Text: Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 23:23-26; Psalm 40:6-8

Today we have reached sentence five of “The Old Testament in Seven Sentences.” Let me remind you of what we’ve covered so far:

#1 CREATION: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1)#2 ABRAHAM: All people on earth will be blessed through you. (Gen. 12:3)#3 EXODUS: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Exodus 20:2)#4 DAVID: The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler of His people. (1 Samuel 13:14)

And today we get to the prophets. The Hebrew scriptures for Jesus consisted of the Law and the Prophets, and the writings. The prophets are a significant portion of those scriptures and they play a key role in God’s story and in the story of God’s people.

In short, God raised up the prophets to remind His people of two things: that God desired faithfulness from them and God remained faithful to them. The people and the kings had not been faithful and the consequences of that disobedience, unfaithfulness, and sometimes wickedness was profound. But God would not abandon the covenant with Abraham or with David; God was (and is) faithful!

So the prophets spanned several centuries and regions in the divided kingdom of Israel/Judah and even into exile in Babylon. The messages varied, but had the consistent theme: turn back to God, who is ever faithful to His promises.

Our fifth key theme from the Old Testament comes from the prophet, Micah:

#5 PROPHETS: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

Micah is describing faithfulness in some specific ways and in a specific context. I want to talk through those ways and then speak to the context, which remained applicable in Jesus’ day some 700 years later and remains so today.

What does Faithfulness Look Like?

Christians sometimes like to pit faith against works, though the New Testament holds the two together as part of the same whole. Instead of the word ‘works’ I like to use the word faithfulness, because it makes that connection more clear. Faithfulness literally describes someone full of faith, but in English it also carries the sense of action that we sometimes leave out of faith alone. Someone who is faithful acts and behaves in a certain way. Their faith informs their actions. And that obedient action produces good fruit and blessing because it is what God desires from us.

Micah puts it this way: the Lord requires you to do justice, love kindness, and walk with God in humility. Mira did a wonderful job talking about loving kindness. It’s not kindness for what we can get in return, but kindness for the sake of kindness, of blessing another person.

Justice is doing what is right for others. It is what is fair and right in the sight of God. It’s easy for justice to get co-opted by politics. Too often we pick a team and let them dictate our behavior. But the believer looks first to God. Sometimes one party may get it right; sometimes the other (and sometimes neither!). It can be hard work to not just toe the party line, but ask “what does God say is right in this circumstance?” But that’s the justice God desires. That’s also why I believe having a class at church to discuss racial justice in light of scripture is exactly where we need to have that discussion, as difficult as it can be.

And that leads into Micah’s third challenge: to walk humbly with God. Yielding our own opinions or political views to God requires humility. I may be wrong about something I’ve believed most of my life. But if God is first, I have to be willing to submit my will, my opinions, my understanding to God’s Word. But what fruit and blessing can come from that act of faithfulness.

Yes, I know that doesn’t answer whatever specific question you may be wrestling with. But here’s what Micah says, and he is speaking on behalf of God (that’s what prophets do!

Text: 2 Samuel 7:8-16

This summer we are looking at God’s big story in the Bible, focusing on seven major themes in each of the testaments. I’d like to remind you what we’ve looked at so far.

#1 CREATION: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1)#2 ABRAHAM: All people on earth will be blessed through you. (Gen. 12:3)#3 EXODUS: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Exodus 20:2)

Genesis introduced the major themes of who we are and why we are here, leaving us with the great problem of sin after the Fall. The story of Abraham introduces God’s solution to that great problem with God staking His name and reputation on keeping a promise to multiply and bless Abraham’s family and through them bless humanity, the earth, and the nations. In Exodus we saw an historic demonstration of God’s salvation and deliverance of His people from slavery. And God gave His Law – His Word – to lead His people toward experiencing those blessings.

