Who Can Make You Anxious?

Let's take our Bibles this morning and let's turn to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Let's join in prayer. Father we come to you as a people who need to hear from you We live in times that are tumultuous There just seems to be so much going on It's a time of chaos and unrest it's a time when people care little for our beliefs and what we stand for and there is so much reason to be anxious so we come to you asking you to teach us today how we can stand against anxiety and fear help us we pray For Father, we want to be distinguishable from those around us who do not know you.

And so help us now. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we're living in times that give great opportunity for anxiety. I mean, you just look around us. We have a pandemic.

Our country is in unbelievable unrest. It hasn't been in this state for a long time. Thirteen million acres of Iowa corn was flattened with hurricane force winds, winds of up to 130 miles an hour. There are two hurricanes right now in the Gulf headed towards the United States. with some saying that Louisiana could get hit with two hurricanes. It's just like a never-ending tale, is it, these days?

People are anxious. You doing your best at work and there are people at work that don care for you They like a pack of dogs and they always attacking you And they have, some have said to you that they're going to do their best to make sure that you don't work in that area again. And you know that if you don't work in that area, you're lost. You're going to be in big trouble.

You've got lots of anxiety. You're laying awake thinking about that, about these people who can do you a great deal of harm and you don't know what to do. I mean, there's nothing you can do, is there? You are just eaten up with anxiety. When we come to Psalm 27, we're coming to David, who is in a situation that is hard, really, really hard. and yet in this psalm he tells us not to fear he tells us not to fear he's like a soldier in the battlefield but he does not fear how is that? how does he handle it? why is he not anxious? and how is he escaping that seemingly inescapable prison of anxiety.

I remember years ago, if I look back at some of the journals I was keeping years ago, I can remember one particular time where I wrote anxiety is like a prison to me. I'm locked in it and I can't get out of it. And yet as I read this psalm, I don't see a guy who has every reason to be anxious, not anxious. How is that? Well, this is a hymn to God written when David faced great danger, coming face to face with death.

Here's what God says to his people living in anxious times. You follow as I read. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes it is they who stumble and fall Though an army encamp against me my heart shall not fear Though war rise against me yet I will be confident One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble.

He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me.

You have said, Seek my face. My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, I do seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help, cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God. of my salvation.

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, but false witnesses, for false witnesses have risen against me and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Here now is a psalm that tells us how we can deal with anxiety. You can possess an attitude of confidence, God tells us in verses one through three. Look at the confidence exhibited by God's servant.

Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? My heart will not fear. I will be confident. Well, someone might assert, so what's the big deal? I face adversity with confidence too.

Well, think about what David is facing here. Look at what he faces. His enemies advance against him like a pack of savage animals. Verse 2. When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh. They're like a pack of wild animals.

How confident would you be against a pack of wild animals? When I was a kid, I had a paper route. There's one particular house. They wanted their paper delivered to the back door This is by the way where I grew up you went up to the house opened that first door and put the paper in We didn throw it We went to the door and put the paper in So there's this one house, and you have to go to the back.

And they had a dog house and a dog on a chain. And this dog hated me. I mean, he was always barking, foaming at the mouth. But here was the problem. He didn't like me. And I would go to that back door and I'd stand there and go, yeah, you think you're so tough.

He's lunging at his chain and I'm just egging him on. Right. And one day I'm delivering the paper and I'm egging him on and the chain broke. And he was standing at the bottom of the stairs of that back porch, just wanting a piece of me. his teeth were barred he was fine he was foaming at the mouth he was he says I've got this guy now I probably should tell you what happened right I just stood there for a while and just looked him in the face and kept looking at him and backed out he didn't eat me up obviously but that's the sort of thing that David is facing except for the fact that this is a whole pack of those dogs.

This is not like your garden variety adversity, if you will. This is really, really difficult. He's got enemies who are going to eat him alive, who are after him, to kill him, right? He describes a situation like a siege against him in verse 3. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. He's describing a siege.

Now in those days with walled cities, armies would come and encamp around the cities and essentially starve them out. Starve them out. In fact, when Jerusalem was surrounded in Nebuchadnezzar's siege, when you read in Lamentations, you read it got so bad that women were eating their children. That's how bad it gets. You are in really, really bad shape when the enemy encamps around you.

This is the ravages of a siege. And he says, I'm not afraid. And then he says at the end of verse 3, the war arise against me, yet I will be confident. The hostilities may break out at any moment and he could be plunged into the ravages of pain, suffering, death and hunger. heartache. I don't know if anybody here, and maybe I'm wrong, who have faced the ravages of combat, but it is a pretty fearsome thing.

