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Summer in the Psalms of Refuge | Psalm 62

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RUF Campus Minister Hardy Reynolds continues our Summer in the Psalms of Refuge series, preaching from Psalm 62

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone. This is Pastor Damien. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, orlando. At New City, we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life. For more resources, visit our website at newcityorlandocom. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2:

Would you pray aloud this prayer of illumination with me? Would you pray aloud this prayer of illumination with me? Eternal God, the grass withers and the flower fades, but your word will stand forever. Holy Spirit, help us to love and trust your word. Through Jesus Christ, we pray amen. This morning's scripture comes from Psalm 62.

Speaker 2:

For God alone, my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him? Like a leaning wall, a tottering fence. They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.

Speaker 2:

They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone, oh, my soul wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken On. God rests my salvation and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be shaken On. God rests my salvation and my glory, my mighty rock. My refuge is God. Trust in him at all times. O people, pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Those of lowest state are but a breath. Those of high estate are a delusion In the balances they go up. They are, together, lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion. Set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken Twice have I heard this that power belongs to God and that to you, o Lord, belongs steadfast love, for you will render to a man according to his work. This is God's word. Thanks be to God, you may be seated.

Speaker 1:

Well, good morning New City. If I haven't had the privilege to meet you, my name is Hardy Reynolds. I attend here with my family but serve as campus minister with Reform University Fellowship out at UCF. It really is a privilege to be preaching Some representatives in the room yes, privileged to be with y'all this morning. There's two brothers that I've never met that I actually owe a great deal of my spiritual growth to. Their names are Jim and Robert Rayburn. Jim Rayburn is the founder of an organization called Young Life. Back in the 40s and many years after that a Young Life leader showed up at my freshman football practice and was fundamental in my beginnings to follow Jesus in my spiritual walk. His brother, Robert Rayburn, was the founder of Covenant Theological Seminary and Covenant College and since he founded it there's been my campus minister in college with RUF. My pastor in college was trained there. Our very own lead pastor, damien, was trained there, and so many and countless friends and mentors have equipped me in my following of Jesus, so I owe a great deal to them.

Speaker 1:

There's a story about Robert Rayburn that before he was founder of Covenant Theological Seminary he was a military chaplain both in the 40s and then also again in the 50s in the Korean War and in his service during the Korean War, he was called up later in life, when he already had a family, and he was called, and he was assured, though, that he was assigned to a paratrooper group, that he had never jumped out of a plane before he was assured you will get plenty of training when you're there, when you're inland. Well, come to find out, he's in Korea for two days, and a sergeant comes to him and tells him chaplain, we're going on a jump tomorrow, and I want you to go with the men. It's a night jump and it's behind enemy lines. I want you to go. Robert shares the story as he's boarding the plane, and he's looking at the faces of these experienced veteran paratroopers, their faces communicating anxiety and fear that he thinks he's going to be sick to his stomach, and so he begins to pray as he is on the flight God, help me, help me, not dishonor you. Help me, god, to not fear any evil, for you are with me. And an amazing thing happened in that moment he began to believe Jesus. You really are with me. And an amazing thing happened in that moment he began to believe Jesus. You really are with me. As he shares it. The next thing he remembers the sergeant is poking him, saying chaplain, chaplain, wake up, it's time to jump. He had fallen asleep for over two hours.

Speaker 1:

Many men during his time in Korea would approach him and say we heard from the men on your plane that you fell asleep on the way to the drop zone. How on earth could you do that? And those conversations led to many of those paratroopers actually coming to faith in Christ, because what Robert Rayburn was displaying there was a sense of refuge, a sense of rest in circumstances that had so many reasons for anxious fear. He stood out. He was odd. He made people ask what do you have that I don't Now, admittedly, jumping behind enemy lines at night. Those are pretty intense circumstances.

Speaker 1:

But I think what's appealing about that story for us in the room who follow Jesus is we wonder what does that look like for us to make a difference in the kingdom of God? All because we've learned to find our rest, our refuge, in God. And the amazing hope and truth of our passage this morning is that we can offer that to our own hearts, but also to a watching world that is constantly anxiously running to and fro to so many different places of refuge, that we can stand out, and so that's what we're going to see that we can stand out, and so that's what we're going to see. That when we find our refuge in God alone, we will be a compelling witness to others for them to confess with us my refuge is God. But if we're honest with ourselves, so often we actually don't live that way, do we? So often we actually, rather than witnessing that, join people in running to other places of refuge. The good news of our passage and of the gospel is that, both in returning and turning to God as our place of refuge, we still have this truth on offer. We're going to see this in three points First, our need for refuge, our universal need. Secondly, our running to other places of refuge. And then, finally, our rest in the only refuge. So, first, our need for refuge.

