Psalm 71:1-6

William F. Schnell

January 31, 2010

 

Hopefully the international response to the need in Haiti will not follow the typical pattern whereby an initial flood of financial pledges dries up to a trickle of actual donations as the public’s limited attention span shifts to other dramas elsewhere.  The need in Haiti is not a short-term challenge.  Long after the immediate need for such things as food, clean water and medicine is met, other more involving needs for housing and infrastructure will continue.

Poverty is clearly responsible for the scale of destruction which has been wrought by this earthquake.  What I mean is that the 1989 earthquake which hit San Francisco registered 6.9 on the Richter scale, nearly as strong as the quake which hit Port-au-Prince.  While thousands of buildings were damaged in the former instance, only 63 deaths were reported.  Compare that with the 150,000 (and counting) death toll in Port-au-Prince where poorly constructed houses and buildings “pancaked” floor upon floor killing those trapped in-between. 

The Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault line which lies under Haiti is well-known and fairly well understood.  As recently as 2006  a University of Texas professor warned of the potential of a big quake and said that further study of the fault “should be considered high priority in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.”  If substandard construction replaces substandard construction, do not be surprised at a similar outcome if another quake of similar magnitude proceeds from that still-active fault line.

In our New Testament lesson for this morning Jesus compared wise building practices with foolish in a parable.  Two otherwise identical houses can be built for vastly different amounts of money depending upon what they are built upon.  One can be built upon a basement which has been dug out of the ground with a poured footer and floor and provisions for drainage built in and block walls laid up along with other supportive structures.  But imagine how much money can be saved if another house just like it is simply built upon a bed of sand spread upon the ground.  Why, a homebuilder could save thousands with a cost-cutting maneuver like that.

I had a city-approved shed built on nothing more than a bed of gravel several years ago.  This very winter the frozen ground underneath heaved up so much and twisted my shed to the point that I could not open the door.  And guess what I had stored inside?  My snow blower!  I sure am glad that my house was built on a solid foundation.  It might have cost more than one built on a bed of sand, but it sure is nice to be able to get inside when the winter wind blows. 

Of course Jesus was not talking about residential construction practices with his parable.  He was talking about wisely building our lives upon a rock-solid foundation that can stand firm when all about us is quaking and shaking—when the bills are high and the funds are low, or when death or divorce takes a loved one, or when physical or mental health hangs in the balance.  How do we keep from coming undone and falling apart when such things, which are common to this life, happen to us? 

The title of our message for this morning is “Rock of Ages” which is borrowed from the title of our closing hymn for this morning.  Today we are going to discover in this constantly changing world (which stresses our adaptive abilities and challenges our coping mechanisms) a solid rock which does not change, which transcends the ages and upon which we may wisely build a quakeproof life.  Indeed we are going to learn about this “Rock of Ages” from an ancient voice—the voice of King David who penned so many psalms, including the one from which our text comes.

He writes: In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame.  Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me.  Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress (Verses 1-3).  Rescue me… deliver me… and twice he implores, save me.  David is clearly in some kind of trouble and he is crying out to God for help because God has become for him, as he puts it, a rock of refuge, to which I can always go.

David had a history of relying upon God when his life was at risk.  You may recall how, as a mere lad, he slew the Philistine giant named Goliath.  For 40 days Goliath had been taunting the Israelite army and challenging its best warrior to meet him “inside the octagon” where they could battle it out “mano a mano” with the people of the losing side agreeing to serve those of the winning side as slaves.  But Goliath was so big (over 9 feet tall) and menacing that all the Israelite soldiers quaked with fear.  Among the terrified soldiers were three of David’s older brothers.

One day David’s father asked him to deliver some food to his brothers on the front line and to bring back news of them.  David was just a boy and did what he was told.  While he was delivering the food the Giant Goliath came out to taunt the army of God’s people and challenge their finest warrior.  When no one rose to the occasion, David was at first incredulous and then determined to fight the giant himself.  Ah the idealism of youth--always venturing forth where angels fear to tread.

When the King, named Saul, pointed out that David was just a boy and that the Giant Goliath was an experienced fighter, David responded: "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep.  When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth.  When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.  Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.  The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine" I Samuel 17:34-37).

Not having any other alternatives the King tried to outfit him with armor and a sword, but David was so small that nothing fit and just weighed him down.  So David took it off and instead picked up some smooth stones from the ground for his slingshot.  As he approached Goliath the giant laughed, and as he laughed, David put a stone in his slingshot, whipped it around and let it fly.  It struck Goliath in the forehead and down he went.  “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”  Before he could recover, David used Goliath’s own sword to cut off the giant’s head.

