Well, this morning I bring greetings and thank yous from the family of Westminster Seminary. This has been an extraordinary year for all of us, the institution, the church, as we meet outdoors here, as well as from many families. But we learn two constants throughout these days. One is that our friends have stayed with us, very faithful, not just in terms of supporting us financially, but in prayer. And Escondido URC has been such a wonderful friend of our institution for so long. As we hear the announcement of Dirk's illness, Dirk was my preaching professor from 1994 through 1997, not only serving at the institution, but at the church as well. So thank you on behalf of Westminster Seminary California for your kindness to us and your generosity to us as well. The second constant has been, as you can imagine, it has been the Lord's faithfulness and generosity to our institution for his provisions, for his protection, for his wisdom. As many of us who are weak and meek make decisions for our institution, your prayers certainly encourage us, and the Lord's constant care sustains us daily. So it's to his word that we turn this morning, seeking his wisdom from Psalm 3. Psalm 3. So please turn with me to Psalm 3. Psalm 3. Hear the word of the Lord. A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom, his son. O Lord, how many are my foes. Many are rising against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me. my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept. I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord. Save me, O my God. For you strike all my enemies on the cheek. You break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be on your people. So far the reading of his word, let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for calling your sons and daughters into your home this morning. Unusual circumstances, no doubt, yet delighted by your call for us and for us to come into your presence to see you and to hear your voice proclaim your word. We thank you for your word upon which we all stand. And we ask that, O Lord, for those who have been long-time Christians, you will convict us yet once again for our lives to be dedicated to you. And for those who are seeking, O Lord, open their eyes and their hearts for them to confront who you are and come to serve you and to love you. We thank you for this morning. We thank you for worship. We pray that all the glory you will receive. For we pray these things in your Son's name. Amen. We are at our worst theological selves at about one o'clock in the morning. We might say the right things in worship. We might sing the right words at our homes. Perhaps we can even explain the right theology using confessional language to our children on a day-to-day basis. But yet oftentimes when we're groggy and tired, those moments when we wake up, perhaps even sweating, thinking through issues in life, in our life, that we forget the very truths that we proclaim and that we believe with our hearts. Perhaps you have sleepless nights as well. I certainly do, and these days have proven that to be true for me in particular. Whether the cause is the pandemic that many of us know something about as we see many of our friends as well as loved ones being sick, perhaps the civil unrest that you see on your TV sets, the financial instability of both the nation and our homes, concerns about education and what's going to happen to our children in terms of the starting of school in about a month or so and how those decisions will be made, uncertainties about our future, even as an institution thinking through not only our beginning in September, but what is the school going to look like about a year from now, or perhaps even five years from now, when everyone talks about the new normal and what that image might be. Or perhaps the religious opposition and the difficulties of decision-making in this climate and context where policies and politics seem to be against the church, and of course the political chaos. We were halfway joking last night talking to some friends that the first half of this year, difficult enough, but the second half might even be more difficult as we confront and face many of the challenges as a nation and as church and institution. All these and more keep us up at night. And perhaps as you groggily think through these issues theologically, perhaps you land in a place of anxiousness and hopelessness. Psalm 3 is for those who struggle with sleepless nights. Those who are uncertain, those who are overwhelmed, those who are in fear. As we identify with the psalmist who honestly displays in four stanzas his sorrow, his trust in the shield, the psalmist who rests in safety and praises the Savior. Now, I realize that the church here is used to three-point sermons. My apologies beforehand for four, but there are four stanzas here. Here, sorrow, shield, safety, and praising the Savior. Verses 1 and 2 remind us of how the psalmist felt when he says, O Lord, how many are my foes. Many are rising against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. David knew something about worries and sorrows. Perhaps the title of the psalm gives us a clue where it says, a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. A betrayal by family members is difficult enough. Betrayal by his own very son. When David was occupied with governing the nation, his son Absalom stole the hearts of the people and raised a rebellion in the nearby city of Hebron. The revolt was so sudden and unexpected that David had no recourse but to flee Jerusalem with whatever