A Sign to Many

Psalm 71:1-8

In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.
² In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
    turn your ear to me and save me.
³ 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.
⁴ Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
    my confidence since my youth.
⁶ From birth I have relied on you;
    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
    I will ever praise you.
⁷ I have become a sign to many;
    you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor all day long.

When we open our Bibles to the Psalms, we will find that most of them have a heading giving us clues as to who wrote them and for what purpose they were written.  Psalm 71 has no such heading but when we pay close attention to the tense of the words used, we can see that it is an older person who wrote this Psalm as a reflection of their faith.  Verse one says, “I have taken refuge.” Verse five says, “... You have been my hope... my confidence since my youth.” And verse seven says, “I have become a sign to many....”  So we know the author is reflecting on the years past but all the while using words in the present tense saying that God is their refuge and that God is their rock.  The author is continuing to ask for help in their faith even as they age.  This difference in the words used brings us to our message this morning. 

Reading and reflecting on this Psalm got me thinking about how our faith evolves over time.  I read in commentary that this Psalm shows us that our faith is a two-step process.  The first step is our acceptance of God’s love.  This step usually takes place at some point in our lives that we remember very fondly.  Sometimes it is an event that triggers the light to come on and we finally see that God’s salvation, mercy, love, and grace are there waiting for us to accept.  Sometimes, we realize these things over time and it was not necessarily one event that was the driving force behind our faith.  No matter the circumstance behind your acceptance of God’s forgiveness, we all come to step two.  This step is the most difficult because it has no end.  This step carries on with us until the day we are called to see God face to face.  This is where we decide what to do with the blessings God has given us.  This is where we decide how, when, and where to our faith into action.  Just because this Psalm was written by an older person, it applies to all of us, no matter what age we are.  It is in this second step of our salvation that we are called to action.  Our faith does not have an age, the circumstances of how we act out our faith may be different based on our age but they are still based in the same message: sharing the good news of Christ with others.  

It is not enough for us to be content with keeping Jesus in “our little box.”  A lot of people who proclaim to be Christian, have difficulty showing it.  The cliche says “talk is cheap.”  How do you live out your salvation?  How do you show the world that Jesus has made a profound impact on your life?  Our faith is not something that only shows up on Sundays... It is not something that shows up by how much you put into the offering plate... The light of Christ is shown by how you live your life.  I went to the football scrimmage Friday night and stood behind Alyssa Scheve and her family.  It was amazing to see her walking around, talking to her friends and drinking a root beer float.  I couldn’t hardly concentrate on the game, which it takes a lot for me to lose focus on football, just ask my wife but the truth is that I couldn’t help but to see Alyssa and be amazed at the glory of God.  Alyssa had to rely on the support of many people she doesn’t know.  She put her life into the hands of the surgeons, her parents had to rely on the help of many people to help them afford the cost of her medical care and we had to trust that God’s will was being done.  We are all like Alyssa when it comes to our faith.  We must put our life into the hands of God.  We must rely on our fellow Christians to lift us up when we are in need.  And we must trust in the fact that God’s will is being done in our lives.  And like Alyssa, we must live our Christian life to the fullest.  She may not fully realize it now, but someday the magnitude of what she has gone through seemed insurmountable but she came through it.  Our faith is no different.  We will, we will encounter events that seem like too tall of a mountain to climb.  And that mountain will get the best of us if we do not entrust our life to Christ.  Our faith is not only lived out in prayer, in worship, in studying the word, it is also lived through the hearts we touch because of our faith in Christ.  Maybe the impact of what happened to Alyssa was not meant to necessarily change her life but maybe, just maybe it is the will of God that her story was meant to change the lives of many others.  Is it fair that she had to go through all of that just so God could show others just how miraculous His love can be?  No not at all!  But God never promised that this life would be “fair.”  He only promised that He would love us and hear our prayers.  In Isaiah 45 verse 19 we see that God has not told His people to “seek [Him] in vain.”  This is a promise to us that in our search for God, we will find Him.  This is a promise that our faith is not in vain.  This is a promise that God’s love will be shown to us.  Someone had to take time to show us the love of God and now we may be called to be that light to someone else.       

Because the Psalmist in our scripture this morning placed their faith in God, made God their refuge and rock they have become a “sign to many.”  My question for you this morning is how have you been a sign to many?  How has your faith, manifest in how you live your life, been a sign of God’s love and grace to others?  If you feel it hasn’t been a sign, hope is not lost.  No matter your age, circumstance, or life experience, you too can be a beacon of love to others.  No matter what your past says about you, you can’t change that, but you can change your future.  You can replace worldly desires with Godly ones.  You can replace despair, disbelief and loneliness with faithfulness, hope and love.  The future of your faith is in your hands.  God can forgive any past wrongs but it comes with a price... That price is a change in the way you live.  If you believe that God sent His son to die for you so you could live in the very deepest depths of your heart then it is time for you to start sharing that with the world.  If you do not have that relationship yet, it is there waiting for you.  God has brought you here today to show you that His love and grace was designed, designated and proclaimed to be yours before you even knew He existed.  Make God your rock, the strongest foundation possible to build your life upon.  Make God your refuge so you can go to Him when the world is bearing down on you.  Allow God’s love to become so prevalent in you that the world cannot help but to notice that something is different about you, that God has touched you in such a way that it has caused you to live a life for Him so you too can become a “sign to many.”  Amen.