THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XXXIII. God’s Path To Relationship Happiness

(Psalm 33:1-22)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Over the last twelve months, believers have told us of relationship unhappiness that they or others were facing in many cases of marital, family, gender identity or political realms. Society is full of such cases as we can illustrate:

(1) Unhappiness afflicts the LGBTQ community: “West Hartford’s third annual PrideFest” on June 25^th was organized to celebrate LGBTQ genders. (Steve Smith, “West Hartford PrideFest celebrates, calls for action,” Courant Community, July 7, 2022, p. 4) (a) Yet, several speakers voiced dismay that the day before, the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade: PrideFest Co-Chair Johanna Schubert stated, “‘Last night’s decision . . . took my breath away . . . the inability to access safe abortion not only affects cis-gender [regular] women, but also trans [cross-gender] men and non-binary [neither man nor woman] people.” (Ibid.) “West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor said it was hard for her not to cry” and State Rep. Kate Farrar noted, “‘It’s very easy to feel devastated, angry, heartbroken.’” (Ibid.) (b) Sorrow over gender identity conflicts also surfaced at the gathering: one speaker, “Styx Hatch, a non-binary student at Hall High School spoke about the struggles they have faced” as evidenced in “a recent encounter with a man who was formerly a transgender woman but criticized Hatch for being non-binary and queer [homosexual]. Hatch said they asked the man if he was happy when he was a woman, but he refused to respond.” (Ibid.)

(2) Unhappiness also mars many other kinds of relationships: (a) Brad Wilcox and Lyman Stone in The Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2022, wrote, “Couples who live together . . . before marriage ‘are less likely to be happily married and more likely to land in divorce court.’” (Answers, July Sept., 2022, p. 31) (b) Christine Flower’s piece, “A different perspective for America’s critics” (Republican-American, July 13, 2022, p. 8A) claimed that she saw people harping “in social media about how they didn’t feel like celebrating on July 4” due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and “(g)un violence, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, transphobia, classism, and all the other ills” that showed that “we were” foolish “to raise the flag, place hand on heart, and give thanks.” (c) Chris Powell (“‘Equity’ policies need auditing,” Ibid., July 12, 2022, p. 8A) noted, “Many students come from single-parent households without fathers, a circumstance overwhelmingly correlated . . . with educational failure” and “physical and mental illness, poverty, crime, alienation, and general unhappiness . . . So, what has caused . . . fatherlessness in the last 50 years? . . . (M)ight it be . . . government’s welfare policies, which eliminate the financial need for a father to live with and support his children and their mother?” (d) Roman Catholic President Joe Biden last week unhappily warned, “‘Climate change is an emergency’” though God in the New American Bible for Catholics at Genesis 8:22 promised, “As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (“Biden announces modest climate actions; pledges more to come,” Ibid., July 21, 2022, p. 9A) (e) A party last week who was upset over the nation’s leadership urged that I run for a political office, what would demand that I leave the pastorate!

Need: So, we ask, “In view of the lack of happiness in many kinds of relationships today, what is the solution?!”

I. Psalm 33 opens with a call for the godly to sing in joyful praise of God Himself, Psalm 33:1-3.

II. The basis for this joyful praise of the Lord is stated in the psalm’s theme in Psalm 33:4-5 (as follows):

A. God’s Word is “upright” (yashar, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 449), and all He does is “steadfastness” (emunah, Ibid., p. 53), Psalm 33:4.

B. Also, God loves “righteousness” (sedaqah, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1001; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 842) and “justice” (mishpat, Ibid., p. 1048-1049), and the earth is full of His “loyal love” (hesed, Ibid., Kittel; H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, vol. I, p. 305-307), Psalm 33:5.

III. To explain this theme, Psalm 33:6-11 teaches that God is always wholeheartedly aligned with His Word:

A. In contrast to Ancient Near Eastern pagans who feared that the universe could be destroyed (Bruce K. Waltke, Creation and Chaos, 1974, p. 57-58), the Psalmist noted how God by His spoken words had both created the universe and caused its parts stay firmly in place, that all men should then revere Him, Psalm 33:6-9.

B. Since the Lord is also reliably aligned with His written Word that expresses His love of righteousness, justice, and loyal love, He thwarts the plans of evil nations who counter these upright characteristics, Psalm 33:10-11.

IV. Thus, in Psalm 33:12-19, the Psalmist expressed how blessed are those who revere the Lord, for He sees all who are on the earth, and He sovereignly and reliably rescues the upright from their godless enemies.

