3-7-21 Grace-Benson & Vail Sermon

Psalm 19 Sermon. March 7, 2021. Grace-Benson, Grace-Vail.

When life is a struggle, does it do me any good to take time to praise God? When life is hard, is God still glorious and worth my obedience? Don't I need solutions and plans more than I need worship and praise? David knew struggle and hardship in life. He wrote about it often in his Psalms.

In fact, in the Psalm just before Psalm 19, he wrote this: “The ropes of death entangled me.

Floodwaters of destruction rolled over me. The ropes of the grave wrapped around me.” Pretty desperate. And in the Psalm after Psalm 19, David wrote this, “May the Lord answer you in the day of distress.” In between those songs of distress we have Psalm 19, a Psalm of praise. It’s as if David was putting together a song playlist - that’s basically what the book of Psalms is - and among songs of struggle we find this Psalm of praise. What’s the value of praise during struggle?

I have a friend who once told me about his experience with divorce. His wife had an affair with another man, and a divorce happened. He said it was the hardest time of his life, but also mentioned, “I knew I needed to praise God even more through that time of struggle.” It’s a different perspective, one that you only get from God and his Word. Psalm 19 shows us, even when life is a struggle, we can praise God because his glory is revealed in 3 ways: in creation, in his Word, and in his people.

First, God’s glory in creation. The heavens speak, the sky proclaims, the universe communicates. Not with any audible speech, but with their beauty and existence. They tell of the glory, the weightiness, the heaviness of God. How do you get from sky and creation to glory of God? They are the work of his hands. Every house is built by someone, the builder of all is God Creation shows God’s glorious power, that he has the ability to make all there is out of nothing, using only his speech. Nothing else compares to God’s power. But even more than power, creation shows God’s glorious love. That he would make all the complexities of the universe, and then as the crown of his creation make human beings able to enjoy and observe his created world.

During times of struggle, it’s beneficial to go somewhere where you can observe and enjoy the natural world. Remind yourself to look up at the stars and moon at night, at the sunrise and sunset, and the beautiful landscapes. They will communicate with you the glory of God, remind you that your struggles are only a small part of what’s happening in the universe. God is in control, and if he can handle the complexities of the natural world, he can handle the complications of your life as well.

His glorious power and glorious love are for you and not against you.

But there are limits to the comfort you can take from nature. Since the fall into sin, the natural world also reminds us of how disaster, death, and decay have a power greater than ours. Observing nature can be helpful, but more revelation from God is needed to help us in our struggles.

The glory of God is revealed in his Word. Psalm 19 gives 6 different names for God’s Word, 6 characteristics of God’s Word, and 6 blessings that come to us through his Word. Consider the names for God’s Word in Psalm 19: the law of the LORD, the testimony, the precepts, the commandments, the just decrees, the fear of the Lord. These all have something in common. Think of

it less like laws that governments make, and if you violate them, you get fined or sent to prison.

Think of it more like design, the way things are arranged and intended to be used. That’s what God’s Word reveals to us.

If you have a toaster, and you try to make coffee with it, not only will you not end up with good coffee; you’ll have a mess, and you might break the toaster. How foolish would it be to say, this toaster is terrible, it won’t make good coffee. That’s not it’s design. You measure the value and goodness of a toaster by: does it make good toast or not. In a similar way, you take a human being; God’s Word is the designer’s manual. It tells us what we were made for. It’d be foolish to say, this person isn’t good at producing lots of wealth and possessions, so that’s not a good human being. We were designed for something else, primarily to know God and enjoy him. God’s Word helps us live in alignment with our design.

So when a person breaks God’s law, it’s not really God’s law that breaks. The person breaks.

Just like the toaster used as a coffee maker. When we live contrary to God’s designs, we make a mess, and we end up breaking. God’s design, his Word stays the same. We only ruin ourselves by living out of alignment with him.

