Living By the Prayer Jesus Died By: A Prayer of God’s Safety (Ps. 31:1-4)

I’m the proud owner of a new above-the-ground pool.  I’m also an obsessed safety-nut in that same pool.  A few weeks ago, Jordan and Jacob had friends over at our grand pool-opening.  And about the only word that came out of my mouth for the first thirty minutes of our inaugural swim was “No”: “No, don’t jump from the top of those stairs.  It’s not safe.”; “No, don’t try to float on that ball near the edge.  It’s not safe.”; “No, don’t try to get all three of you on the big yellow duck.  It’s not safe.”  I found myself suddenly obsessed with safety. 

 

I’m not alone.  Those of you who are parents of young children could say an “Amen!” out loud if we were the kind of church where such things were said.  You’ve latched every door that could be opened by little hands.  You’ve hidden chemicals and detergents far away from little ones.  You’ve purchased a car seat so strong and safe it may as well have been used in the Space Shuttle.  Safety is one of your top concerns.

 

Several families, including mine, have had children go through driving school this summer.  If there was one thing stressed there, it was safety.  The school wanted these kids to be safe drivers.  As parents, we’ve been a bit stressed about all of this.  We are worried about our kid’s safety as they take on driving in Memphis.  I recently saw a series of texts between one of these teens and her mother.  The teen was a bit worried about the driving test.  Here’s the text exchange:

 

 

 

Safety and security are major concerns for many of us.  According to a 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center, most of us would choose a job that offered lower pay but higher stability over a job that offered higher pay but lower stability. [1]   What we want even more than dollars is dependability.  We want a work setting that’s going to offer safety and security even if it offers less than ideal savings.   We are a people who want safety.

 

Yet life with God can bring adversity rather than security.  In his book The Colors of Hope Richard Dahlstrom writes this:[2]  [The safety-first posture] is wrong on several levels. First, and most significantly, the good life is never defined by Jesus in terms of either length or comfort. To the contrary, Jesus says that those who seek to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their lives, spilling them out generously in service to others because of love for God and humanity, will find them.  Simply engaging in the mission of God can lead to all kinds of trial and turmoil.  Jesus promises risk when we follow him.

 

Gary Haugen, president and CEO of International Justice Mission, writes this:[3]  After we have poured into our children all the good food and shelter and clothing, after we have provided them with great education, discipline, structure and love, after we have worked so hard to provide every good thing, they turn to us and ask, “Why have you given all of this to me.”  And the honest answer from me is, “So you’ll be safe.”  And my kid looks up at me and says, “Really? That’s it? You want me to be safe? Your grand ambition for my life is that nothing bad happens?”  And I think something inside them dies. They either go away to perish in safety, or they go away looking for adventure in the wrong places. Jesus, on the other hand, affirms their sense of adventure and their yearning for larger glory.”  Safety-only is a disappointing proposition.  Life with God will inevitably bring adversity rather than security.  Some of that adversity can be like an adventure, something we want our children and others to experience.  But some of that adversity can be hard.  Some of it can be painful.  And that’s the kind of adversity we find in our text this morning.

 

Psalm 31 is written by a follower of God experiencing adversity.

• David writes in vs. 7 of his “affliction” and “distress.”
• He writes in vs. 9 about his “distress” and his “grief.”
• In vs. 10 he speaks of his “sorrow” and his “sighing.”
• Eight times (vv. 4, 8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20) David writes about enemies, adversaries, persecutors, and others who are making life miserable.

He admits that he is a sinful person (vs. 10) and yet he calls himself a servant of God (vs. 16).  In other words, this psalm is written by a man attempting to live rightly with God and with others, a man pursuing God’s path, yet who is now experiencing adversity in spite of being a servant of God.  David’s whole life, and this psalm in particular, stand as proof that life with God can bring adversity rather than security.

 

No one knows this better than Jesus.  Seeking to bring honor to God and seeking to save the human race, Jesus encountered tremendous pain and affliction.  Jesus’ life was anything but safe.  His ministry was anything but risk-free.  For Jesus, following God’s mission came with an unspeakable cost.  Jesus experienced far more adversity than he did security.

