Sermon
preached by the Rector on 24 July 2005Bible
Reading: Psalm 27
Do you ever have
bouts of what might be called spiritual schizophrenia? What I mean is
this... Have you ever found yourself coming along to a service of
worship where we really sense God's presence together and are fired up
for him, keen to put good resolutions into effect and really go for it.
But then, come the harsh realities of Monday morning, the enthusiasm
seems to have evaporated. The commitment to going on with God has
weakened. The warm fuzzy feelings have gone away. Spiritual
schizophrenia. Fired up and full of faith one minute. But then so
quickly and easily cooled down, with faith on the decline.
We
find a hint or two of spiritual schizophrenia here in Psalm 27. So much
so that some commentators think that there are two psalms here,
originally written by two completely different people but then stitched
together at some stage to make what we have as Psalm 27 today. Psalm
27a, as it were, from verses 1-6, where faith is firm and strong. But
then comes Psalm 27b, from verses 7-14, where faith seems to be
wavering. It's possible that we have two psalms here, of course. But it
seems to me just as likely that what we have here is one psalm from a
single individual who exhibits a touch of spiritual schizophrenia. He's
not alone, is he? One writer on the Bible describes the way "we all
know from our own experience how soon one can drop from exultant trust
to plaintive petition; how strangely faith and fear can blend" (Graham
Scroggie).
Let's see what we can learn first from
David's firmness of faith. He begins in verse 1 with three pictures
which describe what God means to him.
First, the
Lord is my light. Secondly, the Lord is my salvation. Thirdly, the Lord
is my stronghold.
We could hazard a guess at what
is in David's mind but, actually, we don't need to - because he tells
us! It's all to do with fear. Basically, David's testimony is that the
Lord is his 'fear-buster'.
Let's unpack this a
bit. In times of darkness, when he can't understand what's going on -
the Lord is his light. In times of uncertainty, when he's not sure he's
going to make it - the Lord is his salvation. In times of danger, when
evil threatens to overwhelm him - the Lord is his stronghold.
That's
what these images of light, salvation and stronghold all serve to
underine. Each of them is a powerful antidote to fear. Listen again:
'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?'
What
are we afraid of? What do we have nightmares about? What, for us, is
the worst thing that could happen? Take a moment to think about it...
What do we fear might happen in our own lives? Or in the lives of those
who are special to us? In the life of our nation? In the life of our
world, especially with all the recent horror perpetrated by the
many-headed hydra of international terrorism?
The
recent attacks in London, together with yesterday morning's hideous
news from Egypt, raise the pressure, don't they? We feel the chill
fingers of fear attempting to wrap themselves around our hearts. To
which the antidote is the sort of faith shown here thousands of years
ago by the Psalmist - the decision to place our trust in our invisible
but ever-present God and relax in his firm but gentle grip. '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?'
One
thing to be very clear about is that the presence of the Lord is not a
protective cocoon. Having faith - even strong faith - does not
necessarily stop bad things from happening. God may intervene, of
course, which he sometimes does in remarkable ways. Let me quote an
example.
About a month before the terrorist attacks
in London on July 7th, a Christian woman who works there sensed God
asking her to set aside some time each day to pray for her workplace.
She did so and felt herself guided to pray specifically for the
protection of the building and the people in it. On July 7th, her
office windows were among those shattered by the impact of the bomb
which exploded on the number 30 bus directly outside. Before long,
pictures of the office building where she worked were being viewed on
TV by millions of people around the world. And she was among those
watching them. For it just so happened that she was not in her office
that day. For the first time ever she was working from home. Two of her
immediate colleagues weren't in the building either. Another colleague
had come in that day, but had just popped out for something and so was
not sitting at his desk by the window. Elsewhere in the building, which
was of course the headquarters of the British Medical Association,
there just happened to be a meeting of trauma specialists. These highly
trained doctors were immediately able to help the injured and the
building quickly turned into a hospital refuge for many needy people.
Yes,
God may intervene to limit the effects of evil. And how often does he
do so without our even realising it? But he doesn't necessarily do so.
You see, stopping bad things from happening is not really what faith is
about. And so, this psalm spells out quite clearly and without
embarrassment some of the bad things that David can see might happen.
