August 25 Sermon: Praising Through the Storm
Join us for this week's sermon, "Praising Through the Storm," as we explore Psalm 21. Discover the profound strength in praising God amid life's toughest challenges, understanding His sovereignty, and the transformative power of worship.
Contemplate these questions as you listen to this message from Psalm 21:
How does recognizing God's sovereignty over our trials change how we respond to challenges?
In what ways have you experienced the strengthening of your faith through praise during difficult times?
What practical steps can you take to align your prayers more closely with God's desires, as exemplified by King David in Psalm 21?
Transcript:
As we come to Psalm 21 this morning, we're going to see a really powerful idea and theme in the text. And that's the idea of praising God through the storm. We all know that it's easy to be faithful and full of praise towards God when the skies of our lives are clear and we're not facing hardships. But what about when the skies begin to darken and the storms of life roll in? Well, this psalm, written by King David, shows us the profound strength that is found in praising God, even when we are facing adversity. And as we explore these verses, we're going to discover how our praise not only endures the hardships, but it helps us to thrive while we are enduring these trials. And before we look at how David shows us to lift our voice in every circumstance, let's line out the three main points that we're going to come away with from this chapter in the Psalter today, and then we will get into the text. The first, the thing that we're going to see is the joy that the psalmist has in answered prayer. This psalm expresses God's covenant faithfulness in those promises that he made to his people. And we're going to see that there's a connection to the previous psalm and how this prayer was answered. Second, we have the assurance of God's sovereignty. Peace can be found in the truth that despite what is going on around us, God is the one who is in control. Not only in the moment, but through anything that will come our way. And then finally, we're going to see the power of praise. No matter what happens, it's important that we continue to praise God. Through joy or hardship, blessings or struggles, the one who has saved us is worthy of our praise. So, as we start off in this psalm, it's important, like I mentioned before, that we remember or understand that this psalm is a companion to Psalm 20. And last week, when we looked at that psalm, we saw that it had the purpose of preparing those people who were singing it and praying it for battle. They were preparing to go to war. And in it, we saw that they were trusting in the promises of God. The promise that he was going to preserve his people. And so, this theme in this psalm that we're looking at this week is one of thanks. Because these prayers of the king have been answered. And this psalm comes after success in battle. And we see this joy that the psalmist has here in this first part. Because as the psalm starts, we see that it's the strength of the Lord in which the king rejoices. The joy that the king has is not a joy because of a victory that he has brought out by his own power, by his own scheming, by putting together things in such a way that they have won a difficult victory because, well, because he's so strong, smart, wise. It's not because of that. Instead, we see that he rejoices in the strength that Yahweh gives and the strength that he gives. He has brought out the strength that Yahweh gives. He has brought this about. And this is language that is familiar to our ears. It's not only just the idea of praising God for his salvation, things in psalms that we see that this is familiar. This is actually the general theme of Scripture. Salvation is of God. Salvation is of the Lord. It is not of human doing. And I mentioned a recurring theme from Scripture when we were looking at the psalm. We were looking at that prayer from Psalm 20, the one that was before battle last week. So often in Scripture, the odds are completely against the people of God. This happens time and time again. They're in a desperate state of affairs. And what happens? God intervenes. God wins victory. Battle after battle, we see that God is the one who is causing them to win. And I drew out that even the battle that seemed the most hopeless, the battle at the cross, it was hopeless. It seems as though all of these battles that have led up to this point between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, that finally the serpent has won. But then the resurrection brings salvation to the people of God. The most unlikely victory of all. Victory over death. Victory God's strength, not ours. God's power, not ours. This, like I said, is a recurring theme throughout Scripture. Often the idea of salvation through grace alone, through faith alone, or the reformed doctrines of grace, people get the idea that we're taking a few verses from here and a few verses from there to put together these ideas. But really, this idea of grace alone, God's salvation alone, is more than just an idea we come up with from a few verses from different parts of Scripture. It is the theme of Scripture as a whole. From verse to verse, chapter to chapter, story to story, this underlying theme is that God saves His people. That's the story of us. And it's why we praise God. Because He has rescued us. He has made us. His people. And the psalmist knows that the victory that he has had in battle, that he's talking about here in Psalm 21, is not because of his doing. But it's because of the divine intervention of God. And then we see in the second verse here, this obvious connection with Psalm 20. Last week we saw this language. The idea of the king asking that he would be given, given his heart's desire. This is the exact language that we saw in Psalm 20 last week. And back a whole seven days ago, I noted that this idea of getting the heart's desire isn't the idea that the king is going to get whatever he wants. Because as the anointed of God, the desire of the king is not fame or wealth. But for God to sustain him. For God to give him victory. His desire is protection from the evil that would destroy him. And God heard that godly prayer and answered it. And so there's something really powerful in this statement here. The prayer that David made was a prayer with godly intentions. And God heard it and answered it. The prayer contained a trust that God keeps his promises. And now we read a praise that God has done just that. He has kept his promise. And this should motivate you and I. It should motivate us to have a deep desire to pray for the things that God desires. God desired that the king would have the desires of his heart because the king desired