Welcome to the preaching ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, Arizona. Our desire is that God would be magnified through the preaching of His Word, and that Christians would be challenged, strengthened, and edified in their personal walk with Christ. Well, good morning. Welcome this morning. If you have your Bibles, please take it and turn to Psalm chapter 62. Psalm chapter 62. If you need to use the Bible there in the chair in front of you, it's page 399. 399. Psalm chapter 62. I'd like to begin by reading the text this morning. And then asking God's blessing as we look into His Word this morning. The Word of God says, truly my soul waits, silently waits for God. From Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved. How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his high position. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. My soul waits silently for God alone. For my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah. Surely men of low degree are a vapor. Men of high degree are a lie. If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor. Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. God has spoken once. Twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God. Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy, for you render to each one according to his work. Let's ask God's help in understanding his word this morning. God, again, we are thrilled for the opportunity to worship collectively together. We come in anticipation of you speaking to our hearts. So Lord, we pray that they would be open to your word. I pray that you would help us to look at your word accurately this morning so that we may apply it appropriately, that we'd be conformed to the image of Christ and the things that we hear. God, I pray that you would fill me with your spirit, remove me from myself and speak the words that you would have in Jesus' name. Amen. When someone says hello to us and asks us how we're doing, we typically respond to the question as if they were really just wanting to give us a standard greeting, do we not? We may provide a quick response of, hey, I'm good, or more properly, I'm doing well. You? And then keep going on about our day, not really expecting an answer back from them. In fact, we are sometimes caught off guard, or even a little surprised and annoyed if they keep on going and give us a response, or give us a response in terms of longer than we expected or wanted. However, there are times, though, that when the how are you question prompts, it does prompt us to answer with a little more honesty, probably because we feel that question is being asked in a more sincere fashion, or we have an established relationship with the individual asking it. I envision that David is writing this psalm as one of those responses. If you look at the title, you can see that David is addressing this psalm to the chief musician and to Jedethon. So who is Jedethon? I didn't know until I started doing the study on this psalm this week of who he is. But according to 1 Chronicles 16 and 2 Chronicles 25, Jedethon is a musician known for playing the trumpets and the cymbals. He is also a doorkeeper in the tabernacle. He's a greeter. David probably had more than just a greeter's relationship with him, as he is listed in two other Psalm titles, Psalm chapter 39 and Psalm chapter 77. David probably has witnessed several times Jennethan's participation in the music ministry of the Tabernacle. He's probably been greeted by him in numerous occasions. In fact, Charles Spurgeon wrote this regarding Jennethan, the sons of Jennethan were porters or doorkeepers, according to 1 Corinthians or Chronicles 16.42, and those who serve well make the best of singers. Making a plug here for choir, possibly. And those who occupy the highest post in the choir must not be ashamed to wait at the post door of the doors of the Lord's house." So imagine with me that Jonathan sees King David approaching the tabernacle for worship. He knows the political adversity that David is facing. He knows that his family is torn apart, which is leading him to this adversity. And while David is still the king, it seems that he is presently disposed of no value as the king of Israel. And imagine that Jennifer greets King David at the entrance and sees the despair on David's face and asks him these questions surrounding his adversity. When our life is filled with unknowns and situations that are outside of our control, we might get asked some of these same questions, such as, how are you handling the pressure? Are you afraid of how the situation might turn out? Are you worried about what might happen next? What are you going to do? These are common questions that we would ask ourselves in the midst of sometimes troubling and trying circumstances. Most of those questions lead us to answer with man's response of how we would accomplish or how we would work things out. You can see that David seems to be writing the psalm in response to Jonathan and reminds him, as well as us, the readers, through the inspiration of Scripture, that the unwavering character of God leads us to a greater confidence in knowing God's character. And this morning I have three points based off of the psalm here and how it's written out for us to truly reflect on how David is having this conversation. I think if I were to lay it out in a, in a different way for us to see in picture, it would kind of be like this, that when David gets that hello, how are you question, he responds just with the tip of his tongue and asks, and answers the question to Jonathan as if Jonathan really wanted to know the answer. That's the first part. The second part, we'll see this morning, that David actually begins to question, do I really believe the words that I gave Jedith in? Do I really believe the