September 29, 2021
Hello dear friends,
Greetings to you in the hopeful name of Jesus,
On September 26th, Pastor Darris Arnold came and led us in a time of communion together. We turned our attention to the Lord’s Supper, and meditated on that. Often times, he said, we tend to take the elements for granted. Behind these elements a lot of preparation takes place. We had bread baking in the auditorium, and people could smell the bread. A video was shown about harvesting wheat and making the flour, and then making bread. We recalled Jesus’ words from John where Jesus declared that He was “the bread that came down from Heaven.” The bread represented his body.
Grace Smith donated grapes for us, and during the service people had an opportunity to come forward to crush their own grapes in preparing the juice that we would be partaking. We read Isaiah 53 together. Verse 5 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed.” Something about crushing the grapes brought home to us this crushing that Jesus experienced for us. We closed the service singing “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” It was a meaningful time. We have such a loving God!
And because God is so loving we should put our trust in Him. King David wrote about this in a number of his psalms… but today I want us to look at Psalm 33:12-22:
“12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
13 From heaven the LORD looks down
and sees all mankind;
14 from his dwelling place he watches
all who live on earth—
15 he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.”
When David wrote, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” no doubt he was thinking about his nation. He wanted his people to be blessed. Every king would want their people to be blessed—and David knew that God could bless them. Where did that thought come from? Well, he was a man of God and he knew the scriptures. In Genesis, we are told that God would bless the nation. It even goes back to God’s covenant with Abraham. God told Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3 (NIV2011) God selected out a people to bless—and he chose Abraham because Abraham believed him. He was a friend of God and God would honor that for Abraham and his descendants.
Those who trusted God like Abraham would also be blessed and they too would receive an inheritance. Now the Israelites thought it was simply because of their heritage, but God was honoring faith all along. God can see mankind. It’s like he “looks down from heaven.” From God’s house—he can see into our houses, and God considers everything that we do. It is interesting how David refers to God verse 15 “He who forms the hearts of all.” You see, God knows our hearts, because He is the One who forms our hearts. This places the emphasis on our faith rather than our heritage. There is no hiding from God what we do or who we are. He knows all about us.
David was quite aware of this, and He trusted in God for the nation’s safety. The people needed to trust in the Lord because of who God was. But often, people would rather trust in what they see than in a God they “couldn’t see.” Quite frankly, people would rather trust in their government than the God of heaven who can set up governments and take them down. Maybe that’s why David moved from talking about God’s blessings to God’s power. Let’s look at verses 16-19:
“16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.”
Some do trust in chariots; in personal might; in cunning strategies—thinking that they are ultimately in control of their destiny. But they are not. God says that kings aren’t saved by the size of their army. It didn’t save the Midianites from Gideon’s pathetic 300 men? Goliath was not saved because of his size. Even though all the bets were on him against scrawny David. Goliath lost his life that day to a kid and his slingshot. But really, it wasn’t David he was fighting against. David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” See 1 Samuel 17:45 When David let that stone go it was powered by God and flew straight to its mark.
Neither are kings and kingdoms saved by the weapons of war. God says a horse is a vain hope for deliverance. I would suppose that would go for drones, tanks, missiles, aircraft, ships and what have you. God can overrule such things. He created it all in the first place and He can bring all such things to naught. But what does God look for? He looks for those who fear him and who hope in His unfailing love. That is who God focuses on. What will He do in those tough times? He can deliver them from death and keep them alive in a famine. In fact, God delivered all the Israelites from famine by raising up Joseph in Egypt. There was more than enough food for them when they moved there with all their herds and flocks. Joseph’s brothers meant to harm him, but God meant it for good that He might save many people. See Genesis 50:20. We want to put God in a little box, when in reality the whole earth can’t contain Him. Let’s not be surprised when we see God operating “outside our box.” We don’t have God figured out, so what should we do? David tells us in verses 20-22:
“20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.”
We wait in hope for the Lord. What does it mean to wait? Simply that! We wait. Instead of discounting God, we count on Him to come through with His promises and provisions. We hope in Him, which doesn’t mean that we are wishing He might do something; rather we are confidently assured that God will do what He has promised to do. Don’t put promises in God’s mouth… and then be disappointed when God doesn’t do what you want Him to do. But God WILL KEEP ALL of HIS PROMISES. That is a fact. So, let’s look into the scriptures to make sure we’ve got His promises right, and then double down putting our hope in Him.
In the time of waiting, He is our help and shield. Why? Because He knows how difficult waiting is for us. We give up on Him way too soon, thinking He has forgotten us? He helps us in our impatience, our doubt, our weakness. He shields us from the Enemy’s attacks, and temptations. He is a shield against our own self-deception when we think that we know better than God—or try to “help God out.” He is such a great God that He can use all these things for our good as we love Him. See Romans 8:28. Our impatience with God is really, deep down, a lack of love for Him. The Bible tells us that “love is patient,” so patience is an indicator of just how much we really love Him.
Do you rejoice in Him? Is your heart enflamed by the Holy One of Israel? Do you long to be with Him—just so you can be with Him. Do you want to know Him as your “Father?” Too often we are simply interested in God for what He can do for us, or give us. But when our hearts really rejoice in Him, that tends to be an indicator of what our hearts really think of Him. Remember, He is the One who formed our hearts. He knows you. Do you long to be in the presence of other lovers-of-God and rejoice together in Him. Can you really say, “I trust in His holy name?” Christianity is not a utilitarian religion designed to make us look good, or to “get to heaven when we die.” Rather, it is about a personal relationship with our Creator and the Lover of our souls. God loves you, which leads us to the final verse of this Psalm.
Verse 22 reads like a prayer of David for his people and for us. Listen to his request again: “May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” Never forget that God’s love IS unfailing! God’s love is like a river that never quits. It is strong and secure. And this love will to be with us. Experienced by us. Rejoiced in by us. His love is so great and steadfast that even though we were sinners, Christ died for us. See Romans 5:8. But I think in order for us to fully experience this love, we need to fulfill the last half of this verse: “We need to put our hope in Him.” Life for us will change as we hope in Him. Consider what the prophet Isaiah said, “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31 In other words, life will not overwhelm us at all when we walk in the hope of the Lord.
Hope is such an important thing for us. I would argue that the greatest need we have in our lives is a sense that there is hope in the world. And Jesus brought us that hope. I’m preaching a series of messages on Hope. This coming Sunday, I will be speaking about Hope for the Broken. Maybe you feel like life is getting the better of you—or maybe that you are just too broken to have any hope left? Listen, we can have hope in God. And when we have His hope in us, then God’s unfailing love will be with us. And it will change your life.
Benediction:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (NIV2011)
Pastor Russ Hilsinger,
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon
P.S. We will be meeting on Sunday’s at 9:15 for Sunday School, and then at 10:30 for Worship. If you are not able to join us, I would ask that you please pray for us as we gather. Pray that our Sunday School hour would be filled with power and discover as I teach the book of Colossians. Then pray for our Worship Service that the Spirit of God would lift up hearts and give us living hope as I preach on Hope for the Broken. Thank you.