for God's promises to be true. And so we should desire to have our desires aligned with what God wants. And we should continually be in prayer knowing that those are the prayers he answers. He answers the prayers of the godly. And in this first section of this psalm, the idea of the faithfulness of God is seen along with these words of praise from the psalmist. David has prayed for his life to be spared and then God in his faith, his faithfulness granted that request. And so we read that he was given length of days forever and ever. And so the faithfulness of God, the idea here, is that the faithfulness of God remains. It goes beyond one battle against one enemy. It is steadfast love and faithfulness. And we see that the king receives rich blessings and we see that a crown is set upon his head. Now this sounds like a coronation, right? Like, because the battle was won, this crown is being put on his head. But remember, this psalm was used regularly. It was prayed before many a battle. And when a king goes out, he is like a general leading his troops, right? You don't wear a crown into battle. And so the idea here is that the king has returned safely and he is no longer a demon, a general in battle, but he is now an exalted king with the crown put back on his head. The idea is that when David returns home safely, he is once again able to sit on his throne. Wearing this crown, God has brought peace to his people because of the victory that he gave to them. And because of this, David also acknowledges that as the king, he receives glory from this triumph and battle. But it's not because of him. Once again, it's because of God. The Lord is the one who bestows upon David splendor and majesty, but it is a glory that is for the purpose of bringing glory to the one who truly deserves the praise. And as the anointed king, we see that David finds joy in the presence of God. He is satisfied in knowing that God has blessed him and that God will continue to bless him. And verse 7 shows us what roots the words of trust and praise that we've seen here. It is the steadfast love, the covenant faithfulness of God that lets him know that he shall not be moved. David praises God because of God's covenant faithfulness. And that's the exact same reason that we praise him. That's the same reason we express our devotion to God because he has given us victory over our greatest enemies, sin, death, and hell. You know, we gather here and we read and we pray the words of this psalm for the same reason that David wrote them down in the first place. God, in his steadfast love and in his faithfulness, has made us his people. And so we rejoice in the victory that we have. This psalm, the words that it says, are just as much ours in victory over our enemies as they were David in victory over his enemies. We have that joyfulness and that peace. And so it's this idea of God sustaining and building up his people that then leads us into verses 8 through 12 of this psalm and shows us our second point that we have the assurance that comes from knowing that God, his sovereign over all things. For all the things that I've said so far about the faithfulness of God and our praising of him, we know, we know that that path isn't always easy. That just because God is faithful, it doesn't mean that we're not going to experience hardship in life. The path to God's blessing is not always an easy path, is it? We live in a fallen world. And we're not promised health, wealth, and prosperity. What we're promised is salvation. And we know that no matter what battles we face, that there is victory at the end of the journey. We will arrive at our destination because the sovereign God of history is in control. So think of it this way. Imagine that you're climbing a mountain. It's a particularly difficult mountain. Imagine the path is, it's steep, particularly when you get to the peak. Now you don't make that climb. You don't go on that journey without knowing that there is a lifeline that is strong and securely fastened and anchored above you. And so you hold on to that lifeline. You would never have the idea that it'd be a good idea to let go of that lifeline on the stormy and steep peaks and, and go off on your own path. You would never do that because you know that before you get to the peak, there will be fierce winds. There will be places where the footholds are small and they may even crumble. If you were doing that climb, you would continue moving toward the peak, holding onto that lifeline and knowing that you were securely and safely connected to an anchor even if you were not. Even when the storms come. And God's sovereignty is our secure and safe anchor in the storms of our life. He has laid hold of us in Christ. And so we trust in Him because He's the only anchor that we have. Imagine being on a mountainside like I've described without the lifeline. You'd be lost. You'd have nothing to hold you to the destination. When the clouds came in, you might not have, you might not have any idea whether or not you're headed towards the correct peak or not. You would have nothing to hold you to your destination. The storm and the winds would do more than just blow you off course. They would likely be your demise. But as we will see in the following verses, as the people of God, we have the sovereignty of God to put our trust in when the torrents of life come at us. And we see God's control of these situations right away as we come to verse 8 here. Your hand will find out all your enemies. You see, not all the enemies of David were routed out in that most recent battle that he's celebrating. He knows that more are on the way. There are more to come. And notice that there's some very strong language that the psalmist uses here. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. These are not just indifferent people who are in the way or don't know any better that David is going to face hardship against. We see that they are the enemies of God. They hate him. And God and his people will always face opposition. Scripture makes this clear. Attacks will come and they will come continually. But we know that God is in control. And this language here speaks of God's sovereign hand of protection. But it's somewhat difficult language for us and for our modern sensibilities. Specifically verses 9 and 10 where it says, you will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath and fire will consume them. You will destroy their descendants from the earth and their offspring from among the children of man. That's, pretty intense language. And even though we know that this is talking about the enemies of a holy God, we're not big fans of the idea of God's wrath. And I've been thinking about this quite a bit as I've studied the Psalms more deeply than I ever have over the last few years.
