O, Deer, What Can the Matter Be, David’s So Long in Despair (Psalm 42)

Turns out Waldo is an immigrant whose European name is Wally.

Where’s Wally? was published in 1987 in the United Kingdom. In the United States it was published as Where’s Waldo?

In the book, Waldo travels to everyday places, where he sends postcards to the reader (which are the pictures in the book), and you must find him in huge crowds.

There is a brand new, COVID-19 version of Where’s Waldo? Artists Pedro Mezzini and Clay Bennett gave Waldo a social distancing makeover. I’m not joking. As you might guess, Waldo is a quick find.

On the cover, Waldo is sporting a surgical mask. In reviews I read, however, more than one person scolds Waldo for not sheltering at home.

Twice in Psalm 42 we will hear the question, “Where is your God?” Instead of giving a theological answer or argument, the psalmist drew back the curtain and shared his personal longings:

In verses one through four, he is anguished because he could not be in the assembly of God’s people.
In the remaining verses, he is agonized because of some tremendous affliction.

Anguished and agonized, he nevertheless declares that his “hope” is in the Lord. His afflictions will come to their end; and he looks forward to the day he will again assemble with God’s people. He never doubts that God is, in fact, present.

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 “Where Is Your God?” He Is In The Great Assembly, and #2 “Where Is Your God?” He Is In Your Graced Afflictions.

#1 – “Where Is Your God?” He Is In The Great Assembly (v1-4)

Star Wars Episode 4. It ends with the heroes being cheered at a great, galactic assembly.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, near the end, features Aragorn’s crowning as king in a great assembly of Middle Earth in Gondor.

The Bible, in episode 66, looks forward to a great assembly of believers and angels:

Rev 5:11  Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

Rev 7:9-11  After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
Rev 7:10  and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Rev 7:11  All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

At that heavenly assembly, we are told that Jesus, “WILL DECLARE YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN; IN THE MIDST OF THE ASSEMBLY I WILL SING PRAISE TO YOU” (Hebrews 2:12).

Just how much of this the psalmist understood, we don’t know. I’m guessing, however, that the psalmist had some idea that the assembling of God’s people on earth was a foretaste of a gathering in Heaven.

Psa 42:1  To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the Sons of Korah…

“Contemplation” is from the Hebrew, maschil.

One scholar noted, “[it is] a musical term denoting a melody requiring great skill in its execution.” It may be that David penned this song, but only the musical family, the Sons of Korah, could perform it.

I bet you don’t know that William Shatner recorded an album, and did a cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. It is on every list of worst covers ever.

Psa 42:1  To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of the Sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.

“Deer” is sometimes rendered, more poetically, “hart.” The hart in this case would be parched from either a long drought, or from a recent pursuit. It was an apt description of several possible seasons in David’s life. For example:

He was on the run from King Saul for maybe thirteen years. Long drought.

He had to quickly evacuate the palace when his son, Absalom, rebelled. Pursuit.

We sing this chorus, but I don’t think we understand the anguish of it. We sing it as a reminder of how much we ought to long after God. We are usually more comfortable when we sing it.

Psa 42:2  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

What is your go-to thirst quencher? The healthy folks over at LiveStrong say, “Go for the water.”

Christians seem to have an insatiable thirst, but I sometimes question the quenchers we reach for. Program after program after program promises to quench your thirst. But just thinking logically, if the program worked, why would it quickly be replaced by the next?

I came across an article titled, Hiker Dies of Thirst with Water All Around.

By Day 2 in the blazing Utah desert, Dave Buschow was in bad shape.

Pale, wracked by cramps, his speech slurred, the 29-year-old New Jersey man was desperate for water and hallucinating so badly he mistook a tree for a person.

After going roughly 10 hours without a drink in the 100-degree heat, he finally dropped dead of thirst, face down in the dirt, less than 100 yards from the goal: a cave with a pool of water.

But Buschow was no solitary soul, lost and alone in the desert. He and 11 other hikers from various walks of life were being led by expert guides on a wilderness-survival adventure designed to test their physical and mental toughness.

And the guides, it turned out, were carrying emergency water on that torrid summer day.

Buschow wasn’t told that, and he wasn’t offered any. The guides did not want him to fail the $3,175 course. They wanted him to dig deep, push himself beyond his known limits, and make it to the cave on his own.

Too many so-called Christian thirst quenchers are exactly like that.

They make you do work for the water, when in fact God has promised it to you by grace.

Here is a better quench: Repetitive reading of Scripture, out loud.

David’s particular thirst was spiritual, and it could only be quenched by “appearing” before the “living God.” He meant appearing in the Temple, with the assembly of God’s people.

Now David, of all Jews, knew that God was omnipresent. In another psalm he would sing, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.“ (139:7-10).

Notwithstanding God’s omnipresence, David panted for the assembling of the saints.

Psa 42:3  My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”

He fasted, but not on purpose. He was so overwhelmed by his exile that he cried through mealtimes, as all the days blended together.

Who was asking, “Where is your God?” Enemies, for sure. David had been anointed with oil by Samuel as the rightful king; but he languished in exile, a hunted man.

It could also have been those who accompanied David in his exile. Even though friends, they must have wondered why the return of the king was waiting.

Psa 42:4  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.

David was recalling the ‘normal’ Hebrew life:

Regular assemblies of God’s people in the Tabernacle, which was the center of Jewish life.
Seven annual pilgrim feasts, three of which were graciously mandatory, and would swell the population of Jerusalem with pilgrims.

In this psalm, at this time in David’s life, the thing he missed most was worshipping with other believers. He had the omnipresence of God. God the Holy Spirit was with him. He longed for His presence in the assembly.

This was the guy who wanted to get God out of the Tabernacle and into a Temple.

Even when told “No,” he continued to plan for the Temple to be built by his son, Solomon. David was a hardcore worship junkie.

For David, there could be no “new normal.” He must get back to worship as prescribed by God.

Psalm 42 is not about COVID-19… Not about sheltering in place, or social distancing when in public. But it’s principles can suggest a meditation.

In this time of sheltering-exile, what is it you really miss the most? Your honest answer will give you a look at your actual priorities. I’m not saying meeting together as the church must be #1, or else. But you should have a longing for it – and feel anguished that it has been rendered difficult, if not impossible.

And we must never settle for some forced “new normal.”

Let me share an ominous thought. Churches are virtual; on-line, on YouTube, on Facebook, etc. These platforms are getting increasingly political. For example, here is a recent quote: “Under mounting pressure to counter misinformation around the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook is increasingly dictating what its users should see and think.”

Facebook is removing posts that they feel violate their opinions about COVID-19.

It’s only the push of a button away from tech giants censoring the virtual church. If this quarantine goes too much longer – it will happen.

Another recent article said, “Significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable components of a mature and flourishing internet, and governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with society’s norms and values.”

Wow.

#2 – “Where Is Your God?” He Is In Your Graced Afflictions (v5-11)

Do you talk to yourself? You probably do; I know I do. We are in good company. In these remaining verses, David has a conversation with himself as he is talking to God. Let’s listen in.

Psa 42:5  Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.

In a classic commentary on Psalm 42, Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote,

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: Instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.”

Great advice. Take control of the conversation. Maybe even filibuster against despair and depression.

“Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.” In the Bible, “hope” denotes certainty. David’s other voice was certain he would “praise” and experience God’s “countenance.”

I think this looks forward to once again being in the assembly, worshipping God. It was there that Jews experienced His manifested presence among them – “the help of His countenance.”

Having the complete revelation of God, we look farther forward to the great assemblies in Heaven. Mean time, we have God the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

This verse, part of it at least, is quoted. In the gospels of Matthew and Mark by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s not very obvious; it is something language scholars have carefully identified.

That being said, I find it wondrous that Jesus found comfort in the psalms – just like we do. I’ve mentioned before: Jesus quoted from Psalms more than any other Old Testament book. Perhaps we should, too.

Psa 42:6  O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar.

David was “cast down,” but after talking to himself, he had a better handle on what he wanted to say to the Lord. He might be in exile, giving us his GPS co-ordinates; but he would “remember” the Lord.

That doesn’t mean he had drifted from Him; we saw how his soul longed for God. It means he would “remember” God’s promises to him. He would be king; he would see his son on the throne.

Psa 42:7  Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.

“Deep calls unto deep” is sometimes lifted as a stand-alone phrase to describe God trying to teach us deep things. In context, not so much. The Pulpit Commentary says this:

The rolling up of the waves into a swell, and the break of the top of the swell, and its dash upon the shore, are surprisingly represented in the sound of the two last words. The psalmist seems to represent himself as cast away at sea; and by wave impelling wave, is carried to a rock, around which the surges dash in all directions, forming hollow sounds in the creeks and caverns. At last, several waves breaking over him, tear him away from that rock to which he clung, and where he had a little before found a resting-place, and, apparently, an escape from danger. “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.” He is then whelmed in the deep, and God alone can save him.