answer that I provided for him? And then the third part that we'll look at this morning is seeing, how then am I living out the answer that I provided? Because it's not just enough to know the answer, to give the answer, but do my actions align with my words? So let's begin this morning looking at the first four verses and seeing the confidence of knowing God's character. Look at verses one to two with me real quick. David says, truly my soul silently waits for God. From him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not Be greatly moved. I want us to see first of all this morning as we develop and knowing the confidence having the confidence of knowing God's character the description of God's character that David gives out here He uses some terms in these first couple of verses and he'll repeat them later on To help us see the clarity in which David is trying to describe who in fact his God is He begins with the term salvation We think of the salvation oftentimes in our spiritual state, the salvation that we obtain or we have because of Christ dying on the cross for our sins. However, in this context, David is not just mentioning that, the safe, he's given us, this is my place of absolute safety. In God, I am completely safe. It would be similar to that of John chapter 20 — John chapter 10 and verse 25 when Jesus talks about the reality of being placed in the shepherd's hands. No one can snatch us out of God's hand. We are in complete safety with Him. He is our salvation. Then He uses a second term, the rock. It's used three times here in chapter 62, verse 3 — excuse me, verse 2, verse 3 — 7 and verse 8. But, David uses this term rock so much in the book of Psalms. As a declaration of who God is to him, 18 times in the book of Psalms. Let me encourage you to write these texts down. I should've put them on the screen and I didn't, but to have some time of study in which David refers to God as his rock. Psalm chapter 18, verse three. Verse 32. Verse 47. Psalm chapter 19, verse 15. Psalm chapter 28, verse 1. Psalm chapter 31, verse 3. Psalm chapter 61, verse 3. Psalm chapter 71, verse 3. Psalm chapter 73, verse 26. Psalm chapter 78, verse 35. Psalm chapter 89, verse 27. Psalm chapter 92, verse 16. Psalm chapter 94, verse 22. Psalm chapter 95, verse 1. And finally, Psalm chapter 144, verse 1. When David uses this word, the rock, it gives us a sense of strength. That no matter what I'm going through in life, I stand on the rock. I'm in complete safety in parallel to the salvation that God provides. He's a fortress by which one is safe and secure. Then you see the third description here that he gives as a part of the character of God is he is his defense. He's not just a defender that can be taken out, but he is his actual protector. We sang the second song, my soul is found in the cleft of the rock, the refuge, the defense that we have. So I know the character of God in the description that he's given, and we'll talk more about these things in just a couple of minutes, but the reality is when I have this confidence of knowing God's character, it leads me to second here, my composure, because of God's character. Leads me to have a confidence that as I go through the trials of life through adversity, that God is in control and I have a place of safety and a refuge, that David actually begins with the psalm of saying, my soul silently waits for God. Another title for this psalm is entitled The Only Psalm. God only. In fact, our Hebrew text doesn't give it here in our English sense. The Hebrew text begins with six different times at the beginning of each sentence. This particle that starts with only God is translated here as only or alone. It's an emphasizer. It's an insistent repetition that gives the reader a tone of special earnestness. It takes the reader back to relying on only God. So let's discover these only texts here. Verse one, truly my soul waits only for God. He is my rock, my only rock in my salvation. He is my defense. Verse two, verse four, they only consult to cast him down from his high position. Verse five, my soul waits silently for God alone. And you notice the change there. He only, verse six, is my rock and my salvation. And then verse nine, surely men are of a vapor, men of high degree are a lie. If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than a vapor. Our English doesn't always give us a clear connotation of that, but it's clear that David is trying to reference us to go back to only God or God alone. He says, my soul waits silently only for God. He gives us here the word silent. This is probably one of the hardest aspects of our Christian life, isn't it? To silently be patient for God. Flip back with me in your Bibles to keep your fingers here in Psalm 62, but go back to Exodus chapter 14. I want you to see an illustration that Moses gives Israel on what it means to silently wait for God. Israel's in the midst of getting out of Egypt. God had finally, he'd done the last plague of the killing of the firstborn, and Pharaoh finally says, Israel, leave. And yet we know from the word of God that God hardens his heart and he changes his mind and he goes after Israel. And then look at what happens when Israel sees that Pharaoh and his men are coming after him. Verse 10 with me. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes and beheld the Egyptians marched after them. So they were afraid and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. How weak sometimes our faith is, isn't this? This is a great description of that. Then they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. The worry, the fear, the circumstances drawing their emotions. And then look at Moses' response here in verse 13. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And I said, you're about to witness something. Moses' knowledge about his God dictated his behavior, which then led Israel. For the Egyptians, look at verse, the end of verse 13 and end of 14, for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see no more forever. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. And the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army and chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. when I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh and his chariots and his horsemen. And the angel of God went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other. so that the one did not come near the other all the night. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back to a strong east wind all that night and made the sea into dry ground and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea and on dry ground. And the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. God came through. Go back to Psalm chapter 62. Let's see how David is not in his silence here. What is he doing? David is not speechless. He's not complacent and saying, well, if God is really gonna be in control, then I'm just gonna, you know, he knows what's gonna happen and I'm just not gonna care and I'm not gonna do anything about it. No, he lets his relationship with God, his fellowship with God be the controlling factor. The Puritan pastor F.B. Meyer says this, this is why God keeps you waiting. All that is of self and of nature must be silenced. One voice after another cease to boast. One light after another be put out until the soul is shut up to God alone. David is declaring something very definite. in absolute, in a public way, as he is giving the psalm to the chief musician and to Jonathan to publish and broadcast. That's why we have it today in the form of Scripture. David is speaking very loudly and intentionally about his God and his enemies. But he doesn't do it in a way that says, I'm going to solve the problem. He does it in a way that reflects on the character of God. He says, my soul silently waits for God. Waiting on God is not about what you get at the end of the wait. Waiting on God is what you become as you've waited. It's allowing his word to penetrate into our hearts and the character of God to take root. In fact, it leads him into such a way that says, I will not be greatly moved from verse three. No, excuse me. Notice the pressure that he endures. He says, how long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. There's some difference here between how the Hebrew writes this and our new King James writes the text here. If you're looking at verse three, you kind of think that David is talking about his enemies as being a leaning wall and a tottering fence, but if you were to kind of look around and see how the Hebrew is written here, you would see that it's actually David describing himself here under the pressure. He is the leaning wall. He is the tottering fence. He feels the pressure. Sometimes it's interesting, when we think about how God is in control of our life and we have no need to worry or fear, as if we take the pressure and we put it aside, that's not how it works. When you look at Matthew chapter seven and you see the illustration that Jesus gives about the house standing upon a rock and the storms come and they beat upon that house, what makes it stand? is its foundation is on God the rock. The pressure is there. He endures the pressure from these people. He feels like a leaning wall, like, I have nothing else left, God, I'm about to give in. I'm about to cave. This wall's gonna fall. And in his humanity, David knows that he can be swayed by man's opinions and their pressures. David trusted in God alone for his strength and stability. And the description is of a man completely focused upon God for his help, firmly resolved to look nowhere else. He is standing on the rock. The contrast, though, is of those who minimize God's character. He gives two quick descriptions of that. He says in verses three and four, these are the ones who say, you know, it's great for you to rely upon God, but the reality is our pressure's gonna take over more. Who are these individuals? Verse four, they only consult to cast him down from his high position. They delight in lies. Those who delight in falsehood or lying. to get what they want. Those who seek to slander, in essence, they bless him to his face and then curse him behind his back. They bless him to get the response that they're looking for, what they want, only to turn their back on him and use it against him. And then he ends this whole section here with the word Sela, which we can put into a phrase, stop and think about it. So how do you respond to those who gossip about you? How do you respond to those who seek to tear you down or even slander you? You can sit, you can stew about it. You can pick up your phone and text the world and set the conversation straight. You can take to social media and defend your position. Or you could wait silently for God. I think this other illustration comes to my mind when I'm thinking through this waiting silently. Because our natural response is to give in to the pressure, is it not? So when I think about discipline matters, it is a common response when you're disciplining your child, when they're having some sort of disagreement with their other sibling, And if this one gets in trouble, their first response is not, oh yeah, I did it. Their first response is, well, they did this to me first. Look at what they did. How come they're not in trouble? Or how come I'm the one in trouble when they said or they hit me? It is true that the one who reacts to the action usually is the one who gets in trouble. But isn't it the same way how it works in our adult lives? We may have more self-control than some of those childish acts of he hit me first, but we're just as childish