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Pause and Remember · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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  Well, as we just sang there in Psalm 103, verse 15 reminds us just of the nature of our
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  ! remembrance today when we think of the words there, each human life is like the grass and like a meadow
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  flower it grows. Its place will never be recalled once over it the tempest flows. We see there the
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  nature of the loss of life during times of war. It reflects too into our own lives today as well,
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  how human life comes and goes. But verse 17 in the Psalm reminds us, but everlasting is God's love for
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  those who fear him and their seed, for those who keep his covenant and carefully his precepts heed.
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  And these words lead us into Psalm 33, where we're going to reflect this morning together.
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  A Psalm that speaks to us as well about the steadfast love of God and how that is unchanging
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  in its nature and how much we need it. Today is a day of remembrance when we pause to reflect. And as
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  we pause, we want to do so coming to God's word and seeing what God has to say to us. Around the
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  world today, millions will join in, in acts of remembrance, reflecting on those who gave and
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  continue to give that ultimate price of laying down their lives for their friends, for the peace of
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  nations throughout the world. But as these times of remembrance and reflection come, do we all realize,
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  do people around the world realize just where our help comes from? That's the question for ourselves
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  today. In our remembrance, are we seeing where our greatest help comes from? In Psalm 33, as we look
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  at it in verse 16 and 17, we are reminded there of where our help doesn't come from. The king is not
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  saved by his great army. A warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope
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  for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. So there is not salvation found in the greatness of
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  armies or the powers of this world. So where is our help found? Well, it goes on to say,
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  behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him. And so our eyes to be upon that Lord, the Lord who
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  looks down upon us, the one who our soul waits for, as the psalmist describes. He is our help and our shield.
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  In verse 20, there's that expression of faith, that expression of our help is found in the Lord. But often,
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  it takes various sets of circumstances to bring us to realize that our ultimate help is found
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  in the Lord. And there's many stories told from times of war when people have seen deliverance in
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  amazing ways, in amazing circumstance. There was a young teenage girl who, during the Second World War,
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  she was living in Malta because her father had been stationed there as a harbormaster in Malta. Malta
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  and the Mediterranean was a very important island during, especially maybe the Second World War,
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  because the base was there that ships could come and go from. Many stores were brought there. And
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  therefore, there was a lot of battles fought over it to gain control of the island. And during this
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  young girl's time on the island, it was coming under attack very often. But there was one particular
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  day she remembered when they seemed to be bombing so close to her where she could feel the shudder and
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  the sound. And so they were hiding herself, her father and the family, hiding in a room of a building
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  with other civilians there, waiting for the bombs to pass. And they were waiting there, sheltering,
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  hearing all this noise going on outside and just waiting for that all clear bell to be rung.
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  And when it was, her father went outside first, out the front door of the room they were in,
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  outside. And he said, come and see this. And when they went outside, they realized just the destruction
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  that was all around them. The town in which they were meant much of it had been flattened and destroyed.
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  And even the building that they were sheltering in, most of it had been destroyed apart from the room
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  that they were in. And there was this sense of awe and this sense of wonder among them. How had they
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  been spared? But as a teenage girl, she didn't quite understand. She didn't quite realize it. And she went on
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  in her life. And it was only later on in life she realized, looking back, and she was able to say,
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  only now can I see the unseen hand of providence that spared me then. When she had come to faith
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  in the Lord Jesus Christ, she was able to look back. And it's so often after events that we are able to
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  look back and realize just what we have been spared from. And it sometimes helps us then to realize
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  what we really need in life. What we really need in life is to realize the unseen hand of providence that
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  has kept us, not just throughout times of war, but throughout our lives in many different circumstances.
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  How it has been the Lord that has upheld us and the Lord that has kept us, and that we are to come
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  and acknowledge that. And that is what this psalm is about. Psalm 33 is about acknowledging the Lord
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  Lord in worship. We pause in silence to remember and to reflect. But we don't want to stay in silence.
