August 20, 2006: Psalm 27. One Key to Confidence
One Key to Confidence, Psalm 27, August 20, 2006
Big Idea: Seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
She was a world class ballerina who in the words of Martin Laird could blow like silk across the stage…
She was light and grace in human form…
But her own inner life was a stark contrast to the light and grace she personified on stage…
She was an obsessive perfectionist…
Over and over again in her mind, she played a dvd about the fact that she wasn’t up to standard. Not in her ballet. Not in any area of her life…. and at night she’d grind her teeth… And she was angry… her anger registered in a clenched jaw and body completely free of any trace of fat… She was afraid of what the critics would say of her dancing. Afraid that her husband might one day leave her, afraid of being alone.
She had lots of dvd clips from her childhood… One day as a child she sat in her bedroom looking at herself in the mirror. Her mother opened the door and walked in said, “I hope you don’t think you’re beautiful.” In each season of her life… as a young girl, an adolescent girl, a young adult, as a mature woman—she was beautiful, but she believed she was ugly.
When she was a teenager she won a highly prized scholarship to study ballet and her mother said, “Why would they give you that? Everyone knows you have two left feet.”
And though she has danced to the rousing applause of people all over the world, she believes she’s a klutz with 2 left feet.
She took long walks in the Yorkshire moors of Great Britain. If she walked long enough, her mind would begin to settle, her throbbing anger, fear, and pain would start to ebb away.
She described how on one occasion, her anxiety began to drop like layers of scarves,
Suddenly she was aware of a sacred presence upholding her and everything.
While this dramatic experience happened only once, it drew her into the way of prayer.
She discovered there was something deeper in the universe than her anxiety and fear.
All of us, unless we living secluded on a deserted tropical island, relating closely to no-one, have things in our life that we are or could be anxious about. Like that world class ballerina, it maybe we’re afraid of failure, or of not looking a particular way, or afraid of being alone…
Or maybe our fear has to do with our health or the health of a loved one, or fear of the seemingly escalating terrorism in the world.
As that ballerina found solace in God through her prayer walks, so can we…
This morning we’re going looking at the life of someone, who objectively speaking, was experiencing a great deal more stress that most of us here.
He senses that he’s about to be surrounded by enemies who plan to kill him…
And, though this may not be a likely scenario, he plays out the in his mind the possibility of his parents disowning him.
We’re going see how this person through God finds confidence and peace.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Psalm 27, a Psalm of David, written apparently during a time when is in great danger. David is this young man with extraordinary leadership potential, he’s bright, attractive, a fearless warrior, has a heart for God… and he’s seen by the King Saul as a rival to his throne, so King Saul and his army are on search and destroy David mission.
Listen to David’s affirmation of faith and his prayer:
Of David.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.
4 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.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.
7 Hear my voice when I call, LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.
9 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.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
In this Psalm David anticipates he will be attacked by enemies, it may well be this context is one where King Saul and his army are hunting him down.
David is in this place where he senses as we seen in vs. 3 that he may be besieged by an army and that war will break out against him and David proclaims…
God is my light and salvation whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life of who shall I be afraid?
When wicked enemies advance against me, even then I will be confident…
David in the face of great physical danger has confidence because his heart is focused on God his light, the one who overcomes the darkness, on his salvation, the one who delivers…
David also faces the possibility of great relational pain…
He even if my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me…
We have no significant evidence that he was forsaken by his father and mother, but at least he’s playing out this potential scenario in his mind.
How can David have peace under such adversity?
Because his mind in stayed on God.
Isaiah 26:3 tells us that God will keep in perfect peace the one who’s mind in stayed on God…
Notice HOW David focuses on God.
vs. 4:
4 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.
Not only does David seek the beauty of the Lord vs. 4, not only does David seek God’s face… as we see in vs. 8.
He says, ONE thing I ask from the Lord… This only will I seek…
When we, like David, seek God as our “one thing” we become people who don’t just experience God in a general way but we become people who see God.
Jesus said in Matthew 5, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God…
Purity of heart in the Hebrew culture, meant an undivided heart…
The philosopher Kierkegaard picking on this idea said in his well known quote, “purity of heart is to will one thing…”
If will become people whose “one thing” it is to seek God, if we become people who are pure in heart, we will see God’s face and in seeing God’s we will know His peace…
David is being hunted down by an army intent on killing him, and in vs. 12 we know that while he believes God can rescue, he’s aware there’s no guarantee God will rescue him, so he prays please God don’t hand me over to my enemies, and David envisions in vs. 10 the scenario of being forsaken by his family…
People whose “one thing” it is to seek God, need not be afraid—they will know the peace of God.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
But if our “one thing” is not God, but some kind of relationship security…
and we are forsaken by our parents…
or forsaken by our partner
or forsaken by our children, we’ll be crushed…
But if God is our “one thing” of course if we’re forsaken by our parents, partner, children, of course we’ll experience pain, and a certain level of anxiety when we’re losing something is normal, it shows we care, but if that something we lose is our “one thing” we’ll be full of anxiety, fear, and may want give up on life.
