Strength
The Wardrobe • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Often in the description of God, the Bible gives us aspects of His character by telling us about what He wears or what He provides for us. For example, last week we talked about how the authority of God is displayed in a sword on His thigh, a scepter in His hand, and a suit of fragrance on His back.
Sometimes part of God’s wardrobe cannot be described materially but rather in a way of what it does. For example, the Lord’s Name is mentioned over 100 times in Psalms. Each time there is a reference to His character and attributes as they are revealed to mankind. In our passage for today, Psalm 5:11-12, we see that His name means protection and favor. Both of those words indicate the attribute of strength. Listen to these verses:
But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
We will look at the strength of the covering, the strength of the calming, the strength of the conserving and the strength of the comforting.
The Strength of the Covering
The Strength of the Covering
The covering is described as one that is spread. We see it mentioned in our text in the phrase, “spread your protection over them.” I envision some kind of cloak that is like a garment as it stretches from God and covers those who have taken refuge in Him. Most modern translations use the idea of this covering as one that is spread out. The New American Standard Versions uses “shelter” while the New King James Version uses “defends.” All of them depict some type of covering that is designed as the protection of God for His people.
O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,
who shields my head in the day of battle—
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
When this happens, we see the results in the strength of God’s covering. The first result that comes to my mind, is just what happens in this text, gladness and singing for joy. In other words, the strength of the covering results in praise.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
All that God has done for us and continues to do for us should immediately result in praise. All that God is and has been and forever will should result in praise.
Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
The strength of the covering also results in a promise that has been fulfilled. Our text reveals the promise that God protects and blesses the righteous. As the covering is spread over the righteous, we see God’s promise constantly being fulfilled.
My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life.
The promise of God preserves my life. What strength we can find in that promise. This promise is for everyone.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
The strength of the covering also results in power. There is no greater power than the power of God Almighty. It is not something we can achieve but everything through Him we can experience.
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
There is strength in the covering and the result is seen and found in the power of God. The strength also produces a sense of calming.
The Strength of the Calming
The Strength of the Calming
The opposite of calm is being agitated or in a frenzy. However I text says:
But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Can you sing for joy if you are agitated or frenzied? When God has spread over us His protection and in doing so He provides for us a phenomenal sense of calm. God’s presence is the most reassuring gift of all. Knowing that the Creator of the universe is present with me is most reassuring.
The Lord told Moses in Exodus 33:14:
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
The sense of the Lord’s presence gives great calming. We can have it now and in the future.
May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
God’s presence gives us peace. That promise of peace gives us such strength in calmness.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Are you experiencing the peace of God? We have been through the worst year of our generation. Our church has not met physically since March. We are required to wear face masks when we go to the grocery store. We have an economy that is in turmoil. We have things happening that we have never experienced before. We have loved ones and friends that have been stricken with this horrible disease. We have had every reason to not have any peace. Yet, God desires for us and had designed for us the opportunity to have strength of calming and He gives us a sense of peace.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
When you get this peace, you will also recognize that God in the strength of calming will provide for us everything we need. God gives is this sense of calming by providing everything we need.
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
God provides for His people and gives them a path to go down.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
God provides through His strength by calming the temptations we face.
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
How calming is the strength of God! When He covers us with His protection He also gives us the strength of conserving.
The Strength of the Conserving
The Strength of the Conserving
Sometimes, we are at our best when we are still and not going about what we think is God’s business. There is a principle implied in this passage of conserving. If something is spread over us we are going to stay put until that which we are protected from passes by. In those cases, the Bible tells to be still.
“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
When we are still, we know we are covered and we can be calm. When we are calm, we can conserve our energies and even be recharged in the presence of our Protector. This saves us from being more of a basket case. Our emotions are preserved. Jesus stated it best on the mountain top when He gave what we have as the Sermon on the Mount.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
You know if you think about it, all worry amounts to is imagination. You are playing a game in your mind of “what if’s.” “What if this protection does not last until the danger has passed?” What if this financial problem is not solved?” “What if I can not get through this sickness?” When we worry, our emotions begin to rule us and we are not living in the strength of our God. When we preserve our emotions, we can get our expectations purposed. We are not focusing on the negative aspects that will cause us worry. Rather, we are recognizing that in God’s strength, we are about His purpose and need not worry about anything else.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.
Do you want to know His purpose for your life? The Bible says simply to cry out to Him because He fulfills His purpose for me. When we have His protection spread over us, we can know He has a purpose for us. We also know that He will give us experiences of prosperity.
Be careful to give into what I call the prosperity gospel of naming it and claiming it. This is not what it being shown here with God’s strength. We cannot just say “Lord, I claim I am an millionaire,” then run out and buy a lottery ticket. God’s laws are pretty clear. We need to do the work.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
In doing so, God will reward our work.
Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers,
Another example is found in Job 22:21:
“Submit to God and be at peace with him;
in this way prosperity will come to you.
The strength of the Lord gives us protection as a covering that is calming and conserving. It also gives us great comfort.
The Strength of the Comforting
The Strength of the Comforting
Notice again these two verses:
But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield.
As we take refuge, we are glad. As we take refuge, we can sing for joy. As we receive His protection, we can rejoice because God is our Strength. Notice the last part of verse 12, “You surround them with Your favor.” What promise of all promises to receive the favor of God! The favor of God is His deliverance and protection. In Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9. we see Daniel praying
Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
Notice what brings the favor of God, “turning from sin and giving attention to His truth. When we are covered in the protection of God and it is spread over us, we are going to recognize that our selfishness needs to go away so we can experience His favor. What a prayer that is for us today! When we are surrounded with His favor, we are secure with the Father.
He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
Finally, notice the comfort that comes by being strong with faith. The Psalmist refers to a shield as an example of God’s surrounding. You may remember in Ephesians 6 there is a beautiful description of the armor of God. Specifically in Ephesians 6:16, the Bible says:
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
The strength of God gives us great comfort that is strong with a shield called faith.
I love how Peter declares it:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.