OPEN: A Sunday School teacher once asked her students: “What do you think God looks like?” These were some of the answers:
- He looks like Billy Graham.
- He’s an old man because of all the years He’s been alive.
- He looks like a human being with a heart, feet, eyes like fire, and… He shampoos his hair everyday.
- He’s tall, gray hair, yellow skin… and brown sad eyes just like my puppy’s
- He looks like my daddy. He’s tall. He wears a jumpsuit on weekends and has a bald head.
- He looks like Jesus, but I’ll tell you a secret. I’m not sure ‘cause I’ve never seen him.
- I think He’s an old man with a long, gray beard. And He sits on a throne like a king, and drinks all the Dr. Pepper He wants.
You see, that is what young children think about when they think of God.
But when we read Psalm 138, we find that David was not a young child when he wrote this. He was a man who was approximately 40 yrs. old (and some Scholars believe he’s about to become the King of all Israel). And in this Psalm, David tells HIS own description of who God is.
And it’s summed up in verse 6:
“ Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.” Psalm 138:6
That’s another way of saying what God tells us in James 4:6
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
This is David’s God.
He’s a great God, who loves little people.
He loves the lowly, the insignificant, the small people.
God may be WAYYY up high, but He looks down with kindness on the lowly. It’s only the so-called “impressive”, the proud, the significant people of this world… that don’t impress Him.
Isaiah said it this way:
“(God) tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”
He Cares For You!!!
And Isaiah continues: “WHO has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? WHO has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? WHO has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? WHOM did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? WHO was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?”
ANSWER: nobody. God is WAYYY up there… WAY UP THERE.
Then Isaiah says “Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing...”
The “impressive people” aren’t all that impressive to God.
IN FACT (Isaiah says) “He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing…”
“Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
HE’S WAY UP THERE!!!
But then Isaiah tells us: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:11-31)
Our God is a great God who loves small people.
He cares for the weary and the weak and the tired and struggling.
That’s what David is saying in Psalm 138.
Our God is a great God… He’s wayyy up there, but He’s not so far away that He can’t listen to the humble prayer of a humble man/woman.
In the Gospel of Luke Jesus tells this parable:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men— robbers, evildoers, adulterers— or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
"I tell you that THIS MAN, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14
Our God is a great God who loves small people.
This is NOT ONLY a major theme throughout Scripture; this was a major theme in David’s relationship with His God.
You remember how David was selected to be the 2nd King of Israel?
In I Samuel 16, we find that God tells his prophet Samuel that He had rejected Saul as king of Israel because Saul had become too arrogant and disobedient.
So, God sent Samuel down to Bethlehem to anoint the next King of Israel who apparently was going to be one of the 7 sons of a man named Jesse. Samuel arrives at Jesse’s house and invites him and his boys to a special sacrifice. At some point in this worship time, Samuel has Jesse parade his sons before him. And as each of Jesse’s sons passes before Samuel, they’re each impressive specimens of manhood. But as each of the boys comes before him… God says to Samuel: “NO.”
"Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7
Jesse eventually runs of boys to bring before Samuel so Samuel asks him: “Are these all the sons you have?"
And Jesse replies “Well… there is my youngest boy, but he is tending the sheep."
And Samuel says: “Go get him”
When David arrives Samuel sees that he’s just a boy.
He’s SHORT of stature
And he was the LEAST of all the sons of Jesse.
Something of an afterthought.
But God chose David anyway.
And do you know WHY God chose him?
God chose David because he was a humble boy who loved God and was willing to live for Him.
And now, David is about to become the King of all Israel.
At this point of his life he KNOWS the truth of the statement:
“Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly…” Psalm 138:6
He was a lowly shepherd boy when God chose Him. And God took that lowly shepherd boy and exalted him to become king of all Israel.
David KNOWS that.
So now, he’s going to sing His God’s praises.
And his objective in his song is to praise God so powerfully that all the mighty will hear it and be challenged, and the lowly will hear it and be comforted.
But in order to accomplish that objective, David has a very specific audience he plans to sing to:
“I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise.” Psalm 138:1
Before the gods???
Who are these gods?
Well… the gods were forces that people put their trust in.
They were the forces that people worshipped and honored in their lives.
And in the days of David, those forces were idols made of wood, stone or metal, that the pagans made their sacrifices to.
In Isaiah 44, God mocked this kind of foolishness.
He talks about a man going out and cutting down a tree:
“Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm; I see the fire."
From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says, "Save me; you are my god."
They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, "Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?" Isaiah 44:16-19
It was absurd!
Bowing down before a lifeless piece of wood.
And yet thousands of people did just that.
EVEN Israelites were doing this!!!
They grew so timid about their faith in the God of Scripture that began to embrace the gods of wood and stone that their neighbors worshipped.
Why would they do that?
Because it seemed so bigoted and biased to say that 1000s of pagan worshippers would be wrong. So, they simply decided to be “good neighbors.”
