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Psalms 59:1-17
To
the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when Saul sent, and they
watched the house to kill him.
“Deliver me from
mine enemies, O my God: defend me from
them that rise up against me. Deliver me
from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD. They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold. Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked
transgressors. Selah. They return at evening: thy make a noise like a dog, and go round
about the city. Behold, they belch out
with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear? But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou
shalt have all the heathen in derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defense. The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words
of their lips let them even be taken in their
pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that
God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah. And at evening let them
return; and let them make a noise
like a dog, and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not
satisfied. But I will sing of thy power;
yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the
morning: for thou hast been my defense
and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy.”
Introduction
“Psalm
59, as far as we have come. It says “To
the chief Musician,” so this is to be played publicly. It’s hard to tell sometimes whether the
introduction is a postscript from the end of the Psalm that’s in front of it,
or an introduction, because they’re just written in the Hebrew between the
Psalms. But the Septuagint tells us this
is “a Michtam of David,” it’s a golden Psalm, it’s
something to be taken to the heart, no doubt committed to memory. And “when Saul sent, and they watched the
house to kill him” to kill David, the Septuagint agrees with that, it’s the
same title it gives to us. This is an extremely
difficult time in David’s life. He’s
probably about 20-years-old, if that, he’s a young man. He has come to prominence in the kingdom, in
the Valley of Elah, as he faced Goliath, and the giant was slain, and he’s come
into the court of Saul. Saul asked ‘Who is this youth?’, finds out he’s of the house of
Jesse, he’s the one that had been playing the harp, driving the evil spirits
away from Saul. And again, Saul’s
jealousy had arisen against David. David
had, in great faith, submitted to God, hadn’t done anything wrong, he had done
what was right, and Saul would send him out to battle, he had tremendous
victory over the Philistines, and then Saul would just become more
jealous. And God’s hand was on David,
was blessing David. And then finally Saul
takes and gives his daughter, Michal, to David, because she was a rascal. And he didn’t want to bless David, he thought that would trip David up. So,
David in his court again, Saul seeking to kill him, throwing a javelin at him,
he gets out of the court, he goes to his home, and Saul then sends some of his
men to watch the house of David, and to capture him there, and to kill
him. Twice in the Psalm, in verses 6 and
14, he says they’re like dogs. So, some
of the scholars entitle this Psalm “Beware
of Dogs.” They’re watching the house
of David where he lives with Michal, the king’s daughter, he’s the king’s son-in-law. This is all
a family thing. And his wife (Michal)
says ‘If you don’t get out of here he’s
going to kill you, you’re going to end up dead.’ So David then, with a rope, climbs down
through the window, like Saul of Tarsus in the New Testament escaped over the
wall, David escapes that way, there’s nothing prestigious or honourable about
that. He’s the LORD’s anointed king, Samuel had
anointed him. But he will for years, be
learning to be the king that he was anointed to be. And sadly, his wife takes an idol that
somehow David had allowed in the house, lays this teraphim, this idol in the
bed, and puts goats hair on to kind of form the hair, and Saul’s men come, and
they want to take David and kill him, and Michal says ‘No, he’s sick, he don’t feel
good, he has goat’s head disease.’ And no doubt if they had looked at him they would have said, ‘I don’t know what he’s got, but I don’t
want to touch him,’ and they went back and they told Saul, and said ‘David’s
sick, he’s ill man, he’s got something,’ Saul said, ‘Go
on back, and get the bed, and bring him to me in the bed and I’ll kill him.’ So they go back to the house, and find out
it’s a statue instead and so forth, and then they come back and report it to
Saul, and Saul gets his daughter and he’s yelling at her, and she says, ‘You
know what, dad, he threatened me, he told me if I didn’t do this, he was going
to kill me.’ So, his
father-in-law has turned against him, his wife has turned against him, all
things are falling out against David, and David’s plea is ‘I haven’t done anything
wrong.’ Look, it’s hard enough
when we do something stupid, or we do something wrong, and it comes down on our
head, and we realize, ‘Well, I got myself
into this one, you know, I messed up.’ But it’s really harder when we do everything right, we do everything we
believe will please the Lord, we do everything to the best of our ability, and then something comes down on our head, and we think ‘Lord, where are you?’ Some
people at that point, they throw their faith out the window. [David must be asking God] ‘What’s the deal? I do everything the right way, I do
everything you want me to do, you send this crazy prophet to me, he anoints me,
pours out the oil on my head, I’m Israel’s king…no I’m not, I’m Israel’s clown,
I’m running all the time.’ David’s
seminary was bears, and lions, and giants, and betrayal, and war, and famine,
and fleeing from his family. David’s
seminary, if you say ‘Lord, make me like
David,’ are you sure? Take the
correspondence course, trust me. And
David is a very young man, and writes this Psalm, in the context of fleeing
from his house, finding out his wife Michal has betrayed him to Saul, the king,
saying ‘He threatened to kill me, he was
going to murder me, I had to do it dad,’ and no doubt, very alone, very
much struggling in his faith, in the sense that ‘What do I do now? LORD, what’s the deal? I do everything I think you want me to do,
and this is where I end up.’ This is not a movie you’re watching on TV,
this is a real-life deal, he is running from people with weapons that want to
kill him, he’s running from the king. He’s running, this is, you know, this is like having black helicopters
chasing you in America or something, you know, it’s as crazy as having drones
flying over America to shoot people, that’s how crazy
this is.
Who Does David Turn To When His Family Life Turns
Upside Down Through Betrayal?
So
he’s running from his own king here, and the Psalm says this, “Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God;
defend me from them that rise up against me.” he
says, “Deliver me from the workers of
iniquity, and save me from bloody men.” (verses 1-2) that would have been out the window with a rope for David here. For he says, “For, lo, they lie in wait for me soul:” ‘for my very life,’ “the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.”
