Who Are You Leaning On?
I had a nice time in Florida both at Red Sox Fantasy Camp, where for the second year in a row my team made it all the way to the championship game only to lose in the finals. Still it was a great week for me to share with my dad filled with a lot of special moments and I won my team’s MVP award which was nice. Butch Hobson was my manager and Luis Tiant was my coach. Then this past week I was with a group of about 20 American Baptist pastors as well as the General Secretary of the ABCUSA and the top two people at the Minister’s & Missionaries Benefit Board. It was nice for me to preach to kick things off and to hear presentations on a variety of ministry related topics, but it was wonderful to get back home and to be here for worship this morning.
February 3, 2013
Psalm 71:1-6, Who Are You Leaning On?
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
[vimeo 58991662 w=500&h=375]
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Let’s pray, “O God of all the prophets, you knew us and chose us before you formed us in the womb. Fill us with faith that speaks your word, hope that does not disappoint, and love that bears all things for your sake, until that day when we shall know you fully, even as we are known by you. Amen.”
One of my favorite books in the Bible is the Psalms. Among the 150 psalms we find many that are particularly helpful when life is painful, difficult, or challenging. Some Psalms like the 23rd, 27th, 51st, or 100th sound familiar if we read or hear them. However, there are many that we may not know as well. Psalm 71 is one example; it is written from the perspective of an older person (verse 9 is, “Do not cast me off in the time of my old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent”). Psalm 71 describes how one person leaned on God and was strongly supported throughout life. We are invited to do the same. I find the faith and imagery of this psalm very helpful and encouraging. The psalm begins: “1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.”
What does it mean to be able to say, “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth.” First, notice that this is first-person speech to the Lord rather than third-person language about the Lord. The statement is not “the Lord is my hope,” but “You, O Lord, are my hope.” The psalmist’s prayer is expressed very personally as if to a life-long friend, which in a sense is who God wants to be for all of us – a lifelong companion. Verse 17 proclaims, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” The psalmist doesn’t just know about God, the psalmist knows God. That is why the sense of hope and trust is so strong regardless of the presence of the wicked, the unjust and the cruel who oppress and threaten. Clearly some things haven’t changed in the world in the thousands of years since the psalm was written. We are still invited and challenged to lean on the Lord even though the wicked, unjust, and cruel are still a threat.
Even in the face of difficult circumstances when our faith may waver and hang by a thread, Psalm 71 encourages us to hope in the Lord. Hope is confident desire, a feeling that something desirable is likely to happen. For people of faith, God is the source of our hope, the source of our confidence that something good will happen or can emerge even from disappointment and heartache. The Psalmist is telling the world, “My hope and my trust have been in God since I was young and I’m not going to stop hoping and trusting now that I’m older.” Looking back over the course of life, the psalmist is able to impart several spiritual lessons. First, a strong faith in and devotion to God is no guarantee against problems and complications in life. From the context of the psalm, it seems this individual has devoted his life to God, perhaps at the temple as a musician. Yet the very first verse of the psalm identifies God as a place of refuge for the psalmist. A place of refuge implies that there is someone or something from which refuge is desired, and indicates a life that isn’t free from trouble. Yet in the face of trouble, the psalmist still trusts God. Trust is reliance on and confidence in good qualities, especially fairness, truth, honor, or ability. The Psalmist believes God is trustworthy, true, and honorable. That is why he has leaned on the Lord since his birth.
Secondly, the psalm affirms that it’s God’s nature to provide refuge, deliverance, and support. To lean on someone or something whether a wall, a chair, or the Lord, means that we trust it will support us or hold us up. Without that support we might fall. Have you ever had to do “trust falls” as part of a team building exercise? I remember doing them as part of Residential Life Orientation back when I was in college. They had a small step ladder around four or five feet tall and we had to climb to the top and with our back to everyone else. The rest of the students stood in two lines moving out from the base of the ladder. We were supposed to let ourselves fall backward and trust that the people would catch us. I remember looking at the folks in our group and saying something to a couple guys I knew who also played sports. I told them “We need to make sure we stay in the middle so no one hits the floor” because some of the students were great people but not the strongest folks you’ve ever met. Everything went okay in our group and we managed to catch everyone, but in another group, one person actually got hurt because the group failed to catch her and her head hit the floor. This is not what you want to have happen in a trust building exercise, but it illustrates what can happen in life. Even good people with the best intentions can let us down, but the psalm says God is like a rock or a fortress; we can lean on God and know we’re not going to get dropped. The psalm affirms that it is God’s nature to provide refuge, deliverance, and support.