Today we jump over a lot of history, from God establishing the Tabernacle, a system of offerings and a priesthood, through the time of the Judges, to the time of the Kings. There are a lot of stories there, but they all trace the ups and downs and the comings and goings of humanity toward God and away from God. Through it all, God is faithful and pursues His people and through them the world. That’s one of the most unusual things about the God of Israel, about our Lord; he does not turn away from us, but is ever pursuing us for redemption.

After a first king who looked the part, but failed spectacularly, God raised up the young shepherd, David, to be King of Israel. While David also had a great moral failing, he nonetheless sought God, embraced repentance, and became a key part of God’s greater plan. While there is much we could focus on between the Exodus and David, we are going to look at an expansion of God’s covenant, made with David and leading to Jesus Christ. The fourth key verse of the Old Testament is this:

#4 DAVID: The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler of His people. (1 Samuel 13:14)

David was an extraordinarily effective King. He organizes a system of government and defeats many of the surrounding opposing nations. Notably he brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and wants to build a Temple for it, but that will be done later by his son, Solomon. Jerusalem becomes known as the City of David, but also as the City of God.

I want to highlight four parts of God’s covenant with David, note two problems that arose, and then look at the connection forward to Jesus Christ.

The Covenant with David

We heard the covenant with David read this morning from 1 Samuel 7:8-16. Like the covenant with Abraham, there are consequences to turning away from God, but God’s promises are not conditional on human behavior, but rooted in God’s faithfulness. So also David and those after him will sin and experience God’s consequences and judgment, but God will not remove or take away His core promises to David, even though it felt like it for an extended time during the Exile that came later. Let me highlight three promises.

God established an ongoing familial relationship with David and his line – This was specifically framed in father/son language: “I will be his father and he will be my son.” This was quite a change from God as Creator, or the holy name spoken to Moses. It both established God as King of Kings, but also was an intimate and personal description of God that Jesus would later use (in part because of Jesus’ connection to David and this covenant!). It also framed the kingship under the authority of God, which was both the strength behind David’s reign and the problem when later kings abandoned obedience to God.The covenant called for reciprocal love. This was two-way relationship – but it was not conditioned on human obedience. If that’s hard to imagine, think of the lo

Text: Exodus 2:23-25; 6:6-8; Deuteronomy 6:20-24; Psalm 19:7-11

This week we are looking at the third key theme of “The Old Testament in Seven Sentences.” Those summary themes come from a book by the same name that Jim Hinton’s Sunday school class is studying and is part of our summer series looking at God’s big story in the Bible. Often we zero in so closely on one verse or word that we miss the greater – the glorious! – context of God’s big story. So this summer we are pulling back to the wide view, though with plenty of rich teaching to consider along the way.

Here’s a reminder of what we’ve covered so far and the third theme we’ll look at today.

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)2. All people on earth will be blessed through you. (Genesis 12:3)3. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Exodus 20:2)

That verse is a critical “hinge” verse between two major components of God’s story in the Old Testament. It transitions between one of God’s great redemption stories and the giving of God’s Law as a guide to the covenant promise of blessing. This verse calls into one place those great themes of REDEMPTION and BLESSING and I want to unpack those a bit for you today.

Hinge Verse (Exodus 20:2)

First, why do I call it a hinge verse? It’s because of what it calls to mind and what comes after it. Exodus 20:2 is a declaration of who God is and what God has done: namely, the God who has delivered His people out of slavery in Egypt. That’s the REDEMPTION part.

What is the other side of the hinge? It’s the Law. This verse is part of the prologue to the Ten Commandments specifically; but it also points on to the whole Law given to Moses from God. But wait! I said redemption and blessing, not redemption and Law. We will see that the purpose of the Law was to experience that third covenant promise that God would bless Abraham and his children so that they would be a blessing to the world, to the nations.