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  And so often when a minute's silence is observed, and you'll see it maybe particularly
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  on Tuesday, the 11th day of the 11th, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, when there's
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  those silence in remembrance, it's often broken by the sound of a trumpet or the sounds of pipes
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  being played. But for ourselves today, the silence that we observe, it is broken by coming to worship
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  God, to worship Him with praise, and to worship Him in coming under His Word. And so we're going to
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  look at this psalm, Psalm 33. We're going to look at it in light of something I read, of what we are to
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  see in times of remembrance, of how we are to behave in times of remembrance. Somebody suggested there's
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  three things that we are to do, that we are to pause, reflect, and remember. And it's those three
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  things I want to tie in to Psalm 33 and the sense of worship that it gives to us. Because we pause
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  in worship. Worship makes us pause. We reflect in worship because worship makes us think about
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  things that are going on. And we remember in worship. Worship helps us in focusing and remembering,
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  and remembering in particular the Lord and His goodness to us. So we're going to pause, reflect,
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  reflect, and remember. So first of all, we see how the psalm directs us to pause. Worship always makes
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  us do this, to come away from everything else that we might be doing in life. We can come away
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  for a time of worship. But what is worship, and how do we understand what it means to worship God?
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  Worship can mean coming to church. We can see that as part of our worship. Worship can mean hearing
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  God's word. It can mean praying to God. It can mean singing praise to God. These are all aspects of
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  our worship. But is that what worship is in its entirety? Well, worship is about giving.
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  Worship is about giving praise and glory and honor to God. And that's what pausing makes us do.
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  It makes us look to God. And God's word directs us in that way. When you look at verse 1 to 5,
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  here in this psalm, Psalm 33, there's this sense of giving this praise to God. Shout for joy in the
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  Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre. There's this
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  sense of coming. Coming to God giving him what is due to his name. And in order to do this, in order to
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  worship, we must pause. We must come aside from everything else in our lives, whether it's in our
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  homes, in our families, in our workplace, in the week. We come aside from it all. We pause to give worship
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  worship to God. Otherwise, how will we hear what God has to say to us? When you think of it, imagine if
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  soldiers, sailors, or airmen, they were going to be given instruction to go into battle. And they've all
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  gathered together to hear their commander speak to them, to give them instruction, to give them their
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  orders. Imagine the commander coming into our room, and the people in the room just start carrying on as
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  they were, or just talking amongst each other, not listening to what the commander is saying.
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  They wouldn't carry on for very long, because they would be told in no uncertain terms to be silent.
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  Because what they have to hear is important, not just for their own safety,
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  but for the safety and protection of many others. They need to listen.
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  Well, what about ourselves when it comes to worship? When we think of God as our Lord,
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  do we pause to listen to him? Or do we just carry on with our own train of thought? Do we carry on,
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  even as we sit in silence, our minds can be drifting away, thinking of so many other different things,
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  and we're not pausing to reflect and to listen to what God is saying to us? God is speaking to us
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  through his word. And so we are to pause to listen, to give that ear to him who is speaking to us.
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  The word of the Lord is upright, it says in verse 4, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
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  This is the God who is speaking. He is the faithful God. Let us be faithful and pause and listen to him.
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  The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is a time when we so often hear
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  the phrase, the nation stood still. There's that sense of the nation pausing. But what do we think of
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  in that silence? Where does our minds go? For many, it'll be remembering maybe people. People can still
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  remember those who were lost in the war. Not many now in the First and Second World War, but other
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  conflicts since then as well. People remember those who have lost their lives. People remember experiences
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  that they've gone through. You can imagine those who have been through times of war remembering
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  the kind of scenes that were before them or the noises that they were hearing. So many reflections that we
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  can have. But do our minds come to God? And do they come to the hope that he is able to give?
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  When we realize that peace is found in him. There are so many emotions that can grip our hearts in life.
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  And so many emotions during times of war. There's fear. There's anger. There's unforgiveness. There's all
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  kinds of emotions that can be very difficult for us. But worship helps us. It helps us to see a God who is
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  worthy of all praise. As verse 5 makes clear for us here, he loves righteousness and justice. The earth is
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  full of the steadfast love of the Lord. You know, if our nations would pause and realize who
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  God is, would our earth not be full of the steadfast love of the Lord more and more? An acknowledgement of it.
