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The Blessing of Letting Go

Rev. Doug Pratt — January 17, 2010
 

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Psalm 4
A PSALM OF DAVID
 
Answer me when I call to You, O my righteous God.
      Give me relief from my distress;
      Be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
     
How long, O men, will you dishonor my Glorious One?
      How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself;
      the LORD will hear when I call to Him.
     
In your anger do not sin;
      when you are on your beds,
      search your hearts and be silent.
Offer right sacrifices
      and trust in the LORD.
     
Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
      Let the light of Your face shine upon us, O LORD.
You have filled my heart with greater joy
      than when their grain and new wine abound.
I will lie down and sleep in peace,
      for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Introduction
In central Africa a tribe of hunters came up with a clever plan for capturing the local monkeys. The little primates lived high up in the soaring trees; they were very fast, and therefore difficult to catch, to shoot with an arrow, or to spear with even the sleekest of spears. But the monkeys were delicacies to the local taste buds and highly valued—so there was great incentive in outwitting and catching them. The hunters developed an ingenious scheme. They took a hollowed-out coconut, filled it with morsels of pungent and sweet-smelling food that the monkeys loved best, set the treat-loaded coconut on the ground, tied a vine around it, and attached it to a nearby tree. Then they waited.

In time a monkey would come along, drawn by the aroma. The hole in the coconut was so small that the monkey could just manage to squeeze its hand inside. But once its fist wrapped around the food, it couldn’t pull that hand out. The hunters would then approach. The monkey’s survival instincts told it to run, but its hunger for the tasty food kept it from releasing its grasp, and thus it was attached to the coconut and an easy target for capture. The little monkey simply could not let go, even though holding on placed it in great danger.

That’s what I want to talk about this morning with you: the blessing of letting go. It’s not a message that’s particularly popular today, in a world where we’re constantly urged to get more, do more, and expect more. But it’s an ancient truth that is presented to us in our scripture text for today.

A Man Who Had It All
If tradition and ancient documents are correct (and we have no solid reason to doubt them), these words from Psalm 4 were written by one of the most successful, rich, powerful and famous men of his day—a man who had it all, who was at the top of the heap. His name was King David. He is revered to this day as Israel’s greatest king, and he was an ancestor of Jesus the Messiah. David had more money than he could spend; he was a military hero and a great individual athlete (his fastball with the slingshot single-handedly knocked out the 8-foot giant, Goliath, the heavyweight champ of his time). David had his pick of beautiful women; he was a poet and songwriter; he was also a planner and visionary, who designed a new capital city and bequeathed the blueprints for one of the ancient world’s great wonders—the Jerusalem Temple—to his son and successor, Solomon, to complete. And, candidly, David also made some big mistakes in his personal life; he neglected his marriage and his family for a time, and he ended up going through a lot of pain and shame because of it.

But by the end of his life (which is when we believe the words of Psalm 4 were written) he had come to a place of great wisdom, and real inner peace. It was not a quick or easy path for him to get there. Let’s go back through the Psalm and see what we can learn from it.

Answer me when I call to You, O my righteous God.
      Give me relief from my distress;
      Be merciful to me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)

This is the way many of the Psalms in the Old Testament begin: with the writer praying to God and presenting his needs before the Lord. Even when many things are good in our lives, we always need prayer. The old Gospel hymn can be truthfully sung at any time by any of us: “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” If you think there’s nothing in your life that needs prayer, you’re deluding yourself. We all need the Lord with us constantly. And the Bible invites us to make prayer our first resort, not just our last.

How long, O men, will you dishonor my Glorious One?
      How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? (Psalm 4:2)

David recognizes there are lots of people around him who are not following the way of faith, and whose words and actions are dishonoring to God. Instead of walking on the right path, they are pursuing “delusions” and “false gods.” The particular gods and idols people worship change down through the centuries, but the temptation is always there. Whenever we make money or things, power or pleasure, other people and their opinions more important to us than what God says is best, we are in trouble. David lived in a time when the nations all around Israel were caught up in secular lifestyles, and those wrong examples influenced even many of God’s people. We must always be on guard against the values, dangerous examples and subtle temptations that come to us from people who are not honoring God but chasing happiness in all the wrong places.

Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself;
      the LORD will hear when I call to Him. (Psalm 4:3)

God wants to have a personal and intimate relationship with every one of us. That’s what David means when he says that we have each been “set apart” for God. If you and I will open our hearts and minds and lives to God every day, He will walk hand-in-hand with us. He is not far away, and whenever we pray (whether out loud or silently) He always listens closely.

In your anger do not sin;
      when you are on your beds,
      search your hearts and be silent. (Psalm 4:4)

One of the important lessons David has learned is the art of dealing in the right way with anger (and hurt, and resentment, and all the other toxic emotions that invade our heart when people treat us wrongly). He is not telling us that anger isn’t real or even legitimate and justified. But he’s telling us that he’s found the best way to deal with it. Rather than lashing out in revenge, or keeping it inside to fester, he lets go of those things that hurt him. He doesn’t toss and turn; He gives them to the Lord.

Offer right sacrifices
      and trust in the LORD. (Psalm 4:5)

David reveals another part of his strategy for successful living. He is willing to let go of some of his wealth and possessions for the Lord’s work. That’s what a sacrifice was in the Jewish temple: a giving up of something worthwhile and valuable, as a way of proclaiming and reminding yourself that God is the owner and true source of everything. As a shepherd would give one of his lambs to the Lord in an act of worship, so we today provide an “offering” or “sacrifice” of a portion of our wealth and material blessings. Giving to a charity is a good way to keep our hearts from becoming too attached to material things—as David discovered thousands of years ago.

Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
      Let the light of Your face shine upon us, O LORD.
You have filled my heart with greater joy
      than when their grain and new wine abound. (Psalm 4:6-7)

People around us are chasing after the good things in life. And many don’t know when they have enough—they are constantly grasping for more. Believers through the ages, like David, have learned the blessings that come from being content with what God has provided. Joy does not result from prosperity. It’s an inner quality that springs from our hearts, not our circumstances.

I will lie down and sleep in peace,
      for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)

These are the words of a man who has found an inner refuge. David says that he is able to sleep well at night, not because he’s found alcohol or a drug to knock him unconscious, but because he has let go and put in the Lord’s hands the things that might keep him awake at night. And that, in the final verse of the Psalm, is the real thrust of it: God’s peace is one of His most precious gifts to His children, and that peace comes when we learn how to “let go” and trust Him.

A Personal Inventory
Let’s apply this message of “letting go” to our own lives. I want to ask you to do a personal inventory. Are there any areas of your own life where you have inadvertently become like the monkey with its hand in coconut: trapped by something that you haven’t let go of?

There may be a man or woman here this morning who needs to let go of their past mistakes and failures. Are you still punishing yourself, or feeling shame, or believing that you can’t be loved by God because of things you’ve done in the past? The central message of the Gospel, the message of Christ’s love and forgiveness, is that there’s nothing you have ever or can ever do that Christ hasn’t already paid for on the cross. He offers to wipe the slate clean, to put the past away. And if God has forgiven you, who are you to presume that your standards are higher than His? What you’ve confessed to Christ you must let go. It is forgiven. You are cleansed and made whole.

There may be a man or woman here this morning who needs to let go of the pain and hurts from the past. Someone did something to you, and it’s still bothering you—festering like an open and unhealed wound. And no matter how serious or deep the wound, the Bible tells us we need to forgive. Of course our natural instinct is to not forgive because we don’t want to let the other person get off without consequences. But the problem is we are not the judge and jury, the hands of justice. That is God’s prerogative to deal with that person or that organization who hurt us or did us wrong. When we let go of our bitterness and resentment, we are actually doing ourselves the greatest favor. For that letting go is what frees us from the handcuffs of the past.