Redemption

The Exodus story is a redemption story. God’s people had become enslaved in Egypt for some 400 years. There were beatings, killing of male children, and servitude. And scripture tells us that God heard the cries of His people and raised up a deliverer. The story of Moses is worth studying in depth on its own, from God revealing His name at the burning bush to using an old man with a speech impediment to demand freedom before the most powerful man in the world. In fact, Pharaoh was considered a god. In what followed, God did just what we talked about last week with the covenant. God put His name and reputation on the line to confront and defeat the so-called god and power of Egypt.

And so through the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea to deliver Israel, and the closing of the Red Sea to defeat the Egyptians, God redeemed His people and put them on the path to recovering the land and the blessing promised in the covenant with Abraham. That’s why it was called the Promised Land.

And so the people of Israel start passing through the wilderness toward that Land and it is there that we come to today’s key verse from Exodus 20:2. To and through Moses God identifies Himself as “the Lord your God” – that is, by the holy name. And then God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law that follows.

Law and Blessing

There is much that could be said about the Law. After all, it comprises much of the rest of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy (where everything is given again to the subsequent generation). But I want to focus on two things: a mis-understanding of the Law and what I believe is the right understanding of the Law.

First, the misunderstanding: the Law was not given for salvation. In that context God had already “saved” His people. That’s what the deliverance from slavery was – it was rescue, salvation, redemption. God had already done it. We mis-read and mis-use the Old Testament Law when we treat i

Text: Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:8-14

Last week we looked at the first sentence of “The Old Testament in Seven Sentences.”

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

We looked at Creation and Genesis 1-11. There three “big questions” were raised as both and introduction to and outline of the God’s big story in the Bible. That introduction answered the questions: Where are we? Who are we? What’s gone wrong?  We continue on today at Genesis 12 with Abraham’s story and the unfolding of a fourth question: What’s the solution? Or asked another way: What can God do about the brokenness of humanity, the earth, and the nations?

The second sentence summarizing the Old Testament is addressed to Abraham in Genesis 12. And today we will look at how God begins to address the great “what has gone wrong” question through a promise to and through Abraham to all the nations of the world:

2. All people on earth will be blessed through you. (v.3)

What’s the Solution?

The story of Abraham is, among other things, the story of God’s response to the Fall and the brokenness of humanity, the earth, and the nations. As evidenced in the Garden when Adam and Eve hid from God, God’s solution is not to turn away from the problem, but to move toward it and into it. We’ll see this most completely in Jesus, but in many anticipatory ways in the Old Testament narratives. And Abraham is one of the first.

God moved towards us and called Abraham into a new place and made a covenant promise to him. I LOVED Joanie’s illustration of this in the children’s message with pouring the liquid into the container that overflowed into the larger dish. That’s such a great picture of God’s covenant promises. God pours out blessing on Abraham with the purpose – not just an accidental by-product – but the PURPOSE of pouring blessing, healing, and salvation over the world. This indeed will be the big story that unfolds throughout the course of the Bible and finds its culmination in the New Heaven and New Earth of Revelation. There humanity, the earth, and the nations are healed, redeemed, and restored.

Three Promises to Abraham: children, land, blessing

Though Abraham’s story unfolds as a narrative, you can see God’s blessing action in the formulation of the covenant. This is like the vows taken in a marriage ceremony: to have and hold, in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer, and so forth. It’s all vowed and witnessed and lifted up, but then it is to be lived out in real life. So it was with Abraham.

Except in Abraham’s case, God was one making the vows. The agreement was mutual and between them, but God did all the heavy lifting. God and Abraham would be united, not in marriage, but in a special you-are-my-God-and-you-are-my-people relationship… a spiritual family, if you will. And God spoke the vows, including a well-known formula at the time that amounted to “I swear to uphold this upon God and my life.” In God’s case, that meant swearing upon His own name and existence; and it takes on truly profound meaning when you later realize that Jesus was fully God and fully human and gave his life in order to uphold this same promise to Abraham and the world. The passage we read today from Galatians makes the connection between Jesus’ life and death and the promises to Abraham. I am reminded that one of the most-repeated descriptions in scripture about God is that God is faithful, and God proves it again and again.