But if our “one thing” is to seek God, know peace.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
If our “one thing” is our education or our career path and that’s taken from us, we’ll be crushed, but if God is our one thing… of course we’ll be disappointed by not crushed…
But if our “one thing” is to seek God, know peace.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
If our one thing is our physical appearance or people’s opinion of us and that does down hill we’ll be crushed…
But if our “one thing” is to seek God, know the peace of God.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
So how do we become people who’s one thing is to know and seek God?
Because we struggle over seeking “one thing.”
Ron Rolheiser is his excellent book The Holy Longing compares 3 women’s spirituality: Mother Teresa’s, Janis Joplin’s and Lady Diana’s…
Mother Teresa though frail looking, was described by those who knew her as a dynamo of energy, a human bulldozer, but was very disciplined woman, who life was focused on thing: God and serving God by loving the poor.
She willed “one thing” God and to serving God by loving the poor…
Janis Joplin who died from a drug overdose at the age of 27… Joplin like mother Teresa was a woman of fire and passion, and energy, a great lover, she said when sang in concert she said making love to thousands of people…
Rolheiser observes, that unlike Mother Teresa, Janis Joplin could not will one thing… she willed many things…. Her life was given over to creativity, performance, drugs, alcohol, sex… instead of channeling her energy she dissipated it… She died, in effect, died at age 27 from a lack of rest
Many of us here want in some way to be like Mother Teresa to will one thing: God and the poor, but we also will everything else too…
Most of us, in the words of Rolheiser, are more like Lady Diana, who was half mother Teresa and half Janis Joplin
Lady Di loved fashion, glamour, like being in the best restaurants in London, Paris, and New York, had affairs with “players,” but she was also friends with Mother Teresa, she had a love for the disenfranchised children of the world, particularly those victimized by landmines…
She was neither Mother Teresa nor Janis Joplin, but a bit of both…
She lived with a painful struggle of what to commit to… she gave to things that integrated her but also made choices that tore her apart…
Most us are of like Diana…we will God, but we also will many other things too…
We know what is to experience in words of my friend Elizabeth Archer Klein, the “Tyranny of the Banquet.” So many choices before, so many things we want to do…
How can we become people who’s one thing it is to seek God… For many of us seeking maybe a “good thing” but is our “one thing”?
One way we can become “one thing” people is by establishing a life rule, a pattern, a model for living…
Saint Benedict who was named Saint for the first 1000 years of the Christian church, lived in the 5th-6th centuries. Part of the reason why he was so influenced so many people was he wrote a document called the Rule of Benedict… that help monks to organize so they could seek God…
Anyone whose ever excelled in some of sport, art, craft: Tiger Woods, Yo-Yo Ma, Emma Thompson… live by a kind of rule…pattern…
Thomas Moore has written that every thoughtful person has a rule of life, or some pattern or model for living.
If we, like David want our “one thing” to be seeking God, we’ll pattern our lives to make that happen…
David in vs. 4. says one thing I ask of the LORD, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life…
Now it’s only the priests, those from the tribe of Levi, who could dwell in the house or tent of the Lord all the time, not someone like David from the tribe of Judah, not someone like David who was a shepherd, then a warrior, then a King… He was what we would call a “lay person…”
But David does to want to structure his life so can focus more intently on the face of God…
Now someone might say, isn’t God everywhere? So why do we need to seek God’s face? Yes, of course, God is every where and we’ll explore that more next Sunday from Psalm 139. But we are called as David points in vs. 8 to seek God’s face. We have been in the presence of Lincoln today as he has led us in worship, but if you really want to know Lincoln, you have make an effort to connect with him face to face… So it is with God, we always in God’s presence but in order to really know him personally and fully we must structure of lives so as to be able to seek God’s face.
Is there a rule a new pattern that we could establish with our lives to make that possible?
A rule of life typically includes: time when you will rise and when you will sleep:
Time to rise and time to sleep (this is something I’m working on. I fairly good at getting early. I’m not so good at getting to bed early, but I’m working on it).