(verse 3) ‘I
didn’t do anything wrong, not for my sin, O LORD.’ “They
run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.” (verse 4) ‘It’s not my fault,’ And his plea, ‘Awake,’ or ‘Arouse
thyself,’ probably more properly, King James says “to help me,” the idea of it is, “Arise to meet me, and behold.” ‘LORD, meet me, LORD, and look at this with me,
this situation, look where I’m at.’ You know,
wonderfully, as this young man in a very difficult situation, he turns to the LORD. Look, young people today, 18, 19, 17, 15, 16, Satan is at war against our homes and our families. This is a young man in a broken home, his
father-in-law wants to kill him, his wife has betrayed him, this is heartfelt stuff. And so many today,
when they get in a situation like this, they want throw their faith out the window, they think ‘What’s
the point, you know, what’s the deal, Lord?’ I serve you, and this is what I get?’ You think, what are the options, what are you going to do, are you
going to become a Buddhist? What are you
going to do? You going to go out, and
then you have to worry about Karma. Are
you going to go out there and drink [i.e getting drunk], go out there and use
inhalants? You sit somewhere quietly and
cut yourself? What are you going to
do? This song gives us some important
answers, I think. That’s why it’s a
Michtam, it’s a golden Psalm, it’s to be put in the mind, it’s to be put in the
heart, it’s to be thought about. Because there isn’t anybody in this room that
hasn’t felt some sense of betrayal at some point or another. Is there anybody here that hasn’t been hurt
in one way or another? And sadly, I know
and watch adults, and it’s not their fault, that sometimes are ten, twenty,
thirty, forty years out of a bad situation, out of a bad home, out of an
abusive situation, and still, you can see how they keep their own defense
mechanisms up, you can see how little they want to be vulnerable, you can see,
you can still see the effects of that. You know, it isn’t the way God designed it, it’s not the way family is
supposed to function, it’s not the haven we’re
supposed to experience. It’s so sad when
you see somebody and they talk about their Father in heaven, and they almost
have to cringe, because the idea they have of a father is so wrong, and so bad,
and so abusive. What do we do? This is all real stuff for David. This is all real stuff in his life, and the
harder thing here is, he says, ‘Look, it’s not for my transgressions, not
because of my sin, it’s not my fault.’ And
instead of just throwing restraint to the wind, he says, ‘LORD, arise LORD, meet with me, I need to find
you in this situation, it stinks, it isn’t just a bad day, it isn’t just a
hangnail, these are people chasing me, they want to kill me, this is the level
of betrayal, and now my wife has entered into it. LORD, you need to arise, I need to
meet with you, you need to be as real as my heartache
and all the things I’m going through.’ He says, ‘Arise, meet with me, and behold,
I need to know you’re looking at this with me, and considering it, I need to
know LORD, that it’s before your
heart. I need to know that.’ Verse
5, he says, “Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked
transgressors. Selah.” “O LORD God of hosts,” “Jehovah Elohim Saboath” The LORD of hosts, this is a
20-year-old calling remarkably, understanding the God of Israel, understanding
he’s a covenant-God, the LORD. He says now, “awake to visit all the heathen:” and look what he says here, “all
of the nations, all of the heathen,” “be
not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.” (verse 5b) David backs up, and he gets the big picture,
somehow he stands back, he says ‘This is earth, this ain’t heaven, this is
the way it is, there’s injustice, there’s things going on all around me that
shouldn’t be going on, all of the heathen nations around me are filled with
these things. LORD, this is the way it is, but
you’re the LORD God of hosts, of armies, of
hosts, you’re the God of Israel, awake, and LORD, visit all of the nations,
don’t be merciful to any of the wicked, to any transgressors. Selah, what do you think about that?’ He
says, ‘LORD, you’re not partial, it’s not
just me, it’s not just my life, it’s all of the wicked in the earth, all of the
transgressors LORD, you’re going to deal with all
of this, not just in Israel, but Moab and Ammon and all of the countries, LORD, that surround us, and all of
the earth.’ He somehow, God gives him this big picture,
and he says ‘all of the nations, LORD, don’t be merciful to any of
those that are wicked transgressors,’ and he compares them to dogs, “They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round
about the city.” (verse 6) he’s drawing a picture, ‘they’re
carousing, they’re walking around,’ of the ones that had surrounded his house, he
says, “Behold, they belch out with their
mouths: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?” (verse 7) that is
what the wicked do, “for who, say they, doth hear?” Nobody knows. He says, ‘This
is what the wicked do, they go on around, they got their plans, they’re
slinking around in the dark, they’re thinking ‘Nobody’s up on them, nobody
knows what’s going on,’ he says, ‘that’s what they’re saying in their heart.’ ‘Who hears us? nobody knows what
we’re doing.’ And David’s
response “But thou, O LORD,
shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.” (verse 8) ‘You’re the LORD God of hosts, you’re the God
of Israel, this must be laughable to you, I haven’t done anything wrong, I’ve
served you, I’ve done what’s right, and the wicked are flourishing, and they
just think they’re going to get away with it? LORD, there is a standard that’s
universal, it’s not just my life, it’s not just Israel, I know you’re going to
deal with this, they carry on,’ and the wicked are the same today. ‘Who hears, who
knows? We can get away with this, nobody
knows.’ ‘But you O LORD, you’ll laugh at them in
derision, in scorn,’ “thou shalt have all of the
nations in derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon
thee: for God is my defence.” (verse 9) i.e. ‘because of the strength of the enemy, this
is what I’m going to do LORD,’ “for God is my defense” ‘he is my stronghold.’ Ah, because of the strength of the
transgressor, the wicked, of the adversary, the one who says ‘I can do whatever I want, nobody’s going to
stop me, nobody’s going to do this.’ You hear people say stuff, you hear people say stupid stuff like ‘I’m going to give a piece of my mind to the
man upstairs.’ No you ain’t. You’re going to fall down and shake when he
appears. This young man in his 20’s says
this. ‘When I think of the strength of
the enemy, LORD, I’m going to wait upon you, LORD, that’s what I’m going to
do. I’m going to stand back, I’m going to wait upon you.’ “for God is my
defense.” King James says “defense”, it’s really “my
stronghold.” He says, ‘LORD, you’re the very stronghold,
I’m going to park in you, I’m going to pull into your presence, you’re like a
cave, like a fortress, you yourself are my stronghold, I’m going to hold up in
you.’ That’s remarkable.