So God made three on-my-name-and-life vows to Abraham, for children, land, and blessing. Let me remind you of that vow, presented in short form in Genesis 12, but repeated again several times later in Genesis.

Now the Lord said to Abraham,“Go forth from your country,And from your relativesAnd from your father’s house,To the land which I will show you;And I will make you a great nation,And I will bless you,And make your name great;And so you shall be a blessing;And I will bless those who bless you

Text: Genesis 1-11; Psalm 24:1-6

What is the Bible? Could you tell the story of the Bible? This summer we are embarking on a series to help you get a grasp on the “big story” in the Bible. Using a wonderful series by InterVarsity Press, we will consider “The Old Testament in Seven Sentences” and “The New Testament in Seven Sentences.” This isn’t just a gimmick; the authors lift up seven major themes of each testament and summarize them using a key sentence (from scripture) and the context around it. So often people we treat the Bible as magic book of one-liners or we use it as a kind of higher authority to back up our own point of view. But it is God’s great story and I want to make sure each one of you catch a glimpse of that amazing, sweeping story of which we a part. And if you want to dig in even deeper, one of our 10am Sunday school classes, taught by Jim Hinton, is following the same outline and books, but going deeper than we can in a single sermon. If you’d like to be a part of that, let me know and we’ll get you connected!

Today we start in Genesis with Creation… not just the event of Creation per se, but the start of the story. So here is the first of seven Old Testament sentences. I’ll remind you each week of what we’ve covered.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

The account of creation is not only the beginning of God’s story; it also outlines the whole thing in preview of what is to come. It also answers some of what I call the “Big Questions” of existence. In fact, while people often get caught up in the mechanics of Creation, the greater purpose of those first chapters are not to say HOW the world was created, but WHY the world was created. And that will serve as our outline for today – and really for the rest of the entire Bible that follows.

Genesis offers us four key aspects of God’s big story: the setting, the characters, the problem, and the promise of a solution. Or perhaps more memorably, those four aspects of the story answer four key questions which we will look at in turn.

SETTING: Where Are We? (Genesis 1-3)

The first several chapters of Genesis answer the big question, “Where are we?” Not where are we as in Charlotte, NC, but where are we in relation to God, to the universe, to history, to existence itself. We read in Genesis 1-3 that Creation is distinct from God, it comes from God. It’s neither “everything is god” or “god is everything.” God is God and we are not!

We also read that this Creation is GOOD! Over and over in Genesis 1, God surveys what He has made and declares it good. It is good because God made it. And in its goodness we see something of the goodness and character of God. As Psalm 94 will later declare, “The heavens declare God’s righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory!” (v.6)

And we read that Creation belongs to God. In our call to worship this morning we heard from Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.”

Where are we in God’s big story? We are in God’s good creation, tenants in God’s property, and bearers of the light of God’s glory – that is, we show something about the one who made us.

And why does that matter? It matters because it will shape our purpose, our ethics, our vision, our hope. And it also frames the setting of the story that is to unfold.

CHARACTERS: Who are We? (Genesis 1-3)

The second big question is “Who are we?” And by that I mean humanity specifically. What does it mean to be human? To be sure, we share some things with all creation. The Bible describes God’s love, care, and provision of all that He made. But we also read in Genesis 1:26-28 that humanity – male and female – are unique because we are made in the image of God.  Last week I mentioned that as the basis for human dignity, in general but as a specific reminder in this time in regards to people of color and the issues freshly before us in our country and com

This is our last week in the “Songs for Every Season” series. We’ve looked at a number of Psalms and how they give voice to human experience and emotion, but do so in the context of faith. Today’s Psalm takes a bit of a turn from grief, suffering, and weariness, to sound a note of thanks and celebration. Much of what it is celebrating is God’s faithful deliverance in the past, but there is always a new challenge and new situation in which to turn to God.

