CW-A - Psalm for the day - Advent 1 Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Psalm 18 (verses in Christian Worship) 2, 16a, 17a, 19,28,27,35
What did you watch this week?
What made you able to watch it?
{2}The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. {16}“The Lord reached down from on high and took hold of me; {17}He rescued me from my powerful enemy.” {19} “The Lord brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.” {27}“Lord, you save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.” {28}You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning. My God turns my darkness into light. {35} You give me your child of victory, and your right hand sustains me.
A1 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” {Mt 24:42}Jesus said that. “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.” {Rom 13:11} St. Paul wrote that. So with the Lord’s help we are watching for Jesus to return. What is the hardest part about watching? Waiting. Why is it so hard to wait? Because we don’t have anything to grab on to. Nothing to see. I haven’t ever seen God. I haven’t even seen Jesus as some of the first disciples did. It is hard to relate to somebody you can’t see.
2 Most of the people around us in our world would say something stronger than that. Jesus has said He was coming back when He left. That was almost 2,000 years ago. Hasn’t happened. Won’t happen. Give up on the idea. There has been absolutely nothing that would indicate there was anything to the promise. Nobody has seen Jesus since he left. He hasn’t even made an attempt to give people some visual reinforcement that He is around yet and can return. Somebody whom you can’t see is nonexistent.
B1 Now listen to David’s description of this Lord in the verses before us today. {2}“The Lord is my rock.” A rock is something hard that doesn’t seem to change much. David in the midst of running here and there and changing from this to that form of self-preservation had come to the realization that the Lord is Somebody strong who doesn’t change much. When everything around me in life is changing, the Lord doesn’t. When everything around me in life is crumbling, the Lord doesn’t. No. I haven’t seen God. But, with David I know that the Lord is my Rock. Nice feeling. Comforting.
2 “The Lord is my fortress.” {2} Ancient fortresses were made from rocks. But there is an additional thought here. A fortress keeps me safe. David had gone into some walled cities of the Philistines on occasion to make use of their city walls vs Saul. Where do I go when I do not feel safe spiritually? To the Lord who is my fortress. Where do I go when I don’t feel confident spiritually? To the Lord who is my fortress. Where do I go when I feel I am being spiritually assaulted? To the Lord who is my fortress. No. I haven’t seen God. But with David I know that the Lord is my fortress. Nice feeling. Comforting.
3 “The Lord is my deliverer.” {1}Who can get me out of jams I put myself into? The Lord my deliverer. Who can get me out of situations that are dangerous for my faith? The Lord my deliverer. Who can get me out of situations that are dangerous to my godliness? The Lord my deliverer. No. I haven’t seen God. But with David I know that the Lord is my deliverer. Nice feeling. Comforting.
4 “Your right hand sustains me.” {35} Where can I go to get strength to make it through the day? The Lord who sustains me. Where can I go when my faith is sagging? The Lord who sustains me. Where can I go when my godliness is drooping? The Lord who sustains me. No. I have not seen God. But with David I know that the Lord is the one whose right hand sustains me. Nice feeling. Comforting.
C1 How do I keep on patiently waiting for Jesus to return? Knowing that in the mean time the Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer and my sustainer helps me to be patient. Sinful human being that I am, on my own I would not believe this about God. I would not know this about God. How does it come about that I not only know it but believe it? The Lord has given me this knowledge from the Scriptures. The Lord has worked in me the faith to believe it from the Scriptures. I haven’t seen God. But I have been given faith. Nice feeling. Comforting.
2 David puts it in this way {28}“You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning. My God turns my darkness into light.” No. I haven’t seen God. I am totally in the dark about spiritual matters on my own. But God through His Word takes away my darkness and keeps His lamp burning as He blesses me with regular opportunity to use His Word. God opens my spiritual eyes. I can see. One of the things God lets me see with my spiritual eyesight is Him.
IIA1 “The Lord reached down from on high and took hold of me; He rescued me from my powerful enemy.”{16 & 17)} We don’t have to speculate as to which enemy David was thinking of. Verse one of the Psalm in Hebrew says: “David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.” This enmity was very obvious. It went from throwing a spear at him when he was playing the harp. To trying to get him killed in battles with the Philistines. To ordering Jonathan, David’s best friend and the king’s son, to kill him. To trampling all over the territory with part of the army trying to catch David. This was real enmity.
2 We know the Lord did rescue David. David avoided the spear. He was successful in all the engagements with the Philistines. He was protected and given advice about his safety from Jonathan. He and his band of followers escaped from the army of Saul no matter how tight a corner they seemed to be in. Ultimately the Lord removed Saul not only from his position as king but also from this earth. David became king. He had been rescued from his powerful enemy.
