Sermon(Ps 13); God's hide-and-seek

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025251619

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Ps 13

 

>>1 How long, O Lord? Wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4 lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him"; lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 5. But I have trusted in thy steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 6 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.<<

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People do not know the future. So, a poor man who will become rich after a year spends a hard year. A CEO whose company will go bankrupt after a year is living comfortably without worry now. Man and his works are all so. Fortunately, we know about the past relatively well. If someone did a lot of good things and honest works in the past, we can see his past through that facts. When we look his past life, we can imagine what he will be, but who knows man's heart? The future is still hidden from our eyes.

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The human eyes can see the facts of the past, but the incidents of the future is in darkness. It is probably because all the human hearts are corrupted that human beings do not know the future well. A stone is highly honest(!) and follows the laws of nature strictly, so we can predict the trajectory of a stone thrown into the air. However, it is very difficult to predict the future of human beings because the human heart is corrupted and breaks ethics or morals or God's laws too often. Maybe even supercomputers can't do that! But, if a man, though he is of personality with free will, is always living in the truth, his future can be predictable to some extent.

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Beloved Brethren, what man can not really know is the mind of God and his profound providence, but God, whom we believe in and serve, is the truth itself and does not change forever. He is infinite in love, mercy and kindness, hates sins and rejoices in an honest heart. Thus, if we live according to the words of God's truth, we can meet him who never changes, and we can see his future and my future clearly with the eyes of faith. Today's word of God, Psalm 13, is David's poem. As David's suffering lasts long, he cries out in frustration, "God, how long will you hide your face and keep on hiding?" But because God is always in the truth, we can see that, if David lives in the truth, all his problems will be solved refreshingly in God. Because he is the God Almighty who does not change and is full of love. God is so transparent and so faithful to those who believe in him and live in his truth. So God repeatedly told us, "Do not doubt!" God feels very sorry when you, covering your eyes of faith with a towel, unilaterally say to God, "My Lord, are you playing hide-and-seek?" If we live in the truth of God, we can see God's future work for each of us. The future work is for our benefit, for our maturity, for the glory of God.

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Although David made a fuss, exclaiming, "I'm dying right now!", it turned out just a fuss. Let's see what happened to David later. "David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years. (2 Sam 5:4,5)" In 2 Samuel 7, when David tells Nathan the prophet that he will build the temple of God, the God promises David through Nathan that David's son will succeed king David and that his son will build the temple for God. "But I (the God) will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever. (2 Sam 7:15,16)" After David became a king, he made his neighbor kingdoms into tributaries, and lived in affluence, enjoyed longevity, and died peacefully. For reference, 2 Samuel 22 is a song by David to God on the day the Lord saved David from the hands of all adversaries and from the hand of Saul. To sum up, "Lord, thank you!" The truth that David spoke to his son king Solomon before his death was "Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. (1 Kings 2:3)" This is the very truth that penetrates the past, present and future of God and David. God presents this truth to us, too. When we live in this truth, we can live a successful life like David.

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In verse 3, David cries out to God to lighten his eyes. Yes! Surrounded thick and fast by the army of Syria, the prophet Elisha had no nerves for he was seeing the army of the Lord with his spiritually-opened eyes, while his servant Gehazi whose spiritual eyes were closed was scared and trembling. Is there something more reliable than God's army? In verse 5, David said that he had trusted in God's steadfast love. Yes, brethren! It is the kindness (the love) of God that is most needed for us in tribulation. We must look to God who loves us with the eyes of faith. God tells us not to see our fearsome enemies and tremble but to see the merciful loving God. Your enemies are but tied lions. Even when they are untied, God shuts their mouths and keeps those who love him. God has counted even all your hair. God wants you to be happy and to see you rejoice. God wants to give you victory. Above all, God is your Father. When you look at this gracious and loving God and ask for help, he will send you the army and the angels of heaven to guard you.