Scripture (Always an essential part of the Spiritual diet of people who long to know God deeply. Sometimes it involves meditating on short phrase, sometimes it involves reading longer sections).
Solitude and prayer (words, silence)
Study (sacred and secular reading that opens us up to God).
Exercise and diet (the body affects the soul).
Work (work can be act of worship, we can under work and over work).
Sabbath (a 24 hour period or rest from “work, work…” students are included)
Play and Recreation (mellowness of heart key to a healthy spirituality so play matters)
Friendships, family, community
Service and Mission
Basil Pennington, in his book Centering Prayer, says A rule is not to be lived, but to be lived out of.
It needs to be built gradually.
If you leave this service, and say I’ve been a lazy bum! I been haven’t praying or exercising… Starting tomorrow, I’m going to start getting up 4 in the morning, I’ll spend one hour in prayer and an hour in Bible reading, then I’m go Stanley Park run the Sea Wall, then I’m come home make a really nutritious breakfast, then I’ll go work… I’ll come home by 6 p.m. eat dinner with the family, help Johnny with his homework, do my email, watch part of the ball game on TV, start reading War and Peace, and be in bed by 10 p.m.
If you try to do that what’s going to happen? You first day… you’re probably late to work… and sweating because you had no time to show… and up till 1:00 a.m. trying to do everything, the next morning when the alarms goes off at four, you hit snooze button, you pray while your dressing and going to work… The next day when the alarms goes off at 4, you’re unplug your alarm clock…. And you’ll give up…
The key to building a rule of life to build slowly… one category at time.
Is there one thing you can do to enable structure your life so that become more attentive to God?
It’s often said, if you can do something for 6 weeks a habit…
The rule will develop for every person, a single mother with 3 mother with small children rule will look different that some a single, retired man with no children.
A rule is not just adding more, but about subtracting too.
Jim Collins, a very insightful writer on organizational leadership has said, some of you need to “to do list” and some of you need a “stop doing list.”
If pattern our lives so that we can optimally seek God’s face and become people who will one thing… and we’ll become people of peace, because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
Like that ballerina, life David regardless the pain or our past or the adversity of our future, if become people whose “one thing” is not some good thing, but the living God, we can says with the Psalmist:
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
For in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
Benediction:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you.
May He lift up His countenance and grant you peace.
(The sermon can be heard online at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
Big Idea: Seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
She was a world class ballerina who in the words of Martin Laird could blow like silk across the stage…
She was light and grace in human form…
But her own inner life was a stark contrast to the light and grace she personified on stage…
She was an obsessive perfectionist…
Over and over again in her mind, she played a dvd about the fact that she wasn’t up to standard. Not in her ballet. Not in any area of her life…. and at night she’d grind her teeth… And she was angry… her anger registered in a clenched jaw and body completely free of any trace of fat… She was afraid of what the critics would say of her dancing. Afraid that her husband might one day leave her, afraid of being alone.
She had lots of dvd clips from her childhood… One day as a child she sat in her bedroom looking at herself in the mirror. Her mother opened the door and walked in said, “I hope you don’t think you’re beautiful.” In each season of her life… as a young girl, an adolescent girl, a young adult, as a mature woman—she was beautiful, but she believed she was ugly.
When she was a teenager she won a highly prized scholarship to study ballet and her mother said, “Why would they give you that? Everyone knows you have two left feet.”
And though she has danced to the rousing applause of people all over the world, she believes she’s a klutz with 2 left feet.
She took long walks in the Yorkshire moors of Great Britain. If she walked long enough, her mind would begin to settle, her throbbing anger, fear, and pain would start to ebb away.
She described how on one occasion, her anxiety began to drop like layers of scarves,
Suddenly she was aware of a sacred presence upholding her and everything.
While this dramatic experience happened only once, it drew her into the way of prayer.
She discovered there was something deeper in the universe than her anxiety and fear.
All of us, unless we living secluded on a deserted tropical island, relating closely to no-one, have things in our life that we are or could be anxious about. Like that world class ballerina, it maybe we’re afraid of failure, or of not looking a particular way, or afraid of being alone…
Or maybe our fear has to do with our health or the health of a loved one, or fear of the seemingly escalating terrorism in the world.
As that ballerina found solace in God through her prayer walks, so can we…
This morning we’re going looking at the life of someone, who objectively speaking, was experiencing a great deal more stress that most of us here.
He senses that he’s about to be surrounded by enemies who plan to kill him…
And, though this may not be a likely scenario, he plays out the in his mind the possibility of his parents disowning him.
We’re going see how this person through God finds confidence and peace.