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  A recognition of it. As verse 12 says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has
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  chosen as his heritage. We must pause and reflect. But it's to look to God.
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  To stop what we are doing and to see what is God saying to us today in the freedoms that we enjoy,
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  in the silence that we observe. Let's not see it what seems hopeless, but look to God who is able to give
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  us that hope. So we are to pause. Secondly, we are to reflect because worship gives us reason to think.
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  We are created in the image of God. We are created with body, soul, and mind. And all of us have our
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  thoughts. Our thoughts are always active. Our thoughts are always on the go. And a time of
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  reflection and looking to God's word, it makes us think. Surely our minds are thinking, what does this
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  mean for me? Is this important to me? What difference does it make in my life? Is God really, Lord? Is the
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  steadfast love of God really abounding in all the earth when we see so much war and rumors of war and
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  so many atrocities taking place? Is God really ruling over us? Well, as we pause for worship and as we reflect
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  on God's word, we realize who this God is. In verse 6, we are told,
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  by the word of the Lord, by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth,
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  all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap. He puts the deeps in storehouses. So
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  there we are reminded of the power of God. As we reflect in worship, we realize who this God is.
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  But as we reflect too, we realize the pain and suffering of this world. And in particular,
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  at a time of remembrance. And if you do go and visit a war memorial, and you look at the names
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  on the war memorial, the age of so many who gave their lives in their young years, many in teenage
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  twenties, thirties, just young men and women who lost their lives. The pain and sorrow of that.
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  But when you look at these names, it's a reminder too of the suffering of those who were left behind.
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  The suffering of parents, of wives and husbands, of children. The devastating impact on communities
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  far and wide. And as we know in our own communities here, the devastation and loss that war brought,
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  and the pain and grief that was often hidden within people's hearts. They couldn't speak about it. Such
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  was the pain and sorrow that they felt. And these kinds of things, they lead us to question.
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  To questions like such as, well, what is the point in it all? Why does God allow these things to happen?
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  And yet, when we look at it, there are things we cannot understand. But yet we can look to God and
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  see, well, he is able to bring good out of everything. He is able to bring us through. He is the God who
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  turns wars into peace. And it's no coincidence that after times of war, there's often a time of revival.
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  When people recognize God has delivered. When people recognize that without the Lord,
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  they would not have come through. And this is the God that we see in this psalm that reflects
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  who this God is in verse 6 through to verse 12. The psalm causes us to reflect and worship,
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  even in the hopelessness of war and all that it seems to just leave us feeling dismayed about,
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  that God is still sovereign, that God is still ruling. He has made all things. We are to stand
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  in awe of him, as it says in verse 8, let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the
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  world stand in awe of him. For he is still the one who is able to speak and he sends his commands
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  forth. Even in the midst of war, we remember that it is him that brought peace in it all.
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  Why does he allow it? So often in these things is that we might come close to him again. When you read
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  through the Old Testament and the New Testament, you find that when people were turning away from God,
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  God often brought hardship into their experience to bring them back to himself.
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  And the personal sacrifice of so many should make us reflect and ask, well, what was the price
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  for our freedom? What was the cost of the freedom that we enjoy today? So many gave their lives that we
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  might be able to do what we are doing today, to have this freedom in worship, to have the freedom
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  to live our lives on a day-to-day basis. But as we worship today, does it make us reflect on all that God
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  has done for us through his Son, Jesus Christ, the one who gave his life, that we might have life
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  through him? Does it bring us close to him? Just like that young teenage girl in Malta,
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  it was later on in life that she realized the deliverance she had experienced in the hand
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  of God in it. And so often maybe it's as our lives go on, as the years go past, we begin to realize
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  the providence of God, the way that he has delivered us in so many ways, the way that he has been with us
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  and helped us throughout so many of our experiences. And through it all, does he not bring us to reflect
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  and to see that he is a good and a gracious God? Let us stand in awe of him, for we find blessing
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  when we look to him. Again, there's so many accounts of people who sacrificed themselves
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  during times of war. Many of you will have heard about the River Kwai. Films were made about it,
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  books have been written about it. But one book that was written about it was called Miracle
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  on the River Kwai. Many Scottish soldiers were forced by their captors there, the Japanese captors,
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  into laboring on a railroad that was being built. And they were in atrocious conditions and much
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  suffering in their midst. And over a period of time, those who were being held captive,
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  they started to lose morale and they started to turn against each other. It was a very difficult time.