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I haven't met anyone in all my meetings with people that enjoys the feeling of vulnerability or feeling needy. Usually, when asked to describe that feeling, they use words like terrifying, exposing, helpless, powerless. And yet, for all the parts of us that hate that experience, I've yet to meet a person that also doesn't experience it. It's universal. We all are faced with vulnerability. At times. That goes all the way back to our first parents, adam and Eve, in the garden, they, upon believing the lie and reaching out to take that fruit the lie that they would be like God immediately they see that they're not. They see how unlike God they really are. They see that, unlike God, who is all-powerful, as we'll see in our text, in verse 11 today, that they actually are naked, they're exposed, they're vulnerable. And so what do they do? They cover themselves In their nakedness. They look at one another and they see, unlike God, who is dependent on no one, who is self-sufficient and to whom all things depend, they cannot create life on their own. They are dependent both on God and on one another. And so what do they do? They hide.

Speaker 1:

Consider David, david, the author of our psalm this morning. He too is expressing vulnerability in his situation. He is writing this. We don't know exactly when, but consider who David is. He is king of Israel. So during his time as king, there's going to be no person in Israel who has the resources, the command of riches, the relational capital and influences and connections and all of that. And yet David too, here is expressing a vulnerable position. We see it in verse 4. He sees enemies and attackers coming at him and he says they have plans quote to throw him down from his high position. And he says his enemies are actually taking pleasure in these plans to make him fall and the lies that they're telling him to accomplish this. What David is likely facing? He's facing some sort of overthrow or coup of his rule and he's saying these people are nice to my face, they're hey, king, how are you doing king? But behind closed doors they're plotting, they're scheming, they're ready to take his influence, his power, his reign. And how did David feel about this vulnerable position that he's in?

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What we see in verse 3, he actually gives a picture to what his experience of this is. Three, he actually gives a picture to what his experience of this is. He says how long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? He's asking his attackers how long? Not because he's trying to get information out of them, as if to say how long is this going to last? If it's three more months, maybe I can handle it. No, he's saying how long to say three more months, maybe I can handle it. No, he's saying how long to say I've had enough, I don't know how much longer I can stand.

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He's feeling exposed and vulnerable, and so he gives this picture of a tottering leaning wall, a fence that's about to collapse. We have a fence that goes around our backyard and on one side there's several boards that are hanging on by, a few splinters, few metal threads of screws. And forget hurricane season. I don't let my daughter, lenny, who's two, go over there when she has a cold If she sneezes. That fence is coming down, and what David is expressing here is, despite his power, despite his connections, despite his riches, he is as vulnerable as a tottering fence. He feels like he is about to collapse.

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The most resourced man in Israel is vulnerable. And so that's the first thing we see that if David is experiencing vulnerability, we too have a universal need for refuge, to find our security somewhere. The second thing that we see is that we run to other places of refuge. We run to other things to find that sense of security, to escape that sense of vulnerability and exposure, and in this psalm it's an example of a psalm of confidence. So David is instructing not only himself we see in verse 5, but also he looks up and he instructs the people of God, and he instructs them in two things the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do when they experience vulnerability. And so first we see what he's telling them is the right thing to do in verse 8. Verse 8, from that place of exposure, he looks up and actually begins instructing the people of God, and he says trust, trust in him at all times. O people, pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. That instruction, though it's only one verse, is full of so much wisdom, so much practical help.

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Pastor Ben Kant actually shared his reflection with me on this. It's basically a how-to of the what, when, how, why of trusting God. Look with me at this. The what is just that to trust, trust in Him, don't simply know that God's trustworthy or even confess it with your mouths, but lean the weight of your life on to him, trust in who he is and what he can do. When are you to do this? At all times, he's saying at all times. There's not a time when God will prove untrustworthy or unfaithful or unable to handle what you bring him.

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Who is this invitation to David is saying oh, people. So in the context of this, it's likely the people of God gathered for worship, but one of the amazing themes of scripture in the book of Psalms is that the people of God are to be a blessing to the nations. So this is an invitation not only to the people of God, but literally all people trust in him at all times. That's who this invitation is for. How do you do this? By pouring out your heart before him, so as yours and my heart is filled with anxieties, with fears, with that sense of exposure. We have a place to go. We have something that we can do, and David names it as pouring out our heart, pouring our anxieties out before God, not having to sugarcoat our experience, but actually being able to name our experience in the presence of God. And that's the where we see in this passage. The where is into his presence, or, as David puts it, before him.