Psalm 124 is called a “Psalm of Ascent,” to be sung on the walk up to the Temple in Jerusalem. In this particular song, the Lord is being praised as Deliverer, with the imagery bringing to mind the Exodus, when God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt. We used a bit of the “Song of Moses” from Exodus 15 as our call to worship, to further bring to mind the time when God delivered his people from the hands of the Egyptians who would have surely killed them.

Though I chose today’s text back in March, the language of slavery, rising up, anger, and rage speak powerfully into our modern context, as does language of deliverance and help. It is notable to me that the last time I preached this Psalm, in August 2017, a person had just driven a car into a crowd in Charlottesville and we were facing some of the same dynamics around race and the value of human life. And now we are back to this Psalm with the national spotlight on the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. We also read this Psalm today in the context of Acts 2 and Pentecost, with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on people from every tribe, race, and tongue. It is a timely reminder that God’s intent for human beings, made in His image, is for freedom, dignity, and equality.

Singing the Exodus (Psalm 124)

Exodus has been called the “Gospel” of the Hebrew Scriptures. Exodus tells the story of God delivering His people from 400 years of slavery in Egypt. To do so, God raises up Moses, an unlikely front man for a number of reasons. He is older, he stutters, and he has run away from Egypt for murdering an Egyptian. And yet… God calls him, equips him, and sends him to confront the ruler of Egypt and say on behalf of the Lord, “Let my people go.” After no less than ten plagues – miraculous signs of God’s power – and much back and forth and changing of Pharaoh’s mind, he finally relents and the Hebrew people flee in the night. Even then, Pharaoh changes his mind and sends the army after them to bring them back (or kill them) and God parts the waters of the Red Sea to allow the Hebrew people to escape, while causing the Egyptian army to enact judgment on the Egyptians. It is the core story of God’s power and deliverance in the Hebrew Scriptures and is still remembered every Passover.

Psalm 124 appears to be a song reflecting on that that deliverance. Verses 2b-7 describe with various images, some metaphor and some frighteningly literal (when you think about the Red Sea):

          Men rose up against us… they would have swallowed us alive when their anger was kindled against us (v.2b-3)          Waters would have engulfed us, the stream would have swept over our soul, the raging waters would have swept over our soul. (v.4-5a)

The deliverance is pictured in imagery of animals escaping death and snare:

          [The Lord] has not given us to be torn by their teeth (v.6b)          Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper (v.7a)          The snare is broken and we have escaped (v.7b)

And then bracketing all that is the refrain that points to the Lord as the source of deliverance:

          Had it not been the Lord who was on our side…          [Let Israel now say] – as if to say, “Let’s all sing this one together!”          Had it not been the Lord who was on our side… (v.1-2)          Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. (v.8)

But does God still do “Red Sea” miracles? I certainl

Text: Psalm 102

Clay mentioned “The Raven” in his message to the children. Similarly, today’s scripture brought something to my mind as well. I remember the first time I heard “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel. The opening piano grabbed my attention, but it was that quiet opening lyric that was so meaningful: “When you’re weary, feeling small…” The song goes on to offer friendship as a bridge over that troubled water; what an encouraging song to those who are weak and weary!

That’s what the Psalms are. They are songs for every season of life. They were as familiar to God’s people as some popular songs are to us. Last week we talked about struggle and looked at Psalm 33. This week is close to that: I want to talk about being weak and weary. If anything, perhaps that is a step past struggle. If you are struggling, you still have some fight left in you. “Weak and weary” sounds like what happens after lots of struggling, when you are feeling small. Psalm 102 has four movements to it that I want to look at with you…

Hear me! See me! (vv.1-2)

The first movement, in my words, is “Hear me! See me!” It’s such a human cry. It’s what we say and feel when we wonder where God is, if God cares, if God notices us. And it’s all right there in the first two verses: “Hear my prayer… do not hide… incline your ear… answer me quickly.”

