Jesus Opens Our Eyes to See - Psalm 27
Hymns:
Jesus Opens Our Eyes to See
Psalm 27 – March 22, 2020
We don’t know when David wrote this psalm exactly. Other psalms give historical details, but not this one. But it seems like David just like us wants to be at God's temple but can’t. Something is keeping him from gazing on the beauty of the Lord in his temple.
There were several occasions like this in David’s life. Before he became king, David had to run from his predecessor, King Saul. He couldn’t stay in Jerusalem. He couldn’t go to the Lord’s tabernacle. He was fleeing for his life. And one of these times, David says to Saul, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of? 19 Now let my lord the king listen to his servant’s words. If the Lord has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. If, however, people have done it, may they be cursed before the Lord! They have driven me today from my share in the Lord’s inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods.’”
Another time, after David became king, his own son Absalom drove him out of the city. Absalom wanted to be king, and he turned many people against his Father. David had to leave the city behind. Even worse for David, he couldn’t go to the tabernacle. He couldn’t go where the Lord was. He felt cut off from God.
Of course, David knew that the Lord was with him wherever he went. He wrote in psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” He knew that the Lord would be with him even on the run from Saul and Absalom.
But for David, it was even better to be in the Lord’s house. He says, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” Out of all the things David could ask the Lord for, whether protection, power, or peace, he asks to be able to dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of his life.
When Absalom drove David out of Jerusalem, it was a consequence of David’s earlier sins. After David slept with another man’s wife, had that man killed, and lied about it, God did forgive David. But there would be consequences. Through the prophet Nathan, God told David, “Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you.” When David’s own son turned on him, David could have wondered if the Lord was cutting him off. He longed to “gaze on the beauty of the Lord,” that is, to contemplate and reflect on his kindness and goodness and love. David needed reassurance from God that God still loved him, still forgave him. He wanted to be able to go to the Lord’s temple where he could “sacrifice with shouts of joy” and “sing and make music to the Lord.”
I’m guessing many of you feel the same way David did. The current calamity has kept us from being able to come together at God's house. Right now, you feel like you can’t even get together with other Christians. Sure, you can email and text and call, but those can’t replace face-to-face interaction. Singing the hymns to pre-recorded music without other voices around you just doesn’t feel the same. Listening to the Word and the sermon online maybe even feels a little cheap. When I watched the video from last Wednesday on YouTube, the next suggested video was called “The DUMBEST Plays in Sports History.” For a time, we can’t even gather around the Lord’s table to receive his body and blood. We feel cut off.
I’m hoping many of you are also realizing how you’ve been taking worship at God's house for granted. You’ve filled your Sunday mornings with other priorities. It could be sports, social activities, or sleep. Unlike David, the one thing you’ve asked from God isn’t to be in his presence. The one thing you’ve asked is, “Just wait for me, God, until I come back.” You’ve thought, “Well, there’s always next Sunday.” Right now, we don’t know the next Sunday we will be able to worship here.
And it’s not just those of you who haven’t been in church. Even if you’ve come to church every Sunday since the day you were born, you can take it for granted. By coming to church only because that’s what you’re supposed to do. If that’s your normal attitude, then today your first thought might have been, “Hey! I don’t have to get up and go to church today.” You can take coming to God's house for granted by trusting in the fact that you “haven’t missed a Sunday” instead of in Christ and his cross. Or by doing what James describes in his letter where he writes, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” And to be honest with you, when you take public worship and the gifts God offers you here for granted, you’re taking God for granted.
But there’s a third group of you God wants to speak to today. Some of you haven’t been in church, not because you don’t want to, but because it’s too painful to come. You know you’ll just break down. It could even be because you don’t feel worthy enough to come into God's presence. And now, you maybe even feel like this is a sign from God that you shouldn’t come. And you cry out like David in this psalm, “Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior.”
It is hard now that we can’t come to God's house together. Not having that chance to come to a place specifically centered around God and his Word can make it feel like there’s a great distance between him and you. We need Jesus to open our eyes to gaze on God's beauty again.
In the Gospel we read last week, Jesus said, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”
God's Word works wherever it is read or heard. The Holy Spirit’s power isn’t limited to a church building. God doesn’t say, “The only place to receive my gifts and worship me is at 4412 Legacy Dr. Plano, TX.” That means the Word you’re hearing right now through your speakers or you’re reading on your computer screen is powerful and effective. It strengthens your faith by reminding you your sins are forgiven by Jesus and that you have peace with God.
And yet, even though we can receive God's Word wherever we are, Jesus encourages us to come together. He sets the example by regularly joining with other believers in the synagogue and by going to festivals. And even more than that, he has won forgiveness for us for the times we haven’t made God a priority. He never took God for granted, and through faith in him, God doesn’t take us for granted.
By faith in him, Jesus opens our eyes to see what a blessing it is to come to worship. It’s not just a time for us to pay our respects to God. It’s called a church service for a reason. The one serving is God! He builds us up through his teaching. He feeds us our souls with his supper. He forgives our sins. He uses us to encourage others and to be encouraged.
If you’ve stayed away from church because it’s too painful to come to God, he wants to give you this encouragement: When we can worship together again, come. Not to check off a box for God. Not to keep up appearances. Here God gives you his healing grace. Be fed by his Word. Take, eat, and drink his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Be encouraged by your brothers and sisters who love you. Come and gaze on the beauty, the kindness, the delight that is the Lord.
As David fled from Absalom, he said to the priest named Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” He was confident in the Lord’s forgiveness. He knew he would see God's goodness again.
God is calling all of us to repentance and to trust in his Son for the forgiveness of sins. At Jesus’ baptism and on the mount of Transfiguration, he said, “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” By faith in Jesus, God is pleased with us. We find favor in the Lord’s eyes for Jesus’ sake. We will gaze upon his beauty again.
Especially now, we need that hope of meditating on God's kindness to us. The world is panicking. Even if you think the disease is overblown, you recognize that the reaction to this pandemic is going to leave lasting effects. You maybe wonder if you’re going to be swept away, if not by the disease, then by the fallout.
David wrote this psalm thinking of his enemies. He says, “Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.” And yet, even when the wicked advance against him, David is confident. He says, “It is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. … For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me.”
How could David be so confident? He was often outnumbered. Enemy kings and enemy sons wanted him dead. Here was the key: The Lord opened his eyes. Even when everyone else rejected him, even if his father and mother forsook him, David knew one thing: The Lord would receive him. He had this confidence because he had gazed on the Lord’s beauty in his temple. In his Word, God told David his sins were forgiven. Through the promises God gave, David knew he was right with God. Because of this, David knew he would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Whether it was the land of the living on earth, or the land of the living in heaven, David knew he would not be separated from God's goodness whether in life or in death.
We can share in David’s great confidence. We have gazed on the beauty of the Lord in his temple. Jesus has opened our eyes to see that our God is not a spiteful tyrant, but a loving Father. He promises, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” He says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Because of Jesus, we know we will continue to see the goodness of the Lord while living in this land, and when we join him forever in the land of the living.
We’re living in the days of quarantine. You might be stuck at home. Your kids might be starting to get cabin fever. Maybe you’re just getting lonely. But God willing, these days won’t last forever. In the meantime, continue studying his Word. Call me to set up an appointment to receive the Lord’s Supper. Reach out to Christian friends for support. But most of all, wait. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Amen.
