Lead ME to the Rock
CCCAG March 5th, 2017
Scripture: Psalm 61:1-3
Intro- Beginning small series of messages about being “hidden in God”
beginning today with studying Psalm 61.
Background on this Psalm- (Why Chronological bible reading is important)
It is written by King David of Israel. David had many children, from many wives, and this caused some friction within the home.
His first-born son was named Amnon, and Amnon fell in love with his half-sister Tamar. Instead of pursuing a normal relationship with her which may have been blessed by David even if it was against the Law of Moses, he tricked Tamar into his bedroom by faking a sickness and forced himself upon her. After this horrible act was completed, he threw her out and wanted nothing to do with her. Her full brother Absalom, David’s 3rd born son, found her- clothes torn, crying hysterically over what her half-brother had done. Absalom does nothing initially, but for 2 years is secretly plotting against Amnon until the time comes when he can kill him, which he does. Absalom fearing the King’s judgment, flees to his grandfather’s house for 3 years, until David relents and sends word that he has pardoned Absalom so he can return home.
Absalom repays the kings forgiveness by leading a rebellion against David, causing David and most of his household to run for their lives into the desert where he ends up in a stronghold which is a series of caves that you can hide in from your enemies.
Considering all of this- Put yourself in David’s shoes for a moment as he is now alone, and face to face with what has happened under his watch as king-
Your first-born son and heir to the throne is a rapist and his now dead- killed by the same son that is now trying to kill you. The same son that law and justice demanded be put to death for his crimes- yet you showed mercy and pardoned him.
Because of your weakness and your laziness how you ran your kingdom, all of your officials and most of your army have apparently turned their backs on you and followed Absalom.
All the people-your loyal subjects, who have loved you and supported your reign and rule have rebelled and installed Absalom as King.
As a result, the Kingdom that God has promised you is now seemingly being ripped away from you.
In one day, you’ve gone from living in the highest luxury as the most powerful man in the world at that time, to sleeping on a rock in a cave with barely a blanket to keep you warm.
This is where David is at right now.
David is filled with regret,
torn apart by sorrow,
and carrying the weight of his failures both as father and king,
so as an act of worship and contrition, he writes this powerful Psalm to show us how to react when our worlds fall apart, and we are feeling overwhelmed.
I’m going to break with my practice of using the NIV, and use the King James Version as I think it captures the beauty and poetry of the Psalms
To the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David.
Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
(Psa 61:1-3)
Prayer
Today we are going to look at David’s words, and see how he dealt with this horrible situation, and feeling completely overwhelmed by circumstances and situations in life.
I dare say, this might help a few of us who might be feeling the same way. Life in the 21st Century is all about being overwhelmed isn’t it?
Constant stimulus, constant news, constant information overload leaves us exhausted mentally, emotionally, and most important spiritually.
So let’s dig into our lesson today-
This Psalm teaches us several things that we can do when our lives seem to be falling apart, or the feeling of being overwhelmed seems to be choking the life right out of us-
The first thing this Psalm teaches us-
I. Seek Solitude
A. Ask for God to take you away (David-Lead ME to the Rock)
As Christians, Jesus is our example. Prior to the calling of the disciples, Jesus’ best friend and closest relative outside of his mother was John the Baptist. They were cousins, the probably grew up playing Hebrews and Egyptians, their version of cowboys and Indians. They most likely traveled many times to Jerusalem for the various required feasts, and shared their lives together until John’s calling to leave and go into the wilderness to prepare the way for Jesus to be revealed as Messiah.
John is taken prisoner and killed by evil King Herod. What does Jesus do?
Does he preach a message on the Kingdom of God suffering violence
Does he pull the disciples aside to tell them about the world hatred of them?
Does he call down fire from heaven on Herod’s palace and wipe him and his evil family from the face of the earth?
No
Matthew 14 says that Jesus withdraws alone into the wilderness.
Wait a minute- Jesus didn’t stick around and comfort his disciples?
No
Jesus didn’t proclaim Herod’s eventual death as judgment for this and his other atrocities that he and his fathers committed that columnated with the death of John the Baptist?
No
Jesus didn’t appear on CNN and lead a protest through the streets of Jerusalem saying “Baptists Lives Matter”
No
He withdrew.
Our natural reaction to being overwhelmed is to do something about it.
Pop a pill
Have a drink
Light a smoke
Punch a bag
Workout
Do something!
The bible’s answer is to stop, be silent, and ask for God to lead you to the rock that is higher than you.
When life has you against the ropes, and the punches keep coming and coming and coming
As for God to take you away with HIM.
You need time to process. You might need time to grieve. You may even, and this may be offensive to people like me that love showing the stiff upper lip to everyone-
but you may even need to shed a few tears over the situation.
Holding it all inside you is destructive to your spirit, and frankly is sinful pride in not wanting to look weak in front of others.
I admit- I suffer from this sin- it’s the way I was raised, and it was probably the way many of you were raised. I used to always tell a good friend of mine to “Cowboy up” when he would always show emotion about every little thing. I almost told his son the same thing on Facebook this morning when I was reading his status complaining about work, then I realized what I was preaching this morning and had to repent.
I was repeatedly told growing up “A real man needs to show strength and not let it show when he is weak, overwhelmed, or even sad. Never let the world see you sweat”
That’s pride. That’s saying “I don’t need you God- I can handle this on my own.”