“Consume Them In Wrath…Let Them Know That God Ruleth In Jacob Unto The End Of The Earth”
Verse 10, he says, “The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.” King James “prevent me”, it’s “go before me” ‘he’s going to precede me. LORD, you’re the God of my mercy,
you’re in charge of the mercy that’s going to come on my life, and you’re going
to go before me.’ “God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.” (verse 10b) “Slay them
not, lest my people forget: scatter them
by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them
even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the
earth. Selah.” (verses 11-13) By the way, that hasn’t changed. God still reigns in Jacob, unto the ends of
the earth. That has not changed one bit,
God is eternal, he never changes. So he’s saying here, ‘LORD, you’re going to go before me,
you’re the God of my mercy, you’re going to go before me, in all of this
there’s a measure of safety for me. Don’t just slay them LORD, don’t just smoke ‘em, drive
them away, let this be visible, let there be a lesson in this.’ Now,
in the New Testament, we’re to turn the other cheek, pray for those who
despitefully use you, pray for your enemies, we’re not allowed to say
this. It’s why I enjoy it so much,
listening to David say it, because I’m not allowed to
say it, ‘LORD, slay them, LORD, break their teeth LORD, smoke ‘em.’ You know, David says ‘LORD, don’t even just kill them,
just drive them away, let there be a lesson in it, let it be something visible,
let people see what you’re going to do, and consume them in your wrath.’ I know that sounds terrible, consume them in
your wrath, but remember this, the Old Testament, one Old Testament scholar I
read says, “The Old Testament has no
refrain as terrible as this, ‘the wrath of the Lamb.’” The Old Testament knows
nothing of that, “The wrath of the
Lamb.” Here it says, “Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob
unto the ends of the earth. Selah.” (verse 13) ‘LORD, do this in such a way that
there’s a lesson, and they’re going to know LORD that you’re on the
throne. Selah’ Something that’s going on today, this is a lesson that Iran should learn quickly, that
God has never retracted “I will bless them that bless thee, and I
will curse him that curseth thee.” (Genesis 12:3) It’s still in place. All the history of the world, you look at
every nation that’s turned against Israel, it should make us pray for our
president, pray for our country, because the God of Jacob ruleth unto the ends
of the earth, it has not changed.
With All This Going On In David’s Life, He Says ‘I’m Going To Sing, Lift My Voice To God’
“And at evening
let them return; and let them make a
noise like a dog, and go round about the city.” here it goes again, “Let them wander up and down for meat, and
grudge if they be not satisfied.” let them be miserable, “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will
sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy.” (verses 14-17) ‘the God of my mercy, the haschied, my stedfast love.’ Listen, here’s the deal with this Psalm,
Michtam, this is a golden Psalm, it’s to be remembered, it’s to be committed to
memory, it was to be sung publicly, and the deal was this. Here’s a young man. You think how troubled our world is
today. You think how Satan is warring
against the home, and warring against the family, and wanting to destroy young
lives and take them away. And David says
here, look, ‘No matter how bad this gets, you have to understand, I was there.’ And God puts this to the page for us, which
is still speaking this evening. You
know, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, watching my father’s flocks, for a bunch
of sheep I put my life on the line against a lion and a bear.’ Any of us willing to do
that? ‘And then the glory of Israel was
at stake, the glory of the God of Israel, the army wasn’t doing anything, so I
marched out on the battlefield and killed a giant with a sling. Saul sent me out to kill 100 Philistines, I
killed 200. Everything I did, I did what
was right, I did above and beyond, and for that I get this. And he wants to kill me, I did nothing wrong
with him, I did everything right. My own
wife, the closest person to me turns from me.’ God takes Jonathan away from him. Here’s a guy that’s got every reason in the
world to throw everything away, and instead of that, you hear him saying ‘LORD, you’re my
strength, you’re my stronghold, LORD, I didn’t do anything wrong,
this isn’t because of my sin,’ he’s looking around, he’s saying, ‘this is not because of my transgression.’ It’s going to be very different when we get
to Psalm 61. But he said, ‘I
didn’t do anything wrong, I have no fault, LORD, this is coming down on my
head, for what? for being faithful to you? for standing up for your glory? For doing this?’ And then what he says, he says, ‘You
know what I’m going to do?’ All
of you who find yourself in a similar circumstance,
please commit this to memory, ‘I’m going to run to him, because he’s my
stronghold. He himself is where I find
mercy, not in a particular set of circumstances, he himself, he is my
stronghold. When everything is coming
down around me, when I sense his presence, when he arises and he meets with
me,’ if that ain’t real, then we’re just playing a Christian game. He says, ‘When he meets with me, I have the great
sense he sees it all, he beholds, he understands what I’m going through. And what I’m going to do, I’m going to sing,
I’m not gonna drink, I’m not gonna smoke, I’m not gonna snort, I’m not gonna
get cut, I’m gonna sing.’ Doesn’t
that sound crazy? I think ‘Whatever he’s high on this, that’s better
than anything I’ve ever taken.’ No,
no, he’s high on the LORD, he’s high on the Truth of the
one who loves him and sustains him. You
know more about the LORD than he does, through the New
Testament. You have light that he
doesn’t have. Look, in your worst days,
instead of saying ‘I ain’t going to
church. What’s the point, why should I go to church?...no, no, David says, ‘You
know what I’m going to do, I’m going to sing. I’m going to church, I’m going to sing. I’m going to lift my voice, I’m going to lift my heart, I’m going to let
it out, I’m going to let it float up to heaven, I’m going to sing.’ That’s way better than the other
alternatives that the Devil wants to give out. ‘I will sing of thy power, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to sing aloud of thy mercy, in the
morning, might wake up the kids, but that’s what I’m going to do.’ “for thou hast been my defense and my
refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto
thee, O my strength, will I sing: for
God is my defense, and the God of my mercy.” (verses
16b-17)
Psalm 60:1-12
To
the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he
strove with Aram-naharaim, and with Aram-zobah, when Joab returned, and smote
of Edom in the valley of Salt twelve thousand.
