My Feet Had Almost Slipped

Guest preacher, Dave McDowell

My Feet Had Almost Slipped

Psalm 73

1.       Confidence (v. 1)

2.       Complaint (v. 2-3)

3.       Confusion (v.4-14)

4.       Clarity (v. 15-20)

5.       Confession (v. 21-26)

6.       Confidence (v. 27-28)

7.       Conclusion: Where are you in this cycle?  You are either confident (v. 28 “But as for me, it is good to be near God”) OR confused (v.2 “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped”)

Transcript

spk_0:   0:00
Good morning. Good to see you all again. And and a nice to be back this time with my bride. Ah, and I, bride of 48 years. Ah, As I mentioned last week, Bethlehem was our first church. And, ah, we actually interviewed here before we were married. And then two weeks after we're married, I became the associate pastor and show. Uh, BCC holds a special place in our lives in our marriage, and and, um and we'll always do that. I also, um, want to just make mention of of what Amber was saying. Um, great ministry F c A. I was in charge of F c A for five years at West Point when I was a chaplain there, and I have been coaching for 28 years. Believe it or not, I've been a pastor. But I've always volunteered coaching in local high schools, wrestling, um, and mostly track and field the throwers. Coach, I'm actually just got cleared. You have to go through amazing amount of information and paperwork now to get cleared to even be a volunteer coach in a public school. But I am now the assistant throwers coach at Lam Peter Strasbourg High School down in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And, ah, just being a coach for, ah, volunteer part time. It's amazing. You get to know high school kids and, um and it's amazing how they talk to you and, um and they say things to you that maybe they wouldn't say to any any anyone else. So it's a tremendous ministry. And so I'd just add my two cents to supporting F C A and supporting the, um, Christian coaches have tremendous influence in the lives of students. Um, this morning, I'm gonna be back. We're gonna be back three more times. Um, once in ah, April and then ah, twice in May, just before Andrew and his family come. And, um, there's no real reimer reason why I've chosen the messages that I have other than the fact that I pray about it, and God kind of leaves certain things on my heart. And this morning I wanted to deal with this topic of, um from some 73 call. My feet had almost slipped, which is actually taken from the N i V, even though we're using the GS for you this morning. But my introduction basically is just to ask you the question. Have you ever really been that disappointed by something that has happened in your life or in the live ah, life of someone that you have loved that has taken you completely by surprise? You just did not see it coming. And and you're surprised at your reaction to it. And perhaps you had the feeling that God had abandoned you. Ah, that God maybe had even forgotten you because of what had happened in your life. Or maybe it's just the fact that you are have maybe some of you are even this morning angry. God, you just don't like the way he runs the universe. And perhaps you've got a little grudge it. Why didn't he allow this Corona virus bitch business? Meanwhile, he could to stop that right from the very beginning. You stop it just like this. Why doesn't he? Some of you may again have anger toward God because you've been praying about a particular issue for years and years and years, and you haven't received an answer yet. But you know what? You haven't really share any of this stuff with anybody. It just got a simmering. It's just kind of there under the surface, maybe every once in a while. It boils out. But you know it's there and you know the impact of it. In fact, it's had really had an impact upon your passion for God. Your passion for God has a slowly ebbed away. Your desire to be in the word in prayer Ah is not as strong as it used to be. You followed sure, asleep in church more than usual. There are things happening with you. Basically, you're disappointed with God. You have a crisis of faith. What do you do? Well, the reason why I'm bringing some 73 to your attention is that if you've ever been in that situation, if you're going through it now or if you know someone who's going through it, some 73 is the place to be. It talks about a man. The psalmist, who is going through a crisis of faith will identify that in a moment. And it it shows not only the crisis of faith, but it shows a process by which he restores fellowship with God because this crisis has separated him from his God. And that's what we're going to be looking at now in some 73. But let me pray for us first. Father, we recognize that we need the help of your holy spirit. We we desperately need him to help us pay attention to your word to turn our hearts toward you. Overcome the distractions in our minds which so naturally come as we listen to somebody drone on. But, Lord, would you you please be with us? Give us years to hear And I used to see I pray in jesusname you meant now in in your outline and also on the power point this morning. Basically, I've outlined a process whereby the Psalmist, um used this process to restore himself to fellowship with God. And so it's a process We're gonna look through this. First of all, we began with confidence. Verse one of Psalm 73. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. Now the psalmist speak began by confessing that God was good. Now this is very important. In the midst of the fact that he was going to head into his complaint about why he disagreed with God. He started with what he knew to be true about God. In other words, he gathered gathered his legs of faith underneath him and he said, Lord, you are good. He began with what was he knew to be true before he proceeded to address the things that he did not understand yell on to what was was plain and clear before he handled those things that were mysterious and inscrutable. How many people are not successful in there? Their faith crisis? Because they do not have a firm footing from which to deal with their faith issues. So do yourself a favor. Don't invent the wheel every time you have something against God. Start with what you know to be true now, huh? Backache? The prophet of back in the Old Testament is a great example of this. And back in Chapter one, he has a complaint against God. But where he begins in chapter one, Verse 12 he says, Oh, Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy one, We will not die. Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil. You cannot tolerate wrong. So he knew what he believed about God and he stated that very clearly. He began with what he knew to be true. And then he began to outline his complaint against God of Why in the world are you sending the ungodly Babylonian Sze down upon your people? Israel. So the pattern is this. You gather the legs of faith beneath you. You find a place to stand by rehearsing all you know to be true by God's character in order to put in perspective all you don't know about God's ways. Now the second part of this this process is is the complaint itself versus two in three. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled or slipped. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Now the Psalmist ist Aseff. He wrote 12 Psalms. He's a singer, the chief musician in the court of David in the temple. Now we know nothing about the circumstances surrounding a soft, um, crisis of faith. But its theme is Why do the wicked seemed to prosper while the righteous seemed to suffer? It's a similar theme to the psalm. That's the reverse number 37 73 37 37 is written by David. Same basic theme. Why do the wicked prosper? While the righteous suffered now a soft wasn't engaged in some kind of scientific study as to why this took place. He merely looked around. You looked around. He saw the lives of those who did not seem to have a heart for God, and it seemed to him like they were getting along just fine. He began to get the sense that things didn't seem fair. Why these people don't care about you God, and they're doing fine. In fact, they're do better lie. Um, maybe he was going through a difficult period of his life and he didn't think that was fair. And it began to distance him from God. We do a similar thing on a human level. In fact, I know that, um, as a pastor that that I've met people who who have come to church, for example, and they look around and they see people who look happy. They look like they've got it all together while they know they're not happy and their lives are falling apart. And so what? They decide not to come to church anymore because they're the only ones not happy. You see what we do? We make these assessments based upon how we're feeling. We make these assessments and these assessments become reality to us. And and we actually use that as a as a means of stew. Complaint against God. Well, a soft felt this way. And he fell. God's unfair, and it destabilized him. He could not move forward in his relationship with God. Verse to my feet had almost slipped. Now, a number of years ago, we were living in Massachusetts. Um was a pastor of a church in North Hampton, Massachusetts, for 25 years. And after one, none of those New England nor'easters coming through. Dumped about, I don't know, 34 feet. Uh, I got up on top of my roof, my house to shovel off the first, maybe foot or two of snow at the edge of the Russo. There wouldn't be an ice buildup. And so I'm up there and I'm shoveling it off and it's warming up. It's starting to melt, and so wherever I shovel, it's it's really slippery, and it came to the place where I could not move. Now I don't like heights, for one thing, but for another thing. I was immobilized. I was up there in my show like a statue. Somebody, neighbors thought I was frozen. That was up there since the nor'easter. I was immobilized. This is exactly the way the psalmist is. Spiritually, the feet of faith felt like they were almost slipping. He could not move in his relationship with God. And then there's this period, the next step of confusion that sets in 1st 4 talking about the wicked and his assessment for they have no pains until death. Their bodies are fat and sleek. They're not stricken like the rest of mankind. They're not in trouble, is others are. Therefore pride is their necklace. Violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness. Their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice. Loftily, they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, their tongues stretched through the earth. Therefore, his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And and they say, How can God no is there? Is there knowledge in the most high? Behold, These are the wicked. Always at ease, they increase in riches, all in vain. have I kept my heart clean and wash my hands and innocents For all the day long? I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. So that's his perception. His perception of the wicked seduced him and isolated him from God. These wicked people. You never have any problems. They never get sick. You don't have to work very hard. They never have setbacks there. Always proud of their own importance. You're callous and their attitudes. They're intimidating others. They reviled God and challenge him at every point. And everyone still seems to turn to them for leadership. You went on and on and on. Unfair, Unfair, Unfair. In fact, in versus 13 and 14 did you notice he actually wondered if it paid to be righteous in vain? Have I kept my heart clean? What reward is there for my faithfulness? Oh, God, why have you done these things to me that have protected me from evil? You have allowed sufferings to multiply in my life. So much so that I think that the psalmist actually felt he was being punished. And there is nothing more that drives us away from God than the feeling that he is punishing us because of a certain circumstance through which we're going. Well, I'm glad to see Thomas. It doesn't stop here. But the next point in this process is one of clarity. 