The Lord is my Rock
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Around the time I was finishing college and working on an internship in a church, I had the opportunity to work in a rural church environment. This was in southern Manitoba and on one occasion, I went out to visit one of the farmers that were in the church.
I was attempted to show an interest in farming, not being raised on a farm rather in a city, there was much for me to learn. I asked if he could show me around his farm and tell me what he does.
As we were going through the yard and on different field, I asked, “What do you grow on your farms?” I still laugh to this day upon his answer,
ROCKS
This morning’s message we are going to look at a different name for God.
This name can be described this way.
God is our Rock
“Rocks proved shade, shelter, and safety in the wilderness and were used to construct alters, temples, houses and city walls. Heaps of stones were also used to commemorate important events in Israel’s history. God’s commandments, give to Moses, were etched on stone so that all generations would learn his Law. The word ‘rock’ epitomizes his enduring faithfulness. The Hebrew noun tsur is often translated ‘rock, or ‘stone’, while petra is the Greek word for rock.”[1]
Would you turn with me to Psalm 18 as we look at this name of God
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
One commentary describes the usage of rock to mean this
A rock could be a foundation for a building, it could provide protection (to hide behind) or shade (to sit beside), and it could be impervious and unmovable. All of these qualities made it an apt metaphor for describing God.”
[3] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Ps.
God’s Permanence
God’s Permanence
The first section of this Psalm is a chorus of worship of our God. The Psalmist praises God’s attributes of Strength, Righteousness, and Compassion. King David uses the first few verses to exalt his God.
“The psalmist does not present his petition before the Lord timidly but with boldness. He knows his God; and despite human shortcomings, he is convinced that the Lord does “care for him” and “think of him”” [5]
God’s attribute of strength (vs 1)
God’s attribute of strength (vs 1)
The Psalmist begins his Psalm with the name of God. He begins this Psalm with a praises to God as our rock.
The picture of using God as a rock is to remind us of how permanent our God is. He is permanent and hard to crush. Enduring, lasting from generations to generation.
This solid rock is described as preparing us for Battle. David knew and understood what it meant for battle preparations. It trusts the training that he had gone through to stand up against the enemy. He knew that God was his training. The solid program of trusting in His God throughout all that he faced.
We have too can have this same Rock to prepare us for defeating the enemy. We too can place our trust in the God, the rock.
David uses this term of rock and then fortress to show the readers, us, that when we place our trust in God he will provide the training, strength and protection from the enemy.
What is our training, are we preparing for war, what is the battle we face?
Do we daily enter into God’s presence to seek Him? Are we daily spending time in God word to understand what and who the enemy is? Do we have certainty that the battles we face in this world living out our faith that we have a God who is strong as a Rock to sustain us.
David then moves onto praise for God that not only is he our rock but our fortress and deliverer as well.
To deliver means to escape, to be free to not worry about the enemy. A fortress is a place you can take refuge from the battle.
How often do we come into the presence of God and prepare ourselves for worship. When we come to church on Sunday morning to worship together as believers, how do we effectively draw ourselves into the fortress of the mighty God?
So what is a defender?
David’s depiction of God is similar to our understanding of a bigger brother. A defender of the underdog. Someone who has your back and protection. You may have had one of those in your life, or you may not.
Let me give you a picture of a defender
There was a show on TV called Happy Days. One of the characters developed on the show was named Fonzie. When he first appeared on the show all he said was “Hey”. He was the object of being cool, hip. He wasn’t a bully, but you didn’t cross or mess with him. He was a bicker in a black jacket symbolizing power and control. As the show began to develop so did this character. He became the defender of the people. What he said, people followed. He had power of influence and although it was portrayed he had physical strength, on the show we never saw him use it. His friends knew him as the solid person in whom they could trust.
God is way more than Fonzie could or would ever be.
We must understand that His strength and power is there and can be used,
But it often is not.
Knowing He has the power to move mountains, the ability to subdue the weather, and control the will of man but can chose to or not to, is a sign of strength.
Knowing that he can do all these things, gives us the ability to call him our Rock, our shelter, and our fortress.
God’s attributes of a righteous God (vs 2)
God’s attributes of a righteous God (vs 2)
David then moves onto verse three and is reminds us of who we are:
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
We are in need of a saviour, no one by themselves are good enough when compared to God. It is God’s compassion on man that he would save us from the broken relationship we have with Him. We cannot stand in the presence of a righteous god.