Psa 42:8  The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me – A prayer to the God of my life.

I think The Message Bible captures this better: “GOD promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God’s prayer.”

David portrays God as a loving parent, singing comforting songs if need be to His son in the night.

He loved God three thousand for comforting him.

How is “my life… God’s prayer?” If prayer is having a conversation with God, people can ‘hear’ what God and I are saying by seeing my life. My countenance reveals His countenance as we daily look into His wonderful face and are changed from glory-to-glory into His image.

Psa 42:9  I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
Psa 42:10  As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

This makes it sound like David had again sunken into despair. One version starts the verse, “I sometimes say.”

This, then, is what David would sometimes say, and would have said, if not for the intervention of talking to himself.

Instead of what he sometimes said, he said,

Psa 42:11  Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

My paraphrase: “Get yourself out of verse 9&10 thinking, and think verse 11.

“I shall yet praise Him,” I suggest, anticipates a return to the assembly of saints. After all, that is David’s great yearning – his thirst quencher – in this psalm.

The “help of my countenance” means David’s afflictions, understood as in the will of God, will contribute to a better countenance. People will see God in him.

One example would be Stephen, the first martyr.
Before being stoned to death, we are told that “all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15).

You may never glow; but on a spiritual level, folks can ‘see’ God’s countenance in you.

I’m using the term, “graced afflictions.” The waves may dash you upon the rocks; and just when you think you’ve found something to hold on to, you’re drawn out to sea. When God is your only hope, when His grace is sufficient, that is when you shine.

Where is your God? David answered that question by letting us look into his personal conversations with God, and with himself. His answer, if that’s what we can call it, was this: God manifests His grace through my afflictions; and He manifests Himself in the great assembly of His people.

Grace & gathering. It boils down to those two words.

Sweet Sovereign Comfort (Psalm 41)

What is the first thing that pops into your head when I say, “comfort food?”

For me, it’s ¼ to ½ pound of spaghetti, thick with marinara sauce, covered with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, followed by a generous slice of Grandma Mary’s cheesecake.

There’s a scene in the movie Signs where the family thinks they might be having their last meal before being overrun by aliens:

The little girl, Bo, wants spaghetti.
Her brother Morgan wants French toast and mashed potatoes.
Uncle Merrill – chicken teriyaki.
Father Graham says, “I’m going to have a cheeseburger with bacon. Extra bacon.”

Comfort is a prominent theme in Psalm 41. King David was in serious physical distress. No one comforted him. Quite the opposite. His “enemies” and those who “hate[d]” him hoped he would never get up from his sickbed.

That his enemies would be so comfort-less was to be expected. But then there is this, in verse nine: “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.”

No one comforted David. No one on earth, that is. Comfort-less, David looked to the Lord to be his Comforter.

You may never be in a distress so lonely that literally no one on earth comforts you. At least, I hope not. The more important takeaway from Psalm 41, however, is this: The Lord is your constant comforter.

If others comfort you, that is a bonus – but it is not a necessity. I don’t say that to excuse our having compassion upon others. We are urged to, “comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (Second Corinthians 1:4).

We are to be comforters. We are fallible. We can be miserable comforters. Never so the Lord; look to Him first and often for comfort.

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 You Are The Lord’s Anointed Comforter, and #2 The Lord Is Your Ample Comforter.

#1 – You Are The Lord’s Anointed Comforter (v1-3)

King David was sick. Glance at verse eight, “An evil disease,” they say, “clings to him. And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”

What do we do when we are sick? We go to the Lord, in prayer, with our requests. David does just that, beginning with verse four. Before he asked the Lord to heal him, he gave his request a three-verse prologue. He rehearsed his own response when others were in distress.

Was he trying to earn his healing, by pointing to his own good works? I don’t think so – especially because he will open his prayer by asking the Lord to be merciful to him.

Why this prologue? It shows two things:

First – In their response to David’s suffering, the people around him were exposed as hypocrites. The sickness was being used by God to reveal the hearts of others. This doesn’t necessitate that the Lord caused the sickness – only that He could work with it to make all things work together for the good.
Second – We must differentiate between the Old Covenant David was under, and our New Covenant in Jesus. Under the Old, God promised to reward right behavior with physical blessing. David will show that he had behaved righteously toward the sick, thus God should bless Him physically, according to His Word. I’ll talk about it more, but now under the New Covenant, believers in Christ Jesus are not promised physical blessings so much as spiritual ones.

That was a lengthy, but necessary, prologue to David’s prologue.

Psa 41:1  To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
Psa 41:2  The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
Psa 41:3  The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.

Remember, this is a song. These first three verses – instead of being a prologue, maybe they were a kind of spoken word intro? If you’re having trouble thinking of a song with a spoken word intro, I’d recommend one of the last Johnny Cash songs, The Man Comes Around.

Maybe I focus too much on suffering, but the first things I hear in this spoken word are “poor, “trouble,” “bed of illness,” and “sickbed.” David did not think it strange he might be sick. The physical blessings God promised did not mean an individual would never get sick, never die.

They did mean David could boldly ask for the things he did in these verses: consideration, preservation, blessing, strengthening, and sustaining.
As for consideration – Sometimes your cause is just a matter of getting it before the right person. As believers, it isn’t a matter of discovering the secret spiritual behaviors necessary before God will hear us. That’s legalism. We’re told to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

As for preservation – “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).

As for blessing – Our blessings are spiritual. We have every spiritual resource at our disposal. We tend to look too much on the now, not enough on Heaven. Who remembers Now&Later candy bars? You didn’t eat it all at once; you saved for later.

“Now&Laters” might be a good nickname for believers. We’re saved now, but we look to what is coming later.

As for strengthening – Here are two verses to reflect upon:

2Co 13:4 For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.

2Co 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

God’s strength is shown through our weakness.

Sustaining is the byproduct of the Lord’s strengthening. The power of Jesus’ resurrection is ours to draw upon.

David comforted the “poor.” Not just people in poverty. The word is broad enough to include all type of suffering. One image I’ve never had of David is him doing hospital visitation. Or making a death notification. He must have done all that.

As God’s anointed king, he expressed the anointing by being among the poor.

As Christians, we use the word, “anointed,” usually to describe serving that was accompanied by a strong sense of God the Holy Spirit leading it, and present in it.

One more thing, and then I’ll be able to make a point. Jesus promised believers He would send the Promise of the Father – God the Holy Spirit – in permanently indwell us. And Jesus called Him, the Comforter.

My point: Every believer, by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit, is already anointed to comfort others. AND we learn more about comforting as God comforts us in and through our troubles on the earth.

Maybe you’ve been asked, “What is your superpower?” It’s a thing. Whatever else you might say, believers ought to say, “Comforter.” Think about it.

#2 – The Lord Is Your Ample Comforter (v4-13)

One of the early Christian rock guys, Benny Hester, had a song that really struck me as a baby believer. Nobody Knows Me Like You. One of the lines – “Though some know me well, still nobody knows me like You.”

King David’s sickness was compounded by his being abandoned by friends and accused by enemies. He therefore committed himself to the one Person who truly knew him. To the One he knew loved him with an everlasting love, and who would never, ever, leave him or forsake him.

Let’s listen to the lyrics of David’s sickbed song.

Psa 41:4  I said, “LORD, be merciful to me; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

The Old Covenant promised blessings for obedience. David, however, didn’t demand what was promised. He appealed to God’s mercy. Under the Law you need not have a legalistic relationship with God; love was the basis of fellowship. Salvation was by grace – not the works of the Law.

David said, “I have sinned.” He wasn’t confessing any particular sin. He was acknowledging he was a sinner.

It’s possible to say “I’m a sinner,” but not really believe it is affecting your life. I see it in marriage counseling, where the husband or wife admits they are a sinner, but selfishly insist nothing in the relationship is their fault.

“Heal my soul” reminds us that our spirit is more important than our body. “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day“ (Second Corinthians 4:16).

For us, “heal my soul” can be a reminder of what we think about the Doctrine of Salvation:

The moment you believe Jesus, you are saved.
From that precious moment forward, for the rest of your life on the earth, you are being saved as you are being conformed into the image of Jesus. We call this ongoing process sanctification.
When you are resurrected or raptured, your salvation is complete. This we call glorification.

BTW: People who want to impress you refer to the Doctrine of Salvation as soteriology.

Psa 41:5  My enemies speak evil of me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”
Psa 41:6  And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies; His heart gathers iniquity to itself; When he goes out, he tells it.
Psa 41:7  All who hate me whisper together against me; Against me they devise my hurt.
Psa 41:8  “An evil disease,” they say, “clings to him. And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”

Regarding those who “[came] to see” David, one commentator pointed out the following:

The word “me” is not in the original; and perhaps the idea is not that he came to see the sufferer, but that he came to see “for himself,” though under pretense of paying a visit of kindness. His real motive was to make observation, that he might find something in the expressions or manner of the sufferer that would enable him to make a report unfavorable to him, and to confirm him in his impression that it was desirable such a man should die. He would come under the mask of sympathy and friendship, but really to find something that would confirm him in the opinion that he was a bad man, and that would enable him to state to others that it was desirable he should die.