B1 When we look around ourselves, it doesn’t appear as if we have any enemies. Or at least any effective enemies. I don’t think any of us have someone like King Saul who is overtly attempting to end our lives. I think that most of us don’t have someone who is intentionally trying to make our lives miserable. Most of us don’t have someone who is intentionally trying to take away our livelihood or our reputation or our health.
2 When we look around ourselves, it doesn’t appear as if we have any spiritual enemies either. Or again I should say any effective enemies. Although other world religions have as their goal the destruction of Christianity, up to this point in the history of our world it has not happened. Most of us don’t have someone in our lives who is intentionally trying to make us doubt what we believe. I don’t think many of us have anybody in our lives who is intentionally trying to make us into godless people.
C1 In spite of the way things might appear we are surrounded by spiritual enemies. In fact the appearance that there is no spiritual enemy around might be the biggest enemy there is. What happens when there appears to be no spiritual enemy? We tend to fit right in with the attitudes of all the people in the world around us. And what is the attitude of most of the people in the world around us? Self-sufficiency. Life is about me. Life is about self-actualization. God? God is the farthest thing from our mind. Never think about Him. He’s not important. That attitude is an enemy. That attitude is attacking us all the time.
2 What happens when there appears to be no enemy who is trying to undermine our godliness? We let our guard down by not always having God’s standard ready as a point of comparison. We begin to go along with our own personal evaluations of things. We tend to do things or say things on the basis of whether it feels right or is comfortable for me. What happens then? Well, what do you think happens when our own sinful self is left to determine whether something is good for us to be doing or not? Our sinful self is an enemy. Probably the most powerful enemy we have to face every day.
D1 What is probably the most dangerous thing in our lives as we are watching for Jesus to return? Complacency. Life is good. No major difficulties. No major challenges to my faith and godliness. I guess I can just settle in. What is the problem with that attitude? We are not seeing our enemies.
2 How does it come about that I am aware of my spiritual enemies? The Lord gives me that knowledge in the Scriptures. There He warns me of the world and my sinful self - my spiritual enemies. David wrote: {28}“You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” I am totally in the dark about spiritual matters on my own. But God through His Word takes away my darkness and keeps His lamp burning as He blesses me with regular opportunity to use His Word. God opens my spiritual eyes. I can see. One of the things God lets me see with my spiritual eyes is my enemies.
IIIA1 How would you describe life? Most people say life is a challenge. It is a challenge to become educated in a way that makes us able to do something by which we can support ourselves. For some the educational system itself backs them into a corner out of which it is very difficult to get. For some the competitive job market is a corner into which they don’t like to be backed. It is a challenge to keep relationships with other people on a level that is beneficial for all involved. For some this is such a burden that the attempt is no longer approached. It is a challenge to stay healthy. For some this alone makes life a burden that sometimes is impossible to bear.
2 David writes: {19} “The Lord brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.” The Lord delights in us. He loves us. Because He loves us, He brings us into a spacious place. He gets us out of those corners into which life backs us. How does He do that? Very often by reminding us that He loves us and is with us and will rescue us from our tight corners either in this life or by taking us from this life. With the Lord and His promises of benefit in my life I don’t feel as cornered when I am being challenged educationally, professionally, in my relationships in life or with health issues. I can live life challenged but confident.
B1 How do you approach life? Most people approach life as consumers. You approach situations and you use them to try to take out of them whatever benefit you can for yourself. You have relationships with people to try to take out of them whatever benefit you can for yourself. You get things to try to use them for whatever benefit you can for yourself.
2 David writes: {27}“Lord, you save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.” The Lord loves us. The Lord serves us. God the Son came into our world to serve us. He did so by taking our sins, suffering our punishment. He did so by taking our place in this world and never sinning. He did so by providing us with forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life. How do we approach life? From David’s words it is obvious that the Lord would have us approach life as He did. As a servant. Use the situations in life to benefit others. Use your relationships in life to benefit others. Use your goods in life to benefit others. That is being humble.
C1 What are we doing with our lives as we are watching for Jesus to return? We are going about our daily lives. To quote Jesus in the Gospel lesson “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” There are two ways in which we can be going about these things. We can be either - to quote Paul in the epistle lesson- engaged in : “orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery, dissension and jealousy.” Or, “ we can “behave decently as in the daytime, clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and not thinking about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
2 As a sinful human being I would walk in life totally focused on overcoming the challenges, totally focused on selfgratification. How does it come about that I can be confident and a servant? David wrote: “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning, my God turns my darkness into light.” God through His Word helps me to see how I ought to walk and then makes me able to walk that way.
Lord Jesus, continue to lead us into Your Word so that Your Light makes us able to see You, see our enemies, and see how we ought to walk. Then we will be able to keep on watching.