leaders remained faithful to him. The historical account reminds us that he retreated to the safety of the desert weeping and barefoot, his head covered in sorrow. This was indeed a dark hour for David. He writes not only of his son's betrayal, but of the opposition of many. Or as verse 6 indicates, many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Just imagine, many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. There is no recourse. There is no place to hide, he felt. He writes not only for the safety and salvation for himself and his family, but remembers the precarious state of his own people, calling for the blessing of the Lord to be not only upon him, but his people, recognizing the predicament is the same. He writes not only for self-vindication, that he be shown right, but for the Lord to be vindicated as rumors abounded, that the Lord had withdrawn himself not only from David, but his people. The Lord is no longer with you, they said. Many were saying, there is no salvation in God. And in particular, there is no salvation for David in God. Notice the repetition here. Many, many, many. As he looks within and all around, David cannot help but feel helpless. perhaps powerless, and even scared. Do you feel this way sometimes these days? Powerless, hopeless, perhaps even fearful of not only your health and your families, but perhaps the future and the uncertainties that are before you. This psalmist and the psalm lends its voice and words to how many of us feel. I know many of you have read through the Psalms and studied them. John Calvin states so rightly, I have been accustomed to call this book an anatomy of all the parts of the soul. For there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. It's giving voice to how many of us feel. The Psalms do not cover up our emotions. instead explain those things to us as we discuss, as we wrestle, and as we tackle our emotions right before us. It's similar to what happened in Psalm 137. The kind of helplessness and haplessness here in this particular Psalm 137, the Israelites, in this case, the people of God were in exile. They were conquered. And as they were being led, as individuals conquered, expressing their deep sorrow about their fate, here the enemies, the conquerors, come to them and demand from them that they sing a song from their homeland. And the question that the psalmist asks, which is a haunting one in verse 4, is simply to ask, how shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? How do we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? And here these days, it reminds us that we are not home. You and I, despite the wonderful homes that you might have, we are not actually at home. And on this side of glory, we sit with all the unpredictabilities and uncertainties of life, oftentimes beyond our control and power. And we wonder to ourselves in the midst of all these things, how do we sing the Lord's song in this foreign land? We ask ourselves, and the psalmist knew that, and they knew that well. This is where we see a pivot in verse 3, and the pivot begins with but. It's the opposite, isn't it? It's an adversative. But you, O Lord, he says, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. But you, O Lord, I love this phrase. It makes the contrast between me and God both explicit and concrete. What you cannot do, he can. What you are unwilling to do, he is able and willing. Not you, not me, but God, as the psalmist reminds us. As one commentator says, when a believer gazes too long at his opposition, and his circumstances, the force arrayed against him seems to grow in size until it appears to be overwhelming. But when he turns his thoughts to God, God is seen in his true great stature and the enemy's strength to manageable proportions. As that wonderful book says, when God is big, all your circumstances begin to decrease. Who is the Lord here that the psalmist is reminding us of? Here he tells us that the Lord is a shield about me. A shield about me. Shield is a common metaphor for protection, often used of what God does in our lives. As chapter 7, verse 10 of Psalms says, my shield is with God who saves the upright in heart. Psalm 18 says, verses 1 through 2, I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. This shield is about me. This shield is about me, which is an imagery of complete protection. Children don't know that very well, do they? I remember Anna, my oldest, when she was about two playing hide and go seek, one of her favorite games. And she'll say, daddy, hide. And then she'll go running to hide. And then she'll find a corner somewhere, completely open space, but yet stick her head down and lift up her bottom. And she thinks that nobody can see her. And you know how parents do this game, right? They lie to their children. They say, where is Anna? I can't find her. She is so good at hiding, we say, and we tell her all the time. And so she does that over and over again, thinking that she's protected. I'm sure many of you who are parents have played that game and lied to your children as well, as I have. But here, children may not know what that looks like, but parents do. Parents know what it feels like when you walk into your child's room at night. In the middle of the night, when they're one and two, just to check on them to see that they're alive, especially as a first-time parent, to put your finger underneath their nose to see that they're breathing, to check their chest pumping up and down, to notice that they're still alive, and then just to make sure, push them a little bit, to see them