Psalm 63 | Gods Faithfulness Through Trials
Here’s a summary of this week’s sermon:
Welcome to CROWD Church! In this weeks episode - the first of our non-live livestreams - Dan Orange talks all about Psalm 63, diving deep into its biblical power and exploring the idea of Gods faithfulness through our trials. Dan gives fascinating insights, contextualising the Psalm through King David’s experiences and exemplifying it meaning in a modern context through Corrie Ten Boom.
Key Takeaways:
Seek God Earnestly in All Circumstances: Psalm 63 emphasizes the importance of seeking God with all our hearts, especially during difficult times. Dan Orange illustrates this through David’s experiences and personal reflections, encouraging us to find our satisfaction and sustenance in God's love, even when we face challenges and uncertainties.
Historical and Personal Connections Enhance Understanding:Dan connects the historical context of David's life to contemporary experiences, showing how the psalm remains relevant today. He shares how music and personal stories, such as those of Tree 63 and Corrie Ten Boom, can deepen our understanding and connection to the scriptures, providing comfort and inspiration.
Faith Sustains Us Through Trials:The stories of David and Corrie Ten Boom highlight that faith in God provides strength and resilience in the face of adversity. Dan underscores the necessity of remembering God's past faithfulness, relying on His unchanging nature, and trusting in His protection and provision during our own wilderness experiences.
If this weeks talk resonates with you make sure to check out everything we do here at CROWD church, from our weekly Sunday Livestreams to our Podcast show Whats the Story.
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Dan Orange | Psalm 63
Matt Edmundson: [00:00:00] Welcome to Crowd Church, a digital space where faith is explored and hearts are inspired and everyone is welcome to discover the meaningful life that Jesus offers. Now today, Dan Orange is going to dig into Psalm 63, revealing how King David's words of faith during times of adversity can inspire and strengthen us today.
Dan's going to explore the transcript. Transformative power and what it means to earnestly seek God, even in our darkest moments. So get ready, get ready to be challenged and uplifted as Dan shares the incredible true story of Corrie Tambu, a woman who found unshakable joy in the midst of a concentration camp, as odd as that sounds.
You'll discover how to find satisfaction in God when everything else falls away, and learn some practical [00:01:00] ways to cultivate a heart thirsty for God. For the very presence of God. So whether you're facing your own wilderness or simply seeking closer to what we've got, God is with you. I think this talk is going to offer some timeless wisdom on how to cling to faith when life gets tough.
So stay tuned for insights that will deepen your faith in God and His protection, no matter what challenges you face. But before we begin Dan gets into that. If you're a regular to Crowd Church, then you will notice that this live stream works a little bit different, isn't it? Our live streams are usually buzzing with energy, with real time engagement and responses from the hosts in what we call Conversation Street.
But this August, our usual live stream will be taking, well, let's see, We just call it a little sabbatical. We do this every August. The members of the crowd team, just like many of you, will be taking this time to rest and recover, uh, to recharge with our loved ones, uh, [00:02:00] just as God rested on the seventh day.
We believe in the importance of Sabbath and in terms of, uh, and, and taking rest and a time off to renew. Our spirits and regain our strength so pray for us during this time you're going to see a scheduled video going out each week as usual but we call it the non live live stream because although it goes out as a live stream it's not technically live because our regular real time responses Just aren't going to be there.
We're going to be stepping back a little bit from the live stream. We play the talk, but there's no real conversation street. But that said, uh, even though we're not going to be hosting the streams, many of us will still be in the comments, engaging with you, whether that's on YouTube Facebook or wherever.
Uh, and so to make this period even more special, cause we do change things up. We've invited friends. Four fantastic guests, Dan being this week's guest, who are going to take you on a unique journey exploring their favourite song. We did this last year, it was so [00:03:00] good. We're doing it again this year. And so we've invited these guys to come and share just their favorite psalm and talk about what they're excited about, uh, and what they're learning from it.
Now, if this is your first time with us, a very, very huge welcome to you. You can find out more information about Crowd Church on our website, which is www. crowd. church. And so yeah, go over there, find out more information. So that's it from me. We look forward to This time of renewal, we hope that the powerful words of this psalm will bring peace, comfort, and inspiration to your life.