“O God, thou hast
cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself
to us again. Thou has made the earth to
tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the
breaches thereof; for it shaketh. Thou
hast shewed thy people hard things: thou
hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be
displayed because of the truth. Selah. That thy beloved may be
delivered; save with thy right hand,
and hear me. God hath spoken in his
holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of
Succoth. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim also is the strength of mine
head; Judah is my lawgiver; Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of me. Who will bring me into the
strong city? who will lead me into
Edom? Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do
valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.”
Introduction
“Psalm
60. It says here “to the chief Musician
upon Shushan-eduth, the idea is “of lilies.” We don’t know, it seems to be a Psalm that was sung in the Spring,
probably relative to Passover. Is it a
postscript for the Psalm we just read, or an introduction to Psalm 60? It’s hard to be dogmatic. Certainly as we get to “Michtam of David,”
again, this is a golden Psalm, and it’s “to teach,” there’s something to be
learned, and it says this “when he” when David “strove with Aram-naharaim,” now
Aram, when it says Aram it’s talking about Syria, “Aram-naharaim” is “Aram at
the two rivers,” speaking of the Tigris and the Euphrates. “Aram-zobah,” it would be east of Hamath, in
the area of Lebanon today. And if you
want to go back and read in the Old Testament, just listen, it’ll be on the
tape, you want to read 2nd Samuel 8, 1st Chronicles 18, 1st Kings 11, this is a time when David is subduing all of the enemies of
Israel. He has taken up the sword of
Joshua, which was laid down. You know
Joshua went in and remarkably began to take the land, and there were great
exploits. But then you move into era of
the Judges, and it says God had to leave some of the enemy in the land to teach
them how to do war, to trust in him, to move in faith. But it becomes a time when everybody’s doing
what’s right in their own eyes. And the
enemy isn’t driven out of the land, and you follow that then through the
Judges, through the book of Ruth, you go on. David now has come to power. Saul
didn’t do it, Saul didn’t slay Agag, he was supposed to do those things, and
Samuel comes and says ‘What’s the deal, man? I told you, you were supposed to put Agag to
death.’ Saul answered to him, ‘Well,
I brought him as a prisoner, and I brought some sheep,’ when Samuel had
said ‘What’s
this bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen I hear in my ears?’ ‘Well I brought them for sacrifice.’ And Samuel has to say to Saul, ‘To
obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken is better than the fat of rams,
because rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is like
idolatry.’ And old Samuel, this
old wiry, white haired, long-bearded, you know, Gandolf prophet says, ‘Get
me a BIG machete, something,’ because it says, ‘Now bring Agag to me,’ and
it says ‘He hewed him in pieces.’ You
know, Jerry and I just listened to David Guisik, and he said, “Samuel had a street-rep.” [subdued
laughter] He hacked this guy to
smithereens, in pieces. In fact, then
when he comes to Bethlehem, everybody’s worried and said ‘Are you come peaceably?’ I mean, this is an old prophet, it’s kind of
the guy you like having around. But the
land hadn’t been cleared. When David
comes to power, and he finally takes the throne, he begins to move, and he is
dealing with all of the enemies of Israel. God had given Israel the land, all the way to the Euphrates River. All
the way north of Damascus, all the way south down to Egypt. You know, they’re always arguing over the
West Bank, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Wait till the Kingdom comes and see the land that Israel has. It stretches far and wide. [Comment: The other border was the River of Egypt,
which is the Nile River. In the Millennial
Kingdom of God, the re-gathered nation of Israel, all 12 tribes, may inherit
from God the enlarged area between these two large rivers, maybe from their
source-headwaters to where they empty into their respective oceans. That is one large hunk of real estate.] And David expanded the kingdom from 6,000
square miles to over 60,000 square miles. Now, there’s something wrong, he’s moved up north of Damascus, then
Syria was bigger than modern Syria today [and it’s large today], it reached all
the way to the Syria-Aram of the two rivers, and it was a huge area of
influence. And David is having
remarkable victory after victory after victory, and somehow as he gets way up
there, he hears that Edom had heard that the armies of Israel were that far
north, and they made an incursion into the south, figuring ‘We can cut Israel in half now, there military strength is not in the
area.’ David then, freaked out,
realizing ‘We may not have the manpower
in the South,’ he sends Joab down there, and Joab goes down with some Special Forces and confronts Edom, and
slaughters 12,000, another place says 18,000 in the Valley of Salt, and there’s
an incredible victory that breaks the back of Edom from that point onward.