It is a pretty fearsome thing. And that's what he's facing. Not only that, when you look over at verse 12, he says there are false witnesses who are threatening violence. Have you ever had people slander you and spread rumors about you and attempt to just destroy your reputation? At the same time they're ruining your reputation, word gets back to you that they've said, once we get a hold of him, he'll be sorry he was ever born.

This is what he is facing. So we can't underrate the situation. This is what he's facing. And yet he says, I'm not afraid. I will not fear. You know, already you understand God tells us not to worry, but let's face it, there's plenty out there to worry about.

There is plenty to worry about. In your life, you can point all kinds of things that will give you occasion to worry. And they're not pleasant things, they're difficult things, and sometimes it looks like they could consume you. And yet he possesses confidence, not anxiety. Why? Because he knows his covenant God.

Now here's the key. Here's the key to anxiety. Knowing God. Knowing God. Again, like I said, as we began this series, there's no magic bullet here. There is no magic bullet.

There is no shortcut. There are no 10 steps to deal with anxiety. Certainly there are things we need to do. And here's the main thing. Know your covenant God. He calls him by his covenant name.

He calls him by his covenant name, Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Yahuwah is his name. This is his covenant name. This is the name by which he revealed himself to Israel. The Canaanites had Baal and Ashtaroth and all kinds of other gods. The Egyptians had Isis and Osiris and all kinds of other gods.

All the nations had their gods Israel had one And his name is Yahuwah translated in our Old Testaments with capital L capital O capital R capital D That is his personal name That is his covenant name That is the name by which he made himself known to Israel What about that covenant God? Whenever you see that, they're referring to the God who revealed himself to them and is in covenant with them. And what does he say about this God?

He is light. He is light. He is my light. What does that mean? What is he talking about when he says he's my light? Is he talking about a giant lamp?

No, what he's making an allusion to is what happened at the Exodus. If you turn to Exodus chapter 14, verses 19 and 20, this is what he's referring to. He's alluding to this. Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. and there was the cloud and the darkness and it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

So he's making a reference to this light. You remember as they left Egypt and now the Egyptian army is chasing them, the pillar moved from the front to the back and on this side was darkness towards the Egyptians so that they couldn't see anything. It was the dead of night and on this side it was light giving light to all the people of God. And the point he's making here is God is my light.

He is this pillar. He is the one who protects. He is salvation. He is powerful enough to save his enemies. Save him from his enemies. God is a stronghold.

He is a fortress. He is my light. He is my salvation. He is my stronghold. My God is a stronghold. Imagine standing in the mountains looking down on your enemies.

I remember when I was in Albania a few years ago, their hero is a guy named Skanderbeg. Skanderbeg, okay, you've got to understand, boy, you've got to understand a little bit of history. The Ottoman Turks had conquered all of that part of Europe. The Turks, the Islamic Turks, had conquered all the way up to Vienna in Austria. And so that part that we call the Balkans, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, all those, those were all under the thumb of the Ottoman Turks Skanderbeg was a guy who came and fought against them He is the George Washington of the Albanians And we went to his fortress.

And it's this castle. And it's on this hill. And when you look out, you can see. It almost looks like you can see all of Albania. You can see everywhere. You can see out there. you can see for miles and miles and miles and miles until the land just meets the sky.

And that's Gonderbag's fortress. And that fortress was impregnable. You could see enemy forces coming from every direction for miles and miles away. All right? Now imagine you're standing there. And by the way, it's so high.

Now when you look down, right, everything looks tiny. And that's the picture he's drawing here. God is that kind of a stronghold. We stand there and everything looks tiny. You're in this place of protection. This is what God is like.

Notice as well that this God knows the future, has revealed the future of David's enemies. They will stumble and fall at the end of verse 2. They will stumble and fall. all right this is something we need to remember look over at psalm 73 for a moment psalm 73 psalm 73 is asaph as he's ruminating about the fact what good does it do to serve god because it looks to me like all those who are against god they prosper they get everything they want and those of us who serve god well we're just left in the dust and he's feeling sorry for himself and this i love psalm 73 some of my favorite it's where he's ruminating and meditating on this that that how the ungodly seem to be always everything goes their way but those of us who serve god what does it get you heartache people hate you what's the deal and so as he he meditates on this he he he says this beginning in verse 16 but when i thought how to understand this it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God.

