A life led before the lord
I read a book many years ago called tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand. I’m sure some of you have read it. It tells the story of a Romanian Pastor imprisoned by the communist party because of hisministry in his church. And as the book title indicates,him and others were tortured when they were in prison.It’s actually a great read. Despite the horrible things that happen it’s very encouraging. And many of the stories that the book tells have stuck with me but there was one bit towards the end- and I read this maybe 15 years ago- that I have particularly remembered because it was totally surprised me. And it was this, during his time in prison he developed this amazing spiritual life- where he would happily spend hours thinking of and praying too Jesus. That’s fine, nothing surprising there, I can only imagine that a Christian would rely on prayer to get through such a tough situationbut what caught me off guard was that even when he was released all he wanted to do was pray and meditate on the Lord. Let me read you a quote from the book.
When, released from prison, I was again with my wife, she asked me what my plans were for the future. I answered, "The ideal which I have before me is the life of a spiritual recluse." My wife answered that she had had the same thought. I had been a very dynamic type in my youth. But prison, and especially the years of solitary confinement, had transformed me into a meditative, contemplative man. All the storms in the heart had been stilled. I did not mind communism. I did not even notice it, I was in the embraces of the heavenly Bridegroom. I prayed for those who tormented us and could love them with all my heart. I had had very little hope of ever being released, but when from time to time it occurred to me to wonder what I would do in case I were released, I always considered that I would retire somewhere and continue the life of sweet union in the desert with the heavenly Bridegroom
Now he didn’t actually follow through with his plans because he became quite distressed at what communism was doing to the church and he became an activist for the persecuted church. But the point I want you to see is that prayer for Rev Wurmbrand was not just an escape from the horrors of confinement it was also a delight, it had become his favourite thing to do to such an extent that when he was released from prison! He would continue to do what he did whilst in prison. He had found his freedom long before he was released.
We’re going to do two things tonight. We are going to look at another man in scripture who was similarly able to delight in the Lord. And we’ll see how it was he was able to do that and then we will look at how we might do so ourselves.
The man in question is Kind David. David wrote many psalmsand he did so whilst he was, to use old fashioned language, beholding the Lord as he wrote them. God is constant presence in his psalms. If he is not mentioned at the outset he is mentioned in at end. Now the reason that’s the case in his psalms isn’t because he thought mentioning God was a good thing to do when writing poems, we see so many mentions of the Lord in his psalms because that was indicative of the life he led. Verse 16 of tonight’s reading sums up this attitude of his ‘I keep my eyes always on the lord, with him at my right hand I will not be shaken’
Now I suspect that for some of you me saying that just there will have a taunting effect because you say well that’s not me Richie. Others will on the otherhand, if you are someone who knows something in your own lives of what David is doing here, if unlike myself for many years it must be said, if you can hear what I read bout Richard Wurmbrand and instinctively you know what he is talking about well then it can be encouraging to hear David’s word here, keep at it brother and sister he is saying, you know the truth! or maybe you’ve forgotten it but you recognise it when you hear it and you say yes I will keep my eyes always on the Lord. but if his experience is not ours like I said it taunts us, how can we always have the lord before us like he did, always? Always? How was he able to live through times of pain and loss with the Lord in front of him? Like for example when he was caught out publicly for murdering one of his commanders to cover up his adultery, with the result being the loss of his son, or the time when he was betrayed by another son. Always David? Always you kept the lord in front of you, always you kept your eyes on him?How did he do it we say? The answer just doesn’t seem to come to our minds as easily as it does for others. We hear those words there, I keep my eyes always on the lord and instantly our consciences are pricked and we know not what to do.
Well if by some miracle of communication we had David here in the room with us I dare say you whose mind is now afire with guilt and questions might ask him to confirm some off your guesses as to how he was able to do this.You’ve read some of the other psalms, like for instance psalm 40 119 51 all spiritual classics, written by a man with an obvious deep love for the Lord at various points in his life. So maybe you recon David must be a man of great power and holiness unlike yourself and so you put it to him, David, are you able to write this wonderful poems about God because of some special level of holiness that you have say for instance when you were writing psalm 40, and how may I get a hold of it? And he would reply to you- no nononono, you have it all wrong my friend. I remember the day I wrote that psalm very well and I was as dry as sand in the desert BUT I set the lord before and before I knew it he filled me up. Like a meal.