Speaker 1:

It's been said that prayer is bringing the real you before the real God, and that's what David's inviting the people of God to, that's what he's reminding himself of, is that there's nothing I have to hold back, there's nothing I have to pretend. I can actually bring all of my experience before God and he will meet me there. And the real God, the who of who's meeting you in that place is really important Because the reason being is he can actually do something about it, and that's what we see as the why, the why we see in verse 11, but it is named in verse 8 as God is a refuge for us. It's his very character. He is a God in whom all security, protection is in, it's in him, and so the invitation is that's the where to bring and pour out your heart is into his presence. Why? Because he's a God who protects, who secures. That's the invitation.

Speaker 1:

Now, despite this, despite this amazing truth that David's giving to the people of God and if you know David's story, you know he doesn't always follow his own instruction if you know David's story, you know he doesn't always follow his own instruction and so he's speaking both from experience, but also in hopes and love for the people of God that they don't make some errors, even though we know they do. So, if that's what to do, he says here two errors or two places that you run to refuge so frequently that he's wanting to warn them against the first he names as relationships. We see this in verse 9. David, he's instructing the people to not run to their relationships because, quote, those of low estate are but a breath. Those of high estate are delusion. In the balances they go up, they are together, lighter than breath. As they go up, they are together lighter than breath.

Speaker 1:

The word that's repeated there to describe these supposed other places of refuge, these people, is the word that shows up so many times in the book of Ecclesiastes the breath, vanity. It's nothingness. So, for all their appearances of help and of security and refuge, what David is saying is there's no relationship, no person that you can turn to, that has any muscle, that has any substance, real ability to secure your life. And he contrasts this throughout the psalm with where you actually do have life, where you actually do have security. And he does it through the word that's repeated alone or only over and over Verse 1, for God alone, my soul waits in silence. Verse 2, he alone is my rock and my salvation. Verse 5, for God alone, oh, my soul wait in silence. Verse 6, he only is my rock and my salvation.

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The reason, again, for all of this is found in verse 11, that power, all power, belongs to this God. He only is a refuge, the next popular false security place that he's naming both his heart and the people of God's heart often run to is their resources. He names this in verse 10, put no trust in extortion. Set no vain hopes on robbery, but if riches increase, set not your heart on them. Resources, wealth, power, knowledge, skill, experiences all of these resources that we might have are a temptation to run to those to find our security. And David knows that when we experience that unwanted feeling of vulnerability, of exposure, of weakness, we have a tendency to escape it, to run to those things and to in essence, tell them fix this. So that looks like saying, like fidelity, fix this. Schwab, save me, I don't have an alliteration for Vanguard, but whatever your broker is, wherever your money is, fix. This is what we do with our resources. But he goes on and he's saying it's not only money, but it is also our experiences, our other resources, our skills, other things we might run to to be able to say what substance can I turn to to escape this feeling? What experience, what vacation, what next thing can I run to to escape this feeling of vulnerability?

Speaker 1:

And Jesus, in the gospel of Luke, actually picks up on the danger of running to our resources, whether it be wealth or other things. He tells a parable of the rich fool, and unlike David here in this psalm, who he discerns rightly where true refuge is found we see this in verse 5, for God alone. Oh, my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him, the rich fool in the parable, by contrast, he says something else to his soul. Listen to this Once the rich fool has seen that his land is produced plentifully, he thinks to himself I'll tear down my current barns and I'm going to build larger ones and there I will store all of my grain and all of my goods. And I will say to my soul soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. And what Jesus goes on to say and to show that the way God speaks to hearts that run to their riches, that run to their resources for security, is to say to them fool, this night, your soul is required of you and the things you've prepared, whose will they be. So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Now, to be clear, this parable, nor does our passage or other places of scripture, forbid wealth, but it is a strong warning for what it can do to our hearts the temptations that it brings of riches, first to make us seemingly self-sufficient or to stoke covetousness as we look at others' resources and we think if I had that then I would have security. But also in this parable shows there it sets you on a trajectory of complacency too for the things in the kingdom of God that if you look to your resources you actually will become blind to the dangerous eternal implications of looking to those for rest rather than God. And that's what he is drawing out Now in my ministry context, being a campus minister, I meet with a lot of students who, to put it politely, they don't have many resources, they're broke.

