Confidence

The Psalms • Sermon • Submitted 9 months ago • Presented 9 months ago

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I was greatly moved this morning hearing for the first time the incredible, true story behind the hymn, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” In the 1800’s, a missionary from Wales who had endured severe persecution finally saw his first converts in a particularly brutal village in the Northern Indian province of Assam. A husband and wife, with their two children, professed faith in Christ and were baptized. Assam and its surrounding provinces was located in one of the most oppressive forms of Hinduism — a place where the caste system was entrenched, and where headhunters ruled. These provinces often prided themselves on the hostile reaction they gave foreigners. Their village leaders decided to make an example out of the husband. Arresting the family, they demanded that the father renounce Christ, or see his wife and children murdered. When he refused, his two children were executed by archers. Given another chance to recant, the man again refused, and his wife was killed. Still refusing to recant, this husband and father was martyred. Witnesses later told the story to the Welsh missionary. The reports said that when asked to recant or see his children murdered, the man said: “I have decided to follow Jesus, and there is no turning back.” After seeing his children killed, he reportedly said, “The world can be behind me, but the cross is still before me.” And after seeing his wife pierced by the arrows, he said, “Though no one is here to go with me, still I will follow Jesus.” The chief could not believe His ears and he killed the missionary. According to this missionary, when he returned to the village, a revival had broken out, and those who had murdered the first converts had since come to faith in Jesus themselves. I use to have friends in Nagaland in India, which borders Assam. Christianity according to the 2011 census is the third largest religion. In Nagaland, which borders Assam, the stats say that 88% of people are christian.

I have always loved that story, even though I may have shared it with you I wanted to share it again with you guys today. Confidence in God amidst persecution and adversity. The story is an extreme example of that. In Psalm 62, we face David during a time of calamity and what we learn, what we need to learn, is that even in the face of death we can have confidence in God. We can find confidence in God. We may face death like the missionary from India, or we may be facing something less serious but still hard to face. what we learn is that

Mankind and the world is unreliable and useless but through God alone do we find true rest.

1-2 - Confidence in God

The same structure as we had before. bookeneded with confidence in God with a reminder of who are salvation is in in the middle.

Psalm 62:1 CSB

1 I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

What a beautiful statement, it is only in God that I am at rest.

There are a few songs written based on this Psalm, and they usually say that my soul finds rest in God alone. And that confused me a bit for the words don't say that that I could see. Lets break it down a bit here. What this is referring to first is that our inner beings find rest in God alone. The part of us that thinks, that feels, that wills, that desires. Our very soul and everything that we are. we only find rest in God alone. That is rest for the whole self. We can have confidence in God alone and we will get a bit more into why in a bit.

am at rest is one word in Hebrew. It means the state of being silent. That is the idea of quiet expectation of something that is to come. Resting requires us to find confidence in who God is and what He has done. When we do that, we can quietly wait in silence for God to accomplish His will. It is hard to patiently wait on the Lord, to rest in Him content where He has l;ed you. This is not meaning we are doing nothing, that we are being lazy and not doing anything for God. But it is the fact of being content and patient for God to work in your life. It is a quiet trust that you know God’s will will come to pass.

But why can we do this? What do we find in God to give us this patient confidence in the Lord that no matter what comes our way we can wait in Him?

Psalm 62:2 CSB

2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.

This is possible because God alone is our rock, our stronghold, our refuge. We have been going through this idea as we go through the Psalms. Our refuge, who we run to and hide under whatever is going on in our lives. When we do this we will not be shaken. Because then it is not our strength but the strength of the Lord that is supplying us. It is the salvation of God that we wait for patiently. We can be saved now but it looks forward as well to a salvation that will come with the new Kingdom of God.

Man is unreliable

We turn to the next passage to see more of why we need to find this confidence in the Lord God. Why do we need to learn to patiently wait in Him and trust in Him alone? opposite of our faith and confidence in the Lord we have the other side of it in reference to man.

Psalm 62:3–4 CSB

3 How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you attack as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering fence? 4 They only plan to bring him down from his high position. They take pleasure in lying; they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. Selah

The “you” at the beginning of the verse is in reference to man, the ones attacking the children of God.

Man is destructive, selfish and deceitful. But even then we know that the Lord God will win. The only questions is How long oh Lord?

These people take pleasure in blessing outwardly while cursing inwardly. This is something that I have seen myself. I used to work at a massive Pig Barn. The one I worked in the most was where piglets where born. I worked with a lot of ladies. And I remember once having a conversation with them while castrating piglets (it was a bit of a weird job). Another lady came in and they talked to her like a good friend and when that Lady was out of earshot they said “oh I hate that woman, she is so annoying”

Women are not the only ones good at this, us men are prone to do this as well. Blessing outwardly but inwardly cursing. This is a useless behavior, the idea is that it is man that doesn't believe in God that acts this way. This is the opposite way that we aRE TO THINK.