What is he on about?
Well if you look at David’s psalms, all of them, every single one and you’ll see soon enough that David teaches us in each one how he writes them. Mention of Lord is in them all. The key is that he finds the Lord everywhere. He finds the lord in creation, many of his psalms are of course based exclusively on this theme, he ties everything that is good to the Lord, he frames everything good bad or indifferent to how it relates to the Lord. In other words he makes a deliberate attempt to see the Lord or the Lord’s role in everything.
Now I think I wouldn’t be done for bad judgement with what I say next but I have met Christian folk who in their speech bring talk of Jesus or talk of the Lord into absolutely everything, that’s not what David is doing here, for one thing those folk usually bring a positive spin to everything, everything is actually a cloud with silver lining because of the Lord, even terrible things are an occasion for something good. That is not what David is doing here, he doesn’t shy away from just being guilty, or feeling awful. He lets that stuff sit with him until it has had its time. But at every point along the way, he makes it clear that the Lord is with him and is intimately in whatever the situation is. That is the difference. In the prayer life of David he has no circumstance that bars him from talking to God, he has no situation which stops him from seeking the face of God.
Now that’s David. What about us? Well, help is at hand for as David was able to keep his God before him, we too have access to having the Lord in front of us by the person of Jesus revealed to us in the bible. The New Testament is absolutely chocka block with so many examples of Jesus in real life that we now can say, Yes I too have the Lord in front of me, did he not do such and such that I have to do, did he not speak into a situation that I have to speak into? Did he not speak into such a situation that I find myself in? Yes he did.
I have resolved brothers and sisters to use a Martin Luther quote in every sermon here on out for the remainder of the year given that it is 500th anniversary of the reformation well here is my first. ‘Give me Scripture scripture scripture did you hear me? Scripture’
The first claim that tonight’s sermon puts upon us, at least the first explicit one that I am making, is to read the scriptures to get to know the life of our Lord so that our prayer lives maybe enriched and emboldened and just, helped because the more we know of his life the more we can tie our lives and things that happen in it, to prayer.
Now David was a man of his time, i.e. of his time within the history of revelation but the least New Testament saint is or at least might be greater than he at prayer. No one has seen God the scriptures say but Jesus has made him known… thus we have a great potential to set the Lord before us more than anyone who came before his arrival, such is one of the benefits of the N.C.
Now we may envy the 12 apostles for the amount of face time they had with the saviour. When he was blessing the children, when he spread his clothes over the woman washing his feet with tears, to have heard him pray after meals or when he prayed on the cross! Father forgive them they don’t know what they are doing. These are just some of the especially moving moments of his life,that the apostles were there to witness first hand! So its easy for John and the others to set before them the Lord when they prayed, for when they did they could remember his face, the sound of his voice, they knew his accent. You know when you think about it, you can kinda understand why some people get wrapped up in say the shroud of Turinor relics that are associated with Jesus, lets not be too quick to condemn some of our roman catholic neighbours for some of their practices in this area, when surely we can understand the impulse ourselves! Tangible connections to his life seem special to us, But!!the Lord is clear,he says the it is the spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all the words that I have spoken to you are spirt and life. So even though we weren’t there, even though we don’t have memories of his body that the early Christians did. We do have his words and they are in fact better then the sights and the sounds. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the words of scripture come as alive to us.
We can see material things with our eyes. But with the imagination the Holy Spirit makes words become spiritual realties. This is how the lord was able to say to Thomas you have seen and believed but blessed are those who have not seen and believe. This is why the gospel writers tell us that they write what they write so that we may have fellowship with them. Them who saw and spent time with him. We do need to have been there to experience his life.
Now if David could set Yahweh before him, a Yahweh who no-one had seen how much more should we set Jesus before us, Jesus who is God and who was born to reveal God to us? And so we shall. For what situation is there in life, what distress, what thing that has power over us, what perplexing situation is there in which we can’t set some time of the life Jesus Christ before us in prayer and with faith, for help, for assurance for victory.
