow before you. Lord

Jesus, we worship you today as our

refuge and our rock.

And Lord, may you give us the faith

of David

to find rest in you

by

relying on your power, remaining in your

presence, and resting on your promises.

Lord Jesus, may every one of us know you

as our refuge from the guilt of sin.

That Lord, you paid for our sins on the

cross

and were raised from the dead to give us

this new life. We thank you for that.

And so, Lord, as we continue thinking

about whatever steamroller is going on

right now,

that we would experience you today and

this week and future, experience you as

our refuge.

Jesus, in your name we pray. Amen.

>> Amen.