Do you ever pray prayers like that? It takes a certain amount of faith to do it I think. But I remember that being one of the first lessons in this series a number weeks ago… to let human struggle and faith intermingle. We treat them like they can’t co-exist, but scripture – and especially the Psalms – teach us to be honest, be real, and call out to God. So out of that weakness and weariness, you can hear the power of this prayer: “Hear me! See me! Help me!”

This is My Life (vv.3-11)

The second movement of this Psalm is what I would call the “this is my life” section. The Psalmist describes the people, situations, and things that have brought him to this state of weakness and weariness. Some of those descriptions are specific and literal: “I forget to eat.” And some wax poetic like “my heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away.” Yet others are strange to us, but equally vivid word-pictures like pelicans, owls, and birds – all alone and forlorn in their places.

It’s a little ironic, I know: how weak and weary can you be if you are generating poetry like this? But music, writing, and the arts have long been one healthy outlet for suffering. For you it may be writing in a journal, or exercise, or cooking. Or talk to a counselor! Even in this time of social distancing, most counselors will talk on the phone or by video. But however you do it, get it out; find some way to name and express the things that are pressing in on you and wearing you out. Find some way to say or express, “this is my life.”

Why I’m Talking to God (vv.12-17)

The third movement of this Psalm is what I would call the “why I’m talking to God” section. We’ve seen this in several of the Psalms we’ve looked at. After an honest expression of human experience, the songwriter will give some time to describing who God is and what God has done. This is such a healthy expression of faith. Even if we aren’t “feeling it” it can be helpful to remember and express what we believe about God. That’s one reason we recite things like the Apostles’ Creed in worship. It reminds us who God is.

So the Psalmist says – and we are reminded – that God is eternal (v.12), compassionate (v.13), and powerful (v.15). And remembering all these important characteristics brings the Psalmist to what is, perhaps, the key verse of the whole thing:

God has regarded the prayer of the destitute and has not despised their prayer. (v.17)

Remember where we started… with God, where are you?… and “Can you hear me?” And the sequence of being honest and recalling who God is has brought us to this point of remembering that God

Text: Psalm 33

We’ve been talking about some of the different emotions and experiences we’ve been having during this season of restrictions and limitations. We’ve talked about grief, impatience, and fear. And we’ve been looking at the Psalms as what I’m calling “Songs for Every Season.” The Psalms aren’t just a bunch of happy clappy prayers or songs; they dig deep into the human experience, the human struggle, and they look for God in the mix.

Today we are looking at struggle. This is timely for me. I don’t know if you feel the same way, but seven weeks in I’m ready for a change. I’m ready to see people, to get out and about, to not feel confined any more. My brain tells me that the precautions are wise and important, but my emotions are bucking about wanting something different. It’s a struggle! I know some folks have much bigger struggles. They aren’t just stuck working at home; they are out of work or the income stream gone dry or they are sick or fearful.

Psalm 33 is like the other Psalms we’ve looked at. There are no quick or easy answers. But there is the honesty, faith, doubt, wrestling, and wrangling of someone who has struggled with life and with God. I find it encouraging to know that not only is this experience not unique to me, but it’s part of the Bible itself as if to say, “This is normal; let’s look together for God’s help.”

So why Psalm 33? Why is this a song for the struggler? It’s there near the end, in this case the struggle is death and famine. And whether you take that figuratively as giving up hope and not having what we need or a literal death and starvation, this Psalm can certainly contain the kinds of struggle we have been facing with a deadly virus, loss of livelihood, stay home restrictions, and more. And in general, if you started bravely, but it’s started to wear on you and you are struggling, I think there is some help to be found here.

The Psalm breaks into four distinct sections, which is how we broke it apart in the service. I want to look at each one briefly and how they build towards a resource for all who struggle.