Well, you can imagine what a hero David turned out to be—so much so that King Saul became a little jealous.  Then he became really jealous and threatened by the prospect that the people would want to make David their king instead of Saul.  So Saul plotted to kill David, which seriously disillusioned the young idealistic boy.  But David figured that the God who saved him from the bear and lion, and who saved him from the giant Goliath, would also save him from this threat.  And he was right—God not only saved him from Saul but made him king after Saul met an untimely death.

David wrote a Psalm about that episode that we know as Psalm 18.  Its introduction reads: He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge (Psalm 18:1-2).  It sounds pretty similar to our text in Psalm 71, does it not?  Which begs the question: what is the threat leading David back to rock of refuge this time? 

Let us search for a clue as our text continues: Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men.  For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth (Verses 4-5).  Apparently David is no longer a youth.  Indeed, a little further in this psalm he says, Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.  For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together (71:9-10). 

David is no longer one of the “Young Turks.”  He is an old man and new “Young Turks” are out to get him and the power he wields as King.  Oh well, “What goes around comes around.”  But not exactly in this case because David has spent a lifetime wisely building his life upon a firm spiritual foundation--upon “The Rock of Ages.”  And to this rock of refuge he returns once again testifying: Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.  Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come (71:17-18). 

And so it was that God delivered David from every threat until he died full of years, having served Israel as King for 40 of them.  And as a final vindication, it was his joy to pass the crown to his son, Solomon, just before resting with his fathers.  Thus ended a life that began in the fields tending sheep and ended with a reign of God’s people by which all others would come to be measured.  So many changes, so many challenges, and yet David was able to stand firm to the end because he took his stand upon the rock—he wisely built his house upon a solid spiritual foundation that did not fall and did not fail when the really big storms of life assailed.

 

Hopefully we are wisely building our houses upon a solid spiritual foundation which will not fail us when the earthquakes of life strike—especially the really big ones which, like David’s, tend to arrive in the latter years of our lives.  For example, in the latter years of our lives we lose our jobs.  We may retire with golden parachutes, or not, but the ego prop is definitely gone about a nano-second after we leave.  Sure, we can stop by the office and people will remember us for awhile.  Maybe they will stop to share an old war story.  But hey, they’ve got to get back to work.  It is clearly no longer our place, anymore than college is our place the day after we graduate. 

 

But losing your job is nothing like losing your health.  You can take all the vitamins you want, you can exercise regularly and you can eat right, but if you happen to live to an old age you can definitely count on one thing: your body is slowly going to fall apart.  Sure you can keep going for awhile with a hip replacement or a coronary by-pass, but you are going to have to deal with the wait and the surgery and the recovery.  And then you can schedule the cataracts to be removed.

 

But losing your health is nothing like losing your loved ones.  One day a lifelong friend dies.  And just about the time that grief really begins to set in, another friend dies.  Or a spouse dies.  Now you have really had the wind taken out of your sails for awhile.  Grief upon grief, loss upon loss.  Yes indeed, getting old is not for sissies.  It is when the really big earthquakes rock your world.  You think you’ve got problems with your adolescent acne or your middle-aged 401K.  Your problems are a cakewalk.  Wait until you get to Grandma and Grandpa’s stage of life.

 

The real miracle is that there are Grandma’s and Grandpa’s who, despite the losses of the advancing years, grow old so gracefully.  You get the impression that they have not yet wrung the last bit of blessing out of the good life they have been given.  They still have places to go, people to see and things to do—albeit a bit more slowly than before.  These have wisely built a spiritual foundation on “The Rock of Ages” which has enabled them to stand firm even when the Richter scale registers off the charts.  And if it all ends tomorrow?  Well then, they have had a good run and it is time to rest—and wake again on the other side.

 

David also penned the 23^rd Psalm, which concludes with these words.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23: 6).  To repeat a comment made during last week’s Questions from the Pew, nothing gives us greater confidence in God’s saving power hereafter than having gained a foretaste of it here and now.  And we gain a foretaste of that saving power by taking our stand on “The Rock of Ages” that remains firm when all about us is falling apart.

 

So if you find yourself in a situation where everything about you is falling apart, consider it a spiritual opportunity to wisely build your life on a spiritual foundation.  Take your stand on “The Rock of Ages.”  Add your voice to the testimony of those who, down through the ages--from David to today--who have experienced the saving power of God in response to their faith.