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  But one day something happened that changed the whole atmosphere in the camp. Every time they were
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  coming back to the camp that they were being held in from having been working on the railroad for all day,
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  they had to go through checkpoints. And at each checkpoint, they were accounted for the number
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  of people, but also all their tools were accounted for as well, in case they were trying to hide
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  something or keep something for themselves. One day they were on their way back and they came to the
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  first checkpoint. And after the count, it was found that a shovel was missing. And the Japanese commander,
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  he became very angry at this point, demanding that this shovel would be returned. And it wasn't
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  forthcoming. And eventually became so angry, he took out his gun and he threatened them with his gun.
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  And this was going to be maybe death for them all. But one man stepped forward, one who was being held
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  captive, he stepped forward. And immediately the commander killed him in front of everybody else.
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  And they were dismayed. And they started walking to the next checkpoint. When they reached the next
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  checkpoint, again, they were accounting for all the tools. And when they counted all the tools,
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  they found that there hadn't been one missing at the last checkpoint at all. It had been miscounted.
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  And the men realized at that point that the man who had stepped forward had sacrificed himself for the
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  rest of them. That he had given his life for them. And all of a sudden, in that moment, the whole atmosphere
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  changed when they realized what he had done. And all of a sudden, the bonds began to grow in their midst.
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  They became stronger in themselves. And so that when freedom finally came, instead of having all that
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  emotion of hatred and anger, what they said was, no more hatred, no more killing. Now what we need
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  is forgiveness. Sacrifice makes us realize that. But doesn't it not remind us of the greatest sacrifice
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  of all? The Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life. Who stepped forward for us. Who went to the cross.
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  Who died for our sins. We remember today the sacrifice of many. But the greatest sacrifice of all was Jesus
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  who bore our sin on the cross that we might have life. That is what the steadfast love of God is.
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  He gave that we might have life through him. So we reflect.
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  We reflect today on many sacrifices made for us. But above all, that the hope that is found in the sacrifice
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  of Jesus. So we pause, we reflect, and thirdly and finally, we remember. From verse 13 to the end of the
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  Psalm, there's this sense of remembering the one who is our God. Worship is due to him.
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  The Lord looks down from heaven, it says. He sees all the children of man. God's eyes are always upon
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  his people. And so as we remember today, those fallen in conflicts past and even present.
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  And we know that there will be more who will perish in conflicts to come. That's the nature
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  of the world in which we live. It's hard. But is there hope in it all? Well, the hope is found
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  in God in God and remembering him. As we read previously, our salvation is not found in the horses
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  or the armies of the king or any of these things. But our salvation is found in the Lord. The king is
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  not saved by his great army. A warrior is not delivered by his great strength. None of these
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  things can save us. But our remembrance today is directed towards God, the God who holds all things
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  together. And again, you see it in verse 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him. So
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  there's this theme of God looking down from heaven. God's eyes are upon his people. And in verse 20,
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  our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and shield. There is what we are to remember today.
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  That our salvation, our hope is not nothing that this world offers us, but that our hope
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  is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees everything that happens. He sees all our pain, our suffering,
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  our anxieties, our fears. He sees all of these things. And he is able to help. Isn't it a wonderful
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  thing to think that God sees you today? That he knows you in that personal and intimate way.
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  A lost world, a lost people live in fear because they do not know God. There is no hope found apart
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  from God. And yet here is the hope that we can have found in God today. A God who is great. A God who
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  shows steadfast love up to his people. And the psalm ends with that word, those words, let your steadfast
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  love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. There's that prayer in these words. It's not just for
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  today, but as we go on, as we go forward, that we would see the steadfast love of God upon us.
