SUPERNATURAL CLEATS IN A SLIPPERY WORLD

Psalm 94:16-19.

Psalm 94:16-18 (CSB) - ¹⁶ Who stands up for me against the wicked? Who takes a stand for me against evildoers? ¹⁷ If the Lord had not been my help, I would soon rest in the silence [of death]. ¹⁸ If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your faithful love will support me, Lord. ¹⁹ When I am filled with cares, Your comfort brings me joy.

INTRO:  Just a little contextual information concerning this Psalm before we really start looking into vv. 16-18.  This Psalm is part of a group of Psalms known as the Royal Psalms. This group of Psalms are from 93-99 and they all celebrate the fact that God is King over all, even in the midst of uncertainty and false gods.  They also declare that God’s reign as King is not a temporal, or temporary reign, but an eternal reign.  Meaning, that nothing will take Him off His throne, nothing on earth, nothing in the heavens, nothing in the seas, and nothing under the earth.  His reign is forever and all encompassing. 

And in Psalm 94, not only is His reign eternal as our King, but He is the one who is our help in this slippery world.

It is like a story I read:  A climber in the Alps had come to a perilous gap in the ice where the only way to get across was to place his foot in the outstretched hand of the guide. Told to do this by the guide, the climber hesitated a moment as he looked into the gloomy depths below. Seeing the hesitation, the guide said, "Have no fear, sir, that hand never yet lost a man." And when any soul truly commits itself into the hands of Jesus Christ, that one is committed to the strong, sure keeping of hands that never yet lost a man.

You see, that is the way our Lord and God is.  In this slippery world, there are pitfalls, there are mountains we must climb and canyons we must cross.   But God has given us some supernatural cleats that will keep us from falling in this slippery world we live in.  Let’s look.

1.  Our God is the one who will stand up in our defense.

Verse 16 - Who stands up for me against the wicked? Who takes a stand for me against evildoers?

A.     Some commentators feel David wrote this Psalm.

1.      But in actuality in the Hebrew there is never an Author given.  So know one really knows.

2.      Most commentators feel that this Psalm was actually written during the time of Judah’s Babylonian captivity.

3.      And this is how I’m going to interpret this passage this morning.

B.     The Author declares in a time of desperation who will deliver him, and the nation in captivity as well from the wicked, evildoers (possible the Babylonians)?  Who will stand up in their defense?

1.      In their captivity, they were crying out for a deliverer.

C.     How many of us, in times of desperation, cry out to God, and sometimes wonder why He is not standing up in our defense, and standing up against the enemy of our souls.

1.      What we may not realize, and understand, and feel is that God is in fact standing up for us:  He is putting confidence in us in the midst of our trials.

2.      Can God really put confidence in us?  Sure He can.  Let’s look at a Biblical example:  It is Job.

Job 1:6-8 - ⁶ One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. ⁷ The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.” ⁸ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

D.     I want you to notice something here, Satan is not the one who initiates the conversation with God concerning Job, it was God who initiated this conversation.

1.      Notice this as well, before Job’s problems began, God had great confidence in Him.

2.      In other words, God stood up for him.

E.      We also have a New Testament example of the Lord standing up for someone, and confident in the person:  It is Stephen.

Acts 7:54-56 - ⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, ⁵⁶ “Look! I see the heavens opened and the  Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

1.      Notice something here, this revelation of Jesus that Stephen had with the Lord standing up, happened before the stoning.  It happened after he preached the message of the Gospel to these Jews and as they were so angry they were gritting their teeth at him.

2.      Jesus of course knew what would happened next, and as Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit (I believe so that he could face the martyrdom) He saw Jesus standing up, approving of his message, having confidence that Stephen would face death, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

F.      The point of all this child of God is that God has great confidence in you.

1.      That is why testings are allowed, trials come.

2.      Now He doesn’t have confidence that you can stand on your own, but His confidence is the fact that He has given you the strength, (His Holy Spirit) to stand and overcome.

3.      You may say, “Pastor, I have no confidence in myself.”  That is fine.  Put your confidence in the Lord your God.

2.  Without the Lord’s help, we would soon face death.

Verse 17 - If the Lord had not been my help, I would soon rest in the silence [of death].

A.     Here the Psalmist declares that if the Lord is not his help, he will soon die.

B.     Church, I want you to hear me this morning.  Some of you it may be hard to receive this, but please take off your religious, theological thinking cap for a moment and consider this truth:

1.      Our help doesn’t come from our confidence, nor does it come in the right words to say in prayer or to go around confessing, or developing a  positive attitude, or even to deny that we are even going through a trial.

2.      Our help comes from one source, and one source alone:  Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

3.      He is our source of strength, comfort, peace, safety, and security.

4.      If are going to try to conjure these things up inside of you, it won’t be a true source of help but a false sense of security.

3.  His faithful love (mercy) is our cleats in this slippery world.

Verse 18 - If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your faithful love will support me, Lord.

A.     The word, “faithful love,” in Hebrew means, “mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, goodness, merciful favor, faithfulness.

B.     Adam Clarke Translates this verse as follows: When I found myself so weak and my enemy so strong, that I lost my center of gravity and footing and began to fall, your mercy propped me up.

C.     The Psalmist is declaring that it is God’s favor, mercy, and faithful love that will hold him up and support him.

1.      This is not the only place this is declared in the Psalms.  Let’s look at a few others.

Psalm 18:35 – You have given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 66:9 – He keeps us alive and does not allow our feet to slip.

Psalm 121:3 – He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.

D.     Know this:  If you put your hand in the Lord Jesus Christ’s hand, He is going to give you supernatural cleats – His faithful love, mercy, and favor.

1.      When our dependence is on Him – He keeps us from falling.

4.  In the midst of cares and worries – His comfort brings joy.

Verse 19 - When I am filled with cares, Your comfort brings me joy.

A.     The Hebrew word for, “cares,” means, “worries, anxieties, thoughts that consume you and keep you awake at night.”

B.     The Psalmist declares that during these times of distress, joy is brought through God’s comfort.

C.     Understand this, whether you are aware of it or not:  Joy is not something that is manipulated, it is something that is received from the Lord.

1.      Receive the comfort of the Lord, with it He brings His joy.

CONCL:  We live in a world full of slippery places.  Without the Lord, we will fall.  With the Lord, He gives us the supernatural cleats we need to climb on in Him.  God has such great confidence in you.  Don’t worry about your lack of confidence, or the lack of confidence others, including believers have in you.  Put your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He promises to hold you up by His faithful love, favor, and mercy.  Let Him comfort you this morning.  His comfort brings joy.