LIVING ABOVE THE ORDINARY
Part 1: The Discipline of Solitude
There’s an old saying, one you’ve seen on many refrigerators and office walls before. It says, “It’s hard to soar with eagles, when you’re surrounded by turkeys.” In many ways that saying is true. It is also true that it can be very difficult to be a faithful disciple, to grow, mature, and become all God intended for you to be, when you’re bogged down with the worries of daily living, when you’re surrounded by people who seem unable to see beyond the next weekend or beyond the next mortgage payment as well.
In the past month or so we have looked at why we know there is a God. We looked at why we know the God we worship is the true, the one and only God. We examined ways you can tell for sure if you are a Christian. We also looked at how important it is that we apply what we know to life each day and how important it is that we grow beyond being baby Christians, to the point where we are being transformed into the image of the Lord we serve.
But you know, it’s one thing to say it; it is another thing entirely to do it. How do you go about becoming a disciple, how do you go about growing as a Christian and allowing the things we claim to believe impact our lives each day?
For the next couple of weeks I want us to examine the spiritual disciplines, the items we can put into our lives to help us to grow into what God planned for us.
Open your Bibles this morning and turn with me please to the book of Psalms. You will probably find that in the middle of your Bible unless you have a bunch of maps and such in the back of your Bible. Psalms chapter 46. Psalm chapter 46 and beginning in verse , as this morning we look together at the first step to living above the ordinary.
Psalm chapter 46 and beginning in verse 1.
- Read Psalm 46:1-11
This psalm was written during turbulent times in Israel. It was an uncertain time. There were a number of difficulties the writer of this song faced, many of them similar to the difficulties we face in this life. In the midst of them he says:
I. THERE IS NO FEAR
- Verses 1-3
It almost sounds like the psalmist was familiar with the headlines of the Orlando Sentinel, doesn’t it? Worrisome things are happening in our world today. During the past 20 years, earthquakes have increased at a phenomenal rate. Geologists are now looking toward a “Super quake in Yellowstone National Park, that they claim may someday wipe out most of the United States.
We remember the hurricanes that crisscrossed our state last year, and many of us duck our heads each time they name another storm. We look at the blizzards that paralyze our cities, the drought that shrivels and cracks our farm land, while some in our city worry their homes will flood. Some are beginning to cry, “What is happening in our world?
But as Christians, how are we to respond to all of this? The psalmist says, “I will not be afraid. My God has spoken to the wind and the waves and told them to be still, and they were. My Lord is still in command of the winds & the waves & the sea, & all of the elements of nature, I will not be afraid. God is my refuge and strength.
II. THERE IS SECURITY
- vv 4-7
Here he pictures nations in an uproar, kingdoms falling, of great changes taking place. It sounds like today doesn’t it?
Growing up, I am not sure I could tell you where to find Iraq on the map, “It’s one of those small African countries isn’t it?” Now we’re fighting a war there.
China? That’s the place that makes all of the cheap junk at the 5 & 10 cent store isn’t it. Today, it’s become one of the leading manufacturing and consuming nations in the world. It is largely because of construction going on there that our concrete and building materials continue to increase in price. India, that’s where ladies wear the dots on their foreheads isn’t it? Today, large numbers of American jobs are being outsourced there.
Nations are in an uproar, but we don’t have to be. The psalmist says, “I will not be moved. The Lord of Hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”
But, how do you look at the events in nature without fear? How do you look at the nations changing and not be filled with uncertainty? How do you as a believer, how do you as a disciple of Jesus Christ grow and rise above it all?
Look there in verse 10.
- Psalm 46:10
III. BE STILL
What does God command in the midst of all the changes? What does God tell us to do when the stress and pressure seems to be beyond our breaking point?
The Bible says, “Be still.” In the midst of it all, God says, “Be still.”
Have you noticed the amount of noise in our lives? There are so many things begging for our attention. There are radios everywhere; in your house, people carry them around on their hips when they’re walking or running. Often, we can’t seem to start our cars without turning on the radio, and if we choose not to, someone in the car next to us at the stop light ill make sure his is loud enough for us to hear it.
Our children want our attention. The boss wants to talk to us. We have phones constantly ringing. When you leave the house, you carry one with you so folks can get in touch with you.
You walk in the house and turn on the TV so the house won’t be so quiet. Someone has said that 3 words can summarize how most of us spend our lives - hurrying, worrying, & scurrying. But God says, “Be still.”
My friend, God can be your refuge, He can be your strength; but only if you stop long enough to listen; only if you stop long enough to let Him speak.
Jesus got so much done during the 3 years of His ministry, He had people wanting His attention all the time. Jesus, heal me. Jesus, come visit me. Jesus, teach me; and yet He always found time to get alone with God; to be quiet. Before He began His public ministry He went into the desert by Himself, fasting & praying for 40 days. He continued to seek quiet times during His ministry. He went away alone when He received news that His cousin, John the Baptist had been killed. After He healed the leper the Bible says, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” He went to be alone after He fed the 5000, before He was transfigured, and before His trial and crucifixion.
Listen to what Isaiah says:
> Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.
* Do you remember what it was like in the old days when you would buy salad dressing and you’d have to shake it to get it all mixed up? What would happen when you let it sit for a while? It’d separate.
My friend, muddy water becomes clear if you only let it be still for a while. The same is true of us. When we sit still, the stillness:
1. Gives us space to rethink our attitudes about people and events. It gives God the opportunity to change our perspective. We read in 1 Kings that Elijah was all upset. God had used him in a mighty way, but then the queen wanted to kill him. So he got alone and complained to God. God, I am the only one left. In the silence God spoke and said, “I have 7000 left in Israel who still love Me. You’re not alone.” We rethink our attitudes about people and events...
2. It takes the world off our shoulders for a time & interrupts our habit of constantly managing things, of being in control, or thinking we are. The psalmist looked, in the midst of the trials and remembered that God was still his fortress, that God was still in control.
HOW?
1. Get alone - Jesus talked of praying in your closet. Get alone.
2. Get your Bible -
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof and for instruction in righteousness.
3. Get your attitude checked -
- Philippians 4:8-9 Whatever things are true, serious, right, pure, loveable, well regarded, any virtue, anything admirable, let your mind dwell on them. What you have learned, received, heard & seen in me, do that. And the God of peace will be with you.
Jesus said, Come unto Me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
How do you grow as disciples? How do you rise above it all? Get alone with God.