I want to emphasize a second time that God could use David’s sickness to expose the hearts of others. These individuals wished David would die. They justified it by thinking he deserved it. Let’s just say that such thoughts are not consistent with compassion, and therefore render a person unlike the Lord.

Psa 41:9  Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.

Many of the psalms, which were all written before the time of Jesus, contain details that foreshadowed events in His life. This verse foreshadowed something that happened later with Jesus. As explained in Matthew 26:47-50, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, one of the 12 apostles, on the night before He was crucified.

Scholars give various answers to just how many prophecies Jesus fulfilled in His life, death, and resurrection. The number 300 seems reasonable. Peter Stoner he looked at the odds of any man fulfilling even just 48 of the 300+/- Old Testament prophecies. The chance of any man fulfilling these prophecies, even down to the present time, is 1 in 10 to the 157th power.

Neither Jesus nor David was giving a lesson in Bible prophecy. These words did not proceed from them without great emotion. They were abandoned in the worst way. “Lifted up his heel” is an expression that means kicked in the face by an animal, e.g., a donkey.

Rather than think of being abandoned… Apply the Scripture to yourself as a potential abandoner. Be a person who is able to say, You’ve Got a Friend.

Psa 41:10  But You, O LORD, be merciful to me, and raise me up, That I may repay them.

Mercy is our certain hope. God won’t give those who love Him what they deserve. What every human deserves is the wages from their sin, which is eternal, conscious suffering in Hell. By His death on the Cross as our Substitute, no believer gets what is deserved.

“That I may repay them” sounds vengeful. Don’t forget that David was more than a believer. He was king over Israel; he was the final authority. He had the responsibility to deal with treachery, with treason.

Psa 41:11  By this I know that You are well pleased with me, Because my enemy does not triumph over me.

In David’s case, God would raise him from his sickbed. It would be tangible proof that his enemies and friends were in the wrong. It was a little Job in David’s life.

We can’t read this as a promise God will always give us physical and material prosperity.

Or that if He doesn’t, that it is a sign we are not walking close with Him.

I quoted earlier, from the Book of Romans, that regardless our sufferings, we are always the victors. No weapons forged against us shall stand.

For us, victory is fiery-furnace victory. It is God’s decision to deliver from the fiery furnace, or in it.

The Lord allowed James to be beheaded… But Peter was sprung from prison, keeping his head.

Psa 41:12  As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, And set me before Your face forever.

God raised David from his sickbed, restored him, and by it exposed the hypocrites.

In the New Testament we have an odd verse, which reads, “For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you” (First Corinthians 11:19).
Similar to David, God can show who is in the wrong by permitting things to play out.

David, as do we, looked forward to being “set before [God’s] face forever.” The forever worldview of the believer must affect all our thinking and deciding.

Psa 41:13  Blessed be the LORD God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

In the story of this song, David was still on his sickbed when he made this exclamation of praise. Thoughts of Heaven will do that for you. When you are suffering, sure; that makes sense. But you need to have your heart set on home maybe more so if you are prospering. It is times of blessing that make you soft and susceptible to drifting away from Jesus.

When people look for comfort, they often seek out those who have had similar suffering. Well, that would be Jesus first and foremost.
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Jesus really is ample for you. People are good, too, and are anointed to comfort you.

But nobody knows you like Jesus.

God Writes the Songs that Make the Whole World See (Psalm 40)

The real genius of the internet are the pop-up quizzes.

The last one I took was, “What song are you?” After twenty-nine scientific questions, if I were a song I’d be Where is My Mind?, by the Pixies.
Not being at all familiar with them or the song, I went to YouTube to watch the music video. It’s a hand-held, black & white video of a dog going through his day. Co-starring a cat.

That’s all I have to say about that.

I do have a point to make. In our psalm, King David will say of God, “He has put a new song in my mouth – Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD” (v3).

Notice David didn’t say of the song, “many will hear it.” That’s what we would have expected him to say. No, he said “many will see it.” Seeing the song, they would “fear, and… trust in the Lord.”

You can “see” a song when the singer embodies it; or when he or she is identified with it. In ancient times, singers had an identifying song:

Tony Bennett, I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
Dean Martin, Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.
Frank Sinatra, My Way.
Kermit the Frog, It’s Not Easy Being Green.

Can we, maybe, “see” Jesus as the Singer Songwriter, and each of us bringing forth His songs?

It’s a solid biblical metaphor. After all, the apostle Paul encouraged us to “[speak] to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…” (Ephesians 5:19).

I’ll organize my comments around two questions: #1 What Songs To The Lord Have Been Seen Through Your Life?, and #2 What Songs To The Lord Are Yet To Be Seen Through Your Life?

#1 – What Songs To The Lord Have Already Been Seen Through Your Life? (v1-10)

Most of you are familiar with the MercyMe song, I Can Only Imagine. It’s a pretty good movie as well. It captures the emotion of the background story in Bart Millard’s life. Because of Jesus, his father went from abuser to someone who Millard describes as, “the godliest man I’d ever known.”

The song was crafted by Millard’s experiences. Most importantly, you can “see” the Lord through it.

We don’t need to be popular recording artists to have our experiences with the Lord be used by Him as if we were songs. I’m not talking about writing songs, or even singing. I’m saying your experience of the Lord in, through, and after trouble strikes a supernatural chord others see.

Psa 40:1  To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.

(BTW – Do you recognize the worship chorus we sing from this verse?).

Scholars point out that “waited patiently” could be translated, in waiting I waited. It implies more than “patience.” It implies learning more about waiting; learning things through waiting.

If asked what is a favorite activity, “waiting” said no one ever. It is, however, an essential element of your song being seen. And the waiting here – it involves suffering of some kind, because the psalmist was crying to the Lord.

Psa 40:2  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.

There are, in God’s wonderful Word, many pictures for suffering. Storms… Valleys… Desert places… Ships tossed on the waters… Being overwhelmed by waves… Being assaulted by wild beasts.

In this case, David expressed his trouble as if he’d been thrown into a “pit.” The title of this song might be Pit Stop. Or This is Pit. Would you believe Pit Fighter?

His description of the pit having “miry clay” indicates it was a dry cistern. These were reservoirs carved out of rock to collect rain and runoff. Jeremiah was famously thrown into one in the course of his ministry to Israel.

In David’s case, his troubles felt like that. But here he was describing God delivering him from that trouble. Instead of being stuck in mire, he had been rescued, and made to stand on solid rock. This trouble was over.

Psa 40:3  He has put a new song in my mouth – Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.

While it seems David wrote a praise song about his experience, the meaning is broader than that. David exuded “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in [his] heart to the Lord.” People saw his praise in his waiting, and they feared and trusted the Lord.

Psa 40:4  Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

David’s trouble had involved the pride and lies of others seeking to undermine his trust in the Lord. It may have been as simple as worldly counsel.

Beware the so-called “wisdom” of the world.

Psa 40:5  Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.
This is the reset position after trouble is ended. It can (it should) also be our default in trouble. In or out of trouble, this is true.

It isn’t wishful thinking; or having a positive mental attitude. God’s salvation alone is enough to counter any trouble in this life.

Do you ever whip out a yellow pad, and list Pros & Cons? If your troubles generated thousands of pages in the Cons column, writing “Salvation” in the Pros column you’d see nothing could compare. And that’s just the beginning of God’s resources available to you.

Psa 40:6  Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
Psa 40:7  Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
Psa 40:8  I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
If you are familiar with your Bible, you might think I forgot to ask you to turn to Hebrews 10:5-7. These verses in Psalm 40 are quoted there, and applied to Jesus. That is why this psalm is Messianic.

I don’t want to launch into an exposition of these verses; I would if we were in Hebrews. I do want to make two quick observations in our context:

In verse six, when David mentioned the opening of the ear, he was likely referring to the custom of marking out a voluntary bond servant by hammering an awl through the earlobe. His point is an important one: God is working to make us voluntary servants, not religious people who go through the motions of required sacrifices. This is applied to Jesus to show that all the sacrifices were temporary, until He could come and be the once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world.

In verses seven and eight, David must have realized he was not talking about himself. It reminds us our lives are part of a greater plan. You may not think your song is a hit, or even charting; but it is part of the grander musical of God’s redemption, beginning in the Garden of Eden, and ending in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Psa 40:9  I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know.
Psa 40:10  I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly.

The “great assembly” was the gathering together in the Temple for worship. Can I go off subject for a moment? The church is meant to gather together. While virtual church is OK for time, it is not adequate for the long-haul. Virtual church is like taking a virtual vacation.

David gave testimony, often through his songs, to these attributes of God: “Righteousness,” “faithfulness,” “salvation,” “lovingkindness,” and “truth.”

