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Beauty from Terrible Situations
It’s a beautiful psalm we just read. In his email to the worship leaders, what Simon said captures the beauty of this psalm very well. He said,
It touches on distress, faith, resilience, trust, peace, gladness and more. In other words, this short psalm traverses the multitude of experiences we face in life.
Yes, it traverses the multitude of experiences we face in life. It is a beautiful psalm but what the writer experienced at the moment was not that beautiful. So, we have to examine what the writer went through when he wrote this psalm. What was the background? What was he experiencing? What struggle did he have?
This psalm is connected with Psalm 3 and Susan Gillingham, a professor at Oxford University said that it can be seen as a twin psalm with Psalm 3. Let me read Psalm 3 for you. You can see how much trouble the writer went through.
O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying to me,
‘There is no help for you in God.’
But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
I am not afraid of tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.
Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people! (Psalm 3)
We can see that he was in a stressful situation. He was attacked and criticized. He was condemned by people.
Listen to his confession.
O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying to me,
‘There is no help for you in God.’ (Psalm 3:1, 2)
When you read Psalm 3 in the Bible, you will see a little note at the top and it says,
A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
When you were chased by your own son who tried to kill you, how could you be happy with your situation? How could that be a beautiful circumstance? I don’t even want to think about it. It was a terrible situation. It probably was the most painful experience David had in his life.
But from this horrible situation, came out such a beautiful poem. That’s the reality of life. Beautiful things come from the ugliest situation. Beautiful art, profound thinking, fabulous people, magical writing: they often come from terrible and difficult situation. That is the reality. That is the silver lining of the hardships we go through.
When life is comfortable, we human beings don’t think. We are not stimulated enough to come up with creative ideas. We don’t dig deeper. We cannot enjoy the true taste of life.
But when life is difficult, we become creative. Creativity blooms in the soil of hardship. When hardships come, our heart is ready to produce creative things.
Confidence
But so often, we are so weak and fearful that we just want comfort and safety. We feel threatened. We are scared that we will be destroyed. We don’t have the confidence to fight the problems we face.
So, to live a creative life, we have to have confidence that we can handle our difficult situations. We have to have the confidence that there are always SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS WE FACE. We should not shrink when we see the problems. See, our theme this year is “Open Wide”, Not “Shrink.” Last week, Simon preached a beautiful sermon about “Power that expands” and shared his own experience of expanding.
Wasn’t it the prayer of Jabez?
Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm! (1 Chronicle 4:10)
Enlarge my border!
I don’t think he meant just the physical territory. He meant to expand his heart and expand his life. I often said at the Bible studies, you can expand your heart only when it is torn apart. Our suffering tears our heart apart but in the end, our heart will be able to expand when it is torn and healed.
If you want to live a creative life, you have to have confidence. Period. Don’t shrink yourself because of challenges, problems, failures, and criticisms.
There are a lot of good traits David had but the most notable characteristic of David was his confidence. Confidence was what defined him and distinguished him from all others. The best story that showed David’s confidence was the story of his fight with Goliath. He had confidence in front of the huge and powerful enemy, Goliath. What David needed was not a bronze helmet, a coat of mail, or a big sword. What he needed was confidence. That’s why he took off all of them and went out with a stone. David’s best weapon was his confidence. We can see his confidence in Psalm 3.
I am not afraid of tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around. (Psalm 3:6)
In today’s Psalm, we can see his confidence too.
Answer me when I call, O God of my right!
You gave me room when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)
ANSWER ME, BE GRACIOUS TO ME, HEAR MY PRAYER.
He uses the imperative mood. It was almost like telling God what to do. But it wasn’t his arrogance but his confidence. He had relationship with God in this confidence. We should not mistake confidence as arrogance. It was not arrogance of taking God lightly but it was confidence of a certain bond he had with God. Because he believed that God was with him, he could have confidence.
He said,
you gave me room when I was in distress.
In distress, he didn’t shrink. He experienced that he expanded. God gave him room. God made him bigger.
He was cornered by people. People criticized him, insulted him, and made him feel small. But he didn’t shrink. He didn’t let them intimidate him. We see him rather rebuke them.
How long, you people, shall my honour suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies?
But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him. (Psalm 4:2, 3)
Criticisms
People can hurt us by their criticisms and misunderstanding. There are some good criticisms and we need to listen to them. Those criticisms will help us greatly and make us grow. We can be a bigger person as we are humble enough to take heed to those good criticisms. But not all criticisms are worth hearing. Those criticisms are based on misunderstanding, prejudices, and false information. Instead of listening to their false accusations, we need to look to God. That was what David did. He received so many accusations and criticisms, but he looked to God.
There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good!
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!’ (Psalm 4:6)
It is the same as what God instructed Moses to tell Aaron. We call it Aaronic blessing. We heard the beautiful chorus today of that song.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. (Numbers 4:24-26)
God blesses us, keeps us, and makes his face to shine upon us. God will be gracious to us and give us peace. This God is with us always. We will be all right. This gives us the confidence. Let us live with this confidence. Our life will change. Darkness will move away from us and the light will fill our life.
I like verse 7 and 8 of today’s psalm.
You have put gladness in my heart
more than when their grain and wine abound.
I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. (Psalm 4:7, 8)
Last week, I was texting with my son, Joshua. He told me that it wasn’t when he had celebratory moments that he felt God’s love but it was when he went through hardships. I told him I am glad that you start experiencing the spiritual reality of life.
Joy from Faith
The joy you get from the abundance of grain and wine is nothing compared to the joy God puts in our heart. It is the joy of faith and it will never disappear from you. When we go through hard times, we feel God more closely. Our body is made that way. When danger comes, our body produces certain hormones so that we can fight it. When we go through hard times, we feel God more closely because we need God. And this God will give us joy and this joy is our strength. That is the same joy St. Paul talked about when he said, rejoice always.
I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.
Reading this passage, I was thinking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today is the second Sunday after the Easter. Psalm 4 is the evening Psalm. Evening means the twilight years of our life. When we go to sleep, trusting that God will keep us safe and give us rest, we can have a good sleep. Every evening, I leave everything to God. And when I open my eyes, it’s in the morning. I don’t know how I fell asleep.
Joshua sent me this quote.
Put in the work and wait on God.
When we close our eyes in our final day, if we do that with that attitude, we will wake up in the new world and face a bright morning with the Lord. That is the hope of resurrection Jesus gave us.
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