This false bravado we try to show when we are overwhelmed is like taking balsa wood, shaping it into a circle, painting it metallic grey so it looks like metal, and carrying it like a we carry to show everyone how strong we are. The reality of that shield is that it might look strong, but anyone here could punch through it- it’s a projection of false strength.
Jesus on the other hand says “Come to me all you how are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”
That’s why after we get alone with God, we need to practice the next point
II. Hide yourself in God
A. Purposeful- (Lead me to the rock) Hide under a Rock
The video we watched before the message described how lobster’s grow- they have to crawl under a rock to be protected against predators, shed that outer shell, grow a bigger one, and then emerge to live their lives until it’s time to grow again or to get caught in a trap and end up on my dinner plate.
But it give us a valuable lesson- you can’t hide yourself with God if you keep your shell on.
The funny thing about us having these SELF-MADE walls up and Self Made shells on to protect us against the word-
They are always ultimately destructive to our spiritual walk with God.
Why? Because they are formed in the flesh- our desire to protect ourselves
That means that they are formed from our fear. Fear is the enemies tool, not God’s. Therefore if we are trusting in our own walls and shells, that’s why the enemy has free reign to harm and harass our lives.
Consider that for a moment, and then it will make sense now why you struggle with the same situations or sin over and over and over again?
You’ve allowed the enemy to form your shell, and he has all the keys to open the doors whenever he wants.
B. Let God reform your shell
Your job is to get alone, let Him lead you to a quiet place, hide you in the rocky fortress of HIS presence, and rebuild your shell into something the enemy no longer has access to.
The enemy isn’t going to like that. Satan doesn’t want to have to work to get at you and he will resist, tempt, fight and flail in your spirit until you pay attention him again.
That is why you need God to lead to you the rock, hide you in HIS awesome presence, and finally realize this fact-
C. God HIMSELF is your shell!
Let me ask you- do you want freedom from worry?
Freedom from anxiety?
Freedom from emotional pain
Make God your shell.
We have a promise if you do-
Psalm 91
9 If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
Verse 13- you will tread on the great lion
What is the devil called in the New Testament by Peter? A roaring lion
What is the devil called in the Old Testament? A serpent.
You will be able to stomp upon the devil’s head with impunity if you just make God your shield, your fortress, and the source of all of your strength.
How do we get there?
III. Cry Out!
A. Remember- God doesn’t like stiff upper lips (quick review)
Some people would point to God telling us to be bold and courageous therefore we need that stiff upper lip.
God telling people to be bold and courageous was not telling them to find something within themselves that would buck them up and give them strength- God was calling people to rest in HIS strength and courage.
We need to release all of that self-reliance to Him. We do that during our prayer time.
B. Use your Emotions!
God wants to hear our honest feelings about a situation.
God isn’t impressed with formal prayers. If you are going through the worst time of your life, or your whole day has fallen apart, do you pray like this?
“Lord, thou art high above all of the earth. I beseech thee to bend thine ear of providence toward thy humble servant, born of the dust to hear my supplication to thee. Mighty Sovereign God, may thy graces overflow upon thy worthless servant that I might lift my eyes to thee again with worship and mine heart be filled with thy peace and blessings”
I’m telling you, God fell asleep before you finished the first sentence.
Maybe you should pray honestly-
“God, help, I’m drowning here!”
If you have a 7 year old child in your care. They are out in the back yard playing on the swing-set and you’re in the house paying bills.
In the background, you hear the creak of the swing and laughter so you know all is ok. Then all the noise stops and you hear the back door open, and the sound of footsteps coming toward you.
This child enters the room with a slightly quivering lip, holding their arm that has a bend in it where it shouldn’t, and says-
“Oh lustrous adult, may you pay attention to my plight, and taketh me to the nearest place of healing so that this pain may be driven from my body and your child know health again?”
Is that a bit ridiculous?
Don’t you except to hear
“AAHAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I broke my arm!”
But that’s what we often do in prayer. God wants to hear the emotion. He wants to hear the honest feeling. He isn’t impressed with your slightly quivering lip that tries to hold in the emotion and pain.
He wants to know the problem, so HE can fix it.
That involves
C. Acknowledging your weakness
Many times, Christians remind me of a skit by Monty Python. There is this evil knight that is blocking the road and won’t let the hero pass by so a they pull out their swords and do battle. The hero manages to cut off the evil knights sword arm. Blood is spurting all over, and the evil knight refuses to yield the road, he picks up the sword with his other hand and continues to do battle.
So the hero cuts off his other arm.
Still the knight refuses to yield the road, running and bumping into the hero, so the main character cuts off his leg. The knight still attempts to do battle by kicking one legged at the hero stating, “It’s only a flesh wound! It’s only a flesh wound?”
Is this you?
Are you one that refuses to admit to God when you feel overwhelmed, or perhaps even have suffered some wounds in this battle we call life yet refuse to bring them before God for healing?
You need to acknowledge your weakness, your pain, and even your deepest darkest emotions, even if they are sinful. You need to admit to God when you don’t understand and may even be a bit angry with Him.
God wants to hear it.
Because to be honest, HE Already knows. He knows, and HE wants to heal you.
But you have to confess them. You have to humble yourself, admit you can’t do it on your own, and come to HIM
(Call for Tammie)
Seek solitude
Hide yourself in God
Cry out to HIM from that secret place
And you will know
His Strength
His Comfort
His peace
And HIS provision
And God will become your shield, your shell, and your protection so that you can live a life that honors HIM
All Rise
Prayer
Altar Call- Lead me to the rock.