There may be a man or woman among us who needs to let go of material things. Our lives consist of accumulating so many things—far more than we need. And sometimes those things we own come to own us and preoccupy us. We need to hold lightly the things of this world. Sometimes we need to consciously “downsize,” to give things away, to make a choice to simplify life. I’ve recently been re-reading the biography of St. Francis of Assisi in preparation for teaching a class about him. Francis was the only son of a rich businessman who wanted his boy to carry on his example. But young Francis watched as the obsessive pursuit of wealth made his father less and less happy. Finally Francis decided to walk away from it, and instead chose a life of simplicity and devotion to God—jumping off the endless treadmill of the materialistic world. He continues to this day to be an admirable example of a person who had it all but chose a simpler and more joyful life. We may not follow his example to its extreme, but there are things we can all do to lighten our grip and simplify.

There may be someone here who needs to let go of some responsibilities, to be less driven in their work or personal lives. A relatively young man not far from here in Gainesville is wrestling with this very issue. Urban Meyer, the head coach of the Florida Gators, has made it to the top of his profession by an obsessive attention to every detail of his football program—and it’s nearly killed him in the process. Now he’s having to learn the painful but life-saving lesson of letting go. For you and for me there may be some burdens or responsibilities we are carrying that God wants us to let go of, to give to others to help us with the load. Or we may need to simply not hold on so tightly. Moms and dads need to learn not to be “helicopter parents,” hovering over their kids and stifling them. Business leaders and professionals need to learn when to quit micro-managing. Without question we are sometimes seduced by our high standards and goals (as Urban Meyer was) into trying to do too much. Perhaps it’s time for you to let go a bit in your responsibilities.

And finally, there may be a man or woman here today who needs to let go of worries and fears about the future. Perhaps the household finances are tight, or your doctor wants you to consider surgery or tells you to lose 20 pounds, your spouse’s memory seems to be going, or your child or grandchild is spending time with the wrong people. A cloud of serious and valid worry has enveloped you. Problems like these need attention—and sometimes worries are wake-up calls for us that prompt us to do what we need to do. But beyond that, worries and fears can cripple us if we let them. Once we’ve done what we can do today, we have to learn to let go. Tomorrow will come in its own time. And only God knows what it will bring. Letting go of anxiety about what might come is the only way to experience the inner peace that Psalm 4 describes for us.

Conclusion
Today we’ve been thinking about the blessing of letting go. It’s never easy to do. And it’s a daily decision, not just once for all. But it is God’s way to a fuller and more blessed life. In a Christian magazine a modern working mom described the lesson the Lord taught her one day. After a long day at her office, she raced to the store to buy some groceries and other items for her family, then dashed home at just the time her child care provider needed to leave. She walked in the door from the garage to the kitchen loaded down with as many plastic bags as she could carry, as her three year old daughter came running up to her. “Mommy, I made something for you today. Look at it.” In exasperation she said, “Brittany, I can’t right now. I’m busy. I’ll look at it later.”

Her daughter went back to her playroom. Mom continued to unload the groceries and put them away, said goodbye to the babysitter, and began to prepare dinner. An hour later she finally remembered her daughter’s gift, and went to her apologetically to look at it. It was a hand-made card with her own artwork, and inside it said: “I love you, Mommy.” The mother was so touched. In a long, hard day it was her brightest moment. Yet she had almost missed it, because she’d been so preoccupied and busy.

Later that evening, as she was reflecting on her day and reading her Bible and devotional book, it suddenly occurred to her that the incident with the grocery bags and her daughter’s gift contained a lesson for her. She pulled out pen and paper and wrote a little poem. It ends with these words:

And then at last I realized,
through scattered thoughts and dull,
that God can’t pour His blessings
into hands already full.

When our hands are too full of the things of this world—all the worries and responsibilities, the guilt and the hurts and the cares, as though we were weighed down with loaded shopping bags—we can’t receive the most precious gift of all: the peace of God.