Finding Yourself in the Psalms
Psalm 11
A Psalm When You Feel Like Running Away
Don Moen sat on an airplane praying, asking God for words that would mean something in a time of hopelessness for his wife’s sister, Susan, and her husband, Craig; words that would reach through their deep despondence, and touch them in the place they were. The words came. On a yellow legal pad, he scribbled the lyrics and melody to a deeply personal song. A song written for his family in a time of desperate need that has since reached around the world and touched millions in every walk of life: “God Will Make a Way.”
1. By a Roadway in the WildernessDon’s sister-in-law and her husband Craig had four young boys; the oldest of them, Jeremy, was nine years old. They were en route to a dream, family vacation,
driving through the Texas Panhandle, bound for the Colorado ski slopes. “They had just laid all the boys down to go to sleep,” Don shares, “they took their seat belts off and made a bed out of the seat in the back of the van. They were on this little, middle of nowhere, two-lane highway. As Craig went through the
middle of an intersection and an 18-wheeler truck slammed into the left rear of the van and spun them around.”
In a tragic moment of chaos, the back doors of their van flung open and the four boys were thrown from the spinning vehicle. Craig, a medical doctor, and Susan were saved from injury. But they soon realized the van was empty and they were left to search for their children by listening for their cries.
Don shares, “Craig located three of his boys, seriously injured and buried in mud. But, he couldn’t find Jeremy.” When he finally found their nine-year-old boy, he was lying beside a nearby fence. Despite his attempts to revive Jeremy, Craig knew that his son was gone; his neck had been broken. Don recounts that moment, “The Lord said to him, ‘Jeremy is with me. Attend to those who are living.’” So Craig had to release his son and care for the rest of his boys, all who were seriously injured, during the two-hour wait for an ambulance.
He Will Be My Guide“ When you get a call like that, just what do you say? You know? You just don’t know what to say. I got a hold of Craig by telephone in the emergency room and I just felt totally helpless to
even say anything to him. He was an elder in his church, a Bible teacher. He knew all the scriptures. He
knew what to say. Being a medical doctor, he counseled a lot of people when their family members had
died. So, I really couldn’t tell Craig anything new.
“The day after talking to him, I got on an airplane and just stared out the window read my Bible, and prayed. I was thinking oh man, how can this happen, Lord? Just give me something fresh to say to Susan and Craig that they haven’t heard 100 times before. The song came to me sitting on that American Airlines jet. It is based on the scripture, Isaiah 43:4. ‘Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life.’ And also verse
19, ‘Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a
roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.’
Psalm 11
David in trouble.
I. The ATTITUDE of the Righteous: OPENING STATEMENT: “In the LORD I take refuge”
A. take refuge in, i.e., go to a place where one will find safety, rest, or comfort, implying the place of refuge is a place to be trusted to keep one safe
B. Same word used in 2 Sam 22:3. David’s testimony.
II. The ATTACK against the Righteous. 1b-3
Friends giving him counsel “RUN AWAY”
Note punctuation in NAS and NIV (no punctuation in KJV).
A. God cannot save you. (Mark 15:31, NIV) "In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!"
B. The enemy is too great.
C. “Hope is lost” When the foundations are destroyed.
D. This was a time of DESPERATE NEED.
III. The ABILITY of the LORD. 4-7
A. YHWH’s Control. 11:4a “Holy Temple”
B. YHW’S Concern. 11:4b-5. “He watches”
1. (Proverbs 5:21, NIV) "For a man’s ways are in full view of the Lord, and
he examines all his paths."
2. (2 Chronicles 16:9, NIV) "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”" (Asa)
. . .a student named John who was blind. One day I asked him, “how did you lose your sight?” “A Chemical explosion,” John said, “at the age of 13.”
“How did that make you feel?” I said.
“Life was over. I felt helpless. I hated God,” John replied. “For the first six months I did nothing to improve my lot in life. I ate all my meals alone. One day my father entered my room and said “John, winter’s coming and the storm windows need to be up – that’s your job. I want those hung by the time I get back this evening or else!”
“Then he turned, walked out of the room, and slammed the door. I got so angry. I thought, who does he think I am? I’m blind! I was so angry I decided to do it. I felt my way to the garage, found the windows, located the necessary tools, found the ladder, all the while muttering under my breath, “I’ll show them. I’ll fall, then they’ll have a blind and paralyzed son!”
John continued, “I got the windows up. I found out later that never at any moment was my father more than five feet away from my side.”
LEADERSHIP, Spring 2004, 79
C. YHWH’s CONSISTENCY. 11:5 He will judge.
D. YHWH’s CHARACTER. 11:7 He is righteous.
0 Comments