All Of Israel’s Physical Defeats Are Secondary
Defeats---It’s The Same With Us
But
what happens is, is David is up in the North, fighting the battles of the LORD, he gets word about this
attack from behind in the South, and in the first 4 verses here he’s saying ‘LORD, what’s the deal? You’re letting this happen. LORD, what have we done wrong? How have we displeased you?’ Because he’s seeing victory after victory
after victory. And perhaps, like David
at the very end of his life, when he sends to number Israel, to take a census,
and God judges him, perhaps at this point there is a measure of pride in the
heart of David, because it’s victory after victory after victory after
victory. And then David starts to hear
about a defeat, and this is what he realizes, because he’s taken up the sword
of Joshua, he’s doing what no one has done since the days of Joshua, and
he realizes, all of Israel’s defeats are secondary defeats. Israel was promised by God victory over their
enemies, and if Israel was ever defeated, it was because they were defeated
somewhere in the spiritual realm first. From lack of prayer, lack of seeking the LORD, a lack of repentance,
pride. And he realizes, ‘LORD, their couldn’t have been
something going wrong unless first there was something wrong with us, LORD, but
you show us what that is.’ So that’s the deal. Look, you and I, we need to realize in our
lives, you can take this nationally, you can take this personally, any defeat
that we have is a secondary defeat. We
first have had a defeat spiritually somewhere, we haven’t prayed, we haven’t
sought the Lord, there’s some reason that a defeat has come our way, and we
need to say ‘Lord, what is it?’ Our victories are all secondary. He grants a victory to us because we walk in
his ways, we walk in his will. The
second after a victory, we can stand around and say ‘Man, I got this down, don’t I. You see the way I use a sword.’ No,
you are as dependent after a victory as you were a second before the victory,
on the Lord. And here David writes this
song, and he has a great sense of that. Way up North away from Jerusalem, way up, victory after victory, he
says, and you’re going to see in the first 4 verses, “thou” eight times. He knows the LORD is the one whose allowed
this. He says, “O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been
displeased; O turn thyself to us again.” (verse 1) ‘What
is it LORD, what’s the deal here, what
have we done wrong?’ “Thou
hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.”
(verse 2) “heal the breaches” he says, ‘where the walls are broken down
here, our defenses,’ “heal the breaches thereof;. for it shaketh.” The land of Israel, the whole earth, he says,
is shaking. “Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of
astonishment.” (verse 3) ‘LORD, we’re amazed at what’s taking
place here.’
You’ve Given Us A Banner, LORD, Why’s This Happening To Us?
And
yet he says this, “Thou hast given a
banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the
truth. Selah.” (verse 4) ‘What do you think about that? I’m struggling here, it seems you’ve cast us
off, there’s something going wrong, we’re breaking down, we’ve seen victory
after victory after victory, all of a sudden LORD this is taking place, what
needs to get straightened in our hearts, LORD? What do we need to make right here? Help me understand, help me see,’ he says, ‘you’ve given us a banner.’ No doubt, he knows the story of Moses and the
children of Israel coming out of Egypt, when they get in Exodus 17 in the
Wilderness, that Amalek comes and attacks them from behind, and he feels he’s
been attacked from the South, from the hinder parts, and they start to take
down the weak and the elderly and so forth, and then Moses enters into the
battle there with Amalek and so forth. And Aaron and Hur help him hold up the staff and there’s victory, it’s
supernatural. But he builds an altar
there and he calls the name of that place Jehovah-nisi, the LORD is our banner. And David, knowing that, because his
victories had been supernatural, he says, ‘LORD, you’ve given us a banner,’ no doubt thinking of Jehovah-nisi, “to them that fear thee,” ‘LORD, we stand in awe of you,
you’ve done that, and you’ve given us this banner,’ “that
it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.” ‘That the nations might
see, that it might be a testimony, Selah, what do you think about that?’
David Begins To Anticipate Victory Now---The
Victory Is God’s Not Ours
And
then he says this, this banner, LORD, because of your
faithfulness,’ “That thy beloved may be
delivered; save with thy right hand,
and hear me. God hath spoken in his
holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of
Succoth.” (verse 6) ‘LORD, this is your Word, it can’t
be retracted. “I
will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.”
(verse 6b) Now, what he’s going to do
here, is he gives us a picture somewhat of the Jordan Valley, of the North and
the South. Shechem is on the west side
of the Jordan River. Ah, how many of you
have been to Israel? Come’on, why don’t
you guys just go to Israel with us? What’s the problem? But if you’d
gone you would really appreciate all this. When we go up on the mountains and look at the whole Jordan Valley, you
can see Gilead, you can see Jabok, you can see the whole expanse. On one side, the Israeli side, today, is the
area of Shechem, on the other side is Succoth where the River Jabok is and so
forth, he’s looking on both sides of the Jordan River here. He says, “I
will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.” (verse 6b) i.e. ‘measure
out the valley of Succoth.’ “Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim
also is the strength of mine head;
Judah is my lawgiver;” you
remember Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh took the other side of the
Jordan River, as they went to come into the land with Joshua. ‘Gilead, up in that beautiful area,
Manasseh, is mine,’ David says, ‘You’ve given this to me,’ ‘Ephraim, on
Israel’s side, on the west side of the Jordan, also is the strength of my
head,’ this is the head of the nation, [Ephraim was the lead tribe of
the northern House of Israel, composed of ten tribes] the Northern part of the
nation. ‘Judah’ he says, ‘is
my lawgiver.’ That’s where
Jerusalem is, and so forth. “Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my
shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of
me.” (verse 8) ‘is my washpot, it’s a disdain, the Moabites and so forth.’ And he says, “over Edom will I cast out my shoe:” like throwing your shoe at a
slave, and having responsibility for that. Hard to translate here, verse 8c, “Philistia, triumph thou because of me.” It seems to indicate ‘Philistia, I will shout over
Philistia.’ or ‘over
Philistia I will shout.’ The
idea is, even over the area of Philistia there’s going to be a shout of
triumph. So he’s first telling us about
the defeat (due to Edom attacking in the South), he’s going to say it in verses
5 to where we read down to 8, but there are the promises of God, and in verse 9 now he begins to anticipate
victory. He says, “Who will bring me into the
strong city? who will lead me into Edom?”
