Light & Salvation In Dark Times
Lessons From The Psalms • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme for the last several Sunday evenings has been “Lessons From The Psalms.”
We have studied several psalms and will study a few more over the next several weeks.
Today, we are going to turn our attention to Psalm 27 I have titled, “Light & Salvation In Dark Times.”
In this psalm David apparently, found himself in a dangerous situation, leaving some to suggest this was when David found himself fleeing from king Saul and finding a moments relief by the hand of Ahimelech the priest (1 Samuel 21:1-10).
Even here Doeg the Edomite would see David and tell Saul where to find him (1 Samuel 22:9).
This led David to seek refuge for his parents with the king of Moab (1 Samuel 22:3) and there is no doubt that David, at this time, was feeling the darkness surround him as he waited to find out what “God will do for me” (1 Samuel 22:3).
As always, David found his LORD to be his “Light & Salvation In Dark Times.”
So, let’s examine our lesson for this evening.
A Confident Trust During Danger
A Confident Trust During Danger
Confidence In The Lord.
Confidence In The Lord.
We read in Psalm 27:1-3…
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
When danger surrounds us who should we, God’s children, fear?
We don’t have to fear anyone because God is on our side, he is our light and salvation, our strength during these times.
There is a reason we have gone through past tribulations, they prepare us for future trials.
Those past situations help us remember our strength is not in ourselves but comes from God.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
1 Timothy 1:12 (ESV)
12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord…
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
When we trust in our God to lead us through the danger we have a confidence that…
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
However, that confidence can only be sustained through…
Communion With God.
Communion With God.
Again David writes in Psalm 27:4-6…
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
The one thing David sought with all the turmoil around him was to dwell in God’s house.
Why, because it’s during these troublesome times that God will hide him in his house until the right time to lift him up above his enemies.
God has never said we will not have difficult times as his children, rather that opposite (2 Timothy 3:12), however, he will provide a way of escape through him.
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
And when we escape by way of God’s strength he will lift us up.
1 Peter 5:6 (ESV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you
Summary
Summary
It’s when we are most afraid that God’s light, strength, and salvation are most visibly witnessed in our lives.
When these times of anxiety arise we must look back at how God helped us before and keep our trust and confidence in our Creator.
And the truth of the matter is, though we remember God was with us the last fearful time in our life that doesn’t mean we won’t have any worry about this time.
However, David points out the solution to that anxiety, which is…
Prayer During Danger
Prayer During Danger
A Plea For Mercy.
A Plea For Mercy.
Once again in Psalm 27:7-10 we find…
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
David here begins by pleading with God to show him mercy by hear him and answer him.
David, a man after God’s own heart, was so troubled that, even though “intellectually” he understood God was with him, and would get him through, emotionally he was struggling with that reality.
Have you ever felt so helpless; have you ever found yourself in such a case that you know God will lead you through something mentally but emotionally it’s simply not comforting?
Sometimes, like Job often did, we simply have to pray and plead for God to listen to us.
God is not opposed to us doing this, nor does he get upset with such.
God knows we are finite people which is why he begs us to pray to him and ask of him.
The kicker is that we cannot allow those emotions of helplessness to cloud our knowledge that he will “never leave us nor forsake us.”
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
So, like David there is nothing wrong with praying to God for mercy to be heard and answered.
We should also, like David, make…
A Plea For Deliverance.
A Plea For Deliverance.
Let’s see this plea now in Psalm 27:11-12…
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.
David understood, like we should, that the only way to “get through” these dangers and the anxiety they create in our lives is by being “taught God’s way so as to be lead on God’s straight or level path.”
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.
Summary
Summary
We will be delivered from danger and the worry or anxiety that these events cause, if we seek God’s merciful ear and desire his gracious deliverance.
And when we listen to his word we will not be lead down the path of “false witnesses” which strive to keep us worried and anxious but self assured.
It’s that “reassurance” that David seeks in the last two verses as he sought to…
Reassure Himself During Danger
Reassure Himself During Danger
Reassure The Need For Faith.
Reassure The Need For Faith.
Notice what he writes in Psalm 27.13…
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
Had it not been for his trust in God he would have lost heart and not seen the “land of the living.”
Sometimes, we simply need to remind ourselves of our trust in God.
To sit down and have a frank conversation with ourselves and reassure ourselves we do indeed trust or have faith in our Creator.
This is when we remind ourselves and are reassured of our confidence in him.
However…
Reassure The Need To Wait For The Lord.
Reassure The Need To Wait For The Lord.
David reminds us of this in Psalm 27:14…
14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
God’s answer to our plea for his protection and resurrection from this danger will take time.
God will raise us up in the right moment, but it will be in what he deems the right moment not us.
Summary
Summary
One of the hardest things to do during fearful times in our lives is “wait.”
However, it is often during these times that we find the right balance between our “intellectual faith” and our “emotional strength.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
There is no way of escaping danger in this life but there is a way to cope and overcome it.
That way is by putting our trust and confidence in the light, strength, and salvation of our soul, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
When we are in these circumstances we need, like a child to his father, go to our Father and seek his help.
Bend his ear, seek his deliverance, and rest in his assurance.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.