Rescue Me!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As we have gathered together these weeks to mark the Lenten season, we have meditated on the Psalms of Trust, as they are often called. Tonight we turn our attention to Psalm 71, and we learn from the Psalmist how we ought to trust in the Lord in the face of opposition for the sake of the Word.

“In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!”, cries the Psalmist. Whither shall you go for refuge in this world? For you are like Peter, faced with the choice of belief or disbelief: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Shall you go to the scholars of this age? They will tell you that refuge is to be found in health and wealth. They will give you prescriptions for every ailment under the sun, and then more prescriptions to counteract the prescriptions they prescribed in the first place. They will tell you to put your money in this or that or the other thing. Invest in gold; invest in farmland; invest in emerging markets; invest in “glocal” businesses.

Shall you go to the spiritual people of this age? They will tell you to hang yourself upside or sit on your backside or perch atop a post until you find enlightenment, or until you become one with the universe, or until you pass out and fall off. They will shill you with crystals and talismans and religious trinkets and “prayed into” what-have-you. They will tell you to speak only positive words, to embrace the god within you, to let go of your baggage and “just be.”

And when you are put to shame? When your bank account is empty because the market bubble burst? When you are ridiculed because your religious objectives failed you? When you are played the fool because the shysters promised you the world on a paper “prayer mat”? When you listen to the squawking of the “inspirational” radio and feel only guilt and inadequacy? Then what? In whom will you take refuge?

Take refuge in the LORD. For He will never let you be put to shame. You will feel shame and guilt and inadequacy. You are right to feel such. Because your deeds are shameful. Your deeds are corrupted by the sin that infects you, that infects every human being born of the will of man. You should feel guilt, because you have missed the mark, you have trespassed the boundaries, you have broken the standards. You should feel inadequacy, because you are woefully inadequate and incapable of keeping the Law of God or living up to His standard of holiness and purity.

Nevertheless take refuge in the LORD. For the Psalmist cries out: “In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline Your ear to me, and save me!” Notice, he appeals to the LORD for the sake “of Your righteousness” – the Lord's righteousness, not yours. Not for the sake of David's righteousness, not for the sake of my righteousness, not for the sake of your righteousness, but in the Lord's righteousness.

You are not delivered by your own righteousness. If you were, you would have no need to be delivered in the first place. Your righteousness would save you in and of yourself. But you require saving from sin, guilt, and shame. And you have no righteousness of your own. So the Lord must necessarily save you in His righteousness, if you are to be delivered at all. You are to be rescued not by the purity and holiness of your works, but by the righteousness of God that comes by faith. To this the Lord will indeed incline His hear and save you.

And what is this righteousness of God that comes by faith? It is none other than Christ Jesus our Lord, Himself prepared as the sacrifice for your sins, the perfect fulfillment of the Law for you and for your salvation. It is this Christ, crucified and buried for your transgressions and raised for your justification, that is the righteousness of God which is for you deliverance, refuge, and strength. It is this righteousness that covers and conquers your sin, death, and condemnation. It is this righteousness that saves you from shame and guilt and hell. It is this righteousness that is a rock of refuge and a hope from youth to old age, from the beginning to the end of life.

There, the Psalmist implores, “Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.” The Lord is your only hope of rescue from the hands of those who hate you. And hate you they do. The world hates you because you have something it can never have. You have peace with God. You have freedom from condemnation. You have joy in abundance. You have truth, and the grace to proclaim it.

Therefore the world hates you. The devil himself rages against you like a ravening lion, seeking to devour you. His forces in your midst would silence you. He would see you brought down from the heights. He would stop your mouth, either through intimidation or coercion or mockery. He would have you stop speaking the truth, or speak it so harshly and so sharply as to become blunt to its cutting.

This is nothing new. Look through the history of the Church. There have been martyrs in every age. Jeremiah was imprisoned and the king threatened to execute him. Amos was banished from the royal court and the makeshift temple. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the furnace, and Daniel into the lion's den. The Maccabean brothers were tortured mercilessly. Stephen was stoned. James of Jerusalem was beheaded. Polycarp was burned alive. And on and on and on, through the ages. The earth is still wet with the blood of the faithful.

“For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, 'God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him.'” The faithful often feel this way. You often look at the state of the world and are tempted to despair. The faithful are killed all the day. The Word of the Lord is twisted and misused, if it is heeded at all. The Name of the Lord is used for cursing and not for blessing. And who is there to save you? Who is there to vindicate you before your accusers? Who is there to rescue you from those who seek your life?

“For You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth … Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.” From the moment God caused your life to begin in a fertilized egg to the moment your last breath is exhaled, the hope and trust upon which your faith is founded is the Lord. The one who created you from nothing and formed you in your mother's womb, He is the same one who has died for you that you might live, and live forever in His grace. He is the same one who has called you to faith and sanctified you with His holy Gifts. And He is the same one who does these things for you over and over again, every single day of your life.

He indeed has been with you from your youth, and He will not cast you off in the time of old age. Your strength may be spent. Even if you are young, your strength may be spent in the struggles of this life, in the war against sin, death, and your own corrupt flesh. Your strength may be spent in contending for your life against those who would take it from you. Your strength may be spent in combating the errors and lies of the devil. Your strength may be spent in proclaiming the Good News of Christ crucified for sinners. But the Lord will not forsake you nor cast you off. Therefore, says the Psalmist, “My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.”

What are you to do in the face of persecution? Should you give up and lie for the sake of your own hide, as the Muslims do? May it never be so! “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.”

What can those who persecute and slander you do? Those who seek your life, what do they seek – to kill you? If they do, what will they have accomplished? They will have given you the answer to your prayer: “But deliver us from evil.” They will have granted you passage from this vale of sorrow to the arms of your Savior in heaven. For you to die is gain; but to live is Christ. Your life is secure in the hand of the Lord, from beginning to end.

I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.