squirm. They never know how protected they are. They're not awake to see it. Now, you and I may not see, or perhaps you and I may be able to say, we don't experience the Lord about me. But the psalmist is very clear. He says there is complete protection over you. The Lord's shield was big enough to protect the whole body from the enemy's sword or the arrows heading in their direction. The Lord is our shield who covers us in full protection. If this is the case, perhaps what the psalmist does, in this case, what David does, would seem very natural to you and me. In this dire circumstance, when he remembers that the Lord is the shield about him, what does he do immediately as he thinks about this truth? Here, David turns to the one who protects, who gives worth, and restores confidence by praying. He says, I cried to the Lord. Friends, it's a proof of faith that a believer turns to the Lord in prayer, even and perhaps especially in moments of despair. When Jehoshaphat faced the great army assembled against him and against his people in 2 Chronicles 20, verse 3 records that he was very afraid and being afraid what does he do he set his face to the lord and having set his face to the lord and gathered his people together in this moment of prayer this prayer was recorded for us to remember and repeat for ourselves when it says in verse 12 we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you we do not know what to do but our eyes are on you i wonder how many of you feel that way when we feel exposed by the circumstances around us, recognizing that the only shield we have is not policy, it's not politics, it's not persons, it's only the Lord. And as we turn to him, the only response we can have is in prayer. We cry out to the Lord, perhaps even using the words of Jehoshaphat, simply admitting with honesty, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. John Calvin says, and certainly the only remedy for allaying our fears is this, to cast upon him all the cares which trouble us. As on the other hand, those who have the conviction that they are the objects of his regard, objects of his regard, must be prostrated and overwhelmed by the calamities which befall them. Here, the Lord is the shield. The Lord is the shield that covers up our sorrows. But verse 5 reminds us then of the response. How you and I change as a result of not only remembering the Lord as our shield, but the safety provided as we come before the Lord praying and crying. For David's response is given in two movements in verses 5 and 6. We are told, I lay down and slept. I love that phrase. I'm not a very good sleeper. I don't know how you are. I lay down and slept. I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. This is the heart of the psalm and the part that many find most attractive about Psalm 3. Here is the confidence of a believer who knows that their Lord is that their shield. It's a night of rest. Despite all dangers and opposition, David is able to do what all of us desire to do, rest. Rest is often used and sleep is often referred to throughout the book of Psalms to remind us of this kind of sense of peace, togetherness, and wholeness those who trust in the Lord get to experience. This is not about fatigue as if we're overly tired, nor about David's easygoing personality who can sleep through anything. It's all about his faith and trust in God who is in charge and who is in control. We may not know, he knows. We may not be able to do, but he can. It's a reminder coming to us from Psalm 121. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you, NIV says, he who watches over you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Here, knowing that the Lord is in charge, Knowing that the Lord is in charge, we rest. Again, like our children, no cares. Taking them in their little stroller, whether it be outside, inside, whether it be in a storm or a sunny day, whether it be an amusement park or a quiet place, they're able to sleep. I marvel. Because they know that somebody else is taking care of all things that they need. here, I lay down and slept, the psalmist says, as he turned to the Lord. And not only is he able to sleep, he says, I will not be afraid. Fear not. Fear not is repeated for us over 80 times in the Bible. This is not because of our own innate abilities or our resolve to overcome difficulties. This is also not because of some aid or help expected and anticipated from others or other entities, but it's simply because of God. But you, O Lord, he said, God's unchanging promise is to be with his people, and there is no circumstance, no future, no opposition that is beyond his power and grace. He says today and always, I am here with you. Therefore, you ought not to be afraid. I am here. Do you remember what the words of Isaiah 43 say? But now thus says the Lord, he who created you. He who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, period. The Holy One of Israel, your Savior, because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you. Fear not, for I am with you. Notice the repetition of fear nots there. Fear not. You know the reason why? Because I'm the creator, he says. I'm the redeemer. he says and he further says you are mine i am with you his presence is the promise to you his command to fear not is not based upon your strength or mine but his and he simply says i am there with you he is an infinite almighty god we confess though often forget and here friends the reminder is, in the midst of our sorrows, be reminded that he is your shield all about you. And he is the only one who can provide