These words are tough for us. On more than one occasion as we look at the Psalms, I have said to you as we read a verse of praise, you know this verse. This is a familiar verse for you. This is a popular statement from the Psalms. You've heard me say that because so many of the words of praise, they show up in the hymns that we know. They show up in praise choruses. They show up even in popular Christian music. Those statements of praise are well known. We come across them, time after time, in the Psalter. You know, we could stop right now and I could challenge you to pick up the Bibles, turn into the Psalms, and I bet you in less than 30 seconds somebody would be able to raise their hand and say, I found one. It's that prolific. It's that out there in the way we speak as Christians. These words of praise are well known and we use them frequently. And rightly so. There's nothing better to do than praise God with His Word. But there are lots of verses in the Psalms that speak of God's judgment and of His wrath. We don't hear those in songs. Now this makes sense, particularly when it comes to popular music, right? You're not going to sell a song or get radio play with words like these, right? That's not going to make the top of the list. You're not going to write a song that says, oh God, you're going to make your enemies a blazing oven and when you swallow them up in wrath you will destroy their descendants. That's not going to be on the charts. It doesn't sell.
But when we come to these verses, you and I need to take the time to consider them. And the fact that they show us that God is worthy of praise. When we read, when we pray, when we sing these words, we don't approach them with our own personal beliefs. We approach them with battles in mind. That God would smite the person who got the promotion that I wanted at work or took my spot on the team. That's not what we do with these words. This is not God taking care of people that David didn't like or had a personal vendetta against. God is dealing with his enemies. And what we see here is that the purpose of the enemies of David and the purpose of the enemies of God is to make them to wipe out God's people for the purpose of destroying the promise of the Messiah. Because if the enemies of God are not wiped out, if David doesn't win this battle, David will be wiped out. And if the descendants of David are wiped out, the Messiah is eliminated before he is even born. And the serpent wins. And the steadfast love and faithfulness of God fails.
And if their descendants are not wiped out, And if their descendants are not wiped out, are not removed from the earth, the plot against the Holy One of God will continue. They will continue to plot and continue to try to destroy the descendant of David, the one that must come to win victory over sin, death, and hell for the people of God. This is the battle that's being talked about. And so when we come against these difficult words in Scripture, we need to remember that this is actually a sign of God's faithfulness. That He is going to keep His promises to His people. We need to have the ultimate big picture of salvation in view that this is about the sovereign plan of God to rescue His people from sin and death. You see, these words here are about so much more than our petty human rivalries and concerns. They are about that struggle between the seed of the woman and the serpent. And we know the result of that struggle. The head of the serpent was crushed in the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. God kept His promise. That was the sovereign plan of God. Only He could accomplish it. He did these things for David to save us because He is faithful. And so none of the plans of the evil one could prevail. The plan of God stood. We read that they devised mischief but it did not succeed. In fact, David says the wicked are put to flight and God aims His bows at their faces. And once again, that is some powerful language. But the idea here is that they are defeated. They will not prevail over the plan of God. There is no escape. God will not miss. He will keep His promise. And this is the story of our salvation. And this story is why you and I can confidently lay hold of the lifeline that God has placed in our hands. We didn't grab that lifeline. He put it in our hands. He is our anchor. And we know this because He has given us this gift of faith. He defeated our enemies. He brought salvation that brought us from death to life. When we are asked, why do you trust in God?