Thanks for sticking with us throughout August. We can't wait to reconnect with you in September, live, refreshed, and ready to continue our journey together. Now remember, at Crowd, you're always welcome here. So we'll see you in the comments. That's enough from me. Here's Dan.
Dan Orange: Psalm 63. You, God, are my God.
Earnestly I seek you, I thirst for you, my whole being [00:04:00] longs for you, and in a dry and parched land, where there's no water, I've seen you in the sanctuary, and beheld your power and your glory, because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you, I will sing praise as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands, I'll be satisfied as with the richest of foods, with singing lips, my mouth will praise you, on my bed I'll remember you, I'll think of you, through the watches of the night.
Because you're my help. I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you. Your right hand upholds me. Those who want to kill me will be destroyed. They will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the King will rejoice in God. All who swear by God will glory in Him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.
So that's Psalm 63. I had this psalm in mind when I was asked to speak on one of the psalms, as I've been listening to a band called Tree 63, [00:05:00] notice the 63, and they have a few songs that are quite psalm like and quite honest with God. And there's a song called Earnestly, which is based on Psalm 63. Um, might wanna have a listen to some of their songs.
I quite enjoy them and they're quite, um, like I said before, quite honest. They're quite, um, open with God and also chose this psalm because it's quite a complete psalm. It's got a good beginning, a middle, and an end. Shouts of our need for God is love for us. How he supplies our need, our sustenance, and is the ultimate judge.
I believe it's good to be honest with God. He can take it. He knows what's going on already, so I'd say let's not hide anything from him, but be open with him. Reading the Psalms, this is a big theme of David's songs. He shouts at God, he cries out to Him, praises Him, honours Him, and he writes about the good times as well as the bad times.
A bit like [00:06:00] journals written in poetic form. It's often good to write down our situations, our lows, our highs, and the answers, especially the answers from God. Um, anyway, some background about this psalm. It doesn't state exactly when in David's life that he wrote it, but from the mention of the wilderness and the title of the psalm stating he was in the desert of Judah, it looks like David wrote this in a time when his son had turned the people against him and his son was after him.
He was in a pretty dire situation. He was hiding and on watch for the enemy, and he was held up in the wilderness in a dry and weary land. And at that time also, he'd gone up to the Mount of Olives which is the same place Jesus went on his last night before being crucified. It's interesting, isn't it, how God links places and messages through the Bible.
To me, this is so much more, so much evidence of his word, how his word is true. It's, you just couldn't make it up having all these links together and these [00:07:00] places together. It's brilliant. So, Jesus was there in this wilderness place, this Mount of Olives, before he gave himself for us, and David was in that same place.
Um, and he wrote this psalm, but those in this situation, it's a joyful song. It doesn't reflect his outward situation. Verse three says, because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. He glorifies in, glories in God when his outward situation doesn't seem to glorify God. He's a king in hiding, but God's love to him is worth more than his own life.
The first few verses admit. He's been thirsty, he's not hiding from the situation, but he's realised the circumstances can't satisfy him. My God fully satisfies us with the riches of food. As the message puts it, I eat my fill of prime rib and gravy. I smack my lips. It's time to shout praises. Smack my [00:08:00] lips.
I love it. The message is a paraphrased version of the whole Bible. It's brilliant for understanding God's heart and his storytelling, his greatness in a more um, modern language. I'll often read a passage in a standard version and a message, a standard version and then in the message, so as to understand it a bit more, um, where the author's coming from.
So we've got David talking about God's, God satisfies him, um, with just more than, I mean, he was a king as well. He was, he knew what great food was, but God satisfies him more than food, more than. Everything that, you know, a man could want. Um, but these things are often easy to talk about in the good times, aren't they?
Why wouldn't you want to have this psalm sort of ringing in your ears every day? But wilderness days and times are tough, and I think it's critical to read this and to understand it, that it's coming, you know, again, like I said [00:09:00] before, coming in a place where his outward times were hard, but he still listened and reveled in who God was and his satisfaction.
There are the times when it can be hard to look to God to open his word, to pray to him. But David wrote them when he was in the midst of troubles and he was able to remember the good times when God has helped him and worshipped him, even when it was tough. What if the tough times we're in are long?
What if our experience of God's greatness to us seems to be few and far between or we've forgotten what God has done for us? Forgetting can be a big thing. I'm quick to dwell on the now and not realise that God has got me through times like this so many times before. When I'm in a tough wilderness time, I find it so useful to read his word, to focus on the one who can't move, who's, who's a rock, rather than my feelings and situations which will, and which will and do [00:10:00] change.