And after awhile they began to combine the worship of their God with the idols their neighbors liked to decorate with. I mean – after all – if one God is good, several gods have got to be better.
But David refused to sit idly by and let the false gods have ANY credit whatsoever. He declared: I’m going to witness to the people who bow down these gods. I’m going to praise the REAL GOD before folks whose eyes are plastered over, whose minds are closed, who have no knowledge or understanding.
Paul preached essentially the same kind of message because he was convinced: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16
Peter preached essentially the same kind of message when he stood the Sanhedrin and declared “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
Both Paul and Peter stated what David said in front of the false gods of his day:
I’m not ashamed.
I’m not embarrassed.
I’m not uncomfortable in what I believe.
I AM convinced and so I will boldly declare:
God is Right… and you’re Wrong!
Your eyes may be plastered over.
Your minds may be close.
And you may have no knowledge or understanding.
But I KNOW God… and I will boldly stand before you and declare God’s will to a godless world.
ILLUS: Years ago I was in a heated discussion with a couple of professors at a secular college. I don’t remember the discussion completely but I do remember it had to do with the truthfulness of Scripture. And I also remember I wasn’t doing very well in the discussion.
These were – after all – college professors. I was just a young man. And as professors they were supposedly are better educated that the rest of us. And it was obvious they were convinced of that “truth.” They were educators and their intent was educate me.
What I do remember of that conversation was that at one point, one of them said,
“Let’s look at this from an unbiased point of view”
What he meant was – I was biased and he wasn’t.
At that point I remembered something I’d been told a couple of years before:
There is no such thing as an “unbiased” point of view!
They were biased AGAINST God and His Word.
And I was biased FOR God and His Word.
Once I realized that truth, they no longer intimidated me.
David was saying: “I’m not intimidated by the false gods of the pagans.”
In fact - I’m so not intimidated - I will praise my God in front of these false gods.
Nowadays (for the most part) people don’t bow down to those kinds of idols anymore
· But they do bow down before false religions.
· They bow down before false philosophies.
· And they bow down before false thinking.
If God is right, then all those things that set themselves against Him are wrong.
It’s that simple.
If God is right… all other religions, philosophies and viewpoints are false.
The only question then is: Why are they false.
I may not fully understand why a religion or philosophy or viewpoint is wrong, but if I KNOW that God and His Word are faithful and true I won’t let those who believe in those false gods no longer intimidate me. Eventually, I’ll find out WHY those false things were false to begin with. But until that time, I’ll stand firm because I have committed myself to God and His Word.
We need to be convinced that WE ARE BIASED for God.
And we don’t need to be ashamed of that.
We need to SHOUT along with Paul
“I am NOT ASHAMED of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16
And we need to proudly stand beside Peter and say “Salvation is found in NO ONE ELSE, for there is NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
Paul and Peter were not ashamed.
And David was NOT ashamed.
David stood up boldly because he found that God had made him “…bold and stouthearted” (vs 3)
And so, with ALL HIS HEART, he was willing to stand up before the gods of the pagans and say “NO! That’s not right.
I will praise my God in front of you.
I will praise him for his love and faithfulness.
And I will not be satisfied until I’ve had a chance to praise you - even before Kings
To paraphrase a saying by Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of false religion, false philosophies and false points of view, is for Godly to say nothing!"
David refused to be silent.
He proudly and confidently stood up and said “My God is better than your god.”
My God has far more to offer you than anything this world clings to.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION: John Mays told of being on his honeymoon in the Bahamas.
One day, while he was out on the beach a man walked up to him and said, "Would you like to buy some cocaine? You can tell everyone how much you really enjoyed the Bahamas."
After I said "No!" and got over the shock of that man's boldness, I wondered how Jesus would have responded if someone came up to him selling drugs.
Later that day, someone else came up to me selling drugs and that gave me another chance to share Jesus with them in a most creative way. After he told me that he had the "good-stuff," I asked him, "What have you got?"
Once he said "Cocaine!” I said the following:
"Is that all you’ve got? Well, I'm disappointed! I was hoping you would have something better than that. You see, I've got the real thing! What I have is all-natural, pure and very powerful. And it makes me feel great all day and all night. And get this, it may be illegal in some countries, but not in this one so you can't get arrested for having it!"
By this time the man was very curious and asked me what is this incredible "stuff" I was talking about.
I said, "I'm talking about having Jesus in your heart! It's awesome what he will do for you when you get him inside of you! No drug in all the world is as good as having Jesus in you."
The man stopped smiling and got this real serious look on his face and said, "I want what you have. How do I get it?"
How could John Mays witness so effectively to a drug dealer?
He was able to do that because he was not ashamed of the Gospel. He was not intimidated by a man who embraced one of the lies of this world. Mays knew what he believed, and why he believed it. And because he knew who God was and what God offered, he could make a difference in the life of this one lost man.
But you can’t know that kind of confidence, and you can’t make that kind of differenced until you belong to Jesus yourself.
INVITATION