Another comparison, think of a fish who insisted that life in the water was good, but life on land would be better. They shouldn’t be restricted to only live in the water, how confining, they want to be free to live on land. That freedom will be a suffocating death for a fish in a very short time. So also, when people want to live free from the confines of God’s design and law and Word, they’re like a fish out of water, struggling and suffocating, in danger of dying. God’s Word was meant to show us the environment in which we thrive.

That leads to the descriptions of God’s Word in this Psalm. Let’s walk through them. The law, the designs of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul. If the designs of the Lord is perfect, are there designs for human life out there which are imperfect? Yes. There are ways of living that suck life out of the soul. That’s why the soul needs reviving. The world in its present state, because of human rebellion; is often experienced as a soul desert. Sucking life out of the soul rather than giving life. It all traces back to sin and unbelief, which cause disconnection with God, the life giver.

We need God’s Word to perfectly revive the soul. It revives the soul by aligning you with the reason you were made. Your purpose. Your aim. When someone is starving for a purpose, for value, for meaning, and they receive God’s designs; it’s life giving. Like suffocating and receiving a breath of fresh air. Like being hot and tired and getting a drink of cool electrolyte infused water. That’s what God’s law does.

Next, the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making wise the simple. God’s testimony is what he has to say about who he is and who we are. He’s not the only one who answers these questions. Not every testimony of who you are and who God is are trustworthy. Some explanations don’t make people wise, but more foolish. But God’s Word gives wisdom.

Wisdom is not just knowing what to do, but knowing the right time to do it, and actually having the ability to do the right thing at the right time. Situational intelligence. Intelligence in a vacuum doesn’t do much good. A bunch of facts but no ability to know when to do them or how is like an encyclopedia sitting on a shelf, or a computer turned off on a desk. Lots of potential, no action.

Wisdom is like the key that unlocks the potential energy of knowledge and turns it into actual energy and motion and life. God’s Word gives us useable knowledge, and the ability and power to actually put it into practice.

Next, the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. His precepts are his principles for life. God’s Word is meant to bring joy to life. Like putting a suffocating fish back in water, joy returns when we live aligned with reality.

The commands of the Lord are bright, and give light to the eyes. Important to notice, these are not just suggestions in God’s Word. Not, take it if you like it, or leave it if you don’t. No, God’s Word says, this is the way reality is constructed. We are not authorized or able to decide otherwise.

Everyone has to find some set of guiding principles or values, and not all are bright, some are dark.

Some create a darkness, like putting dark shaded glasses on. That’s not going to be help you see thing more clearly.

But God’s Word is bright and gives sight. When the developer and sustainer of reality communicates to you what reality is and how it functions, you will see things more clearly. The world will become a place of adventure, curiosity, and enjoyment again. Not just a place for you to make of it what you will, but a place for you to discover of it what your loving creative father wants you to discover. Your life is not all about following rules; but about discovering the fun adventure that God has designed for you.

The just decrees of the Lord are truth. They are altogether righteous. They are more desirable than gold, even better than much pure gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the honeycomb. What’s more valuable than gold, more sweet than honey? In value and taste, the word of God surpasses them both. Gold can buy things which sustain and enrich earthly life, honey has a sweetness that gives pleasure. God’s word sustains and enriches true life, and gives true pleasure. In contrast with other worldviews, which have a bitterness along with whatever sweetness they offer, which at times are valuable, but at times are not, depending how the shifting sands of time change. God’s Word is always valuable and sweet.

The fear of the Lord is pure. It stands forever. What is the fear of the Lord? Not terror, but respect, amazement, awe. Like not wanting to miss out on who he is and what he is doing, just like you wouldn’t want to miss out on a birthday party with your best friend. The fear of the Lord is also an amazement that God is actually interested in me, in who I am, in what I do, in what is going on in my life. He wants to live in me; that causes a fear and trembling.

There are many fear-inspiring things, but they don’t inspire fear and amazement for long. An athlete that one moment causes you to say wow, the next does something to remind you how human they are. A world leader gets their power stripped away and you’re reminded of their weakness, think of Saddam Hussein in prison. And the reasons to fear worldly powers are not pure. Usually there is a terror, not an appreciation of purity. The fear of the Lord is different. We fear God because he is pure, unchanging, he stands forever. We don’t have to be afraid of him.