Speaker 1:

But all of my meetings I shouldn't say all a majority of my meetings are initiated from students asking basically two questions, and they're often asked from that feeling of vulnerability, a sense of exposure. And the questions are who am I going to spend my life? With? Relational questions. And they're often asked from that feeling of vulnerability, a sense of exposure. And the questions are who am I going to spend my life with Relational questions, what am I going to do with my life? Career questions. And so they're asking it from a place of vulnerability because they need to find a career that's going to satisfy them, that's going to make sense of their skills and their abilities, all while providing sufficient resources for them.

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So I was talking with a student recently and we were discussing all of these things and as he was talking about his displeasure of like that feeling, he just in honesty said I hate not knowing. He could have just as easily said I hate being human, because to be human is to be limited in our knowledge, to be limited in our ability, our power to be limited. And so we do something with that hatred of that limitation, of that hatred of that finiteness. And so often when I'm in conversations I'll ask students who say something like that and they'll detail ways that they're trying to escape that feeling, to run from it, going to what they do have, whether it be resources, pleasure, relationships, whatever it might be. Are not our hearts the same? Don't we also run to those very things to escape that experience of vulnerability? There's a false hope there that if we just knew more, there's an apparent freedom in. If I just had the right choices laid out before me, then I would know, then I would have security.

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Peter Lightheart, he's a commentator and he's actually in this quote commenting on the fifth commandment to honor father and mother, but I think it has applications for us. But he's exposing in this, I think, the false hope of if I just knew more, if I just had more options. He writes the upcoming generation views themselves as self-made men and women, the buffered self, the isolated individual. Every man is an atom who molded himself from the dust, embarrassed by the belly button that bespeaks his dependence. Choice is the foundation of all moral actions and nearly any act is sanctified by consent, the magic word of the liberal order. Nearly any act is sanctified by consent, the magic word of the liberal order.

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But the fifth commandment explodes satanic myths of self-creation by teaching unchosen relationships have moral weight. That's a lot of words. In other words, what Lightheart's getting at is you didn't choose the relationship you have with your parents and yet there is moral responsibility, there is a duty that we have to love and to honor them. It's an unchosen responsibility. Similarly, as weird as this might sound, you and I, we didn't choose to be born human, to be finite, to be limited. But here we are. That's what we are One who, by definition, is vulnerable, who experiences exposure, who's limited in knowledge, and therefore we are dependent. You have an unchosen relationship in some ways with your creator as creature. He is infinite. You are finite, and how we interact with him can either honor or dishonor him for who he is and how he has made us.

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The good news, the beautiful news of this text, is that, no matter how up to this point in your life, you've chosen to relate to him as your creator, what we see in this passage that David repeats over and over, is not only is God our creator, but he is also our salvation. He's our savior, and so that's our final point, our rest and the only refuge. David he reminds himself of this truth speaks it first to himself in verse 5. He says for God alone. Oh my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He's talking to himself, as strange as that might sound, but that's what he's doing. Martin Lloyd-Jones was a preacher that once said have you ever realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself? Instead of talking to yourself, david is helpfully talking to himself here. He's saying oh my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. We need to do this.

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We're constantly bombarded with voices and invitations of other places we might turn to for refuge. So much so that CS Lewis puts it this way from the moment that you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals, and the first job of each morning consists in shoving them all back and listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting the other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. What CS Lewis, what Lloyd-Jones and what David have learned, and what they're holding out to us, is our need to listen first and foremost to the voice of God. And if you're wondering what that looks like, if you're wondering what your own voices are, that you need to push back, I would encourage you, if you haven't already, pick up the All of Life Guide. There's an All of Life Guide. There's a reflection that it leads you through to help you name the season of life that you're in, the rhythm of life, what are your first waking thoughts, what are those things throughout your day that you find yourself turning to? And there's also practices in there, one I'll just mention of that new city we participate in as Scripture Before Screens. It's an opportunity to hear the voice of God before any other voices, and so I would point you to that resource as a way to reflect more on this psalm and your life in general. Because when we do that, when we do listen for the voice of God first, what we'll hear is truths like verse 11 and 12. That, once God has spoken twice have I heard this that power belongs to God and that to you, o Lord, belongs steadfast love, for you will render to a man according to his work. In other words, god, you hold all power. You are able to protect me. God, to you belongs all loyal, all steadfast love. You are willing to protect me. We get to hear that truth when we sit under and listen for the voice of God, and there's amazing advantages that we have being New Testament believers. I've mentioned one already.