Then I discerned their end, the enemies. Truly you set them in slippery places You make them fall to ruin how they are destroyed in a moment swept away utterly by terrors like a dream when one awakes O Lord when you rouse yourself you despise them as phantoms God tells us the end. God had promised David the throne of the kingdom, and David relied on the promises of God with regard to his future.

Again, what do we need to know about God? He's my light, he's my salvation, he's my stronghold. He has the enemies in his hand, he will deal with them. All right. Those people at work who are trying to depose you and deal with you. Remember, God will deal with them.

Now may not be the time. He may wait, but he will deal with them. And David lived on the promise of what God was going to do. So how do you overcome anxiety? Know the character of your covenant God. know his character how do you know that God will not just keep you but do good to you and that he'll love you through it all and keep you how do you know that my memory verse for this week was Psalm 40 11 and as for you O Lord you will not restrain your mercy from me your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me.

Your steadfast love, a love that will not ever be shaken, it's a covenant love, He's promised to love me. Your steadfast love and your faithfulness, the fact that He will always be faithful to me, will ever preserve me. How do I know that's true? I know that's true because of the cross. I know that's true because of the cross. Look at what God says in Romans 8.

This is what always pops into my mind. Romans 8. Verse 32. Well, verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him gracious? give us all things. How do I know God's going to be steadfast and faithful? Because He gave His Son. If He gave His Son, how will He not remain faithful to you? It's impossible for Him not to be for you. He is for you, not against you.

How do you know that? Because He gave His Son for you when you didn't deserve it. It's at the cross that all the promises of God find their confirmation. How do I know that God will be for me and not against me? Through all of what may cause, all of the things I'm tempted to worry about, I need to know the character of my covenant-keeping God. He is all these things, and I know that because of the cross.

So, you can possess an attitude of confidence. Now, let's keep going. You can possess this attitude of confidence if you possess one driving passion. Again, here's the clue. How do I deal with anxiety? I need to devote myself to one driving passion.

What is that one desire? What is uppermost in David's mind? And what is he preoccupied with in the face of blood, terror, suffering, and death? What is it that preoccupies his mind? Note that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. His desire is not for repose.

No, his desire is not for repose. It is not for victory. It is not for safety. Because this is how we pray. Lord, stop all this. Change all this so I don't worry. and his mind is not occupied with with God deal with this so I don't worry his mind instead is occupied with the driving passion to worship he has this driving passion to worship his mind is filled with God this is what I want here is the answer to anxiety here is the desire that upstages all other desires.

All right? Do you see what he's doing here? He's not saying, go after, like, okay, God, take all this stuff away. He says no your mind ought to be preoccupied not with the situation around you but with your God You want to worship God You have this driving passion to know and to worship God Now notice how it finds expression. First he says, to dwell in the house of the Lord.

To dwell, how am I going to worship? I want to dwell in the house of the Lord. Now David was from the tribe of Judah, not from the tribe of Levi. If you know your Old Testament, you know that it's only the Levites who could work at the temple. and it's only one particular family of the Levites, Aaron's family, that were high priests and only that one family in that one tribe could produce the high priest.

And the priests were to work and the Levites were to work at the temple. Is he saying change my parentage so I can be at the temple all day long? No. What he's essentially saying in a poetic way is he desires to enjoy the constant presence of the Lord that is pictured by the Levites constant service at the temple he wants to enjoy the constant presence of the Lord so someone says to me well you're saying that our constant desire is to live at the church all the time is that what you're saying no no and this is where let me give you a little lesson in scriptural interpretation at this point all right how do we read the old testament like the psalms here what can we say when he says my desire is to dwell to how to dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to how do we do that how should we understand that well remember that the old testament realities the requirements and practices of the old covenant taught the people of god it taught them things they needed to learn some things.

For example, the tabernacle. And by the way, David talks about a tent here because the tabernacle is still in existence. The temple has not been built yet. But as you know your history, the tabernacle is in Zion, is in Jerusalem at this time. Now, for example, in the tabernacle, God comes to dwell with his people. That's where he dwelt with his people.

God is accessible to his people there at the tabernacle. God must be worshipped by his people there. But those Old Testament requirements those Old Testament commandments all of that are pointing to a greater reality They pointing forward They just pictures They drawings of the ultimate reality of Jesus and what he does and what comes because of the work of Christ The Old Testament is always pointing forward.

