December 17, 2023
Hope
Psalm 33:1-22
Can I trust you, God? I’m sure that was a question that was running through the mind of Mary when the angel visited her to tell her the wonderful news of the coming birth of the Messiah. This question might seem to be a little out of place in the Christmas story, but let’s think about this for a second. To us, 2,000 years removed from the event and the fact that we know the rest of the story, this seems like a very silly question to be thinking, but to a poor, teenage girl this question was anything but foolish. This declaration by the angel carried with it many problems for Mary. How would she explain this pregnancy to her parents? How would she explain it to her fiancé? Remember the angel did not come to Joseph until after Mary told him what happened, She had to tell him before he knew the truth and maybe he even had this same question. This event could have literally cost Mary her life under the Mosaic Law, but through the entire process, through the uncertainty, Mary trusted God with the plan for her life. The question Mary had to answer is the same question we might find ourselves asking this Christmas, “Can I trust you, God?”. There is something about the Christmas season that seems to amplify the problems in our lives. I’m not sure if it’s all the cheer that is associated with Christmas or the stereotypical happy families that are portrayed all around, but there’s something about this time of year that tends to amplify our problems. It can exacerbate our loneliness, our broken expectations, grief and loss, financial stress, and any other sort of issues we might be experiencing and we might find ourselves asking God, “Can I trust you?”. So this morning, I want to look at the answer to that question by looking at Psalm 33 and why we should be talking about it at Christmas time.
Yes! God can be trusted - Psalms 33:1-4
Let the godly sing for joy to the Lord; it is fitting for the pure to praise him. Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre; make music for him on the ten-stringed harp. Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy. For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.
The Psalmist starts out with a call to worship for those who trust in the Lord. It’s also a call to hear the answer to the question and not just from the mouth of the writer of the Psalm, rather from those who came before with that very same question and sought the truth in order to find the answer. It doesn’t take the Psalmist very long to share what all of their answers are and the answer is a resounding “YES”, we can trust everything God does. That can be easier said than done, because our minds naturally want to have reasons before we make a decision. The Psalmist knows and wants to make sure we have those reasons. Especially since he got the musicians and worshipers together to proclaim the overwhelming “Yes”, He starts with the fact that “Yes” we can trust the Lord because the word of the Lord holds the truth.
When we start to seek and ask questions about the God of the Word we must start by looking for answers in the Word of God. God’s Word is not true because it says so, but rather because it has proved itself time and time again. We find ourselves in a world where it’s hard to trust people because it seems like everything and everyone we deal with has “fine print” in their promises. When we trust someone and they let us down, we might hear all sorts of excuses as to why they didn’t come through on their end trying to deflect the blame back on us for not reading the “fine print”. It’s almost like an evil Genie. We didn’t read the fine print, we didn’t ask the right questions and we didn't think we would be taken advantage of. Those interactions can lead us to distrusting everyone. With God it’s different, we can take God’s promises at face value. What God says, He means, we can trust in His Word more than we trust in anything else in the world. We are never told to have a blind faith in God and just believe, but rather we are told to come and see for ourselves. God’s Word never fails and has stood up to all the scrutiny that has ever been thrown at it for thousands of years, and it stands up to any questions we have as well. God’s Word alone shows us that there is no doubt God can be trusted with everything in your life, but the Psalmist continues by sharing some more specific reasons to help those who are still doubting and to encourage and call to worship those who already trust in Him.
God can be trusted because He is good - Psalms 33:5
He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth.
One of my most favorite lines in the fictitious works of C.S. Lewis comes from “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”. It’s at a point in the story where one of the children (Susan) just arrived in the land of Narnia and she is asking questions about the one who rules the land to a couple of creatures (Mr. & Mrs. Beaver) that she met upon her arrival in Narnia. “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr. Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” The Psalmist is telling us that about God, but we must understand that just as it was with Aslan, God is anything but safe. God is a wrathful God. Romans 1:18 tells us that, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness”. God is not someone to disregard or to take lightly, especially when a sinner is the best way to describe all of us. He is a vengeful God. When it comes to sin in this world and our lives, all of that sin must be judged. But God is good and made a way for us to be found not guilty of all those sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. We have become so accustomed to half-truths, mixed motives, and poor judgment that we can forget how good God is in His truth, His righteousness, and His perfect justice. Is God safe? No, never, and this lost and dying world will soon find that out at His return, but He’s good and He can be trusted. If He didn’t spare His son Jesus, what won’t He give to meet the needs of those who have trusted in Him? God is good!