about what did she say to me first? What did he say? Waiting silently on the Lord. Says, I don't care about that. It hurts, for sure. But I'm gonna let the character of God in my life speak louder than the words that they could give. The older I get, the more it fascinates me on how much my personal knowledge of God directs my behavior. I know certain truths about God and must be continually reminded of them. However, simply knowing those truths does not mean that I am living surrender to them or even in submission to them. How many times do we take a truth of God and redefine it to make it match our life choices? How many times do we take a truth claim about God and then justify our actions to give ourselves the impression that we are living it out? David gives Jonathan the right answer to the questions that he was asking him. But you can see here in verses five to eight, number two, that David is challenging himself and challenging us as his readers to apply the truth of God's character to his life. Remember at the beginning in the introduction, I talked about that intro conversation that we have, the greeting, David gives his answer in verses one to four to Jedithin. And then it's probably after that response of, am I really living this out? So how then do we challenge ourselves to apply God's character? We begin in verses five to seven. Let's look at what the text here says. My soul waits silently for God alone. Notice the change that he does. Verse one, he says, my soul silently waits for God. I'm presently or I'm currently doing this, so now he commands himself to do it. He reminds himself this is what he ought to be doing. The challenge here for us is to repeat the truth of God's character back to ourself. Look with me. David's personalized view. He gives several different personal pronouns of my in this whole chapter, but nine times in verses five to seven. My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from him or my hope. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense, I shall not be moved. God is my salvation. and my glory, the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Nine times here, David takes and turns from an ambiguous view of God to a personalized view. He knows that God's truth claims about himself are true for anyone, but he begins to take them and take ownership for himself. Folks, if we're gonna have confidence in the character of God, He must be personal. He must be my God. It begins with having a personal relationship with Him, meaning I have to trust Him and acknowledge Him as my Lord and Savior. I can't have a personal view of God or a personal relationship or know the character of God if I've not had a relationship with Him. Recognizing that Jesus died on the cross for my sin, giving me access. To him for by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves It is the gift of God not of works list any man should boast Recognizing that God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us The only access I have to the character of God and Understanding and knowing the character of God in an intimate way is through his son Jesus Christ. I But folks, let me challenge you, it's not just at the beginning of the point of salvation that I have this introduction of personalizing God. It's a day-by-day, moment-by-moment fellowship with Him. It's me acknowledging God and giving my life to Him and saying, God, would you be my God? Would you be my rock? Would you be my safety net, my salvation, and whom I put my faith and trust in? Teenagers, he must not be viewed just as your parent's God. He must become your God. We must make the decision that he is to be my God. Then you see his attributes are claimed. He gives us kind of a practical theology here. Not just the ambiguous, like I said, knowing the character of God and giving us the personal view. He says my expectation or my hope comes from him. David is telling his soul to remember that God is the source of his hope. More precisely, what God had promised him. He takes hold and claim of the promises of God. It's true that David's experience was unique, and that God had made specific promises to him, such as becoming Israel's king, from 1 Samuel 16, verse 13, and receiving a throne that would be established forever through his children. He claims the promise of God's salvation, that his safety is found in him, that his strength is to be found in him, and that his defense is found in him. I will not be moved. The contrast of what he says in verse two, he says in verse two, I will not be greatly moved, meaning that in my own strength I will be. But when I'm standing on the rock, there's no movement. I think the visual illustration, we'll come back to this in just a second, is from Ephesians chapter six and verse 15, having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, meaning my feet are established. I'm ready to be moved, I cannot be moved. We trust in him alone. That's what he says in verse eight. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. And he says Selah again. Think about that. We reflect on that, it seems contradictory that he would say my soul waits silently for him and then to pour out our heart to God. They're not in contradiction to each other. Their reality is working in conjunction with one another, meaning that I am pouring out my heart only to God alone. I'm not trying to solve the problems. How many times do we cast our cares upon God and say, God, you need to work, I need you to work in this situation, and then we're thinking through plan B, plan C, as if God really won't come through for us? Can you imagine if Israel, when they're crossing the Red Sea, Thinking, Moses, what's your plan B? No, the resolve was to trust that God had the answer. He was going to work in His time. He has — we're found safest in Him. My strength is found in Him. He is my rock. I will not be moved. So it leads me to pour my heart out to Him. It's verbal. It's emotional. Sometimes it's a mess. We're left without answers. I don't know what to do, God. I know how my flesh wants to respond. I know how I want to interact. I know how I want to, to what I want to say back. But God, I need you as my rock. I need you as my hope. My expectation. You learn that you can pour out whatever it is in your heart to him and he won't reject you. He won't turn his back on you. I just keep getting reminded of a song, a hymn that we've sung here several times. Come my soul with every care. Jesus loves to answer prayer. The next line in that says you are coming to a king. Isn't that fascinating to think about? We have access to God's throne room. Large petitions with me bring. For His grace and power are such that none could ever ask too much. God is a refuge for us collectively. That's how he ends it for verse 8. He doesn't just give it for himself. He talks about the community as a whole, that God is our refuge. Can I take you over to a New Testament parallel? I'm asking, but I'm gonna do it. Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter six, look at verses 10 to 18 with me. I want you to see some of the parallels by which David is using in Psalm 62 to what this looks like in our practical Christian living today. Paul, through the inspiration of scripture, says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, and he gives who he's wrestling against. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14. Here's the parallel. Here's the truth claims about God that we must apply. He begins with, stand therefore, girding your waist with truth. Take hold of the promises of God. Why? Because the truth is the one piece that's gonna hold all of this armor together for us. And without this, we have nothing. Having on the breastplate of righteousness, Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, that was what I was referring to, that when I have Him, I know what's right and I live what's right, my feet are firmly planted, I will not be moved. Above all, take in the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. The shield of faith here is the community event. That when Paul is writing this in terms of how the Romans would have marched, he's writing in the description that the shield itself was built in such a way that it could defend one individually, but had greater strength when it was applied corporately. When they would place their shields together, and they would march together, it was hard to penetrate. Folks, what great power. When we, through the power of God, come together as a collective body of believers and we care for one another, we will not be moved. And take the helmet of salvation, the knowledge of the truth, the safety of all that God is with us, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to the sin with all perseverance in supplication for the saints. The illustration is this, that without God, we can't apply those things, but the idea here of Ephesians chapter six is that when we place our faith and trust in God, we are equipped with the armor of God. We don't have to go buy it. We don't have to go obtain it. It's given to us, so wear it. Know its usefulness. God is David's refuge, is he yours? Is David's God your God? Have you seen his character on display in your life? Do you cast your care upon him and leave your burdens with him only to take up your own burden, those same burdens in your own strength because we fear that God won't come through? He commands himself to wait silently for God because he knows that the character of God will always prevail. Adversity in our life will either lead us closer in our fellowship with God or move us to be detached in our fellowship with God. And when I find my confidence in Him, I find a sense of peace and joy that God is going to continually be who He says He is. And when I speak the truth of my personal God back to myself, I find that He quiets my soul. I can rest on His promises and find my confidence in Him. It doesn't mean that I have to like the situation that I'm in. There are plenty of times throughout the book of Psalms where David expresses his dislike for circumstances that he's presently in. But you always see him resolve to the promises of God, and he puts his hope in God, in his God, and not his circumstances. We saw number one, the confidence of God's character, Number two, the challenge to live out God's character. And last this morning, let's look at the corollary of living out God's character. Or the results, the evidence of when I apply this to my life, what happens? Verses nine to 12 are where we'll find this evidence. David goes back to the same description as what he gave in verses three and four of the men who come at him, but he gives it in a different view. He's not so much describing them and the pressure that they put on him, but the pressure, and he gives the description of who they are and the way that they live their life in light of who God is. It's changed his complete perspective. He's no longer living under the pressure of what they may do to him. But he's living under the light, seeing the filter that God gives of who these people are before him. He says, surely men are of low degree and are of vapor. Men of high degree are a lie. If they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor. Do not trust in oppression nor vainly hope in robbery. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. He helps us see in verses 9 and 10 and even verse 11, man's futility. Man's futility. Fame and notoriety leave man empty and oftentimes wanting more. And David gives this illustration of a scale, that if they were to be measured according to the character of God, that really nothing would register. They're lighter than air. Isn't it amazing the description that David gives here in light of who God is to how man responds and yet how intimidated we are by man? And how much we value or put into credence that we have to abide or give in. He's given us the difference of the creator and the creation. Using that illustration is lighter than air. We are intimidated by might, really begins with our childhood, the bully on the playground. Then as adults with the bully on the job or the corporate giant which we have really small or little, no influence to no influence. It leads us then to always looking over our shoulder on who may be out to get us or take our own position. In essence, who's cutting the corners that's gonna take my job? Proverbs chapter 29 verse 25 says, the fear of man brings a snare, but those who trust in the Lord will find safety. What's the parallel word that David uses? Salvation. Not only are we intimidated by man, we're impressed by money. That's the description that David is giving here in verses 10 and 11. The wealthy are the strong ones. Money oftentimes talks, doesn't it? You look at our current state of affairs in the political realm. The one who has the most money typically wins. But even in our personal lives, When I look at my neighbors, when I look at my friends and their position in life, it leads me oftentimes to greed, to want what they want, to have what they have, to obtain more, that I oftentimes put God on the shelf so that I can gain the things that I hope for. We might use phrases like, well, if I got a better paying job, God could have more of my time and my money. Well, if God were just to bless me in this way, then how much more could I give to missions? Or how much more could I serve Him? Usually it doesn't work out that way. That's why David says they are a lie. Because the more you get, the more you try to hide away, the more we take and put for ourselves, and reality is more selfish we become. When we detach ourselves from the character of God, we find that we live a life that Solomon would later on write in the book of Ecclesiastes that is vain and empty. I might have friends, I might have family, I might have a good paying job, but deep down in my soul I'm lacking. a fellowship with God that only God can truly satisfy. Then look at the blessings. Look at God's blessings. We have man's futility and we have God's blessings here. He says in verse 11, God has spoken once, twice I have heard this. that power belongs to God. Also to you, O Lord, belongs mercy, for you render to each one according to his work. He begins with the idea here, God has spoken one, he gives us his word. Folks, the way that we understand the character of God, the way we know and apply the character of God is you have to know it, you have to get into his word, and he gives it to us in his word. I have to have a personal relationship with Him as we've discussed, but I also have to have personal time with Him. I have to know it. David uses this phrase, if God has spoken once, twice, I have heard this. It's kind of more of a hyperbole of, if I've said it once, I've said it a million times. But isn't it what we need? I mean, even Paul writes in Philippians chapter three, he says, for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is helpful. We need the reminder. He gives us his words so that we're reminded of his truth claims about himself so that we can put them to the test about who it is, if God's really gonna be who he says he is. We have his word and we have his way. The power belongs to God. He is powerful. He is in complete control. He gives a second description of his, that he is merciful. He handles our circumstances according to his character. It's oftentimes that we want God to act in power towards our adversity, our adversaries, and in mercy towards us, do we not? God, would you punish those who have ought against me, but would you be merciful to me in my sin against you? God doesn't work in that way. He does, but more times than not, he's just as powerful in our lives. He'd need his power. Power without mercy leads him to be a tyrant. But mercy without power means that God really can't do anything. We need them both. I think a perfect example of that from the Old Testament is Jonah. Jonah sent to Nineveh to preach a message of repentance, and what does Jonah want? He wants to see destruction. And yet God says here, I'm gonna act in power and in mercy. Not only that, he is righteous and just. As he says here at the end of the psalm, verse 12, for you render to each one according to his work. I never have to question if God made the right decision. Because he's always acting in line with his character. He can do no other. So what does that mean for us? Are you more impressed by promotions and possessions than by how the character of God is displayed in your life? Do you suffer from insecurities because others might want your job or position? Would you rather see God pour out his power on your adversaries more than you would want to see his mercy displayed? Would you, like David, commit to saying, God, in you alone will I wait? In you alone will I put trust, my trust, for you are my salvation, my rock, my refuge, and my defense. David made sure that Jedithin and all of Israel knew that God's character would be lived out through the life of David no matter what he was going through. He was not going to be swayed or pushed around. His reaction was not for man to see his fleshly response, but to see him take hope in the character of God. What about you? If someone were asking you the questions listed there in your bulletin, would your reply be centered around the character of God? For folks this morning, the unwavering character of God leads us. to a greater confidence in facing life's adversities. Let's pray together.