You remember that as Jesus walked with the disciples in Luke 24 on the road to Emmaus, he opened up the scriptures from Genesis to Malachi and showed them how it's all about him and in Matthew chapter 5 Jesus says all the law and the prophets are fulfilled in me the whole testament is fulfilled in me all of the old testament is in some way pointing to the greater reality of Jesus but they're just pictures now look I grabbed this off my refrigerator you can't see that there those are my three little girls this is when Emma was just born and Annie and Lydia and Emma are in this picture, right? That shows me, that reminds me of those days back then. But you know what?

You know what's not in this picture? This is just a picture. You know what's not in here? The laughter, the jokes, the fun we had as they were growing up and as we're having now. The animated discussions we would have. The stories we would share around the supper table.

None of that is in that picture, is it? Now, I'm reminded of that when I see that picture, but that picture does not give the whole picture. So the Old Testament is like a snapshot. It's like a drawing. It's like a pencil drawing. It's pointing to a greater reality in Jesus, okay?

So how do we experience the constant presence of God now? Well, we experience the constant presence of God in Christ. In Christ. The meeting place for God and man is whom? It's no longer a temple. It's no longer a tabernacle.

The meeting place where we meet God is in Christ. Why do you think Jesus said, when you pray, pray in my name? Right? Because it's through Christ that we meet with God. It's in him. The meeting place for sinful men and a holy God is at the cross where Jesus is.

The meeting place remains Jesus. because he is our mediator, like the priests in the Old Testament temple. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us, where God comes to us and makes his presence known. We experience the presence of Jesus in Christ It all pointing to him I need to enjoy the constant presence of the Lord as I go to Him in Christ You experience the presence of God in the fellowship of God's people.

By the way, whatever is connected... You've all seen me do this. I'm going to do it again. I should put a picture up. The whole Old Testament, every bit of it narrows down to one point, and that's Jesus. Everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus.

The nation. Jesus is the true Israel. Jesus is the true temple. Jesus is all of those things. He's the prophet. He's the priest.

He's the king. He's all of those things. Everything in the Old Testament is fulfilled in him. And then from him, everything goes out. So that not only is he the temple, but what else is the temple of God? Right here.

You are the temple of God. As we gather, we are the temple of God. 1 Peter chapter 2, right? That we are a temple built on these stones, on these living stones here. So that's the temple. So in the presence, in the fellowship of believers, we experience the presence of God.

So even what David describes in the psalm concerning his own deliverance finds greater deliverance in the fulfillment of what Jesus has done. What's the answer to anxiety? Here it is. Here's the first thing. The answer to anxiety is preoccupation with the presence of God. Preoccupation with the presence of God.

Seeking God. Alright? If you want to deal with anxiety, then be preoccupied with the presence of the Lord. Now he goes on in verse 4. That passion to find expression in preoccupation with God's person. So now we're going to be preoccupied with God's person. to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and a preoccupation with God's will, to inquire of him in his temple.

Okay, verse 4. So we have a preoccupation with God's presence, a preoccupation with his person, a preoccupation with his will. So, do you cultivate observing the beauty of God's love, the harmony of his perfections, justice and love? Justice and love, how can he be just? still love sinners. There's perfect harmony there. His omnipotence and his faithfulness, his omnipotence and his goodness, right?

How do you know that God will do nothing but good for you? How can he pull it off? Because he's omnipotent. And when you put all of that stuff together, you see the perfections, the beauty of his perfections, and the beauty of God has revealed in his son and you see all of these marvelous attributes all perfect in their interrelationship with one another I mean even though we just can't comprehend it this is something we can do our entire lives I found something written some years ago let me quote it the beauty of the Lord surely must be his perfections but how often do we think of his perfections as beautiful or pleasant.

We most often think of them as majestic or awe-inspiring, which indeed they are, but we do not often think of them as that which we can gaze upon in pleasant admiration. How wonderful to gaze upon the beauty of my wife. It is something that elicits joy and causes me to be all the more attracted to her. So it is with God's perfections. They ought to arouse joy and desire to see him and spend time in his company.

There is a place for awestruck silence and there is a place for delighted, joyful, pleasant worship. Have you ever thought of God that way? Have you ever looked at his attributes and seen the perfect harmony and the beauty of them all and you say, wow, that is incredible. Not just incredible though, but isn't that pleasant? Isn't that good? Isn't that comforting?

