Sermon(Ps 21): Peaceful Joy and Satisfaction

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252340

 

 

 

>> 1 In thy strength the king rejoices, O Lord; and in thy help how greatly he exults! 2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withheld the request of his lips. 3 For thou doest meet him with goodly blessings; thou dost set a crown of fine gold upon his head. 4 He asked life of thee; thou gavest it to him, length of days for ever and ever. 5 His glory is great through thy help; splendor and majesty thou dost bestow upon him. 6 Yea, thou dost make him most blessed for ever; thou dost make him glad with the joy of thy presence. 7 For the king trusts in the Lord; and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. .... 11 If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed. .... (Ps 21) <<

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A pastor thanked God before many saints for his generous blessings. He looked so happy and nice. The old pastor, when young, overcame hardships, walked with God, received a lot of blessings from God; and now, living in peace, shows happy face full of joy and satisfaction. I saw a professor of a theological school in the picture. He also had a face full of joy and satisfaction. He is a professor of New Testament study, and has a brilliant head. He is really gifted in teaching. He's been giving students tens of millions of won for scholarship a year. Of course, he can afford to do it perhaps because his wife is a professor at a university, too. Anyway, there was peace and satisfaction in his face. He has made great theological achievements as a scholar, received great respect from people, received a high salary as a university professor, and had sufficient money to donate scholarship, and practiced love of his students. What an overflowing blessing of God!

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Today's biblical text is a poem by David. David became king at the age of 30, was on the throne for 40 years, and died at the age of 70. In the words of God today, too, we can see great peace, joy and satisfaction of king David. God fulfilled the wishes in David's heart (v. 2). God granted wonderful blessings to David (v. 3). He granted David the blessing of longevity, too (v. 4). It was a miracle in ancient times that a man lived over 60 years to be 70 years old. God granted David honor and majesty (v. 5). David had nothing to worry about. What the king worried about was war, but David many times saw God defeat David's enemies (v. 9). David need not be afraid that the children of his enemies would ever avenge him later, for God had removed the children of his enemies (v. 10). David could sleep in peace, for David could, by God's help, find out and kill his enemies who secretly sought his life before they took action (v. 8). David certainly was not afraid of death for he told of "the eternal life (v. 4)". David was living the eternal blessed life in God.

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In God's eyes, there is no difference between you and David. God makes your heart's wishes come true, too. He does not reject what you ask of him in the prayer. "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart. (Jer 29:11-13)" "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Mt 7:7)" "Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually! (1 Chron 16:11)" My brethren, the way for you to live is to meet God. The clue to solving your problem is to open the ears of God. But some people are suffering and worrying alone. They live alone, with all the worries of the world. How foolish! When you meet God personally, all your intertwined problems are solved immediately. How many times is it written in the Bible that God will hear our prayers and certainly grant our wishes whenever we cry to him? Jesus also tells us two parables, 'a widow and an unjust judge' and 'a man who bothers his neighbor', in order to advise us that we should say our wishes to God, who hears all our prayers, if we wish for something, and even if it looks like an excessive demand. Tell God everything you want except that you will commit sin and that you will harm others. God will never rebuke your brazenness and reject your prayers. Pray to God for help right now, even if you are a sinner now, even if others denounce and avoid you and refuse to help you now. If you want forgiveness of sin, God will forgive you immediately; if you want to escape from the pitfall, God will deliver you from it; if you really want to have something, God will give it to you. The Bible tells us that our Father in heaven can give us more and better things than the earthly father can give to his children. You can have a sure hope if you think the God as your merciful father. Why should the father unilaterally ignore what his beloved children want from him? There is not such a father.

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God gives you beautiful blessings. Beautiful blessings are good and nice blessings. Of course, all blessings are good and nice. Nevertheless David told of goodly blessings (v. 3) for he could see the goodness of God in the blessings. God blesses him who obeys him. God blesses him who lives an honest life before him. God even gives us blessings that we have never thought of. Looking back on the path of our life, sometimes we can discover the great blessing of God there. He was such a heartless Father before, but to think now, he gave such a wonderful true blessing to me then. Not just anyone can enjoy the blessing of being honored by all. But David received this blessing. "Thou dost set a crown of fine gold upon his head. (v. 3)" "His glory is great through thy help; splendor and majesty thou dost bestow upon him. (v. 5)" My brethren, I hope you will be blessed with this blessing. Isn't this the very good and beautiful blessing? (Hope for better one!) Get a Ph.D. from a prestigious university if you are to get one. Be a president of the nation if you are to be a somebody. Be a prime minister or a minister of the nation if you are to be a somebody. Be a world-class scholar if you want to be a scholar. Get a Nobel Prize if you want to win some award. However, until you are blessed so, you should utterly obey the words of God, abandon all your selfishness, serve God with devotion, and be an exemplary Christian in the eyes of others. You have to always be 100% grateful to God for whatever happens. Perhaps such wonderful blessings may be given your house after three generations of such sincere faith. If you live a good and wonderful Christian life before God, God will give you such good and wonderful blessings.

