MPC
13th December 2020.Decmber 13 - Psalm 131 - "Songs of the Season: A Travelling Song for Meeting with God"
MPC
13th December 2020.
Pete Kutuzov
This is the Oculus Rift, the very latest in Virtual Reality technology.
It is one of the first Virtual Reality headsets that will be produced for mass consumption, and if you talk to anyone who has tried it, it's amazing. Incredible. Well worth the $400 plus price tag when it ships next year.
But the problem for oculus is: you have to experience it to really gethow good it is.
Until you've put the headset on and walked through the Hanging Gardens of Babylon like you're there, or paddled a canoe between towering cliffs on either side, then you just don't know what it's like.
It's useless making an ad for it, because as soon as you don't have the headset on, it loses everything that makes it special. In fact, it just hurts your eyes. It'd be like showing people how amazing a colour TV is with an ad on a black and white TV. Because with some things, you have to experience it, to really get it.
And the Psalm we read this morning is very similar.
It paints a beautiful picture of a peaceful heart. An unworried mind.
A person in perfect tune with their God.
But you can't experience those benefits simply by reading it.
Just listening to a sermon on it will do you no good. It's something you have to experience, to really get it.
Let's take a walk through it. Sometimes it can be confusing which bits of text in your bible are from the original Hebrew and which aren't, but the heading there, "A song of ascents. Of David," definitely is.
The title 'a song of ascents' means that this is an ancient Israelite travelling song.
I don't know if you had travelling songs for when you'd go on a family holiday, "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes', or something like that.
But this one is much more profound than "99 bottles of beer on the wall".
Three times a year, faithful Israelites were supposed to "go up" to Jerusalem. And the Psalms of ascent were the songs that they would sing on their way to prepare their hearts. Because their ultimate destination wasn't just Jerusalem, but up to its very highest point, to the temple.
They're songs that you sing when you're going to meet God. Because that's what the temple is. It's where you go to get access to God. And, as with a hundred green bottles standing on the wall, you would sing these verses over and over again, preparing your heart to meet your maker.
Now, the 'of David' means that we're meant to associate this Psalm with him, whether as the author or the main character, and here we get an insight into 'his' preparation for meeting with God.
And his first order of business, is to humble his heart. To make sure that even as he ascends the hill to the temple, that he doesn't get ideas above his station.
See it there in v1.
My heart is not proud, LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
Now you might at first blush feel that there's an irony in David writing a song about how humble he is.
Some of you will be familiar with the song, "Lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way". And it might seem like that's the kind of song David's writing.
But these are actually a very humble set of words for a king to be speaking. For starters, this man is the king of all he surveys, and yet he recognises that there are some things that are above his pay grade.
Even though there is no human whose pay level is above him.
I'm not sure that there are many world leaders today who would admit that. Certainly not my Russian comrade Mr Putin. There aren't many politicians who would tell the electorate that there are a number of issues that I just can't solve. They're just not the slogans we're familiar with. David here is presented as a man who doesn't need to pretend that he knows all the answers.
For some of us, we're quite likely to get ideas above our pay grade. And I think this can be particularly tempting for people, like David, who are in leadership positions. Whether it's coordinating a roster, leading growth group or just leading your family, it's tempting to want the people you lead to think that you have all the answers.
Because that makes you a good leader. It'll mean they'll trust you. But David's psalm cuts against that because of the person who's presence he's about to enter.
The second thing that David says about himself is that he's as safe as a toddler with mum.
But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.
Interesting that David goes for a toddler here. Not a baby, not a youth... a weaned child. 2 or 3 years old, for an Israelite. This is a surprising choice after the tranquillity of verse 1. I'd have gone with a baby. A baby with its mother... it's that perfect picture of humility, of peace and tranquillity.
At least, after a feed.
But a toddler is a different picture. They get into everything. And they often get away with everything. Because their mum is right there, making sure that nothing can go wrong, or when it does, that they're there to clean up the mess. And this is the genius of being a toddler.
There is no-one more confident than a toddler with parent backing them up. Have you ever had a little kid poke their tongue at you from behind dad's leg?
It's the presence of their parent that provides the security that allows them to be curious. To explore the world. To get into everything. Safe in the knowledge that when they get scared they can run straight back to mum.
And David's saying, "When I'm with God, I'm like a toddler hanging out with mum."
My heart is untroubled. I'm simply not worried.
I don't have any insecurities in my relationship with God. Being with God, is like being a kid with mum. My heart is not proud, and I'm confident with God.
I just want to stop for a moment, because we could easily fall into the mistake of thinking that this psalm encourages Christians to have a passive and intellectual trust in God. Do you see that?
V1, I don't think about great things. V2, I'm just a little kid.
V3, God's going to make everything better.
Just believe those things intellectually, and everything will be fine. But I want to encourage you that that is the opposite of what this psalm is for. Which is an active, experienced trust in God.
This Psalm was written to be used, not just to be stored as data.
Because it's the active experience of putting our hope in God that changes us. Firstly, did you notice that David had to actually do something to get himself to his godly state of mind in verse 2. It required action.