Sing/Praise (vv.1-3)

Our call to worship today was verses 1-3. That’s fitting because that’s just what they do: they call us to worship. Look at the worship words: sing… praise… thanks… play instruments. Now I get it; I don’t always feel like worshiping. But it’s kind of like love; we don’t always feel loving, but we can choose loving actions. Choosing to engage at all with God is the beginning of worship and while I don’t think we should fake it, I do think we can do and affirm things we believe even if our feelings are all over the place. In fact, our worship services often run this gamut. We come together in praise, but over the course of a service we will be convicted by the Word, confess sin, bring our troubles and thanks to the Lord, and go out with God’s blessing and mission. God wants it all – the highs and lows, the honesty of our feelings, the whole package. But we nonetheless can come expectantly; that’s why I often say at the beginning of a service, “We believe God is here, that God meets us in Spirit and truth.” And God doesn’t meet us to ignore us, but to receive all our struggles and offer help and hope!

Who is God? (vv.4-11)

In the next section the focus is on who God is. If we are going to praise and worship, we should know to whom we offer worship. So the Psalmist goes through a litany of who God is and what God has done. God’s Word is upright, His work faithful. God loves righteousness and justice (that’s enough for a “praise God” right there!). Creation itself bears witness to God: the earth, the heavens, the waters. God’s wisdom stands above the plans of nations and people. And over it all is the lovingkindness of the Lord. (v.5)

If we are going to look for help, is it not good news that THIS is the source of help? That God is good and powerful and wise and just? When we are desperate we might seek help from any direction, but ho

Text: Psalm 27

Since Easter we have been turning to Psalms as “Songs for Every Season” – particularly because we are in “a season.” It’s not just the scary coronavirus, but everything that comes with it: stay-home orders, social distancing, face masks, change in income, change in work and school, uncertainty about how long this will go on, and more. So we’ve looked at some of the very human and relevant feelings expressed in the Psalms: grief, impatience, and today’s topic, fear.

Fears Abound

I think we are more afraid than we may realize. It may be the fear of catching the thing, though other fears may be eclipsing that. There is fear of income loss and recession. There is fear that we will not enjoy the same freedoms we used to. There is fear that we might not get back to “normal.” And on top of all those fears, I am freshly reminded this past week as I read about the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, that people of color in this country deal with an extra layer of fear that I do not all the time.

It would be easy to duck and cover, to run and hide, to live… afraid.

And yet this Psalm 27 starts out with a bold claim… a crazy-bold claim if you’ve ever known fear:

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (v.1)

I am reminded of a video I saw and posted this past week where a young woman wrestles with Psalm 23. She reads, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want” and immediately begins thinking of all the things she DOES want. And yet, as if it is the Lord’s own quiet, patient voice, the Psalm calmly asserts: “I shall not want.” This Psalm is very much like that. I’ve already named some of the things we fear… I fear. And yet there is the persistent, strong, and patient Word: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

Is the Lord my light and my salvation? Yes – I profess that He is. I believe that He is. The Psalm goes on to say that the Lord is “the defense of my life.” I believe that, too. I’ve seen it before. And the Psalm then asks, “Whom shall I dread?”

The Psalmist certainly has a long list of things to fear and dread. Look there in vv. 2-3… evildoers come to devour the flesh, adversaries, enemies, an opposing army (that’s what ‘host’ is)… even war! Later, in vv.5-6 the Psalmist describes a “day of trouble” and more “enemies around me.”

All that to say… it’s not like the song-writer doesn’t know trouble. This is someone whose faced fear and trouble and dread and somehow can declare confidence in the Lord’s defense and salvation.

Let’s look briefly at what the Psalmist seems to have learned.

Cultivation of Godly Habits

There is no quick answer to our fears and worries here. But there are some patterns of belief and behavior – some habits – that can be cultivated to help us when we are afraid.

CONFIDENCE (vv.1-3): This isn’t what comes first chronologically in our experience, but it lets us know what we can experience. The Psalmist’s confidence isn’t in human or personal strength, but in God and God alone. Think how easy it is and often we do plug other things into that phrase: _____ is my light and salvation; ____ is the defense of my life. Especially right now where we are with the isolation and the distancing, we are quick to reach for easy answers, for blame, for anything that would bring relief. I think that’s one reason so many conspiracy theories are floating around and why demonstrations are popping up around the country. We want light and salvation and defense and we’ll reach for just about anything that might provide them.

SEEKING GOD’S PRESENCE (vv.4-10): We sang these words earlier today… “one thing I ask and I will seek, to see God’s beauty.” This is a poetic way of describing what it is to cultivate faith and behaviors that look for God. Listen to the rich vocabulary of worship, offering, singing, and praying in verse 4 (prayer/asked, seek, dwell, behold, meditate) and 6 (offer sacrifices, shouts of joy, sing praises). We need to

Text: Psalm 13; John 20:24-29

We are continuing in a series called “Songs for Every Season,” chosen to work through some of the experiences and feelings we are having in this time of COVID-19 and stay-home orders. The Psalms are songs and prayers written from an astounding range of human experiences and they are a wonderful resource to us as we experience things like grief, impatience, fear, weariness, and other human feelings.

Last week we looked at grief in Psalm 8, noting the way the Psalmist moved through several stages of grief, from anger and blame, to asking for help, to talking to God, to trusting in God. I noted that each stage is a normal and healthy part of grieving, and God is present in each stage (whether we realize it or not). We also looked at one of the post-Easter resurrection appearances and how Jesus walked two discouraged travelers through similar stages of grief.

This week we are doing something very similar. We are going to consider impatience and will look at a Psalm (13) and another post-Easter resurrection appearance of Jesus. My hope is that if you are struggling with impatience around staying at home or poor health or things just not going the way you want in the timing you’d choose, you’ll find encouragement here.

Tired of Waiting

How are you doing with all this? Are you tired of waiting for the waiting to end? Are you ready to get back to work, to school, to life? That, of course, is a different question than whether it is safe to do so. It’s a different question than whether the economic cost is beginning to outweigh the health risk. That’s what is in the news right now as governors and others try to weigh the two things against the other. But overlaying all that (or lying beneath it) is a healthy measure of impatience. We are tired of this sequestered isolation and limitation on our way of life. And though we might want to blame politicians or scientists or God, part of the frustration is that it’s a virus we are frustrated with, and that’s kind of like howling at the wind when a storm comes. Ultimately, we can be careful, we can try to be wise, but we just have to… WAIT. And that makes us impatient.

Psalm 13

I can’t think of a more appropriate song for the season than Psalm 13. It’s chief refrain is “How long?”

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?”“How long will you hid your face from me?”“How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?”“How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”

How long? How long? How long?

And here’s the thing I love about the Psalms: it’s okay to say and feel these things… even with God! Maybe even especially with God! The Psalmist even goes further: “Answer me or I think I will die… my enemies will laugh.” (vv.3-4)

But I also love the Psalms because they work it out and talk it out. We get a glimpse of our most human feelings and thoughts, but we also see what those feelings and thoughts look like offered to God. And so the Psalmist continues:

“But I have trusted in your lovingkindness;My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.I will sing to the Lord,Because He has dealt bountifully with me.” (vv.5-6)

I’m impatient, but I’ll pray. I’m frustrated, but I’ll trust and seek God. I wonder when God will respond, but I also can remember God’s faithfulness in the past. That’s what this Psalm offers us: a pattern for what to do with our impatience. Don’t deny or push down the human feelings; but offer them up to God in hope.

Impatient Thomas

You probably know the story of Thomas the disciple. This is the story for which he is known: Jesus appeared to the disciples after Easter, but Thomas was not present. When Thomas heard about it from the others, he declared that until he could see Jesus for himself – see and touch the nailprints and the wound in his side – he would not believe.

This is a story about faith and doubt, right? Yes; it is, but I think there is also a secondary story of impatien