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The question is how to pass the test well. There was a test for Abraham that he should offer up his only son Isaac to God, before he received real blessings. He passed this test and his name became great in the world. Abraham's glory is far greater than David's. Sometimes God will ask you something that is most precious and most important like life to you before he gives you a beautiful, honorable and very nice blessing. David also underwent a period of test. He didn't kill the king God had anointed, out of the desire to hastily become a king. David had several chances to kill him, but he overcame the test successfully. The hasty idea to accomplish something before the time God has set is the decisive cause of missing the beautiful blessings. Saul lived a tragic life because he failed to pass the test that he should, as the king of Israel, not hearken to man but only to God. He had no beautiful blessing. Paul overcame the test that he should give up the knowledge of the world and the Judaism. A very beautiful blessing came upon him. But God puts not everyone to the test, because the number of the beneficiaries of the beautiful blessings is limited. For example, God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering, but he never commanded Abraham's nephew Lot to offer his son; because the blessing of Abraham was to given only one man. A hard test from God is like an interview for a job. "Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. (Jas 1:12)" "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Pet 4:12, 13)" Generally speaking, I think, wonderful blessings will be given to him who likes to attend the worship of God, to help others if possible, and to love and protect living creatures.

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God gives you victory. "If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed. (v. 11)" My brethren, never be afraid of men. Saul couldn't live a successful life because he feared men (his subordinates) and succumbed to them. But David had several men who didn't fear God and would force David to go a wrong way, but he didn't fear them and followed God's words. My brethren, keep this in mind: the condition to get victory is to live according to God's will. My brethren, stand on the side of the truth. Live the life of seeking the righteousness of God. Do not live a life of succumbing to and compromising with the unrighteousness. Joseph firmly refused the sweet temptation of a woman of his master. Look at Daniel and his friends. The best blessing in the world came upon those who risked their lives to live for God's will and glory. You need to be more resolute. God gives the gift of winning every battle to those who live according to God's will, and who can sacrifice his all for his glory. God delivers them whenever their lives are in danger, and makes them more and more glorious, and clothes them with great dignity and majesty (v. 5). God will dramatically rescue you when the strongest enemy attacks you. People of the world are surprised when God gives you such victory. The more you experience this, the more you have dignity and majesty among many people; and at last you've become a king. After he became a king, David still depended on God, believed in his mercy, and lived without fear (v. 1, 7). My brethren, do not be afraid of the world, but trust in God. God will always grant you wonderful victory.

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On the contrary, those who are abandoned by God have a lot of wishes but cannot accomplish them. They only have to see others occupy all the beautiful blessings. However they can't occupy even one of the rest of the blessings, and are defeated always by others, becoming the losers of society. People are not losers from the beginning. At first, Saul was blessed by God. But he betrayed God and was deserted by God, losing wonderful, good, beautiful blessings. My brethren, do not betray God after being blessed by him. But David was easygoing when writing Ps 21. "He asked life of thee; thou gavest it to him, length of days for ever and ever. (v. 4)" The nearer a man who has experienced a good blessing all his life approaches his last, the stronger his faith in the eternal life becomes. When he think of the faithful God, who made heaven and earth, it is unlikely to him that the God will bury him, who walked with God in the world, under the eternal death. He who walked with God even in the valley of tear and death all his life has already met God on earth, therefore he has not the least doubt of the eternal life he will gain after death. David has tasted both such valleys of tear and death and a lot of rich blessings. It is more impossible for David to have no hope for eternal longevity than for the sun not to rise again tomorrow. Peace, peace! Peace comes upon him who has tasted both tears and joy. He who tasted only tears has, naturally, no peace. He who tasted only joy feels nervous even in the joy because he worries that he may lose the joy. However, he who has tasted tears and joy has always directly experienced the sincerity of God, so can live a life of deep peace without any fear of the future.

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May you all obtain the good and beautiful blessings of God. May you taste deep peace, looking at the faithful God. May, by the grace of Jesus, you be happy with the abundant blessing and grace of God to the last days of your life. Amen!

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Chong Tack Kim

                                     - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

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