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If your religious eyes are closed, you will fall into the sleep of death and fall into despair, and your enemies will rejoice and endeavor more to swallow you down. Usually, when the period of suffering lasts long, believers despair and close their eyes of faith. one of the Devil's strategies to be praised(!) is continuous attack. You should not be fooled by this tactic. Against this strategy of Devil, the shield Jesus gave us is the promise that "I (Jesus) am with you always, to the close of the age. (Mt 28:20)" Yes, my brethren! We must keep this faithful promise of Jesus in mind. And we should endure it to the end. We must leave our heavy burdens to our Savior Jesus and trust him. The Devil is acting only in the hands of Jesus. Devil and his servants can't afflict you one second longer than the time Jesus has set. When we confess our faith to Jesus and face our enemies, the longer the duration of the righteous battle is, the greater our victory becomes. once we trust in Jesus and decide to fight against the Devil in a determined struggle, we have already won.

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Do not wander between the two 'trust and distrust', 'laughing and weeping', 'hope and despair'. When I am shaken and not steadfast, my enemies rejoice. We should please our Savior Jesus. Should we please our enemies? one day a believer who has endured well so far suddenly says to himself, 'I am going the wrong way now, so the Lord hasn't answered my supplications, and my attempts do not work well.' Then he sinks into the deep swamp of despair. Then again, if God shows any positive signs to him, he thinks, 'Oh, Yes! I'm going the right way! My soul, take courage!' Then he is excited with hope. Brethren, think of David. He was appointed by God as king of Israel long ago. But the reality was that king Saul was holding the power firmly, and there were many enemies. All of them hated David. When David was free from the threats of the enemies, he was excited, thinking, 'I am really the one who has been chosen by God.' But when he faced another threat, he despaired again, thinking, 'What am I doing here now? How can I overcome king Saul and become the king over Israel? See my situation now. How can I become a king in this situation? The prophet Samuel must have mistaken and anointed me as king. Is it not God's will that I should now give up this foolish dream and leave this place and go to a remote wilderness to be a shepherd?' All believers repeat the crying-and-laughing like David.

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But brethren, the God is not one who unilaterally revokes the promise. When king Saul sinned, God declared that he would take Saul's kingship and give it to another man. This came to pass after some time. But what about David? God promised David the kingdom of Israel through the prophet Samuel and did not say that he had ever revoked the promise for David to become king. And this promise was kept. My point is this: 'once God promises something, he will not cancel it unilaterally as far as the man who has received the promise does not sin. And God will surely keep his promise if he has not canceled the promise.' Thus neither David nor we should doubt the promise of God. Especially we must not do the laughing-and-crying even if the fulfillment of the promise is delayed. Set your eyes on Abraham. He was called to God at the age of 75 and begot his son Isaac at the age of 100 when about 25 years had passed. Brethren, do not be shaken, and do not play the laughing-and-crying. Trust in the promise of God! Brethren, I wonder if you are disappointed because the promise you received is postponed. Do not give up the hope so far as the God does not say that he revokes the blessing.

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Today's sermon title is God's hide-and-seek. But thinking more deeply, you can see that this hide-and-seek is a game between Christians and Devil. The Devil somehow strives to make the eyes of the Christian unable to see God. Devil sometimes confuses Christians' hearts and eyes with lies, deceit, violence, threats, and constant attacks, making Christians unable to see God. So he let them fall into despair and give up their hopes. This is the moment when the Devil wins the game. However, Christians can live a victorious life by looking at God. How do we defeat all the wiles and attacks of the Devil? It is possible when we believe that God is merciful. It is possible when we believe that God is trustworthy. When we open our eyes of faith and look to God, we will win.

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Our hymn is a particularly useful weapon. "I will sing to the Lord. (ver. 6)" If we praise God for all the difficult situations, if we praise the God of Hosts, this is itself a shout of victory. Astounded at this shout of victory, Devil will go away. When we praise God, also the dark clouds in our heart will vanish. Both the Devil and the dark clouds in our heart having disappeared, we can see the merciful God directly. Now all the problems in front of us have been turned into our spoils.

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I pray that whenever you have a hard time, you trust God, look at him, praise him, receive the promised blessings, and be victorious!

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Chong Tack Kim

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                                     - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -