Wednesday, May 23, 2012

God's Unfailing Protection - Preached on February 26, 2012

God's Unfailing Protection 
Psalm 36

 Introduction: 

Who among you have ever experienced being threatened with physical harm?  Well, I have. It happened many years ago, when I was not yet a pastor and in my early 20's. It had something to do with a subordinate at work. This subordinate threatened me for something that had happened that was clearly not my fault, but the fault of an outside company. The threat came in the form of a raised fist and a bit of verbal abuse as well as some threatening words similar to saying “masasaktan ka sa akin.” Looking back, I will admit to you that I felt fearful because my physical security was threatened. Yet, I was confident of one thing during that tense moment – God will protect me, and He did! In fact, after a few weeks, this subordinate and I were on good terms again.

Maybe some of you have gone through even more tense moments where possible harm may have fallen on you, but God protected you throughout the situation. As we study through the Psalms, we learned that King David also experienced threats against his life. The threats came primarily from King Saul who wanted to keep David away from grabbing the throne, even though God had already destined for David to be king; and from the neighboring countries who wanted to conquer and oppress Israel. David also experienced threats against his life when his own son, Absalom, rebelled against him and even chased after him. Throughout those tense moments of his life, David experienced time and again God's deliverance. Indeed, God's protection over us is unfailing.

In today's Psalm, Psalm 36, we will learn more about the God whom we can trust for our protection – why we should trust God in our time of crisis. We will examine God's key attributes or character and understand why we can have confidence in God, that he will protect us. We will also learn from the passage the anatomy of the wicked – why do the wicked do what they do, especially towards God's people? Finally, David instructs us on the right way to pray when facing threats from our enemies.

First, lets look at what I would call as the “Anatomy of the Wicked.” Why the wicked do the things they do, and why they are against God and His people.

The Anatomy of the Wicked 

In verses 1 to 4, David described for us what the wicked are like. There are five things mentioned about the wicked.

 (a) They don't fear God

The first thing to note about the wicked is that they have no fear whatsoever towards God. The wicked are not necessarily atheists who says there is no God. In fact, a person can be religious and still be wicked. According to an Italian sociologist named Alessandra Dino, many members of the Mafia in Italy are connected to the Catholic Church and would call themselves as good Catholics. They would even sit in the front pews of the church and be in the front of religious processions in order to make themselves look like role models of religiosity. Yet, they commit numerous crimes that would make anyone shudder in fear. You can take that scene and apply it to many people who come to church, be it Catholic, Protestant or Evangelical. They believe in God but they don't fear God. They do not have a sense of awe and respect for God as being the Supreme Being. They simply compartmentalize faith as being a section of their lives. They don't fear God because they think that God will not interfere with what they're doing. They go through the motion of being religious but they are not truly changed or transformed by the grace of God, which explains why they are not afraid of God, of what God can do to them.

 (b) They are spiritually blind

The second thing about the wicked is that they are blind when it comes to their spiritual condition. In verse 2, we read that the wicked flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. What this means is that the wicked feels smug or he feels proud of the fact that he can do anything he wants and get away with it. As he feels more confident that he can get away with sin, the more he is blind to the fact that his wicked deeds have dire consequences. As he continues in the path of wickedness, he becomes numb to the dictates of conscience, no longer feeling guilty of doing wrong, but relishing it instead.

(c) His speech is corrupted

The wicked are known for their corrupt speech. The adjectives used to describe the words that come out of their mouths are the words wicked and deceitful. They use their words to hurt people by slander and gossip. They do not keep their promises but they lie shamelessly just to get what they want. They use profanity to address people and to bring them down. They use words to manipulate and abuse people and make them do what they desire happening.

 (d) He ceases to be wise and to do good

 By allowing himself to go deeper into sin, the wicked actually ceases to be wise. In the Bible, the wise man is evidently the one who fears and follows God. The wicked, though, wants nothing to do with God, but he chooses instead to follow the philosophies of this world and the advice of bad counselors, thus he forfeits on the possibility of gaining real wisdom. He has become a real fool.

He has also ceased to do good. Because he has chosen to have nothing to do with God, he goes his own way and does what he pleases. He will not obey God and his law at all; he chooses to obey himself, to follow the promptings of his corrupt heart; To do what he wants, what pleases him, not what is beneficial for others and what gives glory to God.

 (e) His mind meditates on evil

 Finally, the wicked do not set their mind on the things of God, but they use their minds to think of evil schemes and he is determined to see these schemes come true. We, as Christians, are commanded to meditate on God's Word, to think of God, and to reflect on his promises. For the wicked, however, they meditate only on their wicked plans and how they can make it happen. They have no place for God in their minds. Their thoughts are corrupted and all they think of is doing evil.

With all these descriptions of a wicked person, an ordinary person may think that following God is a lost cause. Many will say that to follow Jesus is not worth it because of the opposition they will surely face, and that this opposition will surely overwhelm them. However, as one continues to read this Psalm, he will find that this is not the case. You see, when you trust in God, you're not getting a religion but you are entering into a relationship with a God who is described with superlatives. When you put your trust in God, you are having a relationship with the God who is over and above all things, even above those who plot evil against us.

The Character of God 

I want for us to now look at God's character for us to know why we can trust Him, why we can be assured of His protection over us. There are four attributes of God mentioned here and all of them are described with the superlative. Now, when we talk about superlatives, we think of grammar. Let's take for example the word “great”, the superlative for “great” would be “greatest”. Sometimes, we use the word “very” to make a superlative, like “I am very hungry.” Now, in the passage, David described God in the superlative, but it is not seen in the grammar itself but in the picture or imagery used to describe the attributes of God. Let's examine each of these attributes.

 (a) Steadfast Love

God is love (1 John 4:8) and He deals with His children, His people according to His love. When God loves us, he is not fickle as to keep changing his mind, whether or not he truly loves us. When he says he loves us, he means it. He is not the kind of being who will say He loves us and then detracts from what he said. He will show love to us consistently. He has also promised us that nothing can ever separate us from His love, according to Romans 8. In Lamentations 3, we are told that God's steadfast love never ceases. David described God's love in the superlative by saying that it extends to the heavens. Try to imagine how far the heavens are from the earth and you get the idea of the magnitude of God's love. Eugene Peterson's translation of this verse is even more beautiful. In his paraphrase version of the Bible, he described God's love as being meteoric. That is how much God loves his people, his children. Its beyond compare and comprehension.

The wicked can plan all the evil they want to do against us, but God will continually shower his love on us. He will do everything to show us his love.

(b) Faithfulness

 Not only does God show us extravagant love, he also shows us his faithfulness. Before I describe the faithfulness of God, let me talk about the superlative used here. God's faithfulness is compared to the skies. When you talk about the skies, it is so vast and it looks infinite. When we look up into the sky at night, we can only see so much but when you ask astronomers about the skies, they will tell you that it is so vast that they haven't even explored half of what's out there. Now, faithfulness is all about loyalty. When we say that God is faithful, it means he is loyal to us, he is committed to us. It means He will not abandon us to our enemies but he will stay by our side. In 2 Timothy 2:13, Paul wrote that God remains faithful, even if we are faithless. Faithfulness also means that what God has promised us, he will surely keep. According to author Herbert Lockyer in his book, “All the Promises of the Bible”, there are around 8000 promises listed in the Bible. I don't know how he arrived at this number, but regardless of how many there are listed, what is more important is that God keeps them all. This includes his promise of protection over us. In Psalm 91, we are promised that God will protect his people from the attacks of the enemy and that no harm will befall us. Because God is faithful, we can be certain that he will protect us.

 (c) Righteousness

The third attribute of God mentioned here is his righteousness. Now, righteousness simply means that God always does what is right. We could say that righteousness is the natural expression of God's holiness. Since God is a holy God, then he will be opposed to all sin, and that opposition to sin must be demonstrated in his treatment of people. When we read that God is righteous or just in the Bible, we are being assured that his actions toward us are in perfect agreement with his Holy nature. The righteousness of God is evident in the way He consistently acts in accordance to his own character. What this means for us as believers is that God will be consistent in his administration of justice. He will surely reward those who fear Him and follow Him and he will punish those who spurn His grace and who act wickedly towards others. He will never go against his nature. He will never be on the side of sin, but he will always be on the side of those whom he had made righteous, namely all who have repented of their sins and are following Jesus Christ.

The attribute of righteousness is compared to the mighty mountains. When you think of mountains, you think of high peaks such as Mt. Everest or Mt. Kilimanjaro. Righteousness is like the mighty mountains because they can't be moved. God cannot and will not go against his nature. You can never convince God to do wrong or to side with evil. He will stay firm, like a mountain stays firm amidst the flood and the earthquake. If you revere God, if you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, then you can be assured that God will protect you because he is righteous, he will be consistent with his character, and he will always side with those who follow Him.

 (d) Justice/Judgment

The fourth attribute mentioned is translated as justice in the NIV. In other versions, the word is judgment. While righteousness refers to God's nature, justice is how God acts based on his righteousness. When God judges people, it will always be fair. He will never pervert justice in order to side with someone. He cannot be bought with bribery. Furthermore, because of God's omniscience, he knows every detail of our lives such that we cannot conceal anything from him. His omnipotence ensures that he can enforce his verdicts. The wicked may scheme evil, they may think evil thoughts, but God knows what they're thinking. He knows every detail of their plans, and God is ready to judge them for their corruption.

The justice of God is compared to the deep sea. The deepest part of the ocean is the Marianas Trench with a depth of around 10 kilometers or 10,000 meters or around 30,000 feet. God's justice is something we can never fathom with our finite minds. Our concept of justice is limited, but we can trust that because God's justice is based on his righteousness, on his omnipotence and omniscience, he will always decide fairly.

 Conclusion: 

Because of these attributes of God – his love, faithfulness, righteousness, and justice, what we can and should do is trust Him when it comes to the issues of protection and provision. In verses 7 to 9, David talked about how God brought delight as well as security to the lives of His people. In verses 10 and 11, David prays to God, asking Him to continue to show his love and righteousness to his people. He also asked that the wicked will not prevail over him. In the end, David proclaimed with confidence that the wicked have been defeated completely. He has seen God delivering him from his enemies before, he is confident God will do it again.

We all will face people who act wickedly towards us. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: Do we trust God enough that he will deliver us from evil? I hope we all realize that the answer is “yes”. God will deliver his people from evil. It may not necessarily be a physical deliverance, but it is first and foremost a spiritual deliverance where God preserves our soul from the evil plans of Satan which is usually put into action by wicked people. God helps us to overcome temptations by keeping us in the right path. God's deliverance also comes when we are able to respond to evil by shining God's light of goodness. God's deliverance also comes in physical form, although it doesn't always turn out that way. What is important is that God promises to protect and to provide for his people. Are we willing to trust that he can and he will? David trusted God; how about you? How about me? Are we willing to trust God?