(verse 9) no doubt, thinking of
Petra, speaking of Edom and Philistia. Ah, “Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?” you know,
you watch Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade, where they go through that crevasse
and end up in Petra. How many of you
guys have been to Petra? Talk to
somebody with their hand raised afterwards. It’ll blow your mind, it’s remarkable. You go through this long crevasse, and you come in, it was a city the
size of Manhattan, minimum of 300,000 inhabitants, [living quarters] all carved
into the stones, remarkable, even today, treasuries, banks, idolatry, all of
the tradesmen would pull in there for rest. It was defendable because it was this long narrow crevasse that you had
to go through to get into it. He says
here, “Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?” he says, “Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us
off? and thou, O God, which didst
not go out with our armies?” (verse 10) ‘LORD,
it seems like you cast us off, but you’re the one that’s going to do
this.’ “and
thou, O God, which didst not go out
with our armies?” ‘you’re the one, LORD.’ “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.” (verse 11) and this I think kind of gives us a sense of the Psalm, “for vain is the help of
man.” (verse 11b) underline that in
your Bible. That’s a good
bumper-sticker, by the way, VAIN IS THE HELP OF MAN. Because you know what, when we get in
trouble, we get mad at people all the time, don’t we, ‘They don’t do this, they don’t do that, they won’t help us.’ David realizes ‘No, there’s no secondary causes,
we’re God’s people, he’s given us a banner. If there’s something cooking, LORD, that’s between you and me,
help me understand, LORD, help me to know how to move
forward, if you’re with me, who can be against me?’ If God is for us, who can be against us? He’s given us victory. ‘If I’m blowing it, if I’m messing up, then
show me where, LORD.’ And
look, you and I should have no confusion, because this is an open-book test,
it’s an open-book test. He says, “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.” he may have been overconfident, early on, as he
moves on. Now he’s realizing ‘LORD, you’re the one who has to do
this, it seems like you’ve cast us off, but you’ve given us a banner, LORD, you weren’t going out with
our armies, now give us help from trouble, I understand LORD, vain is the help of man. Now I’m not even going to trust Joab, as he
goes into the South, you’re going to have to do that, he may be my greatest
general, but LORD, you alone are going to secure
this.’ “Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it
is that shall tread down our enemies.” (verse 12) Look,
great for us, ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and
powers, rulers of darkness in high places,’ the New Testament says (Ephesians
6:12) There is warfare, there is
warfare. Christians make two mistakes
with [spiritual] warfare. One is they
give the enemy more press than the Bible gives them, ‘The devil made me do it, the devil made me do it, the devil made me
do it, the devil made me eat the extra donut.’ He did not. You ate it. The devil can only be
at one place at one time. He’s not
omnipresent, I’m sure he’s hassling the President, he’s hassling Putin, he’s
trying to get somebody to push a button somewhere, he’s got more important
things to do than hassle you. Again, you
have some buck-private demon liar that hassles you, he’s ugly, he’s mean, but
there is warfare, through the power of suggestion, you know. When Joe Wheeler was here, again, he said he
had written 30 books for James Dobson, he’s written 50 books on his own, and
one of the books he wrote for Dobson about turning off the remote, he studied
the past 25 years or so of, you know, remote-controlled TV, then to
cell-phones, then to I-phones, and Ipads, and just, now we have the whole world
in front of us now. And he says, what
scientists have observed, that so many young people in cyberspace, and their
experience and what they observe is everything they pull right up to their
face, their brains are not actually developing synapses that can
anticipate. Because 50 years ago or 100
years ago, people are reading a book, they’re reading a story, and they’re
saying ‘I bet I know what happens! I know who the bad guy’s gonna be!’ Or even you remember growing up watching a
Sherlock Holmes or something, ‘I know
what it’s going to be, didn’t I tell you that was who it was going to be?’ and you think ahead, you anticipate. They said, sadly now, a whole generation is
not even developing the processes to anticipate. So they aren’t anticipating consequences when
they sin, they’re not anticipating the fruit of what they’re doing, coming down
and having to deal with it somewhere down the line. We’re producing a generation who are so into
cyberspace, they’re only downloading what Big Brother determines they can
download, somebody’s determining what they get, you know, it’s on the menu, you
don’t pick it yourself. And we’re
getting so ingrained in that, we’ve forgotten how, we’re not training our minds
to think ahead, to anticipate, to look forward. Of course the Scriptures are always telling us to anticipate, ‘understand,
this is what’s going to happen [that is what Bible prophecy is all about], God is
going to have victory in the end, he’s the one who comes out on top, we know
the end of the story, he is the Lord of lords, he is the King of kings.’ You know, when there’s terrible things that
come, we need to sit down, we need to take inventory, ‘Lord, help me think, help me
look forward, help me understand, what am I doing, help me iron these things
out.’ And I believe that he is
of course always faithful to do that.
Psalm 61:1-8
To
the chief Musician upon Neginah, A Psalm of David.
“Hear my cry, O
God; attend unto my prayer. From the end
of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For
thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will
abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will
trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. For thou, O God, hast
heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy
name. Thou wilt prolong the king’s
life: and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may
preserve him. So will I sing praise unto
thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.”