1st 15 if I said I will speak thus I would have betrayed the generation of your Children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me to be a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I discerned there end the wicked Truly you have set them on slippery places. You make them fall to ruin how they are destroyed in a moment. Swept away utterly by terrors like a dream. When one awake. So, Lord, when you arouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. So we see here that that he began this by stating that he kept his doubts and misgivings to himself before God. He didn't go broadcasting it to others. Now, I don't want you to take away from what I'm saying here that you don't share what you're going through. But I am saying be careful what you share. Pick your brothers and sisters confessors very carefully. I mean, if a pastor wording it up and hang out all his dirty laundry every Sunday morning. That would have an impact on you. I think one needs to be careful. And the psalmist who was on the church staff was careful. He kept things to himself. He he worked it true before God. And they still couldn't quite understand until something happened for 17 until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood. Now we're not told what happened on that day when he entered the sanctuary of God, remember? He was. He was a chief musician on the temple staff. Maybe he was leading a worship song that he had sung a 1,000,000 times before. But all of a sudden, boom. He got a new perspective on God's ways. He sees dealing with God as an object of speculation and began to deal with God as the subject of worship. He about himself before the majestic greatness of God. And this whole perspective changed. He bowed and then he understood God was just and a wicked and their wealth would be destroyed. What a great reminder to us to me of the importance of worship both private and public. We have issues with God feeling that we're far away from him. That's exactly the time we need to be in its presence. We don't feel like doing it. We need to do the opposite of what we feel like. We need to go to church. We need to be in fellowship. We need to be in the word we need to share with others, even though our tendency at that particular point is to withdraw and to move away. I can't tell you how many times I have not felt like opening God's word in prayer that I have not felt like it, especially during the times I was going through chemotherapy, the last thing I wanted to do and yet it was the most important thing I could do. And when I did it, I had these ah ha moments that are irreplaceable in fact. And I don't want youto get the wrong idea here because I don't want you to do necessarily what I do. But but to me it was very important to humble myself before God because I personally think that one, we're running away from God and when we're pushing got away. We're acting like we're proud. Who are we push got away. We need a humble ourselves before got so I had a practice, especially especially during those times is dark times of chemo When I would literally bow before God now sometimes I couldn't bow, you know, on the floor I had to sit in my chair and bow. But I bowed three times Once I bowed before God is my creator. He was my creator. He put my body together. He knew every cell of my body. And he created me in his image. I bowed before him as my creator. I bowed before him is my redeemer. Because I was deeply flawed and continue to be. And I needed a redeemer. I needed a savior. I needed to preach the gospel to myself. And I bowed before God as my redeemer because of all that he had done for me in Jesus Christ and his finished working across. And then I bowed before God is my father. My heavenly father. He took me into his family both by adoption and buy new birth. He gave me his holy spirits. Well, I could cry out Abba. Daddy! Father! I bowed before him. Its creator Redeemer and Father And you know what was amazing is that every point after that my heart turned toward God and I was now ready to read his word into prey humbling yourself before Almighty God. And that's exactly exactly what the psalmist does here. In fact, he humbled himself even further that the point of confession, the good verse 21 he said when my soul was embittered when I was pricked in my heart, I was brutish. I was like an animal and ignorant like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold my right hand, you guide me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you, my flesh and my heart may fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. That the psalmist here recounts his own his own humiliation and broken this My heart was grievers 21 my spirit in But I was senseless and ignorant, like a beast like a beast. I said the same thing, didn't he? When he saw the vision of God? Woe is me for I am undone. Peter did the same thing in Luke. Chapter five. That big catch a fish. What do you say to Jesus? You said go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. Job did the same thing when God showed up at the end of the book and he said surely I spoke of things I did not understand. But now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself in dust and ashes. And so the psalmist has that similar confession of humiliation. And not only that, he didn't stay gravel ing in the dust and ashes. He began to confess the realization that God was always with him. Isn't that