Our answer is that God has put our enemy to flight. And that enemy is sin, death, and hell. And now He holds us and keeps us safe and secure in His hands. This story of the gospel is what makes us confident that we are in the hands of God despite what is happening around us. In the greater world and in our lives, despite what difficulties we face, again, whether it's personal trouble or stress brought about by the state of the world, we know that God is in control. And we can find peace in this. And we also know that God is worthy of praise and He is exalted in this strength because that's what we see in this final verse as we arrive at our third and final point, that there is power in the praise. Praise of God. And as I mentioned earlier, we gather to worship God because He has saved us. Yes, we praise His majesty and His power and His holiness and His goodness. But the primary reason we praise Him is because we have been saved. We would not come here and gather each Lord's Day to praise God if the Lord Jesus had not risen victoriously over the grave one Sunday nearly 2,000 years ago. That's why we're here. That's why we praise God. And we praise God for His strength. And this does so much for us as the people of God. First, it reminds us of who we are in Christ. The events of our lives and the events in the world around us distract us so easily from our true identity because we are prone to forgetting that we are the people of God, to forget that we're His. But when we praise God for His strength in our salvation, we are given a blessed reminder that it is God's strength that saved us and made us His and He will not let us go. As Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1 reminds us, we are not our own, but we belong, body and soul, in life and in death to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. It is His strength that saved us. He is the one who has laid hold of us and He will not let us go.
Secondly, praising God for His salvation is what unites us as the people of God in a common purpose. We depart from here each week and we have different roles to play in the kingdom of God. We go all these different directions. But what happens? We come back together each week to hear the gospel and to proclaim praise to God for His saving work. Yeah, we each play a different role in the kingdom of God. But we are each brought into that kingdom of God by His strength and by His power. And there is no distinction of higher or lower status among the people of God. We all come together, saved the same way. And so when we raise our voices together in acknowledgement of that truth that it is God alone who saves us and that we come together as a community of faith, we are built up not only by each other but for each other. And then finally, praising God for His strength and salvation reminds us of who God is and the spirit that works in us because this is not only to foster this praise in us. We don't do this just for the sake of praise. It also builds us up in faith through the word. By the power of the Spirit. When we praise God in His strength, what are we doing? We are naturally downplaying our strength. We're naturally downplaying our ability. And we come to more deeply rely on Him instead of ourselves. This is all a part of what praising God in His strength does for us as the people of God. So as we close up today, I believe that there are some significant and deep applications for us from this sermon. Some that celebrate God's faithfulness to give victory to His people as we face the storms of life. Whether these things are personal trials, communal struggles, or even the daily pressures of living in a fallen world. Our praise is not merely a reaction. Our praise is a declaration. It's a declaration that we are putting our trust in the God who commands the winds and the waves. The God who conquered death and rose victorious. Recall the story of the disciples in the boat with Jesus. They were terrified as the waves crashed over the sides of the boat. And in their panic, what did they do? They woke Jesus, questioning if He cared that they were perishing. What was His response? He calmed the storm and He showed them His power. And in our lives, when the winds of uncertainty howl and the rains of despair threaten to overwhelm us, our praise anchors us back to the reality of God's saving strength. It reminds us that He is in the boat with us. That He is sovereign over all of these storms of life. And so as you leave from here today, I challenge you to carry the melody of our communal praise for God's strength into your personal life this week. When the pressures are mounting, praise Him. When you feel despair creeping in, praise Him. Let your praise be the echo of God's enduring faithfulness in your life. Let it be your strength as you remember that He has saved you. He is saving you and He will save you. And as we continue to praise God through every storm, we will find that our faith is not only sustained but strengthened. Not because the storms cease, but because our God is the master of the storm. And in Him, we are more than conquerors. We are established to the end. So may our lives be a continual praise to the One who holds us securely through every tempest. May our worship today be just the beginning of a week filled with the recognition of God's nearness, His power, and His love for His covenant people. Amen. Let us pray.
Great and merciful God, we thank You for Your strength. That we have confidence that You have won the battle for us and You will continue to do so. May we have a great reliance on Your sovereignty, that You are in control, that You bring us home. And may we always praise You for Your strength in each and every battle that we face. It is in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.