 

Yet Jesus endured the adversity.  What draws many people to Jesus, even those who do not believe in his deity, is the way in which Jesus endured his suffering.  He did not strike back.  He did not become bitter.  He did not run from the pain.  He didn’t abandon the mission.  Instead Jesus endured the adversity which came as a result of his journey with God.

 

How was this possible?  Part of the answer, I believe, lies in Jesus’ last prayer.  In Luke’s account of the painful yet inspiring final hours of Jesus’ life, Luke tells us that Jesus’ last words came in the form of a prayer: ⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (Lk. 23:46 ESV)

 

You may be surprised to learn that Jesus did not come up with this prayer by himself.  As with much of his ministry, Jesus’ final words came from the book of Psalms.  The Psalms are found woven into Jesus’ life and ministry.[4]  For example, the proclamation of the heavenly host at the birth of Jesus borrows language from Ps. 29.  God’s speech at the baptism of Jesus relies on Ps. 2.  In the wilderness, Jesus battles the devil while quoting Ps. 91.  In the Beatitudes of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus quotes from Ps. 37, 126, and 24.  John tells us that Jesus’ cleansing of the temple was a fulfillment of words spoken in Ps. 69.  As Jesus enters Jerusalem, he is greeted by a crowd in a manner reminiscent of Ps. 118.  And in his final hours, Jesus quotes from Ps. 69 and Ps. 22.  And here, in Luke’s account, Jesus’ final words come directly from Ps. 31.

 

Ps. 31 is the prayer Jesus died by.  It became the standard prayer uttered by a Jew on his/her deathbed.[5]  If you were a Jew, it was likely that these were the words you most wanted to say as your life came to an end: “Into your hands I commit my Spirit.”  For example, in Acts 7, Stephen borrows this language as he dies at the hands of his persecutors (Acts 7:59).  Not only was Ps. 31:5 widely used by faithful followers of God, so was the entire Psalm.  For example, during a ministry filled with adversity, Jeremiah quoted from Psalm 31 several times (Jer. 20:18 = Ps. 31:11; 48:38 = 31:13; 20:10 = 31:14; 17:18 = 31:18).  Praying from the gut of a fish, Jonah used Ps. 31 (Jon. 2:4 = Ps. 31:22) to process his own adversity.  And Polycarp, Bernard, Luther and others used this prayer in their final moments of life.[6]  This prayer of Ps. 31 that Jesus died by became the prayer that many faithful followers of God lived and died by.  Why?  Why was Ps. 31 so significant to Jesus and to many followers of God before and after Jesus?  In this Sunday morning series we’re going to explore this Psalm and these questions.  We’ll learn four reasons why this was the prayer Jesus died by.  And we’ll learn that it came be a prayer that we live by.

 

One of the reasons this prayer was so important to Jesus is this: Jesus died by this prayer because through it he found the security which allowed him to endure the adversity.   As with many of the Psalms which Jesus relied upon, we must assume that when he quotes it in Luke’s gospel on the cross, he has in mind not simply a verse or two, but the entire Psalm.  Listen, therefore, to the first portion of Ps. 31: In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me!  ² Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily!  Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!  ³ For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; ⁴ you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. (Ps. 31:1-4 ESV).  These are the words immediately preceding the verse Jesus quotes in his final prayer.  And it’s very likely that Jesus had them in mind as prayed “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

 

Notice the repeating image in these lines: In you, O Lord, do I take refuge…Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me!  For you are my rock and my fortress… for you are my refuge.  Say this with me: “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge.”  The image of a refuge is one of the favorite images of the Psalms.  It shows up again and again as a preferred way of thinking about God. Who is God?  One of the ways Psalms loves to answer that question, and one of the ways David came to answer that question is this: God is a refuge, God is a fortress, God is a rock.

 

Listen to these examples:

• Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. (Psalm 16:1 ESV)
• The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2 ESV)
• Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. (Psalm 25:20 ESV)
• God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1 ESV)
• But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. (Psalm 59:16 ESV)
• Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. (Psalm 71:3 ESV)
• But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. (Psalm 94:22 ESV)

 

In the Bible, the primary issue underlying the word “refuge” is security.^[7]  A refuge was a place of security and safety.  It was a place where a person could find respite from danger such as bad weather or bad people.  And for David, the ultimate respite, the ultimate refuge, was God.  David was able to endure his adversity because he found security in God.