amazing? He felt he moved from God. But God stayed in the same place. God never moved. God was present with him and would continually be present with him, even in death. And afterwards you will take me to glory, he said, Can't you? Can't you feel the psalmist growing passion here? He's kind of coming back, isn't he? He turned from the fixation on the wealth of the wicked and began to fixate himself upon the wealth of knowing God. God, you are more precious than silver. You're more costs leaving gold. You're more beautiful than diamonds. There's nothing in this world I'd rather have with you. God not only satisfies us completely, but he remains the truest treasure of our lives that nothing not even death can take away. And then the last point is confidence. Now, if you're paying attention, you look at your outline. You see, that's where we started. Confidence You could actually put this in a circle. He started with confidence. What he knew to be true by God worked circle came all the way back. Confidence versus 27 28 for behold, Those are who are far from you shall perish. You put an end to everyone who was unfaithful to you but for me like Joshua. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works. There's nothing more disastrous for a person than to let distance intervene between him or her and God. We might call it casual drifting, but it's dangerous, but there's nothing more wonderful. 1st 28 then to be near God and he resolved to make God his refuge, his refuge a place of trust. Ah, source of wisdom. Ah, mighty refuge is our God a bulwark never failing our helper, he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing the fortress God is my refuge and fortress. My God, in whom I will trust. Do you remember that I'm still on my roof in North Hampton, Massachusetts. Were you wondering how that came out? That's just a little ploy to keep you awake. Well, there I am, like a statue. What did I do? How did I get off my roof? That's a rhetorical question. You have to answer that. I've done that before. And people said you jumped. You did this. You did that. Wait a minute. You know, what I did is I fell. I dropped my shovel and I fell right back into the snow like I was gonna do a snow angel. And I crawled in the snow to my ladder and down to safety. The very thing I tried to get rid of became the thing I turned to for safety. A soft did exactly the same thing with God. He pushed, got away his feet had almost slipped. What did he do? You fell back into God and found refuge. Found a fortress. My God, In whom I trust. So my conclusion is to ask you the question. Where are you in this process? Where are you in this cycle? You're confident there's 28. But as for me, it is good to be near God. You don't have it all together. You're not perfect. But you're there. God is my refuge and fortress. He is my god in whom I trust. And if you are in this position, continue to cultivate your relationship with God so that you can witness to other people. Verse 28. It says I will tell of all your deeds. Tell about God. Tell how he is near you tell how he has brought your truth. But you also might be in another place. But as for me, my feet at almost slipped and my counsel to you if you're there for going through a crisis of faith is stay at worship. Keep in the word, maintain your prayers regardless of how you feel. Keep working a circle because that's faith. What do you think faith is, anyway? Feelings. It's not faith. Faith. Faith is hanging on to something that's that you can't see. But yet you're still to continue to trust in that gets the attention of God. Hang on to the fact that he is a creator. Your redeemer. He is your father. He's a father to the fatherless. He is a friend to the friendless. He's your only hope for the hopeless. He knows your name. You are not for gotten. You are not for gotten. He knows your name. Stay with it. Hang on to him. Worked a circle by God's grace. You'll fall back into him and find safety. Let's pray, Lord, we know so little and yet we have so much. But what's important to us is that we apply what we do know. And we thank you for your word because you give us a little more each time that we can hang on to a little more another line with which we could connect another dot. Would you continue to grow rice up into you even though we're going through some struggles right now? May we hang on to you because we know that you have never left us and we were not push away the very thing that can save us. Help us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

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Hi, I'm Jeff Eckstine, one of the pastor's here in Bethlehem Community Church. Welcome to our son. A podcast coming to you from the town of Bethlehem in upstate New York in the USA Bethlehem Community Church is an independent, non denominational, Bible based evangelical church that includes people with backgrounds for many denominations. We believe that is only through the love of the father, the sacrifice of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ on the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit that we can come into a personal relationship with God. Were people truly seeking a deeper intimacy with God and with one another. If you'd like to know more about our church, please visit our website at www BCC delmar dot or ge. There, you'll be able to find our statement of faith as well as more about the Ministry of Bethlehem Community Church. You'll also be able to submit prayer requests as we're called to pray with and for you. We also would love to hear your story and how you found our podcast and where you're listening from. So please visit our website and send us an email again. It's BCC delmar dot org's That's B C C D E l m a r dot or GE. Thank you for joining us as we continue our pursuit of knowing God and making him known.