Those are themes that we can always show:

God has declared us righteous thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.
We are thereby saved by His free gift and not by our works.
He Who began this work in us will faithfully perform and complete it.
His Word is truth, and can therefore be trusted.
All His dealings with us involve His boundless lovingkindness.

You’ve probably heard believers described as “living letters.” It derives from the apostle Paul, who said, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (Second Corinthians 3:2-3).

We are also living lyrics as in waiting we wait for the Lord to conform us into the image of Jesus.

What songs have you shown, already?

#2 – What Songs To The Lord Are Yet To Be Seen Through Your Life? (v11-17)

Beginning with verse eleven, it is evident that David was in a brand new time of trouble.

For some believers, it’s as if they have nothing but suffering. Others, not so much. It will be better for you if you refuse to compare yourself to others believers; and, especially, do not compare yourself to nonbelievers.

Psa 40:11  Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

Before asking for rescue, David wanted God’s graces to “preserve” him. He was mature enough to know that his trouble might go on a while. He depended upon theses spiritual resources.

Unlike toilet paper, aren’t you glad that Jesus’ resources aren’t ever exhausted? For those of you who were wondering, every August 26th is National Toilet Paper Day. One fun fact to post as you are celebrating: Colored toilet paper was available in the US for about 40 years. Scott was the last company to remove colored toilet paper from the US market in 2004. Colored toilet paper is still readily available in European countries.

Psa 40:12  For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me.

“My iniquities” is taken by most commentators as a statement that it was David’s own particular sins that landed him in this new trouble. I can’t see that, not in this psalm, and here is why: David doesn’t repent or ask forgiveness. He was not hesitant to do so in other passages.

He was describing what we all feel: The world is full of evil, and sin abounds, and it presses upon us. His current trouble was evidence the world was fallen.

The world – it isn’t what God intended. Much of our suffering is simply the result of the human condition. I mentioned this last week: COVID-19 is not a judgment from God. It is the latest proof Adam and Eve brought death when they sinned.

Psa 40:13  Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me!

This was an “if it is Your will” statement. David knew God could speedily rescue him. Why didn’t He? For reasons of the heart, to continue the work He had begun in David.

Psa 40:14  Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor Who wish me evil.

Here is another metaphor for suffering. David saw his enemies as an approaching army. He asked that they become confused, driven back.

There are a few examples in the Old Testament of literal enemy armies being confused by the Lord – even turning on themselves.

The fact that the Lord can move in these ways is what is often so bothersome. Why doesn’t He?

Because His work in the storm is more important than your having smooth sailing. You must learn rough weather sailing.

Psa 40:15  Let them be confounded because of their shame, Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”

At home, at work, at school, even (sadly) in church… People have an “Aha!” moment about how they can attack you, destroy you. They are like little Satan’s, thinking that if God wasn’t blessing you, you would curse Him.

God loves those kind of challenges! Me – not so much.

Psa 40:16  Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!”
In Isaiah we read, “Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?” (66:1).

This may not be a deep theological statement, but “God is big.” If He is big, how can He be magnified?
It seems He is magnified as believers celebrate His salvation in the midst of trouble.

Psa 40:17  But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

One of the things that’s great about baseball is the appearance of the closer. The great ones have great entrance music. Arguably the best of all time, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, was accompanied by Enter Sandman, by Metallica.

When a believer is “poor and needy,” enter Jesus.

To us it feels like we are in the bottom of the ninth, losing, with a Little Leaguer on the mound. That is never the case.

When Frodo suggested that Gandalf was late, he replied, “A wizard is never late, nor is he early; he arrives precisely when he means to.”

Our waiting is not God delaying. I want to say that again, because it really struck me. Our waiting is not God delaying. It is God crafting our lives.

A lot of you read Stephen King. I came across this quote by the King of Horror:

When I’m starting a book… I’ll try to write a paragraph. An opening paragraph. And over a period of weeks and months and even years, I’ll word and reword it until I’m happy with what I’ve got. If I can get that first paragraph right, I’ll know I can do the book.

Years to write a single paragraph? He also talks about how critical the very first sentence is.

God gets it right. What He is doing takes time. More time, if we resist.

We think of God as being able to simply snap His fingers and be done with it. Not so with humans.

Look at it this way. God created the universe in six 24-hr days, including Adam and Eve. But since our original parents sinned, it has been around six thousand years.

Six days to create the universe.
Six thousand years, and counting, to redeem and restore the human race.
And we know that if the Lord were to resurrect and rapture the church today, it would be at least another 1,007 years before the new heavens and the new earth.

It just isn’t possible to go any faster with regard to God’s workmanship – with you. You are His workmanship.

It’s probably getting repetitive for you, but I am fascinated in the realization that, in the end, God will have fellowship with believers who have free will but will be unable to sin.

“Impossible,” you say? Nope. God has free will, but He is incapable of sin. One day, so will those who put their trust in Him.

It takes time to accomplish. It would be easier if free will was not necessary. But without it, there cannot be love.

I also am fond of pointing out that the perceived delay is tied to the Lord’s longsuffering with sinners, not willing any should perish eternally, but that they would be drawn by grace to the Savior, and to salvation.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand it when the car with the $10,000 custom stereo system pulls up next to me at the light. I always want to drown him out with Grand Funk Railroad; but all I have is the pitiful stereo that came with the car.

As we go through our lives, in the Lord, when we “pull up” next to people, so to speak, our grace and love and mercy should drown out the noise of the world they generate.

The Lord’s lyrics of salvation, of righteousness, faithfulness, of truth, and of lovingkindness are heard as we simply, but powerfully, in waiting, wait.

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend (Psalm 88)

“I’ve had mosquito bites that were more passionate than this undead, unrequited, and altogether unfun pseudo-romantic riff on Romeo and Juliet.”

The critic who penned that was Marc Salov, of The Austin Chronicle. The movie – Twilight.  

Some movies are so bad, the reviews are the best part.

“I’d rather wake up next to a severed horse head than ever watch Gotti again. The finished product belongs in a cement bucket at the bottom of the river.” Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post.

Catwoman is considered by critics to be one of the worst movies ever made. Keith Phipps of the AV Club wrote, “The film could have turned out worse, but only via the addition of an accident in which the actors caught on fire.”

Bible commentators reviewing Psalm 88 are not sarcastically critical, but their words are quite stunning:

Derek Kidner says, “This is the saddest prayer in the Psalter.”

H. C. Leupold says, “It is the gloomiest psalm found in the Scriptures… The psalmist is as deeply in trouble when he has concluded his prayer as he was when he began it.”

J.J. Stuart Perowne says, “This is the darkest, saddest Psalm in all the Psalter. It is one wail of sorrow from beginning to end.”

John Phillips says, “There is scarcely a glimmer of hope anywhere. It is full of dejection, despair, death. The very last word of the psalm is darkness.”

Marvin Tate says, “Psalm 88… reminds us that life does not always have happy endings.”

That makes it a perfect psalm – an appropriate song to sing – for our own times of darkness and despair.

Some people, important people, are saying that our entire country is in just such a dark time. US Surgeon General Jerome Adams told FoxNews host Chris Wallace, “This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized. It’s going to be happening all over the country. And I want America to understand that.”

You’re going to need Psalm 88; if not today, for what has befallen us all, for sure on some tomorrow when darkness assaults your own life.

The psalmist mentions darkness twice. If you are listening closely, there is light in his darkness – light that overcomes.

I’ll organize my thoughts around two points: #1 There Is Light For You To Look Past The Darkness, and #2 There Is Light For You To Live In The Darkness.

#1 – There Is Light For You To Look Past The Darkness (v1)

I know some of you are binge watching disaster movies. There’s a line in World War Z, uttered by the top physician working on a vaccine. He says, “Mother Nature is a serial killer. No one’s better [or] more creative.”

I know some of you are binge-reading the Psalms. There’s a line in Psalm 88 that must be meditated upon. It is in verse one. It’s right at the beginning, highlighted as it were, because things were so bad the psalmist could not wait to express it.

Psa 88:1 A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath Leannoth.” A Contemplation of Heman the Ezrahite…

That’s a lot of introduction before we get into it. Who was the psalmist that was in so much sorrow?

Heman the Ezrahite, a descendant of Korah, is the most famous Bible character you’ve never heard of. Here is a synopsis of his life from one resource I consulted:

Heman was the grandson of Samuel, the final judge of Israel who anointed King Saul and King David.

His musical family of fourteen sons and three daughters was prominent during the reign of King David. They were present when the ark of the covenant was brought to Jerusalem. Heman worked closely with King David and is listed as one of three main musicians appointed by King David “for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals” (First Chronicles 25:1).

He was a songwriter and musician.

He is named a “seer” in First Chronicles 25:5.

He was also a sage. Heman was considered very wise. Solomon, the wisest man of all, was compared to Heman: “He was wiser than anyone else, including Heman” (First Kings 4:31).

Heman’s only known song is Psalm 88, but he’s no one-hit wonder. It remains at the top of the charts for sad songs to sing when suffering.

Psa 88:1 … O LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You.

This has been called “the only truly positive statement in the psalm.”

Since we know the Lord as full of grace and mercy, there must be sufficient hope in it for the darkest night, the deepest valley.

“God of my salvation.” It’s only four words in English, but it’s worthy of many sermons. Sometimes less is so much more.

There is a God Who saves. Do you realize that you need saving? Not from a global pandemic, but from something far worse: A universal preexisting spiritual condition.

Your preexisting condition is sin. If you want to sound more technical, I’ve heard it called SOAD – Son of Adam Disease.

Everyone conceived inherits a sin nature from our original parents. We see it manifest as we commit individual acts of sin throughout our lives.

God gave Adam and Eve a choice. You know why: He had to give them a real choice because love cannot be forced; it must be freely chosen.

They chose badly, sinning, and thereby plunging God’s perfect creation into ruin.

Is COVID-19 a judgment from God? No; it is par for the course here on the fallen earth. It is the most recent evidence that mankind needs saving. I don’t say that in a way to minimize it’s impact. But for our purposes today, it is proof that we brought sin into God’s perfect Creation, and that we need saving.

Enter – literally – Jesus. He was God in human flesh, God incarnate. He came to offer Himself as a Substitute for the human race. He died on the Cross to draw mankind to Himself. He is the Savior of the world – not the one responsible for evil in the world.

And here is the Easter message: Jesus rose from the dead, proving His sacrifice was sufficient to save any and all who believe Him.

I don’t think we can ever stress too much that God saves. While admittedly the rest of the psalm will be filled with tears, God’s salvation is more than just a high point; it is the point.

It is why the apostle Paul could declare, and remind us, “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory…” (Second Corinthians 4:17).

No matter the intensity, or the duration, of your suffering, it is all a “light affliction… for a moment,” compared to eternity.

We must always be looking at our lives from our promised future. It gives suffering its context. And it fosters endurance – patient endurance that can be infused with grace.

Heman identified the Lord as “God of my salvation.” While Heman did not have the fuller revelation of God we enjoy today, he believed in a personal, living God, Who had a relationship with him.

If you are not a believer; if you have not been saved; you will die in your preexisting spiritual condition. You will be committed to eternal, conscious torment in the absolute darkness of the Lake of Fire.

Salvation is a “light” in many ways, including these two we’ve discovered in these few words:

It illuminates a path that will always end with our glorious entrance into Heaven.

It renders all our troubles a light affliction that is but for a moment.

Heman established his base, his foundation, for “[crying] out day and night before You.” The remainder of his song describes his crying.

#2 -There Is Light For You To Live In The Darkness (v2-18)

Nyctalopia is the proper name for night-blindness, a condition making it difficult or impossible to see in relatively low light. It is described as “insufficient adaptation to darkness.”

Darkness serves as an apt description, not just of our sufferings, but of the true condition of our planet. The apostle John said of Jesus’ coming to earth that He was the singular light shining in the darkness (John 1:5).

We can’t afford to have insufficient adaptation to the darkness. Think of verse one as the eye-salve that counters spiritual night-blindness. These remaining verses are the application.

“I have cried out day and night before you.” Because God is my salvation, I can nevertheless “see” Him through the dark. He is thus my companion and comforter at all times.

Psa 88:2 Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry.

One commentator I read described the character of Heman’s upcoming prayer this way:

It seems that the psalmist here ransacks the vocabulary of gloom and bitterness to describe his hopeless plight. His is definitely a terminal case. He feels as if he were on the critical list in the isolation ward of a hospital for incurables. The only thing left is the morgue, and it is only a matter of time before the sheet will be drawn over his face and he will be carted away.

If you think it is somehow wrong, or sinful, to be this low, remember Heman was no spiritual lightweight. I read you his resume. His song is a sad song we will all need to sing.

J. N. Darby said of Psalm 88, “One time this was the only Scripture that was any help to [me] because [I] saw that someone had been as low as that before [me].”

We don’t know what Heman was suffering from, or with. I think it’s good we do not know, because it allows each of us to relate to him in our suffering whether great or small.

Psa 88:3 For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draws near to the grave.

Heman’s suffering was terminal. He faced the prospect of his imminent death.

We’re told to live each moment as if it will be our last. It’s great advice, but it’s hard to apply. I believe I could die at any moment. Once I get a diagnosis I am definitely going to die, or that I am diseased, that’s a whole lot more real than my philosophical perspective.

Psa 88:4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength,
Psa 88:5 Adrift among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And who are cut off from Your hand.

These Old Testament statements about “the pit” and “the grave” need to be understood in the context of what had been thus far revealed by God to His people. There’s no doubting that they had a limited knowledge of what happens after death.

I think Heman was lamenting that, if he died, what use was that? He would no longer be “remembered” by God in this sense: Someone else would take his place as a servant, writing songs and dispensing sage counsel and seeing into the future.

Heman would be “cut off” from God’s hand. God’s hand would no longer be upon him, to use him as a tool of ministry.

Psa 88:6 You have laid me in the lowest pit, In darkness, in the depths.
Psa 88:7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah

Heman felt like he was already dead, and he attributed it to God’s “wrath” lying heavy upon him.

In the Old Testament, things were a lot more physical. By that I mean God had promised Israel material blessings if they obeyed, but physical discipline if they disobeyed. Heman was applying that principle to his own situation, and concluding he might be being disciplined.

Even today, with our fuller revelation of the grace of God, it is common for a believer to think that his or her suffering is none other than God’s hand of discipline upon them.

It can be; there are cases in the New Testament where God caused believers to be sick, or to die, as a discipline. But they were in obvious, notable sin. While it’s a good idea to search your heart in your suffering, chances are it isn’t the wrath of God lying upon you.

It is because we live in a fallen world, who’s god is the devil. Sickness and death will exist until the return of the King.

“Selah” is an unknown musical notation. Heman has just struck a note that needs our most serious contemplation.

Psa 88:8 You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out;
Psa 88:9 My eye wastes away because of affliction. LORD, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You.
Psa 88:10 Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah

Heman sees himself as a prisoner, “shut up,” locked away in his cell, receiving no visits from his former “acquaintances.”

When we suffer, others do care; they care a lot. But their lives generally go on. The contrast is stunning. They are relatively free, while you seem locked a cell of suffering.

One thing COVID-19 can teach you: You have some small experience of what it is like for shut-ins, whose whole experience of living is sheltering at home.

When he says, “my eye wastes away,” it’s a poetic way of describing the effect his much crying is having on him.

Heman wondered what good his death could accomplish. It would seem only to detract from his otherwise important service to God.

We want to give every suffering, and every death, some profound earthly meaning. It’s just not always possible to find an earthly meaning. Establishing funds or foundations in someone’s memory – that’s great. But it isn’t the reason they died.

I’ll tell you the most profound meaning of death: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15).
A grand entrance is supplied into Heaven, as angels bear us home. Nothing on earth can compare to our going home.

Psa 88:11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
Psa 88:12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

As a singer-songwriter, Heman extolled God’s “lovingkindness,” and His “faithfulness,” and His “wonders.” In death, he’d have no more songs to write, leading worshipping hearts to God. It would be the day the music died.

Psa 88:13 But to You I have cried out, O LORD, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
Psa 88:14 LORD, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?

This is Heman’s version of the “Why?” question, that asks about the problem of pain and suffering. Since God can stop our suffering, why doesn’t He?

It’s the number one complaint of nonbelievers. They see God as either unwilling, or as unable, to alleviate human suffering.

Sad that they cannot see beyond suffering that God is longsuffering toward them, not willing they perish, but that they receive His offered salvation.

God has a decisive plan to end all suffering. He’s put it in writing, in the last book of the Bible.

When it is implemented, in full, it will end sin and death and suffering for eternity. Believers will be in glorified bodies, fit for eternity. We will have genuine free will but not be capable of sin.

But it will also end all opportunity for nonbelievers to be saved.

Psa 88:15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.

If there is a clue to Heman’s affliction, no one can find it. Whatever it was, it’s as lifelong.

You can have a lifetime of suffering, in the will of God.

Psa 88:16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off.
Psa 88:17 They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether.

Another analogy, this time a shipwreck that everyday kept him thinking he was drowning.

In the 2014 feature film, Edge of Tomorrow, a soldier fighting aliens (played by Tom Cruise) dies every day, only to relive each day, the day restarting every time he dies. Of course, he figures out what to do, getting a little further each time, until he is victorious.

Heman started each day suffering, but there was no progress. If anything, his situation worsened.

With this, we’ve arrived at the point in a psalm where the psalmist gives us his climactic words of hope and strength. Here is what Heman chose as his climax:

Psa 88:18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.

Heman laments he outlived all those who were once dear to him. Not at all what we were expecting. It almost reads as unfinished.

We last see Heman in “darkness.” But we know that he saw through the dark, to God.