How does the unfailing love of the Lord fill the earth? Because everyone in this world is a sinner (Romans 3:23) and the result of that sin is death before a righteous Judge (Romans 6:23). Every moment we take a breath still in our sinful state is an experience of God’s love. He wants us to come and know that forgiveness of our sins only comes through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9). God is even good to his enemies and those who hate Him.
God can be trusted because He is awesome - Psalms 33:6-9
The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him. For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.
The Psalmist takes us back to the very beginning of God’s Word to recap creation. Before Genesis 1:1, there was nothing but God existing perfectly content in three coequal and coeternal persons from eternity past, then at the perfect moment God spoke and created everything out of nothing. It’s hard for us to comprehend nothing because everything we think of is something. Every time we think about creating something we have to make it from other things, but totally understanding the wonderment of creating something from nothing is beyond our comprehension. Whether we understand it or not, the fact remains that God was there before anything and He created everything, not with any effort or struggle, but rather just the word of His mouth. It was at His command it was all created, in all of its intricacies, in all of its complexity, God created it all and said it was good. The Psalmist says that fact should bring fear to those who hear of the great power and awesomeness of God. Usually we think of the fear of God as respect that comes from believers, but here in this context the word literally means, those who have yet to trust in Him should fear Him for his immeasurable power. The world will be in awe of the magnificence of God and His command of every part of nature from its creation to this very moment. Even the rough and seemingly wild seas obey His command. The point is God is in total control. You can trust Him because in this world, He still reigns supreme. Even when everything seems to be enveloped in chaos, God is still awesome and can stop it all with a single word and one day He will. Until then, we can stand in awe of the awesomeness of God.
God can be trusted because He cannot be stopped - Psalms 33:10-11
The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes. But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.
When we read a promise or prophecy in scripture, it’s not like reading a plan of a man, a company, or team. All of the worldly planners can have the best gameplans, the best personnel to carry it out, and all of those plans can still fail. God can never fail and He can never be stopped. When we read His Word and we come across a promise or a prophecy that is meant for us, we can be sure that they will, without a doubt, come to pass. Nothing in this world can stop God. Many have tried and all have failed. We can trust God because everything He says has, and will, come to pass.
God can be trusted because He cares for you - Psalms 33:12-19
What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance. The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do. The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory— for all its strength, it cannot save you. But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine.
Starting in verse 12, the Psalmist is speaking of the Israelites as God’s chosen people, but now under the New Covenant, those who have trusted in Jesus, are more than just His chosen people, but rather they are now His children. This only happened because God knew our hearts are sinful and knew that no matter what we did, how strong we are, how wise we are in the world’s eyes, we could never win victory over sin and save ourselves. In His amazing love and care for us, He sent His son Jesus that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but rather they would have everlasting life. Our greatest need in this life is a Savior, and God sent one whose birthday we celebrate at Christmas time. His amazing love was on display and it will never fail because once we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, nothing can separate us from His love that is experienced through Jesus Christ. We can trust God because He cares for us and has given us everything we need.
When we trust God we experience true Hope - Psalms 33:20-22
We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.
It’s in the last three verses of this Psalm that we bring this sermon back around to Christmas because the Psalm closes with hope. As we have said before, when Scripture speaks of Hope and when we speak of the Hope of Christmas, we aren’t talking about wishful thinking, but rather an unshakable assurance that is only found through Jesus Christ. Because we trust in Jesus we are obedient to His Word. The true measure of trust is when we back up our declaration of trust in Jesus with our actions. Paul says in Romans 15:13, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit”. Paul gives us the roadmap to Hope. We trust in God and He fills us completely with joy and peace because of that trust. It overflows with confident Hope because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. That’s the only way to experience the Hope of Christmas time is by trusting in Jesus Christ whose birth we are celebrating. Just as Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God has raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” When you trust Him, you have to trust Him as your Lord to be saved. Then you will overflow with Hope, not always knowing what tomorrow holds, but always knowing who holds tomorrow.
