Sister Sue Sunday School 1/19/14

Sister Sue Sunday School 1/19/14

2Sa 22:2  And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

2Sa 22:3  The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

2Sa 22:4  I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

David sang this song when God had delivered him from all his enemies. 

Psa 18:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

Psa 18:2  The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Psa 18:3  I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Psa 31:3  For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.

We are in this to do God good.  We want to do good.  Perry Mock told his kids, “This is your name, live so it is honored.”  Whatever we go through we want to live so the name of God is honored.

Psa 71:1  In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

Psa 71:2  Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

Psa 71:3  Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

We don’t want to be confused that just because things are not going good or we have enemies that we are not right with God.  As long as we live and do right we are saved and God is on our side.  He has given the commandment it just hasn’t happened quite yet. 

Be my strong habitation where I may continually resort.  We don’t have to have reservations; we can continually go to this resort.

Psa 144:1  A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

Psa 144:2  My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

Remember the scripture: love your enemy, bless those that curse you, pray for those that despitefully use you and persecute you?  That is God’s warfare for us.  It is not a carnal warfare or figuring out how we can get even or make things hard for our enemy.  We want to see God turn that around and see our enemy saved.

2Sa 5:9  So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.

We need to get in the fort and be there where God is with us.

The trial is meant for our good.  The scripture says: Don’t be surprised if you go through the fiery trial.  It is there to get rid of our dross.  It is not easy when we are in the middle of it but when we are out then we can see where it was meant to fulfill our need.

It was not easy for Joseph when he was in the prison.  God had him there to learn something and he was positioned to become a ruler.  Sometimes age helps us.  We look back and say, “A little age helped me to learn some things.  I am not quite how I was.”

The fortress at Masada: it stands by the Dead Sea.  There is a cone cliff with a flat on the top.  The fortress sets on the top of it.  It can only be entered by the ‘snake pass’.  It is winding like a serpent and there were also many snakes there.

It was very secure until the Roman legion found a way to topple the walled city.  It was fortified by Alexander and then Herod the great captured it in a power struggle.  He built great walls and fortified it.

In 66CE, a group of Jewish rebels overcame the roman garrison and then in 70 CE more of them fled from Jerusalem and settled there.  Then 73 CE the Romans lay siege on the fort.

There were 1300 feet high walls from east and three hundred feet high on the west.  4300 feet of wall encased the fortress at a 12 foot height with towers on it.  The army dwelled in the walls and there were cisterns to catch rain water and a palace. 

The Romans, in the siege, built a siege ramp 300 feet tall that allowed them to breach the wall with a battering ram.  They took 15,000 men to crush the resistance.  When they got in, 960 rebels had lit everything on fire and had killed everyone and themselves; only a few women and children were found alive. 

Manmade fortresses will always eventually come down.  If we are trying to fortify ourselves and keep everything safe, it will come down; remember Masada.

We want to fortify in God.  God is my refuge and fortress.  The refuge is inside the fortress, the safe place.  One thing that will teach us how to hide in God is:

Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

This is tough for most of us.  When we hear that things are not going good and something is wrong, we want to do something.  If our kids are in trouble, we want to get them out of the trouble.  That is not how we find the refuge.  It is being still and knowing that He is God.

Adam Clark said, “Cease from provocation at Divine Justice.”  Are we mad at God for the way His justice is?  Cease from it.  “That is not fair.”  Cease from murmuring at divine works. 

Cease from your own labor.  For me, it seems that my mind is thinking of my labor a lot.  The labor I haven’t gotten done.  It is hard to quit thinking about my labor at school.  It is hard when some boy or girl is thinking of not wanting to live and they are in our program and it is the weekend.  There is a young girl that is a senior that doesn’t have a home.  She is homeless. 

Those labors are hard to be still about.  Cease from your labors that you may deeply reflect on God.  Know that he is the fountain of justice, wisdom and truth.  Know God.  Know that He is all of these things.

When difficult things come at us we need to force our heart and mind to be still and learn to be still.  Learn how to snuggle up to the heart of God and let His warmth and song quiet us. 

This is a testimony of a lady that has seven illnesses; two of them cause her to not be able to breathe well.  Now she is in the hospital, the O2 is at its max and she cannot breath. 

When they ask her how she deals with it she says, “God is my refuge and strength.  When my world falls apart and I don’t know how I will live through the next hour, I run to God.  He picks me up and wraps his arms around me; He keeps me safe.  He helps me to keep going on.  I praise Him for His sovereignty and believe Him for his promises.  I trust.  In the midst of pain I have joy; God is my fortress and security from all kinds of trouble.  He does not disappoint.  Words are not enough to represent my Lord.  I must do it with my life and with every breath I take.”