In The Lord of the Rings, Galadriel gifts Frodo with a vial that, as she put it, would be “a light in dark places.” It saved him in Shelob’s lair. It enabled him to live in that darkness.

When you are in the dark, don’t succumb to night-blindness. See through your darkness to the God Who saves. Live in it with the light provided for your journey home.

If Jesus is your Savior… He’s coming, any moment, for you. Keep looking up. And look down, as it were, upon the earth from your spiritual position of being already seated in Christ in the heavenlies.

If Jesus is not your Savior – personally – what are you waiting for? When the Gospel is presented, He is the light freeing your will to respond to His gracious invitation.

You Can Tell Everybody This Is Your Song (Psalm 62)

Elton John wrote Candle In The Wind for Lady Diana. Dave Grohl wrote My Hero for Kurt Cobain. McCartney penned Hey Jude for John Lennon’s little boy, Julian, to comfort him in the wake of his parents’ separation. Don McLean was “absolutely amazed” to discover that Killing Me Softly With His Song was originally written about him. Killing Me Softly has resonated with a number of artists since it was first recorded. It even won The Fugees a Grammy 25 years later in 1997.

Of course, not all songs written with a specific person in mind are the kind you would want written about you. Carly Simon’s classic You’re So Vain has generated a lot of speculation, but who would want that song to be dedicated to them? Taylor Swift became famous for writing scathing lyrics with particular people in mind. There are webpages dedicated to helping you know which song is directed at who. From her freshman year boyfriend to international superstar John Mayer.

Did you know that, in the book of Psalms, there are 3 songs specifically dedicated to someone? Many of the Psalms give us information about who wrote it, what instrument it was intended for and what occasion inspired the writing. But there are 3 which were written with a particular person in mind. And, all 3 are written with the same person in mind: a man named Jeduthun.

He’s not a particularly famous Bible character, which makes it all the more significant that the only Psalms dedicated and directed to a specific individual are sent to him.

We learn in First Chronicles 16 that he was a member of King David’s grand administration. He was one of three Levites given charge over the worship in the Tabernacle and, ultimately, the Temple. He and his sons were to be the Gatekeepers in the Lord’s house. He was charged with giving thanks and praise to the Lord, with prophesying with harps and stringed instruments, and with training others to continue the work. He was free from other duties and was to be employed in his spiritual work day and night.

What an amazing job description! And what a time to have been alive and walking with God. Watching David, the great king, establish his throne and to see the blessing of God in the nation of Israel. To have been in the presence of the Ark and the Shekinah.

So what are the 3 songs dedicated to such an interesting man? They are Psalm 39, Psalm 62 and Psalm 77. One is a funeral song about the vanity of life. One is about enduring opposition and attacks in your life, and that life, by the way is only a vapor. And one is about what we do when the day of trouble comes and our souls refuse to be comforted. Yikes!

But you see, Jeduthun also lived through the turbulent years when David hadn’t been enthroned over all Israel. He lived through the scandal of Bathsheba, the shock of Absalom’s rebellion, and, perhaps, the desperate horror of the plague which struck down 70,000 people after David took his ungodly census. We don’t know much about Jeduthun as an individual, what he thought, his personal story, but we know that 3 songs were given to him for his comfort and to be used in his spiritual duties.

He was to not only treasure these songs, but to teach them to the choir, who would then deliver them to all Israel for use in worship. Ultimately, these songs have been saved for us, that we might sing them in our own lives.

We’re told the Lord gives us songs to sing. Job 35:10: God gives us songs in the night. Psalm 40:3: [The Lord] has put a new song in our mouths. In Revelation 14, the 144,000 are taught a special song only they can learn. God gives us songs and plays a melody through our lives. This morning we get to see one that declares that God is our refuge, no matter what, no matter when, and that’s a song we all need to hear, especially in times like this.

Verse one says:

Psalm 62:1-2 – 1 I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will never be shaken.

David did something obvious in the Hebrew that is lost to us reading in English. The word we see as “alone” or “only” is the same in Hebrew and is used 6 times and each time it is used, it’s purposefully put at the beginning of the line. Only in God my soul finds rise. Only He is my Rock. Only in Him find rest, my soul. In fact, for a long time this Psalm was referred to as “the only Psalm.”

Here in verses 1 and 2, David is reminding his friend of what is absolutely true. We don’t know the specific timing of when this song was sent to Jeduthun, but whether it was a time of triumph or tragedy, the truth remained the same. And David’s desire was for Jeduthun to internalize this song and lead the nation in singing it together.

To rest here doesn’t mean to slumber, but to wait in calm quietness before the Lord. Our faith is meant to be defined by peace and joyfulness and restful repose as we contemplate the great strength of our God and the access He has given us to His saving power. God alone and God only. He is the One subject of our worship. He is the One original cause of all life. He is the One Ruler over heaven and earth. David, the peerless king, the giant slayer, declares with clear certainty that there is one place where we can find the help for our deepest needs and that is in God alone.

It’s important for us to note that this “rest” is not just an optional upgrade for some people. It’s not like getting granite countertops. We are commanded to enter into this rest. Psalm 37:7 says: “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” In fact, the translators of the Septuagint render the opening of the song this way: “Will not my soul be obedient to God?”

We should and we must because He is our salvation. Our “yeshuah” is the word there. We recognize our Lord written right there on the page for us. He is our salvation.

Jesus, our salvation, is also called here our ‘rock.’ This image not only conveys strength and security, but brings us back to the wilderness wanderings, where a great rock followed after the congregation of Israel to supply them with abundant, overflowing, life-saving water. And that Rock was Christ.

David’s declaration that he and Jeduthun and all of us by extension would “never be shaken” in verse 2 should be explained. It’s not that we will never experience turbulence in life, that’s obviously not true. But David could say with confidence that we will never be shaken too greatly, caused to topple and fall. This was being said by a man whose life was often hanging in the balance. Whether running from Saul or Absalom, crossing swords with fierce enemies, or enduring plots from within his own palace, David was, from one perspective, never far from death. And yet, he knew he was safe in his Savior. His statement sounds almost too good to be true. But the man speaking to us is worth listening to. Of course, he was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But, in addition to that, this was a man who knew what it was to be spiritually at rest. He knew what it was to lay his life on the altar of heaven. He knew health. He knew danger. He knew success. He knew glory. He knew defeat. He knew desperation. He knew how to fortify and how to flee. Most of all, he knew God. And this man, with all his power and resources and courage, was content to forego all of it, instead clinging to a patient, passionate trust in his Lord.

But the quiet is then interrupted by verse 3.

Psalm 62:3-4 – 3 How long will you threaten a man? Will all of you attack as if he were a leaning wall or a tottering stone fence? 4 They only plan to bring him down from his high position. They take pleasure in lying; they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly.

It’s a good thing David’s God is a God of strength and security, because when he looked at his own life, he saw a rotten fence about to be knocked down by killers and enemies, some of whom had pretended to be his friends.

David, for all his strength, was feeling pretty weak. He compared himself to a stone wall, about to crumble. Until recently, I had a fence like that. Any time we got a little bit of a breeze, another picket would fall over. If I tried to put it back, it would just split apart. David’s situation was tenuous, but there are several important takeaways here. The first is that, at least in this Psalm, David wasn’t too worried about it. Notice that there isn’t actually a request to God anywhere in this song. In fact, David doesn’t even refer to himself in this section. He is speaking almost abstractly. Second, we are reminded that we have an adversary, the Devil. And his goal is to destroy you. To destroy your peace and your witness. To try to sift you away from closeness to God. He wants to bring you down from the high position that God has placed you in. But that reminds us of the third thing: And that’s that the Lord has placed us in a high position, that many might see what He has done for us and find salvation themselves. God is the Lifter of our heads and His desire is to set us on our feet that we might stand firm in Him. Even in the face of trial or adversity. Perhaps we will be under assault for the rest of our days until we are brought home to heaven. But thanks be to God we can be sure of our hope and our help in Christ Jesus, our Rock.

This song, which started with such a dramatic crescendo of assurance, has suddenly turned to a dark and minor key. On the one hand, David saw himself as firmly fortified in his stronghold, but on the other we see the troubles surrounding him and closing in, about to deal that final blow which will put him down once and for all. In that situation, what is a person to do?

Psalm 62:5-7 – 5 Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God.

David repeats what he said before, but this time it’s in the form of a sermon to himself. The first time, he boasted in the Lord’s greatness. Now, as he faces the valley of the shadow of death, he preaches to his own heart what he already knows to be true. And, knowing what he knows to be true, he tells his soul to obey.

Our souls need preaching like our bodies need nutrition. One meal won’t do it. Our hearts must be continually reminded of what is true about our God and His plan for our lives. David was showing Jeduthun how to cast his lifeline onto the Rock and secure his life there. And we can expect God to fulfill His promises to us. We can expect God to be our Shield and our Provider. He, who knows everything we need, will be the source of our supply. When and how the Lord will work is a mystery, but God’s word promises again and again that He will help us. He will be with us. He will not leave us or forsake us.

