Relationships

Ley us begin our worship: To God Be The Glory

Please join me in prayer

he Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.

Please share with me in the Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

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Lets join in and sing Majesty Worship His Majesty

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Relationships

Relationships can throw our whole lives into turmoil, can’t they? One harsh word, one stern look can completely ruin your day. One difficult relationship can completely ruin your life. What we need in that place is something … or someone we can depend on.

What I want to look at today is that horrible feeling we get that feeling that other people are plotting against us. I’m sure we have all experienced it because in some way, shape or form we’ve all been there, right? And you know when it’s the hardest? When it’s the people who are closest to you who are doing the murmuring.

It never ceases to amaze me how we people have the ability to undermine one another, to hurt one another and to harm one another by what we say. ‘Did you hear what he did? My goodness, that’s terrible.’ We just can’t seem to keep our mouths shut, Maybe we somehow feel bigger and better if we can parade someone else’s failures or faults in front of other people. How do we deal with that when we’re on the receiving end of it?

King David, probably the greatest King that Israel ever had. A man after Gods own heart; he ruled the kingdom really well but he struggled with this, people plotting against him, plotting to take his life. You know, David was on the run for a long time from his predecessor Saul who, for years tried to kill him and then when he became King, David had lots of enemies, people who were after his throne and people who were after his kingdom.

It’s the reality of life, David went through it, Jesus certainly did, the Apostle Paul did and you and I do as well. And when we sense that people are plotting against us, that they’re cutting us out of the loop, that they’re ostracising us, this kind of fear and dread saps the life out of us. It can turn us into a nervous wreck, what do you do? Where do you go? David poured his anguish out to God, you can read about it in Psalm 31, but at the same time, in the middle of his human anguish, his natural response of pain and hurt, he had a few interesting things to say.

This is how he starts it off, this Psalm 31:

In you O Lord I have taken refuge. Let me never be put to shame, deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me; come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge and strong fortress to save me. Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead me and guide me. Free me from the trap that is set for me for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me O Lord, the God of truth. I hate those who cling to worthless idols, I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in your love for you saw my affliction and you knew the anguish of my soul and you have not handed me over to the enemy but you have set my feet in a spacious place. Be merciful to me O Lord for I am in distress, my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. (Psalm 31:1-9)

Look at what he says to God, he calls God his refuge, his rock of refuge, his strong fortress, my rock and my fortress. What picture is David painting here? On the one hand he is deeply distressed, “I am in distress, my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.” Doesn’t he write beautifully? In a few words, he sum up what it feels like when people are plotting against us and from  the midst of that pain and that hurt and that anguish, he says, “but God is my refuge, God is my rock, God is my fortress to save me.”

Isn’t that exactly what we need when we’re shaken? Something solid and certain and unmoving and unshaken, when we feel like the rug has been pulled out from underneath us, when people are plotting against us, we need a place of certainty – God, but why is it that David takes refuge in God?

Look at what he writes again in verse 7 of this psalm.

 I will be glad and rejoice in your love for you saw my affliction and you knew the anguish of my soul… (Psalm 31:7)

You see Gods love, Gods perfect and tender and gentle love, He sees our affliction, He knows the anguish of our soul, he understands. It’s such a wonderful love being understood, and we can say this 100 times stronger than David because all this time on we know that Jesus has walked in the same path as us, we know that He became a man and suffered everything that we have to suffer. He was misunderstood, rejected, they plotted against Him, it cost Him his life on the cross.

Later on in the psalm David goes on to write this, for me this is exactly where the rubber hits the road,

 How great is Your goodness which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. In the shelter of Your presence You hide them from the intrigues of men, in your dwelling You keep them safe from accusing tongues. (Psalm 31:19-20)

Isn’t that brilliant? God’s goodness towards those who take refuge in Him, He’s the shelter, in His presence we hide from the intrigues of men and His dwelling we’re safe from accusing tongues. This talks about people who go and undermine us, the intrigues of men, the accusing tongues. How often do people look at us and misunderstand us and judge us and say, ‘Well, I wouldn’t have done what he did. I wouldn’t have this and that.’ The accusing tongues, “In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men, in your dwelling you keep them safe from the accusing tongues.”

That is a wonderful thing. David has experienced the refuge of God when everybody else was against him, when his very life was threatened. When people would walk on the other side of the road when they saw him, when they treated him as though he was dead, when he felt like a piece of broken pottery left in the gutter. David experienced the shelter of Gods presence; he experienced what it’s like to be safe in the dwelling of God from accusing tongues.

You know it can feel so unnatural to put our trust in God. When people are plotting against us, I mean, we want to crawl up and die, we want to fight, we have anguish, we want to just whinge and complain and in the middle of this hurt, David is putting his trust in God.

It can feel so unnatural when people are plotting against us. But the trust is not misplaced, the trust is in a rock-solid love – in God’s goodness, in God’s faithfulness, in God’s power to protect us. And you know, when we’re in these situations, when people are kind of coming against us, as the days and weeks go by and we just decide to just trust in God. Instead of worrying about those other people we just quietly put our trust in Him and what we discover is peace.

It’s a really weird kind of peace because it’s a peace we don’t deserve to have, it’s a peace that in human terms shouldn’t be there. But you know something, when we just put our whole lives into the hands of God and say, ‘You know Lord, all these people are coming against me, just like they did with David, I’m just going to trust in You. My souls in turmoil, Lord I need your peace.’ That’s the peace that Jesus gives us, that’s the peace that Jesus leaves for us and He doesn’t give it the way the world gives it, He gives it genuinely, deeply, permanently.

The apostle John years later put it this way:

There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, the one who fears is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18)

You see peace comes from knowing that however it turns out, Gods love overcomes.

There’s no need to be afraid anymore.

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.