Who are you? What are you? What is your request and what is your petition. Let’s open the New Testament and find the appropriate text.
Are you dry and in need of refreshing? Then remember Jesus at the well in Samaria and ask him to talk to you as he did the lady he met there.
Are you in real need because of sin in your life? Are you a pornography user, a racist, lazy, selfish, violent, liar, lustful or whatever, then set before the eyes of your soul, your master who says I came not for the righteous but the unrighteous.
Are you worried about your children who are caught up in sin, with no repentance in sight and their salvation in doubt? Then remember the lord preaching the parable prodigal son to you.
Or are you the prodigal? Are you the self-righteous older son? Then pray the parable for yourself.
Are you a parent of a person possessedby some real spiritual sickness? Then listen to what he says to the woman with a possessed daughter at the tyre and Sidon border.
Or are you a guilty person, loaded down with the curses of those who hate you? Well then remember the lord’s interaction with Zacchaeus.He in a crowd of haters and the Lord said Zacchaeus, come down out of that tree I want to have dinner with you.
Are you long in waiting for healing? Then sit you down with the lady who bleed for 12 years. And touched the lord to which he said who touched me? I felt the power leave!
Are there eventsin your life that have you tossed around and not comforted.Well, can you see him walking to the ship over the sea or another time on the water when the waves were high, can you hear his rebuke – where is your faith- why did you doubt?
Are you tortured within your own heart and recon no-one is worse than you even those now in hell? Then remember his words of pity, to his disciples that it is out of the heart that all sorts of evil comes, no-one is not guilty in his eyes. Only God is good he says.
Are you someone else, a nobody, some other category whatever it is, no-one cares for you, then remember the words of the lord come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest and pray in and around these words.
Friends, brothers and sisters- fellow Sinners! Always set you lord before you.
Imagine yourself in each story, imagine him in each story. Develop for yourselves an imagination that is rich with images and sounds of the lord. Make it a goal to never listen to any story of him without filling in more of this virtual Jesus library that is in your mind so that you can draw upon when you need it. And if your life is anything everyone elses life you will need to draw upon it regularly.
Let end on a couple of practical point. Some of ye might, I imagine, listen to me and think we’ll that’d be nice, you know, have some sweet times of prayer, a spiritual life, like Wurmbrand, that brought a lot of joy to my days, but that takes time and probably a lot of self-discipline and definitely a lot of killing of my selfishness to develop and I’m just not sure that I have that in me right now. Welllll that’s maybe that’s an accurate assessment of what you would have to do to get such a life. But if that’s all your thinking then you have missed my point. Firstly you got to put one foot infront the other to start any journey don’t give up now, at least mentally tell the devil get lost, get out of my head you filthy animal, like let’s give em one round at least come on people, you’re in a fight that you are guaranteed to win. Secondly I’m not just advocating here for a spiritual practice that you can hold onto in your back pocket and pull out when you go on retreat. No no this actually is an everyday thing. I was going to a meeting recently in another church and I knew there was a few things going to be said by the leaders that I wouldn’t like hearing and before I went in the door, I momentarily looked at my situation and in an instant looked over my knowledge of the Lord’s life and I remembered that the Lord spent many a time in the houses of people who were at odds with him and eat with them, spoke with them and challenged them so I prayed remembering that Jesus in went in to many rooms with folk who didn’t like him, and I prayed with that picture in my head and I said.In the same way Lord,be with me now. Be with me now, that’s all I said, it was very comforting. Thirdly I have friends who practice this thing called LectioDivinaand they would do things like go over ever line of a bible story and imagine themselves in the story or imagine what it was like to be a member of the crowd that was around Jesus or describe the tiles of the roof falling down as the friends dug a hole in it to lower their paralysed mate down to see Jesus, you know, things like this. And I was bit sceptical of it because it seemed to me that they would often conclude that the Lord was speaking things to them, that the text in hand had nothing to do with. but I see now that and that often where a story may have one or more main points, you can nearly always also, get a sense of one the many characteristics of the lord from every story and that can speak to you in many ways that have nothing to do with the main point and more importantly whatever way you do it’s actually great to immerse yourself into the story like they did