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
This is a description of mankind without the saving Grace of God. It is like when we look into a mirror what is reflected back to us is an image of what we and other’s see.
If God were to give a reflection back, it would show a description much different than the one we see. Paul reminds us in that letter how truly each one of us stands on our own merit. We are in need of a permanent savior, one full of compassion and grace willing to take our place to reflect to God and image of grace.
“The strength of the Lord and the weakness of man accentuate divine grace and set the basis on which the king prays for divine intervention on behalf of his people.”[7]
It is with this in mind that the Psalmist then moves to the description of God.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
God’s attribute of compassion (vs 3-4)
God’s attribute of compassion (vs 3-4)
Vs 3 what is man that you care for him
Imagine the God of the universe cares for something that will soon pass.
I am not much of a gardener or one to brighten up my yard with flowers. Every spring Heather’s father has been coming to visit us and planting our flowers for us. He has been given a great gift and ability, and as a Dutchman, I call it the annual dutchification of our yards.
Moving to BC has brought about the changes in this process, especially this spring. This year, we made a trip to Heather’s cousin and purchased the dutification process from them.
One year, I thought I would learn for myself and started the process by bringing in the flowers (geranium) to winter. I carefully followed the instructions of my father-in-law of how to do this.
When spring came, I brought out the flowers that had wintered and watched some of them grow, but did not grow as well as the new ones purchased from the store, there was much to learn.
My plan was to try again in the fall, but do to the busyness of life; the snow killed them before I could remove them.
so I asked myself. Do I mourn the loss of the plants? No
Will I invite all my friends over to a celebration of plants. Post pictures around the room of the plants as they grew and flourished throughout the spring and summer, no.
They have been forgotten, they will be replaced. Next year I will most likely forget about the ones we had. I will forget about the colour. Where they red or pink?
David’s description of man is like that of the flowers. We are finite but God is not. There is no equal, yet he cares for each one of us.
He cares for that neighbour down your street who seems to be irritated by the weeds in the yards.
He cares for the homeless in Merritt that they may find nourishment for the day and a place to sleep for the night.
He cares for you, he cares for me.
God our Rock doesn’t have to have compassion on us, but he does.
He is God almighty, yet as a permanent God of compassion, he does.
This is best defined as a Solid God full of Grace.
To gain an understanding of Grace, I read story of a young family that adopted a child. The adopted child had been in another family and that family had gone on vacation to Disney World only to leave the girl behind because she wasn’t a part of the family.
When the newly adopted child heard that her new family was going to the magic kingdom, she began to be disobedient. I enter the story as the father is dealing with the child’s poor behaviour.
“A couple of days before our family headed to Florida, I pulled our daughter into my lap to talk through her latest escapade. “I know what you’re going to do,” she stated flatly. “You’re not going to take me to Disney World, are you?” The thought hadn’t actually crossed my mind, but her downward spiral suddenly started to make some sense. She knew she couldn’t earn her way into the Magic Kingdom — she had tried and failed that test several times before — so she was living in a way that placed her as far as possible from the most magical place on earth.
In retrospect, I’m embarrassed to admit that, in that moment, I was tempted to turn her fear to my own advantage. The easiest response would have been, “If you don’t start behaving better, you’re right, we won’t take you” — but, by God’s grace, I didn’t. Instead, I asked her, “Is this trip something we’re doing as a family?”
She nodded, brown eyes wide and tear-rimmed.
“Are you part of this family?”
She nodded again.
“Then you’re going with us. Sure, there may be some consequences to help you remember what’s right and what’s wrong — but you’re part of our family, and we’re not leaving you behind.”
I’d like to say that her behaviors grew better after that moment. They didn’t. Her choices pretty much spiraled out of control at every hotel and rest stop all the way to Lake Buena Vista. Still, we headed to Disney World on the day we had promised, and it was a typical Disney day. Overpriced tickets, overpriced meals, and lots of lines, mingled with just enough manufactured magic to consider maybe going again someday.
In our hotel room that evening, a very different child emerged. She was exhausted, pensive, and a little weepy at times, but her month-long facade of rebellion had faded. When bedtime rolled around, I prayed with her, held her, and asked, “So how was your first day at Disney World?”
She closed her eyes and snuggled down into her stuffed unicorn. After a few moments, she opened her eyes ever so slightly. “Daddy,” she said, “I finally got to go to Disney World. But it wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.”
It wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.