Introduction
“Now,
Psalm 61. “To the chief Musician upon
Neginah” “smitings,” which some feel was a postscript to
the last Psalm, because it’s seemed like smitings. This is a Psalm of David. Most scholars agree, this is written in
regards to Absalom’s rebellion. David
when he fled Jerusalem, if you remember, he crosses over the Kidron, he goes up
the Mount of Olives, he moves then across the Jordan, and he’s up in the area
of Gilead and Mahanaim, with Barzillai, an old tribal leader up there, an old
man who loves David, and has brought out everything for his troops, for his
men, offered him hospitality (cf. 2nd Samuel 17:22, 27-29). And David no doubt at this point in time has
heard that Absalom is dead, the rebellion has turned. And yet David feels so far from the
Tabernacle, so far from the Ark of the Covenant that he sent back to Jerusalem,
and he writes this Psalm in great heartache. In Psalm 59 remember he said, “It’s
not my fault, I didn’t sin. I didn’t
transgress.” This is a Psalm he
writes realizing that if it wasn’t for his sin, you know, this disaster
wouldn’t be talking place in his own home and own kingdom. Remember, when Nathan came to him after his
sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, and he told him in the parable, he says “thou
art the man, thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee
king over Israel, I delivered thee out the hand of Saul, I gave thee thy
master’s house, thy master’s wives,’ his harem, a sign of the kingdom passing out of
Saul’s hands, ‘into they bosom, I gave thee the House of Israel, and of Judah, and if
that had been too little I would have given you moreover, whatever things you
would have asked, I would have given anything. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD to do evil in his sight, thou
hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you have taken his wife to be thy
wife, and hast slain him with the sword with the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart
from your house, because you have despised me, and you’ve taken his wife, thus
your wives will be put out in the sun, you’re going to be shamed in all of
this.’ and
he says, ‘Thou did it secretly, but I will do these things before Israel to be
seen.’ And David said to Nathan ‘I
have sinned against the LORD.’ and Nathan said unto David, ‘The
LORD hath also put away thy sin,’ remarkable, ‘thou shalt not die. Howbeit,
because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also
that was born of thee shall surely die,’ and so forth. So David has this incredible sense of his failure. He was never the king or the father he had been
earlier in his life, and as he writes this Psalm, let’s read it, “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my
prayer. From the end of the earth will I
cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is
higher than I. For thou hast been a
shelter for me, and a strong tower
from the enemy. I will abide in thy
tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the
covert of thy wings. Selah. For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name.” it turns Messianic,
no doubt he sees more, “Thou wilt
prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever,
that I may daily perform my vows.” (verses 1-8) David now, no doubt from the area of Mahanaim, looking down south,
feeling far from the Ark of the Covenant and worship. Hearing that Absalom his son is dead, hung up
in a tree by his hair, he knows the Scripture that says ‘Cursed is everyone that hangeth
in a tree,’ no doubt he had cried and carried on ‘O Absalom! O Absalom! O Absalom!’ and Joab finally said ‘David, stop it! You’ve got a victory, you’ve got the kingdom
back again, you’re causing your men to feel shamed instead of feeling,
rejoicing in the victory.’ But
David, in the context of this, is thinking ‘If I hadn’t committed adultery, if I hadn’t
committed murder, this is all come on my house, Nathan said this would come, LORD I know you’ve forgiven me,’ he’s told us
in Psalm
51, ‘God, create in me a clean heart,
bara, from nothing, regenerate, cause to exist something that wasn’t there,
create in me a clean heart.’ You
know, he’s gone through those things, but he still carries this, and we get
much of it, he was never the king he was again, but he was a much greater
Psalmist towards the end of his life, signing off again, “the sweet Psalmist of Israel,” not the giant-slayer, not the king,
he signs off as “the sweet Psalmist of
Israel.”
David Cries Out, Realizing He’s Blown It
And
here with a broken heart, “Hear my cry,” is “my lamentation” or “my piercing cry” , David very
visceral, very emotional. “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my
prayer.” (verse 1) Listen, this is
for anybody whose blown it. Anybody here
whose murdered anybody, committed adultery, you’ve blown it big-time, you
probably haven’t out-sinned David, but you’ve blown it big-time, and you’re
thinking ‘Can God ever forgive me, can
God ever be gracious to me again?’ And the answer is yes, the answer is yes. Through the death of his Son on the cross,
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The answer is yes. No matter how far away you feel this evening,
you can come back to him, he loves you. His mercies are new every morning. He says “Hear my lamentation, my piercing cry, O
God; attend unto my prayer.” (verse 1) “From the end of the earth will I cry unto
thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead
me to the rock that is higher than
I.” (verse 2) He hears us from
anywhere, way up north. “when my heart is overwhelmed” great
thing, don’t we all know that? Do we all
know this, “I will cry unto thee, when
my heart is overwhelmed,” do we all know that? If you don’t, you just got saved this morning
on the way in or something. ‘When
my heart is overwhelmed I will cry unto thee,’ and then he’s asking for
grace, ‘lead me, the adulterer, the murderer, LORD, lead me, LORD.’ No
longer ‘I’m going with the sword in my
hand, I’ve got Joshua’s sword, I’m whupping everybody.’ It’s not longer, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, there’s no
transgression,’ he’s coming from a completely broken place, and he says “lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (verse 2b) You can pray that this evening. [Comment: I remember as a new-believer, and starting to fellowship within the
Worldwide Church of God, and because of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit having a
love for God’s law, as David expressed in Psalm 119:97, and in the flush of
that spiritual first-love, obeying every law and precept I could find in God’s
Word, and I know it was in the power of God’s Spirit, but I was cocky, feeling
I was keeping all the law, all the do’s and don’ts, almost the same attitude
reflected in David’s Cave Psalms, “I
didn’t do anything wrong.” Looking
back, I see that this was a physical level of obedience. Many could come into a church, be emotionally
or intellectually convinced that God exists, and the Bible is his Word, but
never really receive God’s Holy Spirit, and believe they’re “members in good
standing, real Christians,” doing all the “minister” says, and not really be
with it spiritually, it’s merely a legalistic trip they’re on. And some churches, due to a wrong paradigm
they’re on about this, don’t realize many of their members could be in this
boat. I did have the Holy Spirit though,
as time and experience showed me. But as
I matured, and discovered the far deeper element of real obedience, as I grew
older and wrestled with sin at the thought level, as Jesus told us to in
Matthew 5:17-48, I found myself in a huge struggle, and not always winning, but
more often than not, loosing, as Paul so aptly expressed in Romans
7:21-25. It was then that I discovered
that churches can’t legislate obedience from the pulpit or through their slick
publications and booklets (those things should guide and teach, but not attempt
to enforce or legislate obedience), true obedience has to come from the heart,
the heart of God being placed within us, as we see the corrupt nature in us
that prevents us from achieving obedience at the thought level, and cry out to
God as David did in Psalm 51, to create, bara, from nothing, that clean heart
within me. Real obedience can’t be
enforced or legislated from the pulpit, but has to come from the heart, and
that, through a lifetime of grace-oriented spiritual overcoming and growth in
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. These churches that demand a high level of obedience to the law of God
before baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit have got the cart before
the horse. Any semblance of real
obedience doesn’t come until the Holy Spirit of God dwells
within an individual and grants spiritual power and understanding, and leads
and guides that individual out of sin. And that leading and guiding out of sin is a lifetime process, baptism and
the receiving of the Holy Spirit is only the beginning of the long spiritual
journey to maturity and eternal life. David in the Psalms after the Uriah-Bathsheba incident has now been
brought to this higher level of obedience and spiritual maturity.] “lead
me to the rock that is higher than
I.” You can pray that this
evening. “For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.” (verse 3) You have to let Jesus be that for you. Satan is the enemy, he’s the accuser of the
brethren. It tells us in Revelation
chapter 12 that he accuses the Christian day and night, 24/7, without
stopping. But it says there ‘They
overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.’ Not because they were worthy. He says, ‘You’ve been a shelter for me, and a strong
tower from the enemy.’ “I will abide
in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust
in the covert of thy wings. Selah.”
