WEBVTT 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.880 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.079 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:21.679 Good morning. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.320 Please join me for the prayer of illumination. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:31.760 Guide us, O God, by your word and spirit, that in your light we may see light. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:39.439 In your truth, find freedom, and in your will discover your peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:40.240 Amen. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:44.560 Today's scripture is going to be from Psalm 62. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:48.960 For God alone my soul waits in silence. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:51.280 From him comes my salvation. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:56.399 My fortress. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:58.880 I shall not be greatly shaken. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:05.439 How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leading wall, a tottering fence? 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:09.840 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:12.480 They take pleasure in falsehood. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:16.000 They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.519 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:26.239 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.159 I shall not be shaken. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:31.359 On God rest my salvation and my glory. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.159 My mighty rock, my refuge is God. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:38.000 Trust in him at all times, O people. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.319 Pour out your heart before him. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:43.040 God is a refuge for us. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:45.920 Those of lowest state are but a breath. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:48.480 Those of high estate are a delusion. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:50.560 In the balances they go up. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:52.719 They are together lighter than a breath. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:58.079 Put no trust in extortion, set no vain hopes on robbery. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:01.439 If riches increase, set not your heart on them. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:10.080 Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this that power belongs to God, and that to you, O Lord, belong steadfast love. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.280 For you will render to a man according to his work. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:14.800 This is God's word. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:24.560 Well, today we continue with week two of our Summer in the Psalms series called Subversive Spirituality. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:32.879 And really what we're doing is we're taking some of the modern maladies of our cultural moment, and we're showing how the Psalms provide an ancient antidote. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:43.360 There's this way in which they kind of flip on its head the cultural ways of viewing things like time last week and this week restlessness. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:44.400 Restlessness. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:50.960 So in order to get there, I really want to take a uh a 10-part quiz, if you will, more of a diagnostic. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:03:06.000 Uh this is in the beginning of a of a really great book called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, which I listened to at 1.5x on Audible because I have integrity and that's why it wasn't 2x, okay? 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.520 Uh I couldn't, I had to ruthlessly eliminate some hurry. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:16.000 And in the beginning, he has this introductory assessment, if you will, about hurry sickness. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:17.599 So look at this with me together. 00:03:17.599 --> 00:03:18.560 Irritability. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:21.680 That is that you you just kind of have a hair trigger about you. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:30.080 It doesn't take much for you to be uh frustrated or easily angered, or uh people are kind of walking on eggshells around you. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.360 Now, this is related to the second one, which is hypersensitivity. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:37.680 That's when something relatively minor kind of sets you off. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:45.280 And you find yourself in a situation where um something that otherwise shouldn't be a big deal escalates really quickly. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:47.919 The third one is restlessness. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:56.719 You maybe have a moment of space or time where you could finally sit down and relax, but you cannot turn the inner revved up engine. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:58.560 It just won't settle down. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:04.560 Or how about the fourth one, which is workaholism or nonstop activity? 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.199 You just are constantly going, going, going from the next thing to the next thing to the next thing. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:14.960 Whether you're in a workplace or doing this at home, running errands, you just you cannot slow down. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.480 Or fifth, there's emotional numbness. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:32.879 You turn to uh various, you know, socially acceptable narcotics in order to diminish your emotional experiences and pain, which if you numb your emotional experience, it makes you less empathetic with other people's. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:37.439 Or how about number six, out-of-order priorities? 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:44.560 You live under the tyranny of the urgent, and you rarely get around to doing the things that really matter. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:48.800 Maybe for you it's number seven, it's a lack of care for your body. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:52.319 Uh we say there's a three-legged stool of eat, move, sleep. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:53.839 That's what your body's built on. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.279 And let's just say you're not really doing well with any of those. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:06.959 You're you're eating kind of the four cardinal issues of caffeine, sugar, processed carbs, and uh I can't remember what the fourth one is right now, but you you track with me. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:10.079 Uh high fructose corn syrup, probably, something like that. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.040 You rarely get eight hours of sleep. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:17.040 Maybe you're more sedentary than you want to be or ought to be. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:25.040 How about escapist behaviors, doom scrolling, Netflix binging, or maybe a lack of spiritual discipline. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.399 You know what's good for you. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:32.160 I mean, even secular science says that prayer to a benevolent being is mentally healthy. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:42.480 And you all the more, Christian, know what it means to be a person of word and prayer and uh community, and yet for whatever reason you find yourself checking out of those things. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:45.680 Or tenth, and finally you experience isolation. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:47.040 Isolation. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:55.199 We are so hyper-connected, and yet the UK has a minister of loneliness because of our lack of connection. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:58.079 We experience isolation from one another. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:05:59.519 Okay, how did it go? 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:03.120 Some of y'all are like, I knew coming to church was just gonna make me feel guilty. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.600 Listen, I've got good news for you. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:12.000 Uh, and that is that I actually think what this represents is the malformation of our cultural moment. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:17.519 You are in a cultural moment that's designed to create this in you. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:21.839 And I believe that there's a counterformation available to you. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:26.879 I believe that Jesus loves you as you are, but will not leave you as you are. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:28.639 And that's good news. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:35.839 And so there's an invitation as we take up Psalm 62 and we and we look at the roots of our restlessness. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:40.079 Why is it that we just cannot find ourselves at rest? 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:44.079 If you have a Bible or device, go ahead and get Psalm 62 in front of you. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:46.319 It's on the worship guide as well. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:51.519 And I want to look at how do we move from restlessness to restfulness? 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:57.600 And I've I've really just asking a question which is what is bearing the weight of your life? 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:00.079 What is bearing the weight of your life? 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:06.079 Look with me at verse one, and I want to see what it looks like to rest on God alone. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.000 Look at verse one. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.920 For God alone, my soul waits in silence. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:19.519 Now, how do you do with waiting in silence? 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.040 What's that like for you? 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:26.959 In 2015, there was a research team that put on an experiment. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:39.600 And what they did is they got a bunch of people and they put them in a bare room that had nothing but a chair, no phones, no headphones, no books, no nothing to distract the mind, okay? 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:43.600 And they were supposed to sit in there for somewhere between six and fifteen minutes. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:44.319 That's all. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:45.839 Six and fifteen minutes. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:52.800 Now, before they entered the room, they actually were given a slight electric shock. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:57.360 And they asked people how they experienced that shock, and they all said, unpleasant. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.439 In fact, they said, we would pay money to not feel that again. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:02.000 Okay? 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:10.959 Then they put them in this room alone with nothing but themselves, and they many of the people administered the shock to themselves. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:14.639 In fact, 25% of men shocked themselves. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:17.519 I'm sorry, 25% of women shocked themselves. 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:21.199 67% of men shocked themselves. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:24.160 One man shocked himself 192 times. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:24.879 I have no idea. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.639 I hope that dude's like in prison somewhere. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:27.279 I don't know. 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:30.240 Maybe that's not fair, but something's going on there. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:42.799 Listen, what the findings of this study is that when left alone with ourselves, we would rather inflict pain than to be waiting in silence. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:47.120 Blaise Pascal, 400 years earlier, predicted this. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:54.879 He has this famous saying, which is all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.679 Now we have empirical proof that that's true. 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:59.840 What is going on? 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:06.799 What is it about waiting in silence that's so hard for us to bear? 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.440 Look with me again at verses one and two. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:12.159 For God alone my soul waits in silence. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:14.399 From him comes my salvation. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:21.679 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress, I shall not be greatly shaken. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:27.120 I think if we were to ask David, David, what is bearing the weight of your life? 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.120 He would say, God alone. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:34.879 Now, if you said, Okay, David, thank you, what does that mean for me tomorrow morning at 7.30 a.m.? 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:36.639 What does that actually mean? 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:39.200 I think he would say something, this is conjecture. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:48.960 I think he'd say something like, resting on God means placing the outcome in God's hands while remaining faithful to your responsibilities. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:56.000 Resting in God, it is placing the outcome in God's hands, but remaining faithful to your responsibilities. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.960 And so David is in this position. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:04.399 He's refusing to carry what God has promised to carry. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:08.960 That's what I think it means to wait on God, to rest on him alone. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:15.120 Now, as a parent, what I think this means, it doesn't mean I'm just gonna let go and let God and see how my kids turn out. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:16.639 I don't think it means that. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:26.399 I think it means I'm gonna be faithful to disciple my children, but I'm not gonna carry the burden of guaranteeing who they turn out to be. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:36.320 I think for those of you in whatever roles you're in in your work, I think it is uh it's not I'm just gonna wing it and see how this meeting goes. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:44.080 I think it's I'm gonna prepare diligently, but my identity and my future are not determined by the outcome of this meeting. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:46.480 That's what I believe it looks like. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:52.799 Uh the International Justice Mission has been for years working to take down human trafficking. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:11:04.559 They're going to the most dangerous places to rescue the most vulnerable people, and they have this motto that I love, and it's it goes like this we do the work, God carries the weight. 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:06.799 That's what it means to rest on God. 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:10.159 We do the work, God carries the weight. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.200 What is carrying the weight of your life right now? 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:17.679 What is it that is bearing the weight of your existence? 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:20.799 Because I wonder if it's holding up. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:22.879 Now, be encouraged. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:23.919 Even David struggles. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:25.919 Look with me again at the text. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:30.559 Verse 2, he alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:34.000 I shall not be greatly shaken. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.039 Maybe a little shaken, but not a lot shaken. 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:41.279 In the Hebrew, greatly is actually the last word of that verse. 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:43.120 So it's almost like an afterthought. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.679 He's like, I shall not be shaken very much. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:47.919 What is that? 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:50.399 I think David is wrestling this out. 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.639 He's dealing with a little bit of, does this really work in practice? 00:11:54.639 --> 00:11:56.000 Can I really rely? 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:59.600 Can I put the full weight of my very being on God? 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:06.080 And I think that this is one of the reasons why many of us Christians, uh, we struggle with restlessness. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:11.120 Have you ever been in a boat stepping onto a dock? 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:14.639 There's that moment when you have a foot on the boat and a foot on the dock. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:16.000 How do you feel in that moment? 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:17.200 Rested? 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:18.399 Contented? 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:19.279 Calm? 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:26.399 No, there's a tension in your abdomen and your, hopefully, there's not much waves, and that's where most of us live. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.679 We've got a foot on ourselves and a foot on God, and we think that we would find restfulness there. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:36.080 In fact, that's actually maybe the very source of our restlessness. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:39.600 And so David experiences this too. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.799 So, what do you do when life feels unstable? 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:46.320 What do you lean on when life feels unstable? 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.639 That brings us to the second point. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:50.720 Return, O my soul. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.879 Look with me at verse 3. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:58.720 David says, How long will all of you attack a man to batter him? 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:02.960 Like a leaning wall, a tottering fence. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:08.320 Some of you this morning, you come in, you feel like a leaning wall, a tottering fence. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.919 You feel like the next thing is just gonna knock you over. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:17.679 You find yourself like you're a Jenga tower, and life just keeps taking out blocks near the base. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:18.399 And you're like, what? 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:20.639 Which one's gonna make it fall next? 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.360 And and David knows that experience. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.519 But David goes on and he actually points out the cause of some of this. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.720 The cause of some of this is evil. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:36.879 You see, evil has this thing where evil will attack you when you're low and attack you when you're riding high. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:38.399 Look at verse 4 now. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:43.200 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:49.360 They take pleasure in falsehood, they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:14:01.440 Commenting on this, my favorite commentator on the Psalms, a guy named Derek Kidner, he says this quote, evil, being ruthlessly competitive, is attracted to weakness. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:11.759 When you're feeling low, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence, evil's attracted to that because it knows that all it needs to do is give a last push to whatever is leaning and tottering. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:18.799 He goes on, though, he says, evil's also attracted to strength because it's the target of its envy and duplicity. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:23.919 Whether you're high or you're low, you are be evil is attracted to that. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:29.919 And evil, it says here in verse four, evil takes pleasure in falsehood. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:33.360 Evil really has like only a few strategies. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:37.759 They've been working for a few thousand years, so they just evil just keeps getting after it. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:39.679 This is kind of the main strategy. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:40.639 It's two steps. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:45.600 Step one, deceive you to build your life on something that's a false foundation. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:50.000 Step two, accuse you when that false foundation doesn't hold you up. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:51.120 That's it. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.399 Deceive you, accuse you, deceive you, accuse you. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:55.519 Back and forth. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:57.679 And that's what's happening here. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:01.919 And there's this there's this attack on David that he's experiencing. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:03.440 So what does David do? 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:04.720 What do you do? 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:06.320 Let's look at what he does. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:08.000 Look at verse five. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:15.440 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:17.039 Did you notice that? 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:18.399 Look at verse 1 and verse 5. 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:19.360 Compare and contrast. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:21.200 Did you notice the shift that happened there? 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:23.759 In verse 1, you have the indicative. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.360 In verse 5, you have the imperative. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:26.080 This is what I mean. 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.120 For God alone, my soul waits. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:30.399 Verse 1. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:34.720 Verse 5, for God alone, oh my soul, wait. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.600 The first one is about what is true. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:40.000 The second one is about what he ought to do. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:41.200 Do you see that? 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:45.120 Now, what happened between verses 1 and verse 5? 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:46.399 What happened in the gap? 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.240 Verses 3 and 4. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.320 David dealt with difficulty. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:54.799 He set out to rest his life on God and he faced challenges. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:03.039 So if you find yourself really earnestly, intentionally, I want to live my life, resting, waiting before God, trusting in God. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:05.440 And then you get some setbacks. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:07.360 You're not failing. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:10.159 This is the way of life east of Eden. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.440 David knows it, he experiences it, and so what does he do? 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:14.879 He doubles down. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.320 He doesn't give up. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:17.200 He doubles down. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.120 He says, Wait, oh my soul. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:20.720 Do this. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:26.240 You see, modern spirituality will often tell you to listen to yourself. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.279 Pay attention to your heart. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:28.480 What's your deepest passion? 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:30.399 Just live that out for everybody to see. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:35.759 Psalmic spirituality will tell you, do not listen to yourself, talk to yourself. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.000 Wait, oh my soul. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.679 Tell your soul what to do. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:40.559 Direct it. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.080 It's not about self-expression, it's about self-direction. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:48.960 That's what the Psalms are going to invite you to do as an ancient antidote to your restlessness. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.879 Some of you in here, you're like, Ben, I am exhausted. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:17:00.559 I'm too weary and depleted and fatigued to even consider what it means to try to tell my soul what to believe. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.879 Listen, look at the end of verse 5. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:05.839 For my hope is from him. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.480 Feeling hopeless today? 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:10.799 Feeling on the verge of despair? 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:14.480 Your hope isn't self-generated either. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:15.759 It's from God. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:22.000 There's this thing that I think is really effective in community. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:26.160 And that is when you or somebody else is hopeless. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:30.240 I've said this to people before, you can steal this and use it yourself. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:36.000 I'll say, hey, I totally understand how you have like little to no hope for the outcome of this situation. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:37.839 I have hope. 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:44.400 Do you mind if I hold that hope for you and you can come borrow it whenever you need it until you can find some yourself? 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.640 That's why we need community. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:51.119 One of the things I love about Danny's testimony that we just watched is it was community. 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.720 She asked community, hey, help me understand what God is like. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:57.279 Tell me about this God you hope in. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:04.559 You can hold hope for other people while they don't have hope because our hope inevitably comes from God. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:09.440 It's not self-derived, it doesn't come from within you, it comes from outside you. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:15.119 This is good news for those of us who feel too tired to hope. 00:18:15.119 --> 00:18:17.440 Look with me at verse 6. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:22.960 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:24.000 Here it is. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.480 I shall not be shaken. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.319 Do you notice what changed between verse 2 and verse 6? 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:32.000 He took the condition out. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.880 He's no longer qualifying his hope. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:38.160 Before it was, I shall not be shaken greatly. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:40.400 Now it's I shall not be shaken. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:43.519 There's something defiant about that hope. 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:45.680 And what made the difference? 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.880 He went through verses three and four. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:50.960 He went through the attack of evil. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:19:01.839 He went through the difficulty of living life, following Jesus, struggling to hope, struggling to trust, struggling to put your soul's foundation on God and God alone. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:05.839 There's this thing in Arizona called a biosphere. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:10.640 They tried to replicate Earth in a kind of a dome in Arizona, okay? 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:19.440 And what happened was initially the trees that they planted there, they sprung up super fast and then they toppled over when they reached a certain height. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:20.720 They studied it. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:22.240 What's going on here? 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:26.079 And they realized what was missing in their biosphere. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:31.039 Something really important to the maturity and the strength of a tree. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:32.160 Wind. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:34.319 Wind. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:49.039 You see, when a tree feels the force of wind, it tells the tree to deepen its roots, to put its roots down into the ground so it has a more firm foundation and can uphold the wind in the future. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:55.680 That's why God will permit things like a season where you feel like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. 00:19:55.680 --> 00:19:58.160 He's trying to deepen your roots in him. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.640 That's what happened for David. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:02.799 That's what happens for each one of us. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:05.759 We get deeper roots through difficulty. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:07.759 Now look at verse 7. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.519 On God rests my salvation and my glory. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.880 My mighty rock, my refuge is God. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:15.920 Notice the shift. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:20.400 From leaning and tottering to resting on God. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:21.759 This is the move. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:24.880 From restlessness to restfulness. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:26.720 He is now resting on God. 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:31.200 Why is it that God alone can bear the weight of your life? 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:33.920 One word in Hebrew, kovod. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:35.440 Kovod. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.319 It's translated glory in verse 7. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:42.960 But I don't think you hear glory and think weightiness, substance. 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:44.880 That's what it means in Hebrew. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:49.759 On God rests my kovod, my weightiness, my substance. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:51.599 It's from Him. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:53.759 That's where I find it. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:57.359 And so you were made to have substance. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:58.799 You were made to have glory. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:04.799 Psalm 8, verse 5 says that God has crowned humanity with glory and honor. 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:13.119 And listen, that substance, that weightiness of your life, that you matter, it cannot just be held up by anything. 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:20.720 And so David's saying, the only thing that can uphold you and your glory is the Lord. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:22.240 Now here's the thing. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:25.680 I've been, I wrote this down studying this text. 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:29.680 Lord, teach me how to rest my glory on you. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:34.559 I don't really know what that means in lived experience, I'm gonna be honest. 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:35.680 So here's an invitation. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:40.559 If any of you do, if you know what this means, I don't mean exegetically, I know it exegetically. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:42.319 I mean by lived experience. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:44.000 What is this like in your own life? 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.960 Tell me about your history in God of resting your glory and having your glory come from God. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:50.079 You come up and talk to me. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.000 I'm always looking for good models. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:53.839 And we need a good model. 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:57.759 And David actually notice what he does here, he becomes a good model in this text. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:22:02.640 So, what's what's beautiful is Is in verse 1, David tries. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:04.079 He kind of struggles, right? 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:06.160 So then in verse 5, he tries again. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:08.240 But then look what he does in verse 8. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:10.160 He begins to teach others. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:19.680 The reason why is because what you have to offer to other people, oh disciple maker, is the treasure that you learned in the struggle. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:25.839 The number one reasons people don't make disciples in this room is because you don't think you have what it takes. 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:27.759 What do I have to offer? 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:29.680 Have you struggled? 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:38.079 Have you gone through anything hard and you're still sitting here, standing here, opening hands, lifting them to Jesus, saying, Jesus, I want more of you? 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:39.839 You've got something to offer. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:41.920 That's all that David offers. 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.480 Look at He turns in disciples, people. 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:46.880 Look at verse 8. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:49.359 Trust in Him at all times. 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:50.079 O people. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:50.720 See that? 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:52.559 He's turning to everybody else now. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:55.119 Pour out your heart before Him. 00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:57.279 God is a refuge for us. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:00.000 Let's look at this. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:05.279 Puritans used to do this thing where they'd preach a whole verse or whole sermon on one verse and they just unpack every word. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:07.279 I'm gonna try that for like 30 seconds. 00:23:07.279 --> 00:23:08.000 Here we go. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.160 Look at verse 8 closely. 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:12.160 There's a bunch of questions you can ask of it. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:12.559 What? 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:13.599 What are you supposed to do? 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:14.400 Trust in him. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:15.119 When? 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:16.160 At all times? 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:16.799 Who? 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:17.759 O people. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:18.480 How? 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:19.680 Pour out your heart. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:20.240 Where? 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:21.119 Before God. 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:21.680 Why? 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:22.960 God is a refuge for us. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:24.000 Some of you go, really? 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:26.400 And the psalmist goes, Selah. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:30.480 AKA just rest and receive. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.240 Just just take it. 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:33.359 It's good. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:35.759 That's what the text is saying. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:43.519 Why does David go from silence, verses 1 and 5, to pouring out his soul, which I assume is noisy. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:44.960 He's talking. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:48.480 Well, because maybe some of you know this too. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:24:01.519 Your soul is like a mason jar that you dipped into a creek, and it's all foggy and cloudy, the water, and you set it in silence, and the sediment of your soul begins to settle at the bottom of the jar. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:05.839 And you can finally see clearly what is it that I actually have to offer to God. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:11.119 You see, silence reveals what your restlessness conceals. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:20.559 And that is that your frenetic activity is actually disguising something, which is there's something not right at the foundation of your being. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:26.480 And so waiting in silence before God actually helps us to see what's going on. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:30.799 Where are our doubts and fears and insecurities and lusts and envies and idols? 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.119 And where are all of those things? 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:34.960 What are all of those things? 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:43.039 Silence precedes pouring out your heart because an unceasing pace is the enemy of self-knowledge. 00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:49.039 You'll never know yourself unless you can pace yourself, unless you can wait in silence before the Lord. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:50.319 And that's exactly what David does. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:54.720 Now he has, he actually has something that he can pour out before the Lord. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:58.960 And this act of pouring out your heart before the Lord is so important. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:00.960 Some of us are verbal processors. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:07.519 And for a verbal processor in particular, you don't know what you think and feel until you begin to tell somebody else. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:10.319 I think that could be true with the Lord. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:16.319