In the Storm 2: Cling to God
In the Storm 2: Cling to God! Psalms 63:6-11
What is it about our brains that as you are falling asleep it remembers all the work you need to do this week or how tight the budget is this month. And then rather than allowing you to actually sleep it starts going through pointless ways that maybe you could get through all your problems even though there is nothing you can do about it in your bed and guarantee you would have forgotten all your plans by the time you wake up in the morning.
Isn’t it strange that in the storms of life the sleep we need the most (we need to find rest for our wary souls) escapes us and robs us of any energy that we would have left.
David finds himself in that time of life that he cannot sleep. His own son is trying to kill him and he has had his kingdom ripped from him.
I can imagine the restless nights that he must have had. Sometime in life the stresses of life become such that no reasoning, no hope, nothing calms the soul and it is these moments that we have to abandon everything and truly cling to God! Let us read how he responds:
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I have titled my message this morning “In the Storm 2: Cling to God!” and it unprecedented moments of stress that we have to simply fall upon God and give everything to him. It is here that we cling!
The joy of this clinging is that it is not up to our strength to hold on but simply to just hold on.
I see this as when Nic asks me to swing him around. He is clinging to me with all his might but he simply doesn’t have the strength to hold onto me. So I as a father use my strength to hold tight so that he doesn't fall.
This is the same with God we simply have to lift our hands and cling even with the smallest strength it is God who we are holding onto and He will not fail us.
David found himself in crisis and so he simply clung to God.
Like David we must cling to God because:
1. He is your help
David continues his Psalm as states that in the watches of the night. The Jews had three watches of the night. So basically David is recalling God’s help throughout the night.
Isn’t it amazing how it is we are trying to fall asleep that our mind is flooded with the thoughts of the day. It is there in the stillness of night that our soul actually has enough quite to cry out and make us realise what we are dwelling upon.
I am often amazed how I will not be stressed in the day, when there are distractions around and there is things to do. but as soon as my head hits that pillow and it does not matter how exhausted I may be. It is there that my mind starts to run. and I am made aware of what is truly troubling my heart.
I remember one night being so troubled by the future that i could not find rest. I gave up left the room went to the study and opened up scripture (not to make myself sleepy)(I did not turn to Chronicles).
No I knew that the only way I was going to find rest for my mind was to seek God. Because I know God to be my help.
David knew this too. He clung to God because only God was able to help Him in his problems. So when the stresses of the night came to him (and we see that they came to him through all the watches of the night) David turned to God.
He clung to God when sleep evaded him. Because It is only God that can truly give us rest.
We tend to however wrestle with our stresses and not surrender them. We often think through every circumstances and every outcome.
The problem with this is that we are essentially clinging to a future that might not ever happen rather than clinging to the God that knows our future fully.
The New Testament reminds us of this in 1 PEter 5:6-7 is says:
“6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
God doesn’t want us carrying the burdens of an unsure future he cares for us and desire that we experience His peace. However if we are clinging to an unsure future and not to God we cannot expect Him to grant us His peace.
The peace of God is connected to the trust of God.
We have to let go of ourselves if we are going to cling to God. We have to let go not because we are commanded to but because he is our help!
Cling to God because he is your help!
Cling to God also because;
2. He is in control
Only in verse 9 does David start to recall his situation and the conclusion of his heart is that God is still in control.
He says
Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. 10They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. It sounds like quite harsh thing to say about your son, but David is mediating on the destiny of all who oppose the will of God, those who are against the people of God.
Though they look like they might be prospering now, ultimately they will die and then face judgement.
We know from the testimony of Scripture that David did not want his son to be killed, but he knew that the destiny of the wicked is the grave.
Knowing that all things and everything is accountable to God and in his hands gives us great release from the stresses of life.
The storms of life are only terrifying if God is not in the storm. We who know God know that ultimately He is in control of the storm.
And Rom 8:28 becomes the ultimate reassurance no matter how violent the storm is:
“28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a]have been called according to his purpose.”
This is why the teaching of the sovereignty of God is the cornerstone of the Christian’s security.
We believe that our God is in control and because of that we have safety in our storms.
That God is with me in the problems that I find myself in is the security I need to make it through.
I cannot tell you how many times in my life this has been the truth that has carried me. It upholds me and secures me. God has got this!
I often have to tell myself; Is God in control? Is God good? Well, what am I worried about?!
The reality is that no matter what you are going through no matter how fierce your storms are you can cling to God because he is in control.
We also cling to God because:
3. He is your glory
David finishes off this Psalm saying:
“But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.”
We cling to God because he is our glory. the word here literally means to boast. David says that who swear by God will boast in him.
to swear by God is to give your allegiance to him and to allow Him to be the sole source of protection and rule. Those who give themselves to God glory in Him; they boast in Him.
This is the Logical Byproduct of those who cling to God; He becomes the boasting point of their life.
They cannot help but glory in Him. because those who cling to God will not be disappointed.
Again it comes down to the fact that you and I cannot make it through the storms of life successfully, we inevitably rob ourselves of peace and rest.
We stress and panic and kill ourselves over things that are unknown and unknowable.
Yet when we cling to God in the midst of the unknowable, when we cling to him in the panic of the night when sleep eludes us, it is here that we find just how powerful our God is. and it is here that we glory in Him; and I want to say it is here that He glories in us.
There are so many examples of people who have glorified God in the midst of their troubles (in their storms) and God has glorified them; they have been honoured for their faith in God. It is as we boast in God that he turns he rewards us with His glory and goodness.
The reality is that when we cling to God we actually find yourself in the place that we are supposed to be. You see we were created dependent; we were born dependent upon God. It is sin in us that lies to us and tells us that we are not.
It is as we live in that lie of self sufficiency that life falls apart. But it is as we fall into a place of dependency again; we get to the place where we are again where we are supposed to be and life makes sense.
That is why Jesus says; I have come to give you life and life in its abundance. that life is found in surrender and dependence to God.
So if you find yourself in a storm cling to God like there is nothing else to Cling to and he will help you; know that he is in control and that at the end you will glory in Him and ultimately He will glory in you!