(verse 4) Some try to make reference
to the Ark of the Covenant and the cherubim on the lid of the Mercy Seat here
in this verse, we’re not sure. No doubt
David in the wilderness had seen a mother hen, and then Jesus had said ‘How
often would I have gathered thee under my wings as a hen gathers her chicks,
and you would not.’ He senses the
covert, the place where I can hide, shelter, LORD, it’s under your covering,
it’s not a physical place.’ “I will trust in the covert of thy
wings. Selah.” ‘What do you think about that?’ Looking back, he says this, “For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the
heritage of those that fear thy name.” (verse 5) ‘LORD, looking back, you’ve been
faithful to me LORD, I’ve done things wrong, you
know I fear your name, LORD, I hold you in great reverence
and esteem, I know I’m a sinner saved by grace, you’ve given me the heritage of
those that fear thy name.’
David Sees And Prophecies Of The Messiah
He
says, “Thou wilt prolong the king’s
life: and his years as many generations.” (verse 6) He
looks forward now. In the Promises he
knows that there is for his own throne, the House of David, in this also no
doubt he’s seeing the Messiah. “He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever,
that I may daily perform my vows.” (verses 7-8) His son has just been killed. He’s driven from his kingdom. He is as down in circumstances as anybody
could possibly get. And again, something
he learned when he was 20-years-old, and we’re hearing it again, “So will I sing praise unto thy name for
ever, that I may daily perform my vows.” (verse 8) Interesting in the Hebrew “perform” there, the word “shalom” is part of the root there, ‘that
I may have peace, LORD, perform, there’s peace in
this for me now, LORD.’
In Closing
Psalm
59, you’re
sitting here this evening, ‘I’m getting the rotten end of the stick,
and it ain’t my fault,’ just wait, it will be someday. [I love you Joe! When you’ve been a Christian for awhile,
you’ll see what he’s talking about. See
my previous comment.] But it’s not
tonight. ‘It ain’t my fault, I didn’t do
anything wrong, I don’t deserve this, LORD, I’m going to trust you, I’m
going to look to you LORD, stir yourself, meet with me,
please LORD. Because if I know you’re watching all this, I
can take it. Because the wicked, they’re
like dogs, there’s no end to this, they’re prowling around. And LORD, it’s not just me, this is who
you are in time and eternity in the whole earth, in the history of
mankind. So what I’m going to do LORD, I’m crushed, I’m down, I’m
betrayed, I’m gonna sing.’ Next Psalm (Psalm 60)
warfare. And Christians are either in
warfare, going out of warfare, or going into warfare, you’re in one of those
three places. And he says there, ‘OK LORD, what’s the deal, I’m running
into a snag here, I’m not sure what’s wrong. You’ve given us a banner, you’ve said we’re your own, you know, you and
I are sealed with the Spirit of Promise until the day of redemption, we’re
going to experience victory, LORD, whatever it is here that’s
wrong, show me, because your name’s at stake, your truth is at stake,’ and he finally goes on to say, ‘You
know what, I’m going to trust you, trusting man is a vain thing. There’s no human, there’s no human strength
that can do this, it’s yours LORD, and it’s your reputation,
it’s your battle, it’s not mine, I’m not gonna do this, I’m going to let you
fight my battles, this is what I’m going to do, when I’m feeling defeated, when
I’m attacked from behind, this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to sing.’ Ok,
so if that’s you tonight, that’s good advice for you. ‘I’m going to sing.’ Last one (Psalm 61), towards the end
of his life, he’s messed up, he’s had major sins, things wrong, looking at
things falling apart around him, brokenhearted, his son whom he loved, Absalom,
been hung in a tree, God has as much said to him ‘He’s lost, David, he was bad seed, he never turned, he died in
rebellion, it says cursed is everyone that hangs in a tree.’ David’s heart is deeply broken, deeply
troubled. And he’s not going to God boldly
anymore saying ‘It’s not my fault, I
didn’t do anything,’ he’s owning it. And he’s just saying ‘I’m going to take shelter under the shadow
of your wings, LORD, you’re my strong tower,
you’re my strength, you’re everything, I got nothing, you’re everything, LORD, you’re the one that’s
faithful. And LORD, your Kingdom’s coming,
preserve your King, he’s going to live forever. And what I’m going to do with my broken heart, and my sense of
unworthiness is this, I’m going to sing.’ OK? Rob, I think we should sing, don’t you? From the beginning of our life to our old
age, [applause] from the beginning of our life to our old age, I think that
theme, as we go through this ancient Hymn Book, I’m going to sing. Let’s stand, let’s pray…[transcript of a
connective expository sermon on Psalm 59:1-17, Psalm 60:1-12 and Psalm 61:1-8,
given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont
Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
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