Um, if I, if I live by my feelings, I'll be all over the place. Feelings change, but God remains the same. I also love to read about others that have been in trouble and God has helped comforted me and learned from their situation. And, and with that in mind, I would like to introduce you to a lady called Corrie Ten Boom.
There's a famous, well, pretty famous book called The Hiding Place, which is a wonderful and extremely challenging book. I've just read it again and listening to it and driving down the motorway and not, trying not to cry too much so I don't, so I don't crash. It just, it challenges you that, um, blood can do so much in a horrific situation.
So I challenge you to have a look at it. Find this book and have a read. She was a Dutch lady who lived through the First World War in relative comfort due to the Netherlands being neutral in the First World War. And then the Second World War, they were surrounded by countries at war. And very [00:11:00] quickly, within the space of five days of fighting, Holland was now under German rule, from relative peace to turmoil.
So her father and sister lived in a small house. They loved God. were well known in the neighbourhood for their peaceful and helping nature. They ran a watchmaker shop and were known by the community. But as the treatment of the Jews in Holland started to mirror that of what was happening in Nazi Germany, more and more of their neighbours and colleagues who were Jews started to be persecuted, started being mistreated, or just disappeared.
So they started doing all they could to hide and protect Jews. They built a false wall and a secret room in their own house to keep them safe. Because of this, many were saved. They ran a whole network to safely smuggle the Jews out of Holland and to safer places. However, she and her family were eventually caught and put in a concentration camp.
Her dad died soon after being captured and her sister died 12 days before she was [00:12:00] released. And she was released due to a clerical error. And all the women that howled with her were sent to the gas chamber a week after her release. But she was released and she was able to write this story. And it's a story about how God gave her the most joy and peace in a horrific place.
Learning to thank God, even, even for lice. You need to read that. You need to read this story, how in the camp, she and her sister worshipped God and prayed for those around her, even the guards. Many became Christians because of her and her sister, and many, many more since her release through her books and her public speaking.
She, after this, decided to, well, God gave her a dream to open up places for, we'd probably say now, people with PTSD. Because of the war, because of the horrific things that happened to them, she opened up places that people could come to and just be loved and cared for, [00:13:00] which at that time was probably quite a, well even now, quite a revolutionary thing to do.
And those wilderness places in our life, they could be like that, could be very physical or spiritual hard places, but they're often the place we need to be at, at that time. And Corrie Book Ten Boom said this, you can never learn that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have. I'll read that again.
You can never learn that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have. So when we're at the deepest places or what we think are the hardest places in our lives, we have to rely on him. And that's when we can find out who God is, more of him. Matt, in one of his talks on identity, just a few weeks ago, asked the question, are we prepared to ask for trials, knowing that trials inspire us and bring us closer to him.
That's pretty challenging. And even as [00:14:00] I'm saying this and reading it out, we can learn from the hard situation. God wants to do what, you know, what do you want to teach me? But when we're in it, that's when we need to honor him. That's when it's hard. We need to just fall into his arms because he's all we have.
So going back to the psalm, David was in the wilderness. He was earnestly seeking for God, says his whole being longed for him. We need to thirst for God, we need, the world offers many water alternatives, but they can't quench us, they can't satisfy. But David had known God, he'd recovered the Ark of the Covenant, he'd sat down before the Lord and prayed, he'd known his God, he was all powerful.
And you probably know the story, but before he was king, He was a shepherd, and the army of Israel had come up against the Philistines, and their warrior Goliath, the giant, um, and this small shepherd boy, David, knew his destiny, but he also knew God [00:15:00] was above all. He stood up for the whole of the Israelite army, he stood in their place against the giant Goliath, and conquered David, and said this, You come to me with a sword and a spear and with a javelin, I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of armies of Israel whom you have defied, this day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.
God did indeed deliver Goliath into his hand through David's skill of using his sling that he'd picked up over the long and hard days and nights of guarding his flock. So David had been through the training and long days just on his own looking after the flock for that, perhaps just that one point in his life.
And he was able to recall those things that God for us had done for him in that wilderness. It's just great to remember what God has done for us, to write it down, to tell others. [00:16:00] One of the reasons that I love doing these talks is that it's an excuse for me to talk about what God has done for me, why I love him.