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  But it's as we hope in him. And so today, as we reflect, as we pause, as we remember, is our hope in the Lord?
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  He is worthy to be praised. You may have seen some of the programs on this week where veterans have been
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  on various news programs speaking about their experience during times of war. One World War II veteran was on
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  a program this week reflecting on his experience during those times. He's now a hundred years old,
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  and yet he's able to remember those days as if it was yesterday. And in his reflections, it was so
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  moving to hear him speak, to speak about everything that he had gone through, the friends that he had
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  lost, the things that he had seen. But it was a question that he was asked at the end that was quite
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  telling. He was asked the question, what are your thoughts now on Remembrance Day? And his answer was
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  this, or part of his answer was this, I remember my friends and my colleagues who lost their lives.
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  And when I look at the nation now, I think it wasn't worth it. When you think of that, when he sees the
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  state of our nation, he thinks today, it wasn't worth it. How sad is that?
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  Because our nation has turned away. Our nation is not a nation that says we are blessed because God is the Lord.
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  And so today, we need to see that we need God. That he is our greatest need in our day.
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  But we need to see too, that although that man said it wasn't worth it, that when we look to the cross of Jesus,
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  Jesus never says that. In fact, he says the opposite. When you go back to Isaiah chapter 53,
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  that whole passage is speaking about the suffering of Jesus. And in verse 11, it says this,
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  Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. In other words, he's saying there,
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  it was worth it. For the salvation of his people, out of the anguish of his soul, he sees and is satisfied.
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  He is satisfied with all that his suffering achieved. He is saying it was worth it for those who believe,
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  for those who put their trust in him. There is so much sorrow in our remembrance today looking back.
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  And in our remembrance of Jesus, there is sorrow that he died for our sin.
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  But there is hope because he says it was worth it. He gave his life that we might have life through him.
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  So we remember today those who served and who serve even to this day for our freedom,
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  the many who gave that sacrifice of their lives being given.
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  But in it all, let us not lose heart and think it wasn't worth it.
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  When we think of Jesus, and when we think of the cross,
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  and when we think of how he gave and was satisfied,
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  is he satisfied with you today?
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  Are you putting your hope in him?
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  Because that is where salvation is found.
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  Nothing of this world,
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  but looking to the cross,
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  we can have peace through him.
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  Let us pray.
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  Lord, our gracious God,
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  help us in all our remembrance today
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  to think of the great sacrifices made for us,
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  but to think especially of the greatest of all,
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  that Jesus Christ gave his life,
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  that we might have life through him.
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  Lord, be with us,
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  be with the many who gather this day
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  in remembrance and reflection.
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  May it be that there is worship in the midst of it all,
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  that glory is ascribed to you
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  as God and Lord of all.
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  For we ask it all in Jesus' name.
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  Amen.
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  We'll conclude by singing to God's praise
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  in Psalm 16.
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  Psalm 16, the Sing Psalms version,
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  page 17 of the psalm books.
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  We're going to sing from verse 8
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  down to the end of the psalm,
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  a psalm that reminds us
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  of the hope that there is in the Lord.
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  Before me constantly,
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  I set the Lord alone.
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  Because he is at my right hand,
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  I'll not be overthrown.
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  We stand to sing from verse 8 to 11
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  to God's praise.
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  Amen.
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  Before me constantly,
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  I set the Lord alone,
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  because he is at my right hand,
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  I'll not be overthrown.
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  Therefore, my heart is glad,
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  with joy with joy with joy with sing.
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  My body too will rest secure
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  In hope unwavering
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  For you will not allow
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  My soul in death to stay
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  Nor will you leave your Holy One
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  To see the tombs decay
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  You have made known to me
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  The path of life divine
• 35:38
  Bliss shall I know at your right hand
• 35:48
  Joy from your face will shine
• 35:56
  After the benediction I'll go to the main door
• 36:00
  Now may grace, mercy and peace from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• 36:06
  Rest upon and abide with you all
• 36:09
  Now and forevermore
• 36:10
  Amen
• 36:12
  Thank you
• 36:24
  Thank you
• 36:28
  Thank you
• 36:32
  Thank you