First,
in verse 2: 'When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when
my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall'.
'Devouring my flesh' may be literal but is more likely to be a
metaphorical reference to slander (as in the footnote) with the idea of
someone's reputation being 'eaten away' by his enemies. You see, it
isn't that David thinks bad things won't happen but that he knows that
God will be there as his light, his salvation and his stronghold when
they do happen. David is so convinced of God's love and goodness that
he can go even further. 'Though an army besiege me, my heart will not
fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident'.
Why? How can he maintain such a way of thinking? Because the attitude
of his heart is in tune with what, hundreds of years later, Paul would
write to his friends in Rome:
'Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or
famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your
sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in
Christ Jesus our Lord' (Romans 8:35-39).
Even if
everything does go desperately pear-shaped, the truth is that not even
death can separate us from God's love!
So, back in
Psalm 27, even if an army besieges me and war breaks out against me, I
won't be afraid. God is perfectly capable of rescuing me. And if he
decides not to, well, that's fine too!
Later on in
the psalm, David talks about the 'enemies who surround me' in verse 6.
He thinks about the possibility of being deserted - even by those
closest to him. Verse 10: 'Though my father and mother forsake me...'.
And then in verses 11 and 12, there's talk of oppressors, foes and
false witnesses. Verse 12: 'Do not hand me over to the desire of my
foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence'.
But
the thing is that, at every stage, calamity is countered by the Lord's
provision. Right from the word go. As we've seen, David's fears are
countered by the Lord making himself known as his light, his salvation
and his stronghold. Then in verse 5, the onset of the 'day of trouble'
is countered by the assurance of God's safe-keeping. And down in verse
10, being forsaken by his nearest and dearest is countered by his being
received by the Lord himself.
Where does David get
this sense of well-being? What is it that enables him to stand firm in
the face of anything and everything that happens?
Years
ago, I was greatly encouraged by a book with the title 'Turn your back
on the problem'. It's about a church leader who becomes increasingly
weighed down by the challenges of his job. (Please don't read too much
into the fact that this book came to mind in preparing this talk!) What
he discovers isn't exactly rocket science. God very graciously and
simply shows him the truth of Psalm 27:4 'One thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek: 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 seek him in
his temple'. Turn your back on the problem and turn your face towards
me...
In verse 4, what David wants and asks for is
not to be kept away from trouble but to be kept close to God. That's
his number one goal. That's his top priority. David wants to be where
God is and to see God as he is. It's as he does this that all the
problems he faces fall into line and appear from their true perspective.
Even
the beseiging of an army! Remember the wonderful story of Elisha in 2
Kings 6:8-17?
'Now the king of Aram was at war with
Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up my
camp in such and such a place." The man of God [Elisha] sent word to
the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans
are going down there." So the king of Israel checked on the place
indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so
that he was on his guard in such places. This enraged the king of Aram.
He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me
which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?" "None of us, my Lord
the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in
Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your
bedroom." "Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so that I can
send men and capture him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan."
Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by
night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got
up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and
chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my Lord, what shall we do?" the
servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are
with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O
Lord, open his eyes so that he may see." Then the Lord opened the
servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and
chariots of fire all round Elisha...'
The key that
David spells out for us here is the priority of worship, of taking time
to wait on God, of turning our back on the problems and drawing the
strength and confidence we need from facing him.
Let
me make one final point to make about this as we conclude. You see, the
thing is that we do this at God's invitation. This is a desire which
God himself has placed in David's heart. This sort of holy communion
with us is what God wants most of all from us who occupy the pinnacle
of his creation. So, in verse 8, 'My heart says of you, "Seek his
face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek.' Or, as the alternative reading
has it at the foot of the page, 'To you, O my heart, he has said "Seek
my face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek.' The choice is ours. Jesus puts
it very clearly in John 4:22-23: 'You Samaritans worship what you do
not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of
worshippers the Father seeks.' Above everything else, the Father seeks
worshippers. God seeks those who will pause from the frantic efforts we
make to keep our own lives running on as even a keel as we can in order
to focus instead on him as our light, our salvation and our stronghold.
© 2005 David Stone |