I might not have slain a giant, but he's provided jobs for me, he's healed my neck after I slipped a disc, I've seen people run down the road after they went into a meeting with crutches and they came out just not needing them. He's changed my heart to love others. And that, that in itself is amazing, that he's given me compassion for people.
He's just got lots to do with me, but he's changed me. He's freed me from depression. He is good. When Christ is all that we have, then he's better than life. Paul said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. God has given us a reason to live, but when we die, then we gain eternity. David has a real moment of reliving the past of what God has done for him, how [00:17:00] he longs for more of him and that God can satisfy him, satisfy him even more than the best foods.
Then he comes to a point in the psalm where he's in the battle, has to get up in the watch of the night to keep watch because people are around him. This is real. There's danger around. When there's danger, we might not even be able to trust our past or our own stories, but we can trust in the nature of God.
The stories might get sort of messed around in our minds and our heads, but we can trust in God and his word. It says God protects us under the shadow of his wings, because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings, I cling to you, your right hand upholds me. Multiple times in the Psalms we are shown this analogy of us as small chicks or birds under the shadow of his wings, protected by the parent, by the one who loves us, covered and kept safe in the storm, his right hand upholds [00:18:00] us.
The right hand is often, often used in the Bible to show strength and protection. I'm no theologian, but from many verses that mention his right hand or sitting at the right hand of the Father, this is a place of strength. It's a place of honour and a place where that person is one with God. Jesus at the right hand of the Father, Psalm says, his right hand uphold me.
He God's protections over me. The Tree 63 song I mentioned at the start, um, the song finishes with the lion. My soul clings to you and I just pray that my soul and and your soul, our souls would clinging to God. God I know is always with us, and I'm amazed at times that he stays with us Perhaps. There should be more clinging to him, more closeness.
So we have David's worship, his joy, his realisation of what God has done, what he's doing. And then the psalm comes to, [00:19:00] then the psalm comes along to what God will do. It says, those who want to kill me will be destroyed. They will go down to the depths of the earth. They'll be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
But the king will rejoice in God. All who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced. It's not talked about, not talked about much, is it, this, this judgment, but there is a judgment, and it's, it's final, it's ultimate, and those who sin will be find out, will be found out. But, there's an answer, but those who turn to God will rejoice, those who come and know God's forgiveness.
We'll live with him. We get to sit at God's right hand. We get to know God, the Father. Um, I thought I'd finish with this. I came across this great quote from Martin Luther, the church reformer, not Martin Luther, King Junior. Um, so Martin Luther, [00:20:00] when he was walked in the woods, he was walking in the woods, used to raise his hat to the birds and say, Good morning, theologians.
You wake and sing, but I, old fool, know less than you and worry over everything instead of simply trusting in the heavenly Father's care. Let's rejoice and trust in our Father's care.
Matt Edmundson: So we hope you found today's exploration of the Psalms insightful and inspiring. Every psalm has a unique message, a distinct voice that speaks out to our hearts and our souls.
And we would love to hear your thoughts. What did you think about today's psalm? Trom? Today's psalm. Feel free to share your reflections and experiences in the comments section below. We truly value your comments, your thoughts, your perspective. As we all learn from each other on our journey of faith. If you do wish to reach out to us, you can find more information on our website at www.
crowd. church. We'd love to connect with you and. [00:21:00] See how we can help. Now don't forget to come back next time if we're still in August because I don't know the order in which we're doing these. I probably should have figured that out before I did these recordings. We're either going to have a psalm, but if we're back in September do come and join us as we're returning to our regular live services and we're going to be carrying on some interesting conversations.
We're going to take a little break in September from our normal series. I'm going to be looking at something a bit different actually, hopefully. We're still figuring it out. Just some stuff that we're working through, which is going to be great. Some big changes coming to Crowd, which I'm going to, I'm super excited to tell you about.
All of that's coming up. So make sure you connect with us, stay connected, like, subscribe and all that sort of stuff. Now remember at Crowd Church, everyone is welcome here. Everyone is valued. No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, I think there's a place for you. So thank you for joining us today.
Until next time, stay blessed, stay inspired and keep exploring the beauty of faith. Um, and we'll see you in the comments and back here next [00:22:00] week. Bye for now.