Not long ago I was watching the movie Forrest Gump for the umpteenth time and the scene that caught my attention was when Forrest and his best friend Bubba are in Vietnam and it’s nighttime and it’s raining. Bubba says to Forrest, “I’m gonna lean up against you, you just lean right back against me. This way we don’t have to sleep with our heads in the mud. You know why we’re a good partnership, Forrest? ‘Cause we be watching out for one another, like brothers and stuff.” Since hearing that I’ve been thinking about the idea of who are you leaning on? Who is keeping your head out of the mud? Who are you supporting and helping to keep upright? Whether we’re married or single, old or young, we can be a source of support to other people.
Psalm 71 teaches us a strong faith in and devotion to God is no guarantee against problems and complications in life. Secondly, Psalm 71 affirms that it’s God’s very nature to provide refuge, deliverance, and support. Third, we learn from the psalmist that we all need somebody to lean on. Not only has the psalmist leaned upon God from birth, he even confesses that it is God who took him from his mother’s womb (verse 6). This realization of complete dependence on God is no doubt one that grew with the psalmist’s experience and age. In our time, society has managed, in various ways, to continue reducing God’s necessity or even involvement in human life so the significance of the psalmist’s witness to our dependence on God is difficult to overstate. So many times when we depend on God and lean on the Lord, we will experience the Lord’s support through other people.
Lauran Bethell is an American Baptist Missionary serving in the Netherlands who works to combat human trafficking. She seeks to support others and understands about depending on and leaning on the Lord. In an online post on January 11 titled “That’s Enough, Huh???” she shared the following story about her need for housing. “I had lived in a lovely apartment here for 4 years and would have been happy continuing to living there. The 2 bedrooms were small, but the living room was spacious, and with blow-up beds there was always room for however many guests might show up. I love having guests—and see it as a major part of my ministry—people from all over the world coming to learn from the excellent examples of anti-trafficking projects here. But in June the rent went up, and the landlord made it clear that it would continue to increase each year. And so I started looking on the internet for alternative housing. Finding nothing that would work for me that was less expensive, I just said, “God, you’re going to have to deal with this…I have neither the time nor energy to spend.”
Two months later, I received an e-mail from out of the proverbial blue from friends in Singapore that I had not had contact with in several years. They wanted me to send them my phone number because their apartment just around the corner from mine was becoming vacant. I had been in their pent-house apartment once—about 8 years ago. And so my response was thus: “Thank you so much for thinking about me with regard to your apartment. But there’s no way I can afford it.”
They insisted on calling me—and in the conversation let me know that as they were praying about what to do with the apartment, my name came to their minds and they were compelled to offer it to me for whatever rent I could pay. Their only criteria was that the apartment be used for God’s purposes. “There’s one caveat, though,” they said. “It has a grand piano in it.” At that point, I began to cry. Those of you who know me, know that in times past, I’ve played the piano. I haven’t had one for years due to lack of space and time. But I love playing. And in one moment, I knew that God had gone before and met the quiet desire of my heart for more music in my life—and more space for ministry. Three days after moving in, I hosted 5 women from Bulgaria who are working in anti-trafficking endeavors. They were all able to sleep in real beds in the spacious guest-room.” When we have these experiences of leaning on the Lord and God proving trustworthy it serves to deepen our trust and encourage our faith.
Psalm 71 echoes the affirmation of Deuteronomy 33:27a, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” The old hymn, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, was inspired by that verse. A more recent song, relatively speaking,
Bill Wither’s Lean on Me, was # 1 in the US in July of 1972. It’s almost like a 20th century psalm, although it doesn’t expressly speak of God. The song has remained popular for 40 years and is still heard on the radio, in part due to its universal message that at times we all need someone to lean on. There is no one better to lean on than Jesus. Think of the Lord singing this song to you.
“Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there’s always tomorrowLean on me, when you’re not strong
And I’ll be your friend
I’ll help you carry on
For it won’t be long
‘Til I’m gonna need
Somebody to lean onPlease swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you won’t let showYou just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
If there is a load you have to bear
That you can’t carry
I’m right up the road
I’ll share your load,
If you just call me.”
Jesus invites us to call on him in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Learning to lean on Jesus to depend, rely, and rest on him is a crucial part of our spiritual journey. When we lean on the Lord, he will be our friend and help us carry us on. Every time you lean back in a chair, or in your car, or against a doorway or wall, may it remind you to ask, am I leaning on the Lord at this moment?
Finally, a significant aspect of our lives should be the praise of God. The psalmist declares in verse 6, “My praise is continually of you.” This is our only possible response to God’s steadfastness and grace toward us. Even though we may experience trouble we will still trust and hope in the same God we know to be our rock and fortress, and who is worthy of our continual praise.
Blessing: Isaiah 41:10
“Do not fear, for I am with you,
do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
Proverbs 3:5, 6 (KJV), “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”