And it’s great news that our salvation and our glory do not depend on movable things like human governments or economic markets, but on the unchangeable nature and power of God, our Father.

Psalm 62:8 – 8 Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge.

What David has discovered to be true he wants to share with others. Heinvites his friends and his nation and any hearer throughout history to join him on the Rock. And, as we join David in the stronghold, we find that it’s not some impersonal citadel. This refuge is a Person, to whom we can pour out our hearts. What a lovely invitation. You know, financial security is an important issue to most people. Those who are able spend a lot of time and resources to store up for retirement. You may open your bank account to your IRA, but you don’t open up your heart to it. The fine folks at Fidelity aren’t set up to hear about your inner hurts, your fears, your deepest needs. But the Lord is. And He does not want us to be shy about pouring out our hearts to Him. Cast all your cares upon the Lord, for He cares for you! Give your burdens to the Lord and He will take care of you! Come to Jesus, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens and He will give you rest.

The God of the Bible was not just a Father and Friend to David, but to Jeduthun and to all Israel and to each of us who have been saved by His grace. Because of that, we can trust in Him at all times. Choosing to be confident in Him and believe that all He has said is true.

Trust in Him at all times, you people. The president got in a little trouble in the media recently for saying, “you people” to a reporter. But this message, from heaven, through David, to Jeduthun and us, says, “You people.” Who are you? You children of God, remember He is our Father. You flock of sheep, remember the Lord is our Shepherd. You members of the Lord’s army, remember He is our Commander. You citizens of heaven, remember Christ is our King. You Bride of Christ, remember He is our Bridegroom. And remember that you are a people. Meaning we are not in this life alone. We walk with others together on this road of faith, bearing one another’s burdens and building each other up, especially in times of difficulty. If you’re weak or afraid or confused, don’t be afraid to pour out your heart to the Lover of your souls.

Psalm 62:9-10 – 9 Men are only a vapor; exalted men, an illusion. Weighed in the scales, they go up; together they are less than a vapor. 10 Place no trust in oppression, or false hope in robbery. If wealth increases, pay no attention to it.

David’s desire was not only to comfort believers, but to send an urgent caution to unbelievers – those very enemies who were seeking to destroy him. He reminds everyone that life is short. It’s just a puff of smoke and then is gone. In the end, it doesn’t matter how much wealth or earthly power a person has and I can prove it: Who was the King of Spain in 1830? His name was Ferdinand VII. They called him “Ferdinand the Desired.” But, to us, he’s not even a memory. He is forgotten. His kingdom is gone.

Our lives, when weighed on the scales of heaven, are just a wisp of vapor. May they be a puff of incense which honors God and pleases Him. A life lived in worship and sacrifice. If not, if a person will not lay hold of the salvation offered by God and find refuge in Jesus Christ, they will be like Belshazzar in the book of Daniel. Written on the wall that night was the message that he had been weighed and measured and found wanting. And that very night he was judged, condemned for his refusal to repent and turn to God.

For believers today, David gives another sobering instruction: We are not to set the watch of our lives by the status of our bank accounts. It’s hard not to fall into this pattern of thinking. We see the news “The economy is up! So things must be good!” But that’s not how God assesses our lives. In fact, we’re warned that the lure of wealth can crowd out the production of spiritual fruit. We’re told that too much attention to these material things leads to some wandering from the faith. Rather, the New Testament gives us the proper perspective on wealth in 1 Timothy 6:

1 Timothy 6:17-18 – 17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.

Our song closes in verses 11 and 12.

Psalm 62:11-12 – 11 God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: strength belongs to God, 12 and faithful love belongs to You, Lord. For You repay each according to his works.

Commentators point out the wonderful beauty of God being both full of strength and full of mercy. If He had not mercy, we would all be doomed. If He had not strength, we could not be saved. But He is, indeed, the God of limitless power and unfailing love. And this God will repay the people of the earth. Sinner, if you have not been born again, you will be paid for what you have done. And the wages for your sin is death. You who are saved, you who work in our Lord’s service, you will be richly rewarded.

For nearly 150 years, God’s Church has been singing that wonderful refrain from Blessed Assurance: “This is my story, this is my song.” That great hymn is all about finding rest in God alone and trusting in His strength to save.

You can tell everybody that Psalm 62 is your song. Like Blessed Assurance it is full of hope and truth. As David encouraged Jeduthun, we should sing it to ourselves, especially in times of strain or when we’re feeling week. Our lives can be like musicals, where everyone is going along normally, but then something happens and everybody begins singing. It seems so normal to the people on the screen. “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” “Be prepared!” ”Everything is Awesome!”

God only and God alone, our refuge and fortress. Our ever-present help in time of trouble. It’s amazing to see David’s calm confidence, and it’s good for us to see it because it proves to us that such a state of spiritual rest is possible. But we are also reminded that he didn’t always feel this way. This is the same songwriter who felt as though God had abandoned him in Psalm 22. The same songwriter who said in Psalm 142 that he was crying in anguish to the Lord, weak in spirit, pleading for mercy.

David was no stranger to danger. He was knew what it was to be afraid, to be pressed in upon. To be close to a breaking point. But, the man after God’s own heart gave this song as a gift to his friend. And God has given it as a gift to us, that we might remember and sing of His unending love, His boundless strength and that He has made Himself a refuge to us where we can find rest, hope, help and all that we need.

No One Knows What It’s Like to be the Madman (Psalm 34)

Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man.
Geoffrey Rush for Shine.
Edward Norton for Primal Fear.
Robin Williams for The Fisher King.
Brad Pitt for 12 Monkeys.
Billy Bob Thornton for Sling Blade.

It’s a partial list of actors who were either nominated for, or who won, an Academy Award for their portrayal of a mentally challenged or mentally ill person.

We don’t normally think of King David as an actor. That’s too bad, because he was a good one. He once won the Abimelech Award for portraying a madman.

The introduction to Psalm 34 reads, “A Psalm of David When He Pretended Madness Before Abimelech, Who Drove Him Away, and He Departed.”

(BTW: Abimelech is a dynastic title, like Pharaoh. The Abimilech the psalm refers to is Achish).

Let me read the full account, recorded in First Samuel 21:10-15.

1Sa 21:10  Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
1Sa 21:11  And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?”
1Sa 21:12  Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
1Sa 21:13  So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.
1Sa 21:14  Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?
1Sa 21:15  Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

An award winning performance, for sure; but a sad one spiritually. It was birthed out of fear.

When a believer gives in to fear, he or she is acting like a madman. We may not foam at the mouth, but Heaven sees us as forgetting to fear only God.

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 You Can Be Delivered From Your Fears, and #2 You Can Deliver Hope To Those Who Fear.

#1 – You Can Be Delivered From Your Fears (v1-10)

Commentators are split as to whether or not David’s madman act was his own desperate idea or God’s unusual strategy. I’m saying it was David’s fail because of fear since the message of Psalm 34 is him being delivered from fear.

Psa 34:1  A Psalm of David When He Pretended Madness Before Abimelech, Who Drove Him Away, and He Departed. I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psa 34:2  My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Psa 34:3  Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.

David was certainly addressing saints in every generation. He did, however, have a live audience for whom he performed this psalm. “Let us,” he said, “exalt His Name together.”

In the sequel to his madman performance, David became the captain of a rebel alliance. Here it is from First Samuel 21:1-2.

1Sa 22:1  David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
1Sa 22:2  And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

These downtrodden men were the “humble who [heard] of it and [were] glad.” It was they who “[magnified] the Lord together” with David. This psalm was one of their anthems.

Psa 34:4  I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.

Spoiler alert: David just gave us the secret of being delivered from fear. You talk to the Lord and He hears you.

What do you say to the Lord? Psalm 57 records what David said. Here are the opening verses.

Psa 57:1  To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” a Michtam of David When He Fled from Saul into the Cave. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.
Psa 57:2  I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.
Psa 57:3  He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

Quick summary: David came to his spiritual senses. He remembered God’s promises of mercy, refuge, and providence. He believed God.

David remembered who he was. He had been anointed the next king of Israel. Though outwardly that seemed preposterous, it must occur.

Are you in Christ? Believe God. Remember who you are. You are beloved of God. Saved; being saved day-by-day; ultimately saved when you are resurrected or raptured.

You are a recipient of God the Holy Spirit. You are His Temple individually; we are His Temple collectively.

Psa 34:5  They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.

This is so beautiful. “They” refers to the 400 men who rallied to David. In debt; distressed; discontent. Shattered lives – probably by their own bad decisions. No hope of changing their circumstances by hard work. Outcasts all. Yet received by David, and thus by the Lord.

David didn’t post on Craig’s List, looking for mercenaries. This was God. I say the Holy Spirit prompted these men to go out to David. They trusted in mercy.

Part of God’s deliverance of David was to grant him ministry. He remained a fugitive, on the run, in danger. But David could thrive in his adversity by serving the Lord.