If you have your Bibles please turn to Psalm 27, a Psalm of David, written apparently during a time when is in great danger. David is this young man with extraordinary leadership potential, he’s bright, attractive, a fearless warrior, has a heart for God… and he’s seen by the King Saul as a rival to his throne, so King Saul and his army are on search and destroy David mission.
Listen to David’s affirmation of faith and his prayer:
Of David.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.
4 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.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.
7 Hear my voice when I call, LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.
9 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.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
In this Psalm David anticipates he will be attacked by enemies, it may well be this context is one where King Saul and his army are hunting him down.
David is in this place where he senses as we seen in vs. 3 that he may be besieged by an army and that war will break out against him and David proclaims…
God is my light and salvation whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life of who shall I be afraid?
When wicked enemies advance against me, even then I will be confident…
David in the face of great physical danger has confidence because his heart is focused on God his light, the one who overcomes the darkness, on his salvation, the one who delivers…
David also faces the possibility of great relational pain…
He even if my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me…
We have no significant evidence that he was forsaken by his father and mother, but at least he’s playing out this potential scenario in his mind.
How can David have peace under such adversity?
Because his mind in stayed on God.
Isaiah 26:3 tells us that God will keep in perfect peace the one who’s mind in stayed on God…
Notice HOW David focuses on God.
vs. 4:
4 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.
Not only does David seek the beauty of the Lord vs. 4, not only does David seek God’s face… as we see in vs. 8.
He says, ONE thing I ask from the Lord… This only will I seek…
When we, like David, seek God as our “one thing” we become people who don’t just experience God in a general way but we become people who see God.
Jesus said in Matthew 5, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God…
Purity of heart in the Hebrew culture, meant an undivided heart…
The philosopher Kierkegaard picking on this idea said in his well known quote, “purity of heart is to will one thing…”
If will become people whose “one thing” it is to seek God, if we become people who are pure in heart, we will see God’s face and in seeing God’s we will know His peace…
David is being hunted down by an army intent on killing him, and in vs. 12 we know that while he believes God can rescue, he’s aware there’s no guarantee God will rescue him, so he prays please God don’t hand me over to my enemies, and David envisions in vs. 10 the scenario of being forsaken by his family…
People whose “one thing” it is to seek God, need not be afraid—they will know the peace of God.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
But if our “one thing” is not God, but some kind of relationship security…
and we are forsaken by our parents…
or forsaken by our partner
or forsaken by our children, we’ll be crushed…
But if God is our “one thing” of course if we’re forsaken by our parents, partner, children, of course we’ll experience pain, and a certain level of anxiety when we’re losing something is normal, it shows we care, but if that something we lose is our “one thing” we’ll be full of anxiety, fear, and may want give up on life.
But if our “one thing” is to seek God, know peace.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
If our “one thing” is our education or our career path and that’s taken from us, we’ll be crushed, but if God is our one thing… of course we’ll be disappointed by not crushed…
But if our “one thing” is to seek God, know peace.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
If our one thing is our physical appearance or people’s opinion of us and that does down hill we’ll be crushed…
But if our “one thing” is to seek God, know the peace of God.
Because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
So how do we become people who’s one thing is to know and seek God?
Because we struggle over seeking “one thing.”
Ron Rolheiser is his excellent book The Holy Longing compares 3 women’s spirituality: Mother Teresa’s, Janis Joplin’s and Lady Diana’s…
Mother Teresa though frail looking, was described by those who knew her as a dynamo of energy, a human bulldozer, but was very disciplined woman, who life was focused on thing: God and serving God by loving the poor.
She willed “one thing” God and to serving God by loving the poor…
Janis Joplin who died from a drug overdose at the age of 27… Joplin like mother Teresa was a woman of fire and passion, and energy, a great lover, she said when sang in concert she said making love to thousands of people…
Rolheiser observes, that unlike Mother Teresa, Janis Joplin could not will one thing… she willed many things…. Her life was given over to creativity, performance, drugs, alcohol, sex… instead of channeling her energy she dissipated it… She died, in effect, died at age 27 from a lack of rest
Many of us here want in some way to be like Mother Teresa to will one thing: God and the poor, but we also will everything else too…
Most of us, in the words of Rolheiser, are more like Lady Diana, who was half mother Teresa and half Janis Joplin
Lady Di loved fashion, glamour, like being in the best restaurants in London, Paris, and New York, had affairs with “players,” but she was also friends with Mother Teresa, she had a love for the disenfranchised children of the world, particularly those victimized by landmines…
She was neither Mother Teresa nor Janis Joplin, but a bit of both…
She lived with a painful struggle of what to commit to… she gave to things that integrated her but also made choices that tore her apart…
Most us are of like Diana…we will God, but we also will many other things too…
We know what is to experience in words of my friend Elizabeth Archer Klein, the “Tyranny of the Banquet.” So many choices before, so many things we want to do…
How can we become people who’s one thing it is to seek God… For many of us seeking maybe a “good thing” but is our “one thing”?