V. The Psalmist then voiced the desire of the godly to trust God to minister in their behalf, Psalm 33:20-22.

Lesson: God is consistently and heartily aligned with His Word, so to be happy, we must also align with His Word.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we align with God’s Word to be blessed with happiness.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In view of this sermon’s lesson, IF we believers by faith rely on the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-23) for the motivation and the power (Philippians 2:13a, b) to align with the Biblical patterns of God’s order for fulfilling human relationships of all kinds, each problem mentioned in our sermon introduction is solved (as follows):

(1) As for the sadness expressed at the June 24^th LGBTQ PrideFest in West Hartford (a) on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Genesis 1:27-28 states that when God created male and female humans, He directed them to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth and to subdue it, the opposite of abortion! Heeding God’s pattern here ends sadness at the ending of Roe v. Wade! (b) On the sadness from strife over gender orientation conflicts, Genesis 1:27 claims that God made a male man and a female woman, and Genesis 2:20-24 explains that He did so by taking a rib from the man to make a woman and then He brought her to him. The man saw her as part of himself to be loved and nurtured (Ephesians 5:28), so he called her “Woman” in sovereignty over her like he had done with the animals. (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftns. to Genesis 2:20 and 1:10) Aligning with this order ends LGBTQ gender orientation conflicts.

(2) As for xenophobia [fear of foreigners], racism and classism, (a) Genesis 3:20 reveals that Adam named his wife “Eve” since she was the mother of all humans. Similarly, Acts 17:26-27 claims that God made humans of one blood, namely, one race, and Galatians 3:27-29 reveals that when we trust in Christ as Savior, differences in “race,” gender, ethnicity and language disappear in the spiritual realm. (b) Many leftists charge others as being xenophobic for opposing illegal immigration but Acts 17:26-27 reveals that God Himself has set the boundaries of the world’s nations to create a thirst for Him, so we should respect all national boundaries that exist to align with God’s will!

(3) On single-parent households and fatherlessness that produce many social problems, and as for government welfare that allegedly fuels fatherlessness, Genesis 2:24 claims that an adult nobleman (‘ish, Ibid., Kittel, p. 4: Ibid., B. D. B., p. 35-36; Robert B. Girdlestone, Syns. of the O. T., 1968, p. 48-50) is to leave his father and his mother “and cleave to his [adult] wife” (’ishto, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 61) to become “one flesh.” This implies sexual abstinence while living in one’s parents’ home until one marries as an adult, and once the adult couple marry, they stay together as “one flesh.” Heeding this model ends single-parent and fatherlessness trials and the need for welfare.

(4) As for “misogyny,” the hatred of women by men, Genesis 2:23 records Adam as realizing that God had created his wife Eve from his rib, that she was a part of himself. Since a man cares for his body, viewing his wife as an extension of his own body leads him to protect, nurture and love her, countering misogyny. (Ephesians 5:28-29)

(5) A major source of conflict between men and women is the reversal of God’s intended roles where women errantly dominate men. This is solved by heeding the Genesis 2:20-23 model as applied in general by 1 Timothy 2:11-13: God made the first woman from Adam’s rib and brought her to him just as God brought the animals to Adam to see what he would sovereignly call them, Genesis 2:19-22. Adam sovereignly called Eve “Woman” in line with God’s will. If men take the oversight of women as gentlemen, and women submit to them, misogyny ceases to exist!

(6) Also, many problems are created by abnormal roles in the home but heeding the Genesis 2:24 model solves them: a home is to be led by a birth father and a birth mother, not by government agencies or other party(s). The man lovingly leads his wife, and they unitedly rear their children as their birth parents. When a boy matures as a man, he leaves his father’s and his mother’s home and cleaves to his wife who was led and reared in her own birth parents’ home, and the newlyweds then form a new home that is independent of both sets of birth parents.

(7) As for “climate change” issues, climate change alarmists are like Ancient Near Eastern pagans who feared that the universe could be destroyed, so they performed vain magical rituals to keep it existing! (Ibid., Waltke) We should thus apply Psalm 33:6-9 to hold that God’s Genesis 8:22 pledge to maintain earth’s climate for our welfare is just as good as His initial spoken word of Genesis 1-2 that called the universe into being and assured its preservation!

(8) On the urge of a party that I leave the pastorate to run for a political office, (a) 2 Timothy 2:4 tells pastors not to get entangled in civilian affairs lest they fail to heed God’s calling! (b) Also, Revelation 3:21 (i) implies that secular leaders in our era will fail anyway (ii) while promising great influence to spiritual “overcomers,” so it would be unwise to switch to political leadership if my best opportunity to make a difference is to stay where I am. (c) In the final analysis, 2 Timothy 2:4 and Revelation 3:21 are as truthful as God’s original spoken words that called the universe into existence and are currently maintaining it, so we pastors need to obey it by keeping at God’s callings!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. Since God is always wholeheartedly aligned with His Word, may we align with it for happiness.