It wasn’t because I was good; it’s because I’m yours.
That’s the message of outrageous grace.
Outrageous grace isn’t a favor you can achieve by being good; it’s the gift you receive by being God’s. Outrageous grace is God’s goodness that comes looking for you when you have nothing but a middle finger flipped in the face of God to offer in return.”[8]
God’s grace is the rock upon which we can stand. It is the grace that we are adopted into His family and saved from separation from God. Christ’s work on the cross was not done because of anything we have done, rather it was God’s choice to have compassion on his fallen children and send his one and only son into this world to die for our sins.
That is grace in action!
God’s Protection (vs 5-8)
God’s Protection (vs 5-8)
A king’s petition
A king’s petition
The Psalmist then moves in to the Psalm with a request for protection
David knew that God was all powerful, immovable and capable of all things so he asks, no petition the almighty to come and intervene on his behalf.
The languages is quite clear come with your power and take over.
Is this our prayer? If we understand who God is and what he has done for us, we too should be petitioning God to intervene on our behalf.
David’s view of God’s abilities
David’s view of God’s abilities
In this petition, David describes God’s abilities.
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
Why would David use this imagery to describe God’s power? This is called Theophany Imagery, ascribing human aspects to a deity. For most of us, we can’t fully understand the main attributes of God without relating them to ourselves
There is also similarity in PS 18 to description of God helping those who call out to him
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
David’s view of God’s abilities
David’s view of God’s abilities
Let those words of the psalmist sink in.
He rescued me, because he delighted in Me
He rescues you, because he delights in You.
Us with all our worries, concerns, and failures.
Us with all our trials and temptations
Us nothing in comparison to Him
In all that, He delights in Us
God’s Enduring Faithfulness (vs 9-15)
God’s Enduring Faithfulness (vs 9-15)
After writing this it is no wonder why the last verses of this psalm turn to worship.
The last 6 verses are can be broken down into a call to worship, a celebration of His faithfulness, and a final benediction
A Call to worship
A Call to worship
David begins this call to worship, similarly how we began our worship this morning.
Praise to the Lord
t’s a call of excitement. It’s a call of celebration. It’s a call of singing. It’s not about us, but him. It takes our focus off of us and on to the one we have come to worship. It’s a celebration of what he has done.
A Celebration of faithfulness
A Celebration of faithfulness
After David enters into a time of calling into worship he remembers God’s faithfulness. A celebration of answered prayer and requests.
On writer states it this way, “He then disappears as an individual voice in the psalm, presenting a series of communal requests for blessing: sons and daughters (v. 12), food and livestock (v. 13), and social stability (v. 14). The psalm closes with a blessing on both the people and God (v. 15).”[12]
When we come to worship, do we spend time celebrating the faithfulness of our savior. Is our focus on Him, the one who has provided? Is he our rock that we stand upon, rest upon and is our fortress and our shield? We have much to celebrate for.
A benediction of God’s faithfulness
A benediction of God’s faithfulness
David ends this psalm with a benediction. V 15 uses the “word ashrei it is used only of those who follow God. It is (Also) the first word of the psalter (1:1).”[13]
If you have given your life over to God. Have made a decision to follow God Tsuri “the rock”, this benediction is for you.
When we trust in the Lord we know this:
How blessed the people who have all this! How blessed the people who have God for God![14]
In a few moments we are going to remember our God our Rock through Communion. After communion and the final song, we will sing a benediction.
Conclusion
Conclusion
In conclusion, let me read from this familiar passage:
4 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” [15]
Let’s be described as a people who build our lives on God Tsuri God the Rock
Let’s pray
Endnotes
[1] Names of God p 172-3
[2] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Ps 18:2–3.
[4] The three concepts taken from the book “Praying the Names of God” by Ann Spangler
[5] Willem A. VanGemeren, "Psalms" In , in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 5: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 856-57.
[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Ro 3:22–24.
[7] Willem A. VanGemeren, "Psalms" In , in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 5: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 857.
[8] Source: PROOF: Finding Freedom through the Intoxicating Joy of Irresistible Grace
By Daniel Montgomery and Timothy Paul Jones
[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Ps 144:5–8.
[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), Ps 18:7–19.
[11] Duane A. Garrett, "The Poetic and Wisdom Books" In , in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 233.
[12] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ps 144:title–15.
[13] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ps 144:15.
[14] Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Ps 144:15.
[15] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), Mt 7:24–27.