One way we can become “one thing” people is by establishing a life rule, a pattern, a model for living…
Saint Benedict who was named Saint for the first 1000 years of the Christian church, lived in the 5th-6th centuries. Part of the reason why he was so influenced so many people was he wrote a document called the Rule of Benedict… that help monks to organize so they could seek God…
Anyone whose ever excelled in some of sport, art, craft: Tiger Woods, Yo-Yo Ma, Emma Thompson… live by a kind of rule…pattern…
Thomas Moore has written that every thoughtful person has a rule of life, or some pattern or model for living.
If we, like David want our “one thing” to be seeking God, we’ll pattern our lives to make that happen…
David in vs. 4. says one thing I ask of the LORD, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life…
Now it’s only the priests, those from the tribe of Levi, who could dwell in the house or tent of the Lord all the time, not someone like David from the tribe of Judah, not someone like David who was a shepherd, then a warrior, then a King… He was what we would call a “lay person…”
But David does to want to structure his life so can focus more intently on the face of God…
Now someone might say, isn’t God everywhere? So why do we need to seek God’s face? Yes, of course, God is every where and we’ll explore that more next Sunday from Psalm 139. But we are called as David points in vs. 8 to seek God’s face. We have been in the presence of Lincoln today as he has led us in worship, but if you really want to know Lincoln, you have make an effort to connect with him face to face… So it is with God, we always in God’s presence but in order to really know him personally and fully we must structure of lives so as to be able to seek God’s face.
Is there a rule a new pattern that we could establish with our lives to make that possible?
A rule of life typically includes: time when you will rise and when you will sleep:
Time to rise and time to sleep (this is something I’m working on. I fairly good at getting early. I’m not so good at getting to bed early, but I’m working on it).
Scripture (Always an essential part of the Spiritual diet of people who long to know God deeply. Sometimes it involves meditating on short phrase, sometimes it involves reading longer sections).
Solitude and prayer (words, silence)
Study (sacred and secular reading that opens us up to God).
Exercise and diet (the body affects the soul).
Work (work can be act of worship, we can under work and over work).
Sabbath (a 24 hour period or rest from “work, work…” students are included)
Play and Recreation (mellowness of heart key to a healthy spirituality so play matters)
Friendships, family, community
Service and Mission
Basil Pennington, in his book Centering Prayer, says A rule is not to be lived, but to be lived out of.
It needs to be built gradually.
If you leave this service, and say I’ve been a lazy bum! I been haven’t praying or exercising… Starting tomorrow, I’m going to start getting up 4 in the morning, I’ll spend one hour in prayer and an hour in Bible reading, then I’m go Stanley Park run the Sea Wall, then I’m come home make a really nutritious breakfast, then I’ll go work… I’ll come home by 6 p.m. eat dinner with the family, help Johnny with his homework, do my email, watch part of the ball game on TV, start reading War and Peace, and be in bed by 10 p.m.
If you try to do that what’s going to happen? You first day… you’re probably late to work… and sweating because you had no time to show… and up till 1:00 a.m. trying to do everything, the next morning when the alarms goes off at four, you hit snooze button, you pray while your dressing and going to work… The next day when the alarms goes off at 4, you’re unplug your alarm clock…. And you’ll give up…
The key to building a rule of life to build slowly… one category at time.
Is there one thing you can do to enable structure your life so that become more attentive to God?
It’s often said, if you can do something for 6 weeks a habit…
The rule will develop for every person, a single mother with 3 mother with small children rule will look different that some a single, retired man with no children.
A rule is not just adding more, but about subtracting too.
Jim Collins, a very insightful writer on organizational leadership has said, some of you need to “to do list” and some of you need a “stop doing list.”
If pattern our lives so that we can optimally seek God’s face and become people who will one thing… and we’ll become people of peace, because in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
Like that ballerina, life David regardless the pain or our past or the adversity of our future, if become people whose “one thing” is not some good thing, but the living God, we can says with the Psalmist:
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
For in seeking God we see His face and seeing His face we know His peace.
Benediction:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you.
May He lift up His countenance and grant you peace.
(The sermon can be heard online at: http://www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
posted by Shigematsu at 7:16 PM
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