The default position of his heart was not this deep state of Zen. If you were here for our recent 2 Samuel series you'd know, that king David's heart and household were both, at many times, a real mess. And that's why he had to do the things he does in verse 2. Do you see there?
"I" have stilled and quieted my soul.
It is active.
It's something that he had to consciously devote time to doing. Thinking, "Oh yes, I should have a still, calm heart" wasn't enough. He had to actively spend time doing that.
Secondly, this Psalm was written to be sung, over and over.
It's a travel song. A hundred green bottles, standing on the wall. It's not designed to just be thought of, but to be spoken out loud, repeatedly, for it to do its work.
Reading it once. Or listening to a sermon and never thinking of it again, is to misuse it. The type of song God gave us is one for us to speak out loud, over and over again. To massage it into our hearts, and be changed by that experience. Because some things you have to experience to really get it.
And if you don't, you'll never really know what you're missing.
Now this Psalm encouraged the people of Israel to humbly trust God with the difficult questions of life, and to be confident in God's goodness towards them.
But that can be hard. When was the last time you asked someone how they're going and they said, "Calm." We often find it hard to trust God with the thorny issues.
And some of us have had experiences that make it very hard to feel the kind of safety with God that verse 2 talks about. In the book of Romans, a Israelite man named Paul asks some very real questions of God.
And they're interesting because they're about whether God can be trusted with some of those big questions, and whether God really is good to his people.
Questions like: God, how can you forgive humanity for our war. For our lying. For our constant whingeing. For our ignoring of you... But if you did do that...
How could I take you seriously as a God that says you care about justice? About right the evils that break our hearts!?
Which is it going to be? Are you going to be the nice God forgiving people?
Or are you going to actually provide justice for the victims of crimes who are hurting all over the world? Which is it going to be? It can't be both.
We get a massive Yes, when we see God the Son die to make sure that justice is done, and that He's going to be the judge on the last day.
The thing is: as impossible as moral dilemmas are for humans, there is no problem above God's pay grade. Some of you have experienced the bitterness of losing loved ones this year.
Do you have answers for death, God? Do you?
In the resurrection of Jesus, God ... says ... yes. Yes I do. Death won't win.
And at the very end of 11 chapters of this, he's just so humbled by God's answers to humanity's greatest problems, and the depth of his love shown in Jesus, that he pens this little poem.
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?" For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
God, I just can't understand how you can get all these things so right. But you have in Jesus. And Paul puts his trust in you because of it. There is no problem above God's pay grade.
The reason that we approach God with great humility, is because we don't know the answers to all the great problems of history, the problems of our lives or even the problems of our hearts.
But he does.
And the reason that when are with our God in prayer we have a profound confidence and peace, is because while we can't solve the problems of our world, our lives and our hearts:
He has.
But the problem is, listening to this sermon is unlikely to train your heart to trust God. So what do we do? Psalm 131 is an invitation go to Jesus in prayer.
Once upon a time Israel had a king that had to admit that he didn't have the answers to life. And Israel had to travel to a temple to meet their God who did. Now, Jesus is both the King with the answers, and the place we go to meet God. And so prayer is how we put our hope in God. It's how we do verse 3. For the Israelite that involved a costly trip away from farm, business and family three times a year, to be with their God. It was a pretty obvious sign that their hope for solving the problems of life was in God, not farm, business or family. The privilege of the Christian is that we can be with our God three times a day. Or any time in the day.
You might be the kind of person who's been around Christians for a while, or you're visiting church with some, and you've got genuine questions that are hard to answer. We're really glad that you're here.
Thing is, many Christians have these too. This is not telling you not to look into those things, and work out what the Bible says about them.
But I think it is saying this: you might be feeling that because you can't come up with an answer to one or more questions, then you're not going to put your trust in Jesus.
If that's you, then I'm wondering if someday, maybe even this morning, the message of a God who died to rescue humanity.
To save YOU from yourself.
... will be enough for you to trust Jesus... despite your questions. Getting to know Jesus is not about overcoming every possible objection to his claims. It's about deciding whether there is enough evidence to trust him.
If God truly is God, then of course there'll be things that he'll understand that won't make sense to us. You're never going to get everything. David didn't. But he'd worked out enough, to put his trust in God. And he slept well.
If that's you, this Psalm invites you to come to the God who died for you and spend some real time talking to Him..., doubts and all.
To see if Jesus really does have the answers to the hard problems of life. Some things, you have to experience to really "get it". And if you're a follower of Jesus, the invitation is the same. To actively put your trust in God. By spending time with him in prayer. What are you worried about?
What concerns plague the back of your mind? They're not above God's pay-grade!!! Just because they're too big for you to solve it doesn't meant that they're too big for Him! You can do this any way you want, but why not, right now, pick an hour of your week to spend reading this psalm. And going to God.
And leaving your worries there. Leaving the things too great for you with Him. If we want to move our hearts to toddler-like trust and confidence, we need to train our hearts. Some things need to be experienced to really 'get it'.
Get your heart to this state, by singing it.
And preparing your heart, getting yourself in the right frame of mind, so that you can genuinely entrust yourself to God.
Maybe even using Psalm 131 to prepare.
Taking the time to actively remind yourself, to re-train your heart, that God has all the answers to all the problems, and that you don't.