you safety in rest, as well as your ability to fear not, not only about the past, present, nor the future, simply because he is there with you, he says. This is why what happens at the end here in verses 7 and 8, is such an appropriate ending to this psalm. The Savior is introduced to us again, a reminder to us, for many of us, who suffer from spiritual amnesia, who forget those things so often and so quickly. He says, Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek. You break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. your blessing be on your people. A cry of prayer earlier, now cry with confidence. Arise, oh Lord, save me, oh my God. God caused Absalom, when you go back in history, to listen to bad advice and thus fail to pursue and defeat David when he was most vulnerable. And we see that in recorded history. Then when the battle was finally engaged, after David had been able to gather strength and prepare for it, David's troops achieved a great victory, even ultimately killing Absalom, his son. This is a cry of victory, knowing that the Lord was going before them and would ultimately lead them to victory. It is the unflinching trust in the truth that God will make right the wrongs. He will be just in the midst of injustice. He will make us whole in the midst of brokenness. Even death cannot overcome us. He brings salvation into and in the midst of death itself. Thus, this is the testimony of David. As he concludes and begins with sorrow, he cannot help but to triumphantly declare salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Even what we experience in 2020, ultimately our cry at the end will be, Salvation belongs to the Lord. No matter what the world might say, no matter what the circumstances may be. Colossians 1.13, the apostle talks about the place that we have before the Lord when he says, God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. And what Christ has achieved in you and me cannot change and cannot be overturned. And his people sang with praise, taking these very words in Revelation 7, verse 10, salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the lamb. Revelation 19, verse 1, similarly, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. The song of the Israelites become our song in Christ Jesus as our Redeemer and King rises for our salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. What begins as sorrow is transformed into trust in the only one who can save that we too cannot help but to declare salvation belongs to our God, who turns our sorrows into joys and dancing, who turns our sadness into salvation as we come to see him as our shield and ultimately as our safety in rest. This is what the Lord reminds us in Psalm 3, that he is our savior. God is able to save, and he will never, ever, impossible, to withdraw his grace and his blessing from you and his church and his people. This providential care of the Lord is such an important reminder to us during these days, especially as we forget, as we lie awake, wondering about where things are going. And perhaps a reminder, so aptly and so well summarized for us in Heidelberg Catechism question and answer 28, where the question simply asks, how does the knowledge of God's creation and providence help us? The answer says, we can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from his love. Romans 8 here, right? For all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved. Dear Church of Jesus Christ our Lord, may the Lord be with you in such a real and powerful way during these days. I certainly do not know where you are, where your family is, what your circumstances may be. But be reminded of the promises found in Psalm 3. He turns sorrow into his salvation for you, for he is with you. And may we learn to be patient in adversity, therefore, thankful when things are well, And for the future, may the Spirit work within us to have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature and certainly no creation will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer. We turn to you this morning, O Lord, knowing that in Christ Jesus you will hear our cries and our prayers. Thank you for being with us, O Lord, your promise to be with us not only today, but the days to come. Thank you for your provisions, O Lord, not only for our daily bread, for the days to come until we see you face to face. Thank you for your providential care that will ultimately bring us home one day. For we recognize that this is not our home. And we find not our identity nor our security in the things that we hold dear even now, whether it be our health or even the riches that you have so blessed us with. But Lord, our eyes are fixated upon you. And though we do not know, you do. So we turn to you for wisdom, guidance, and all provisions. Thank you for the gathering of your people, even under this tent. Despite the difficult circumstances, we recognize that even in this gathering, your presence among us, we lift up our thanksgiving to you, O Lord, that you give us reasons to cheer and to praise, recognizing the lives that we have in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who gives us our salvation. So, Lord, as we go forth from here, be with us. Remind us by your Spirit. Teach us in your word that we may stand firm in him and allow us to, O Lord, grow to see you in all things and not be afraid and rest well, not because of ourselves, but because of you, O Lord, who remain our salvation in Christ Jesus. We thank you for this time and we pray this in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.