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We know how the story goes, as David gives this instruction to the people of God his own life. They don't do this. They fail. Isaiah gives a particularly blatant example of the people of God running to other false refuges when they turn back to Egypt. They're old oppressors. In Isaiah 30, he compares this running to Egypt for protection with a wall under pressure. Is this running to Egypt for protection with a wall under pressure, set to collapse at any moment. And I think the contrast to our passage is really, really interesting that the people of God, they listen to this empty promise of Egyptian aid and help. That seeming security is actually more vulnerable than what David names. Is his feeling a fence that's just about to fall over? It's breaking, as Isaiah says, is as easy as a potter's vessel. It is fragile For all its appearances of strength. It's a deception. There's no security there. And what Isaiah holds out to the people of God is an invitation that I think is consistent not only with our passage but throughout Scripture. In Isaiah 30, he says for thus said the Lord, god, the Holy One of Israel in returning and rest, you shall be saved. In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.

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Another advantage I think we have as New Testament believers is David is writing this. He doesn't know this, but the word that he's using over and over for salvation is actually Jesus's name. It's who he is, it's what his name means salvation. He is my salvation. So the great hope for God's people is not that when we're in shaky circumstances, that he will necessarily take us out of those or that he will give us something similar to a fortress. But what our passage says is he gives us himself. He is my refuge, he is my strength, he is my salvation. That's what we get to see over and over and over again throughout scripture.

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Paul, when he's writing to the church in Colossae, he says this about the position that they have. And Colossae, he says this about the position that they have For all who trust in Christ. This is their position. He says, for you have died, that is, you have died with Christ and your life is hidden with Christ in God. He's letting them know that because Christ is at the right hand of the Father in a position of authority, believers, you can be confident that there is no threat on the security of your life. You are hid with Christ, with God. Nothing, no attack, no vulnerability, no circumstance can take that security away from you. You're his in Christ life, hidden with God. Now I don't know how this is landing for you. Maybe you're thinking but I've run too often or I've run too far. There's too many places that I've gone to for refuge. How in the world can I be hid in Christ? And I'll just close with this amazing truth, I think from a children's story that I've found in this season of fatherhood.

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Not all children's stories are created equal, but this one I like. It's called the Runaway Bunny. It's very similar or very simple. It goes like this the little bunny comes to his mother and says I'm running away from you. And the mother says well, if you run away from me, I will run after you because you are my little bunny. And it says well, if you run away from, if you come after me, I will become a trout in a fish stream so I can swim away from you. And the mother bunny says well, if you become a trout in a fish stream, I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.

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And the little bunny just goes on to name all these things that he'll become to try and escape his mother. I'll become a mountain, I'll become a plant, I'll become a bird, I'll become a boat. And each time the mother answers well, if you become a mountain, I'll become a rock climber to come after you. If you become a plant in a hidden garden, I will become a gardener and come and find you. If you become a bird, I'll become the tree that welcomes you home. If you become a boat, I'll be the wind to blow you where I want you to go, that pursuing love that we cannot escape, it's what all of our hearts, I think, long for. We need to know that there is a love like that out there, and that's often what we're searching for when we need to know that there is a love like that out there, and that's often what we're searching for when we run to other places.

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But the hope of our passage and the hope of the gospel is that we actually have a refuge that runs after us, that comes to us, that gives us our security right where we need it most. And so, in essence, what we've said in our hearts is God, I'm running away from you, I don't need you, I'm actually going to become a God and live self-sufficiently. And the beauty of the gospel is he responds if you run away from me, I'm going to run after you. If you want to become a God and live self-sufficiently, I will become a man and I will die the death that you deserve to bring you back to myself, to bring you home. This is the security and the refuge that is held out to us, who find their hope and trust and refuge in God alone. And when we do that, when we learn to do that, both turning to that refuge for the first time or returning to it the thousandth time. When we learn to do that, we actually will be a compelling witness to an anxious world who's running to all these other places that we might hold out that hope that they can confess my refuge is God. It's an invitation.

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Let's pray. Father in heaven, you know every heart in here. You know the places they're experiencing vulnerability. You know the places that they're running to, as many as are represented in this room and for all that are represented in this room. They all share a similarity that they are deception. They actually won't provide any refuge, any refuge.

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And yet you, god, in your goodness, you tell us that, for, as powerful as you are, you also hold and to you all love, all steadfast love belongs to you and therefore we can return to you to find our rest and refuge in you alone. Would you turn hearts, even now, to the rest found in you? We pray in your powerful name, amen. Well, now this is the time in the service where we've heard from God's word and we want to just reflect for a moment, and so you probably can guess. The question I'm going to ask you is two parts. Where are the places you feel vulnerable and are tempted to run right now, and what would it be like if you believe that God actually ran after you in those very places to secure your rest? Reflect on those two questions and Jason will be up in a moment.