When struggling, when in conflict, seek God’s Word. You’ll find his glory revealed. You’ll find a bigger perspective than just your problems. The final way that the glory of God is revealed: in the believer’s life. By God’s Word, people are made servants of God. We all are servants of something, we all have a master, the only question is: what kind of master? A favorable one or an unfavorable one? One that will forgive me when I break his boundaries, or one that will make demands and not forgive? We all have a master, we’re all servants of something. Why not be a servant of God, and give up the illusion of self mastery?

By God’s Word, servants are warned, there is great reward given in the keeping of them.

What reward, what warning? The warning is about the problem of sin. I don’t even always know when I sin. I don’t fully understand the ways I damage my relationship with other people, and with God. If we can’t even recognize our own errors, how could we ever fix them? This is a problem, and God’s Word solves it more than any other word.

David in this Psalm makes an incredible ask of God, “make me innocent.” How can any of us, once we know our sinfulness, ask God to make us innocent? David recognized that God’s Word is not just about a God who makes demands of you. It’s an introduction into a relationship with a God who comes to guilty people, and declares them innocent. Why guilty? Because sin is a personal offense more than violation of arbitrary rules.

How are we declared innocent? Only by Jesus, the one who stands behind God’s Word. Jesus, the Word made flesh, who never violated God’s design, but accepted the consequence of human violation of God’s design. Jesus, who by his resurrection from the dead communicates a kind of victory that would be impossible to claim any other way - victory over death itself.

Jesus was already perfect before he died and rose, but now he has a perfection that is transferable. A holiness that is not just terrifying, but sweet. Sweet like honey, enjoyable like a refreshing glass of water. David recognized in this song that God reveals himself to us; not to be a killjoy, a dominator, a tyrant; but to be a forgiver, a connector, a life giver. He accomplishes this all by declaring the innocent one guilty so that the guilty can now be declared innocent.

Along with that declaration of innocence, comes this: Growth in the ability to stop violating God’s design. David asked “Restrain your servant also from deliberate sins. Do not let them rule over me.” You can be confident that God will start a growth process in which you less and less violate your design. Now, everyone is at a different stage of this process. The status of an innocent person

before God is completely established in Christ. But wholeness and holiness is also a process of God’s own Holy Spirit in you making you progressively more holy and right; and we’re all at different stages.

In some areas, you may have a better alignment to God’s design in how you treat your finances, your sexuality, your relationships with people. Another person may do better at the way they relate to the natural world and resources God has given. We all have room for growth, none of us have reason to look down on anyone else and where they are in this growth process. But we also all have room for confidence that God who began a good work in me, the remaking of me in his image, will complete what he has begun in Christ.

During the growth process, don’t forget where you are headed. You have progressed from being a sinner to being a sinner and saint at the same time. But will one day become all saint, no sinner. A day when you will be truly blameless, no fault, no sinful inclination, no desire to violate your design or ability to do it ignorantly. Instead only a perfect desire and ability to thrive as a person made in the image of God. You will understand reality better than you ever have. You will enjoy functioning as a glorified, blameless being in a glorified, blameless universe, the new heavens and the new earth. No more rebellious impulse, only perfect alignment with God. Until then, we pray with David, “May the speech from my mouth and the thoughts in my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” When life is a struggle, remember the progress. You’re not who you used to be, you are more than your faults and failures and doubts and apprehensions. You are more than you know, because Jesus has made you his brother, his sister, and God is your Father, and your spirit is intermingled with the very holy spirit of God. So celebrate that. I have a rock and a redeemer. A solid place to stand, and a value giver who cannot be taken from me.

God has given evidence that he is a God over all, we have reason to praise him even in the struggle. In Jesus he has even joined the struggle of human life. He has become one of us, and gives us reason to believe that the almighty maker of the universe loves us more than we could have ever imagined. Even when life is a struggle, he is with us, and that’s glorious. Amen.