To be captivated by God's beauty is to leave little fear for a little room for anxiety are you cultivating that in these anxious times part of the thing we want to do is this is what we do and you anxiety us anxious people right um i have a friend of mine who's a biblical counselor calls himself a recovering warrior okay still fighting it right when we're preoccupied with god see what we do we're preoccupied with all that's going around us We preoccupied with these things that to us cause us to worry And what he saying here is start getting preoccupied with God person Start filling your mind with the perfection of God attributes He also says that your passions for God's presence should drive you to seek his will. To seek his will. To inquire at the temple.

The word inquire here is a difficult one, but it seems to carry the idea of seeking direction. recalling the practice of going to God to get direction from Him. Your passion ought to drive you to the Word of God where the will of God, where He reveals His will to drive you to His commands and there to see that the commands of God have a beauty all their own. If you want to see the beauty of the commands of God, spend some time in Psalm 119 which is all about the Word of God.

Spend some time there. Psalm 19. Also, the last half of Psalm 19 talks about the glories of the word of God. Are you cultivating a love for the word of God that has the power to deliver you from anxiety? And by the way, are you seeking God's command so that you know what you ought to do? Be preoccupied with the will of God.

Why? Because as people who are anxious, we're not doing much, except we're not doing much, we're stewing much, right? We just sit there and stew. Find out what God has for you to do and get busy. I'm going to inquire of you at the temple. I'm going to find out your will, and then I need to do it. and you notice then in verses 5 and 6 that this driving passion for worship proves to be the only place of refuge verse 5 for he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble he will conceal me under the cover of his tent he will lift me high upon a rock the tent here is the tabernacle Notice verse 5, this driving passion for worship provides safety.

It provides safety. David remains confident that as he experiences the presence of God, he will find protection from God, like a host protecting his guest, his God protecting him in the tabernacle, like a man finding safety in the mountains. You been up in the mountains maybe some of you haven But when you get up in the mountains I remember being up in the Rockies and again looking down and cars were about that big It almost like being in a plane right It can't touch you, right?

It's like being in a place of safety. You see the greater fulfillment of this, for example, in 2 Timothy chapter 4. okay it's the place of safety notice how Paul expresses it in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 16 through 18 at my first defense no one came to stand by me but all deserted me may it not be charged against them but the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it so I was rescued from the lion's mouth the lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom to him be glory the glory forever and ever amen you see what he's saying there yeah he was delivered from the lion's mouth but you know what ultimately his deliverance is going to come when he heads for glory when he heads for glory our safety is not always I'm going to make through this without any scrapes. Our safety is ultimately going to be found when Jesus comes and renews everything.

And by that I need to look to the promises of God. But our driving passion for worship, when we worship as we've talked about, it will provide safety for us. Again, I'm reminded of my memory verse. you know your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me psalm 40 11 i don't know if i told you what it was psalm 40 11 will ever preserve me as i meditated on that i thought it doesn't mean that people aren't going to say terrible things about me and to me it doesn't mean god's going to deliver me from people just coming after me and just gnawing on me it's not going to deliver me from those things all the time sometimes he might sometimes he won't but he's going to preserve me.

I'll make it. It's not going to, it's, it'll do me no ultimate harm. I make it All right So it provides safety First part of verse six this passion for worship not only provides safety it promises glory First part of verse 6 and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. So my head will be lifted up above my enemies all around me.

In worship, we recall that God's promises to us of victory and exaltation, just like David does. I'm going to be exalted. God has promised to exalt us one day. All right. God has promised to exalt us one day. He did it with Jesus.

He will do it with all those who are in him. Romans 8, 18. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. First Peter 1, 7. These trials have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed Peter is saying it's going to result in praise glory and honor for you when Jesus is revealed first John 3 2 dear friends now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known but we know that when he appears we shall be like him we'll be exalted right so it this this driving passion then promises glory to us and then finally it promotes great pleasure and i will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy i will sing and make melody to the Lord.

And so you see, then, that we can have this confidence. Why? Because this driving passion for worship provides safety. It promises glory. It promotes pleasure. So if you give yourself to this great passion of worship, cultivating worship, there doesn't remain any room for anxiety or fear.

Anxiety and fear is pushed out. What is this telling us? If I'm going to make headway against the anxiety that so easily imprisons me, I am going to pursue God. Alright? I'm going to pursue God. Now, how do you cultivate that passion?

You begin to cultivate that kind of passion, that passion for worship that produces all these things. How do you cultivate that? You do it through prayer. That's what he does in 7 through 14. Prayer. Do you see David's prayer here?

