How God Helps His Children During Persecution (Psalm 54)(ARBC Worship for June 23, 2024)

Ministry: www.arbc.net
Preacher: Matthew Perry, Pastor
A couple of weeks ago, I heard a pastor say something that made me think-something I’m always grateful for. “The Bible never promised us religious liberty. Just persecution.”
The American church knows little about persecution (at least the American white church). In our country, we have grown so used to the notion of religious liberty, being able to worship as we wish that it looks foreign to us when reading, say, the book of Acts when we read, “Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God” or reading 2 Timothy 3:12: “All who live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
I think this is why some Psalms like this one may not have the full effect on us because we may believe that Christianity should be about comfort-so if that’s the bar, hearing about God being our Helper, Upholder, Protector, and Deliverer is unnecessary. If things are good (or at least that's the goal), things are smooth, then we need no help, no upholding, no protecting, and certainly no delivering. So many believe that heaven should be now. But this is not the case.
Yet, this Psalm and many others like it-along with many other episodes in Scripture-show us that the culture careens away from what God commands-shows that for the majority of biblical and human history, Christians will undergo persecution. Mind you, living in a land where religious liberty is codified and ratified in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution is certainly a belief that all are created equal and (to put a biblical direction on it) all are made in the image of God. It's a gift--one we should never take for granted. Yet, the religious liberty we have must not be taken for granted.
Psalm 54 is a lament where the follower of God expresses to God their struggles and ask for help, protection, for deliverance. It may surprise you that laments make up more of the psalms than any other category-and yet are most foreign to us in our worship. So, if you're struggling due to your faith, don't just try to gut it through on your own. Laments deal with the reality of the situation here but also going to your Father about the situation to find strength, hope, and care.