 

And this is the very thing Jesus did and the very reason he used this Psalm.  Jesus died by this prayer because he had lived his entire life by it.  Jesus knew that his only fortress was his Father.  And though he faced adversity, he could face it because his Father became a kind of refuge in the midst of the storm.  Jesus was able to endure his adversity because he found security in God.  And that’s why this Psalm came to his lips as he died on the cross.

 

We too can live by this prayer because through it we find the security which allows us to endure the adversity.

 

C. Stacy Woods writes[8], “The trend of government is to undergird us with material securities from the cradle to the grave, providing all kinds of insurances–health, old-age, education, unemployment and so on. In addition, we insure ourselves against fire, earthquake, hurricane, accident and old age. These safeguards are not wrong, but they can very easily become a serious hindrance to our complete trust in God. Undoubtedly, if our debts are paid and our refrigerator full, if we have money in the bank, we have a tendency to feel secure in ourselves and to sense our need of God less. Herein lies the danger. My greatest need is to feel and know my need of God every hour.”

 

This is the challenge of this great prayer.  Consider once more the opening line: “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge.”  That’s what we want to say.  It’s what we often say. We know it’s the right thing to say.  But if someone were to truly dig into our hearts and our homes, would they realize that our reality is actually very different?  What do we really put in that blank? “In you O _____ do I take refuge”  Is this the reality: In you O financial stability do I take refuge?  In you O girlfriend/boyfriend do I take refuge?  In you O spouse or friend do I take refuge?  In you O mention in the newspaper or retweet or “like” do I take refuge?  In you alcohol, in you drugs, in you food do I take refuge?  What is it that truly makes us feel secure in lives?  Jesus is saying with is final prayer that there’s only one worthy of being your refuge: God himself.  In God alone will you find the security which will allow you to face any adversity.

 

When Hurricane Gustav was bearing down on New Orleans in 2008 and city officials had ordered residents to evacuate, one woman named Hattie decided to stay. She told reporters that she had what she needed to ride out the storm, explaining, “I’ve got liquor, cash, food, ammo, and weed.”[9]  What a misguided woman.  Her supplies would never enable her to outlast that storm.  When you think you have what you need to ride out the storm of life, what is it?  What do you cling to when the winds whip and the rains fall?  For David, it was God.  For Jesus, it was God.  For us, God alone is our refuge.

 

In his great classic work on prayer, E. M. Bounds writes this:[10] A friend of mine who was quite a lover of the hunt told me the following story.

Rising early one morning, he said, “I heard the barking of a number of dogs chasing a deer. Looking at a large open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its way across the field and giving signs that its race was almost run. It leaped over the rails of the enclosed place and crouched within ten feet of where I stood. A moment later two of the hounds came over, and the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. Just then I felt that all the dogs in the West could not and would not capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.

So is it when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. I remember well when the hounds of sin were after my soul that at last I ran into the arms of Almighty God.  Even as faithful followers of God, we’ll be chased by the hounds.  We’ll face adversity.  But God stands rock solid and ready to receive us.  If we’ll just run into his arms, he will be our refuge.

 

And once we truly embrace this concept that God, and God alone is our refuge, it has a tremendous impact on our living.  Robert Lewis and Rob Wilkins tell of the building of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.[11]  When construction began in 1932, many safety measures were put into place and strictly enforced: mandatory use of hard hats, prescription filtered eye glasses, no show-boating, tie-off lines, and an on-site hospital.  After nearly four years of construction only one worker had died.  But the most effective safety device, without question, was new to bridge-building: the use of a trapeze net. This large net hung sixty feet below the construction.  If something unexpected happened and worker fell, he would be caught by the trapeze net.  Not only did the next save lives.  It actually changed the way the men worked.  Prior to its use, some of the workers would become paralyzed with fear.  But once the net was put into place, the fear was gone, and they were able to work very productively and effectively.

 

This is what happened to David and to Jesus.  No matter the danger of the situation, they knew that God was ultimately their net.  God was their refuge.  God was their security.  Thus they could face any adversity.  They could take any needed risk.  Because they knew that if they fell, they would land in the hands of God.  That’s why this prayer that Jesus died by must be the prayer we live by.