Verses 8 and 9. In order to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, he prays, do not hide your face from me. doesn't he he prays do not hide your face from me i'm going to seek your face so don't hide it from me in order to seek that's verses eight and nine in order to seek god's will as he seeks him or inquires of him in his temple he prays verse 11 teach me your way lord right teach me your way verses 8 and 9 lord satisfy my desire of becoming a worshiper who seeks your face and he says so don't hide your face from me don't hide your face how can anyone be assured of god's love and favor how can you be assured of that he says turn not your servant away in anger cast me not off forsake me not how can you be sure that god won't do that when you pray that again you go to the cross there you find the mercy of god and the assurance that he will not turn away from you there you find mercy and love there you find the assurance that god is for you and not against you how do you know god's always going to be for you and not against you you go to the cross you begin there the cross is the beginning of all our worship and assurance there's the anchor of my prayer even if you should arrive verse 10 arrive at the breaking point of your parents love the love of god yet persists even if your parents throw you out god will never do that god will always love you he goes on to say verses 11 and 12 Lord satisfy my desire of becoming a pilgrim committed to your way by teaching me your way I'm going to inquire of you. Now teach me.

Teach me your way. Teach me your commandments. My greatest delight is to find the light for my path and the lamp for my feet. Every step of that path will be contested. So make it straight. Make it level.

Look at that in verses 11 and 12. Lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. Every way is going to be contested. Make my path level. Now this is not a prayer for ease and comfort.

He's not praying, make my path easier. He prays that God might make the path level and straight because of his enemies, so that as he knows the commandments and he walks in the way, he will be able to withstand. He is saying, they breathe out violence. They wait for me to slip. Their appetite would be satisfied if I take one false step. So make my path level.

Make my path level. Every bit of it is going to be contested by my enemies. Help me not to slip. Help me to be obedient. teach me your way. And so that leaves us in verses 13 and 14 with what someone taught us years ago. I can't remember.

One of the speakers at our Bible conferences. It might have been John Armstrong in the very first one. I can't remember. But he leaves us with naked trust in God. That's all we have. Just naked trust in God. therefore or i believe that i shall look upon the goodness of the lord in the land of the living i believe i convinced that i will look upon the goodness of the lord in the land of the living Wait for the Lord be strong and let your heart take courage Wait for the Lord I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

What does that mean? Through it all, whatever's coming your way, whatever's bombarding you, whatever's in your mind causing you to worry right it's not causing you to worry that comes from you but all those things whatever is there and you're anxious right here's what he says you're going to see the goodness of the Lord now all of us take an inventory here and I've emphasized this I'm going to emphasize it like crazy but if you take an inventory here and you look at your life you will see all kinds of things that you worried about and now as you look back you see the goodness of the Lord in it you ought to have confidence now that whatever you're facing through it all you're going to see the goodness of God at the end of it all you're going to see a God who is good anticipate that he will be faithful to you you will see the goodness of God you will see how he did things and even those things as you look in the past and they said boy that really went south right you've heard me say this now about six times in this series it went south but you can still see how God worked that for your good you can see the goodness of God so you have to believe that you will see the goodness of God one of the things you're going to have to believe is man this is hard people are saying things against me people are just coming at me and chewing on me but I know this I will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. I will see his goodness through it all.

And so as we leave this man of God, he waits. Wait for the Lord Wait for the Lord So in the midst of enemies who slander who expect to shed his blood whose joy will find fulfillment If only he falls he waits confidently So in those anxious times, do others see your confident faith or do they see instability and anxiety? What do you see when you look at yourself?

Listen, you have no need to fear. There's no need for anxiety. Do you know God? Do you know God? Are you preoccupied with His worship? Do you want to know Him in every way?

Do you want to know His will? Do others see a people who passionately seek God? Do they see people who fervently pursue His path? Listen, there's no room for anxiety in hearts. that are inflamed with a passion for Christ and to know God. Father, thank you for your word again. How it teaches us, how it changes us.

We pray, Lord, again, that as we think through what is said this morning, I pray that your people would think this through. As we think it through, we would find that our preoccupation with you and your way is the way to deal with anxiety. that that desire to know you and your will drives out anxiety. So, Father, help us then to do that. Help us to find ways of pursuing you.

Help us to find ways of finding what you want us to do and then praying for the grace to do it. God, I pray that your people would not be an anxious people, but a worshiping people. God, drive this into our hearts, we pray. Help us to find ways to do it. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.