Matthew 5:37 CSB

37 But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.

We are not meant to say one thing and do another we are to do as we say, to live properly to not be hypocrites. We can not trust in man for man is evil and brings nothing but hate in the end. Confidence needs to be in God alone, He is the only one that can provide hope.

God my salvation

Now we get to the middle, the center of the Psalm which points us to what we need to know. We put the focus back on our relationship with God and why we do this. This next message comes not as an action we are to do but the grammar changes to a command we are to follow.

Psalm 62:5–6 CSB

5 Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken.

Rest...

This is a different word for rest then what we read in the beginning, a different aspect when it comes to rest. On one side we silently wait for the Lord and then we are told it is also to stay and anticipate something. To stay in one place and anticipate something. The one place that we are to stay in is the Lord God. We anticipate the coming of Jesus again.

We all anticipate stuff, I anticipate the day when there is enough snow to ride my snowmobile again, crazy I know. I anticipate the day can fix my grandpa’s 1950 dodge and drive it to town. There are many things we anticipate but here we are reminded that we stay in the Lord and we anticipate the working out of His will and the coming of His kingdom. In God alone we stay, In God alone we rest. In God alone do we anticipate the coming of His kingdom. A country singer just came out with a song called I just want to go Home. He looks to what is going on in the world and just wants to go home to heaven and be done with it all. Are longing needs to be to do well on this earth for the glory of the Lord in anticipation of Jesus coming again.

We are to anticipate the hope that comes from God alone, especially when all seems hopeless. We are to anticipate the salvation of God that comes through faith in Jesus alone. We are to anticipate the strength that comes from God alone especially when we do not have the strength to do it on our own anymore. This is the confidence that comes from Faith in God, knowing that these things will come to pass.

Therefore, because of what we have learned we have a response that we are to have.

Psalm 62:7–8 CSB

7 My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God. 8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before him. God is our refuge. Selah

My Salvation and glory depend on God who we need to rest in, to trust in. So therefore...

Trust in Him we are told. Have confidence in God. The second thing that we are to do is pour out our hearts to Him. Worship God, pour out your heart to Him for He alone is worthy to be praised. Are we pouring out our hearts to God in the midst of all that we are going through. based on what we have learned here can we now pour our hearts out to Him?

Man is unreliable

Now we head back to the beginning. The theme repeats itself to prove a point. Why can we rest in God, to wait patiently for Him and trust in Him through all things? Why should we pour out our hearts to Him in all we do? Again because man is unreliable.

Psalm 62:9–10 CSB

9 Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion. Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor. 10 Place no trust in oppression or false hope in robbery. If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it.

All people, that is apart from God we see something here.

First this should remind you of the book of Ecclesiastes. You know That happy book that tells us how everything is meaningless. why do we trust in people, we do we care what others think of us. I used to care what people thought of me, and maybe I still do a little bit sometimes. No one likes to be thought weird or different. But it used to be that I would change my attitude to help myself fit in different crowds. Confidence needs to be in God alone.

Man apart from God will fail, like a vapor in the wind they will disappear and fall away. Do not set your heart on people or in wealth for they will go away in the end.

Confidence in God.

We end the same place that we started.

Psalm 62:11–12 CSB

11 God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: strength belongs to God, 12 and faithful love belongs to you, Lord. For you repay each according to his works.

God has spoken plainly and we gave heard it many times is what this is telling us.

We here it again and again plainly from the mouth of God that we see here in His word. Trust in God at all times of life is what this is telling us. Each are repaid according to our works and when we go to see Jesus will you or do you now confide in Him in all areas of you life.

So What?

Confidence in God, who He is and what He has done amidst adversity is what we are called to. The first of this is seen in our call to rest in God.

In God alone are we at rest.

We wait in silent anticipation of what is going to come. We wait patiently in anticipation of the promises of God that are going to come to pass one day. This is saying that we will trust God instead of trying to plan our own. way. God’s Kingdom is eternal and that is what we wait expectantly for. So we must rest in Him patiently following His will, for only through this will we have the strength to endure this life.

Therefore Pour your hearts out to Him

Because of all this why would we ever trust in anyone but God, why would we put our faith in people that have failed us or is going to fail us. What we must do is pour our hearts out to God. With our whole being we must live for God and praise God in complete confidence that His will come to pass.