I digressed. What is so beautiful? David’s men looked to God and their faces were “radiant.” It doesn’t mean they were literally radiant – like nightlights in the cave. It’s a way of saying that they reflected the glory of the Lord.

Something like we read of ourselves: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (Second Corinthians 3:18).

We might say, both of them and of us, we are transformed. Transformed as God renews us day-by-day. Transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Psa 34:6  This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.

David was referring to himself. He was the “poor man.” While he was quite literally poor, he most certainly was talking about his spiritual condition, which was fear. Compare his walk some years earlier. As a teen, he was incredulous that no Israelite would accept the giant’s challenge to one-on-one combat. He did – killing Goliath easily in the Lord’s strength.

BTW – Something I didn’t tell you is that, when David fled to Gath, he had Goliath’s sword with him. The fearless had become fearful.

David said that God “saved him out of all his troubles.” Not! He was still a wanted, hunted man, with Bobba Fett seeking the bounty.

We need an expansive definition of deliverance. It is an oft-used, perhaps over-used explanation, but that’s because it’s a good one. It is this: God is faithful and will deliver you from all of your troubles, or through all of your troubles.

In the Tom Hanks film, Castaway, he preserved a FedEx package through his ordeal, eventually delivering it once he was rescued. It was symbolic of his hope he would be delivered. The package was delivered – but it was through the trouble, not from it.

(BTW: There is a lot of speculation on the contents. Some say that box contained a fully charged, satellite phone. They should add that, as a stinger).

Your hope is that, one day, you will be delivered from all trouble. Mean time, like David, you’re delivered through it.

Psa 34:7  The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.

The Angel of the Lord was an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament. Don’t be confused by the title, “Angel.” It means ambassador, or messenger. Jesus is no angel, as the letter to the Hebrew Christians makes clear. He came to Old Testament saints as Heaven’s ambassador, to deliver His message to them in Person.

Did David see Him? Or was he merely referring to the common knowledge that His angelic forces were always encamped around God’s people?

It sounds like David had forgotten to factor in the unseen realm. Once his fears were overcome, and he feared only the Lord, he was reminded of the mighty resources that were deployed on the behalf of the saints.

Again, I am quick to point out that the realization of an encampment of angels didn’t deliver David from trouble. But he knew he’d be delivered through it.

Psa 34:8  Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

The thing I like most about cooking is tasting the food along the way. As we walk with Jesus, we get tastes of the feast that awaits us at His coming.

Nonbelievers cannot “see that the Lord is good.” They think Him evil, or neutral. We know that He is not. We know about sin, the Savior, and salvation. We know that He is longsuffering, not willing any should perish eternally.

Psa 34:9  Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.
Psa 34:10  The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

The “young lions” are… Lions. As in Asiatic Lion. David was making a comparison from the natural world. It’s similar to Jesus’ comments about how much more God cares for you than the sparrows.

Those who “seek the Lord” is another name for believers. They shall not “want” is explained as “not lack[ing] any good thing.” By “good” we understand that all things, both good and bad, work together for the good by our loving Savior.

There was an especially evil orc in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. As the orc forces approached Gondor, Gothmog said, “Fear. The city is rank with it.”

This is a season “rank with fear.” A.W. Tozer said, “A fearful world needs a fearless church.”

You can be delivered from your fears. Talk to the Lord; He hears you. Fear God rather than man. Believe God. Remember who you are.

#2 – You Can Deliver Hope To Those Who Fear (v11-22)

If you are like me, at this point you are ready for the precise steps you must take to overcome fear. We always want to do something – as if it were up to us to live-up to God’s standards without His help.

David doesn’t provide a “How To.” He describes what you act like as a believer, and he compares you to nonbelievers who have no power to walk with the Lord.

Psa 34:11  Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

The madman was gone. Immediately David was restored and could teach others to fear God rather than man.

Psa 34:12  Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days, that he may see good?
Psa 34:13  Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit.
Psa 34:14  Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.
Psa 34:15  The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.

We can miss the main point by approaching these verses as if they were some sort of bullet points, following in order. The place to start understanding what David had in mind is with verse fifteen.

“The righteous” is a term for believers. In the Bible we read that you believe God and He declares you righteous. It is how God saved people before Christ came; it is how God saves people after Christ came. Because Jesus became our Substitute on the Cross, God can remain just but also be the Justifier of those who believe (Romans 3:26).

The righteous man or woman is transformed day-by-day by yielding to the Holy Spirit. Your part is to “cry” out to the Lord, knowing He hears you.

The righteous man or woman looks and acts like the description in verses twelve through fourteen. We don’t do those things to become righteous. We are declared righteous and are enabled to do those things.

Next, ways of life are presented:

Psa 34:16  The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Psa 34:17  The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles.

“Cut off the remembrance” doesn’t mean nonbelievers are forgotten the moment they die. It seems to be a euphemism for their death and destiny. It will be as if they never lived in terms of eternity. While believers enjoy the radiant presence of God forever, nonbelievers are confined to outer darkness in the Lake of Fire.

The “righteous” can be certain God hears them. He WILL deliver you out of all your troubles. But that deliverance is your final, ultimate deliverance. Your hope in that final deliverance – that is something that will help you overcome your temporary fears.

A title can sometimes be all you need; you might not have to read the book. Dave Hunt wrote, Whatever Happened to Heaven? It immediately communicates that believers have become less heavenly minded. The less heavenly minded you are, it follows that you have a more worldly mind; i.e., things of this world are your prerogative. That is a formula for fear.

Psa 34:18  The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Think of David, in the cave, surrounded by the four hundred. This verse reads like an Old Testament altar call to those men. He preached to them in this psalm, and probably with other words. He let them know God was “near,” that they could therefore have a relationship with Him. “Broken” and “contrite,” they chose the Lord.

What is the very first thing you should tell a new believer?

Psa 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.

That’s real. It’s honest. AND it is full of hope.

Psa 34:20  He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken.

The apostles applied this to Jesus’ experience on the Cross, making this a Messianic Psalm. Did David know? His men? Think about it. They knew this was not a promise for them to claim. I’m sure many of them had experienced a broken bone. Or they knew folks whose bones suffered breaks. Any thoughtful person would conclude that there was more going o in these words. Whether they knew it was about their future Messiah or not… I don’t know.

Psa 34:21  Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
Psa 34:22  The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.

Very ‘altar-callish.’ Do you want to remain condemned? Or will you choose to believe God and not be condemned?

Long lines. Hoarding. Aggressive behavior. “Fear. The world is rank with it.”

God CAN deliver you from all your fears. Believe it; believe Him. Set your mind by Heaven’s news regarding your future.

Then tell others that they, too, can be delivered from fear.

Speedy Delivery (Psalm 31)

It’s a little dated… But so am I. In the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood, his rag-tag band of merry men were attacked in Sherwood Forrest by barbaric Celts, who had been hired by Nottingham. The fighting was fierce, but Robin Hood and company prevailed.

Their victory was short-lived. The Sherrif was laying back with a much larger English force. The second assault would prove more challenging

There is an element of secondary assault in Psalm 31. The first eight verses read as though David was recalling a past victory – a time in the past when God had delivered him from the fierce onslaught of his enemies.

His situation in verses nine through twenty-four occurred sometime later. It was a much more serious, lengthy adversity. The two seem juxtaposed so that we can see David drawing strength from what he had learned about God’s mercies in the past in order to face his present predicament.

Until you are with the Lord, you will find yourself either acutely or chronically assailed by enemies – both flesh and blood and supernatural. The predicaments will, most likely, become increasingly difficult and troublesome.

In each of them, your reflection upon the Lord’s past mercies will be an important strategy for your deliverance – either from the trouble, or through the trouble.

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 It’s Important That You Reflect On The Lord’s Mercies In Past Trouble, and #2 It’s Important That You Expect The Lord’s Mercies In Present Trouble.

#1 – It’s Important That You Reflect On The Lord’s Mercies In Past Trouble (v1-8)

David was looking back on a previous predicament. Listen carefully to verse twenty-one:

Psa 31:21  Blessed be the LORD, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!

That is the NKJV. It mentions “a strong city,” but it is taken by many commentators to be metaphorical.

Other commentators take it literally, basing their decision on how this reads in other good translations. Here it is in the NIV:

Psa 31:21  Praise be to the LORD, for he showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege.

In verse eight David recalls, “[You] have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place.”

Putting that together, David was definitely describing a time in his past when he was besieged in a city, but the Lord delivered him to “a wide place.”

We are not told when or where this was. It does sound, however, like a time we know of before he was king, and while he was on the run from King Saul. David saved the city of Keilah only to be seemingly trapped there by King Saul. Here is the account from First Samuel 23.

1Sa 23:7  And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.”
1Sa 23:8  Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

This may not be the incident Psalm 31 is about, but it certainly sounds like it. If not, it was something very much like this from David’s past. He reflected on it as a present strategy.

Psa 31:1  To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. In You, O LORD, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness.

David saw no shame in putting trust in the Lord. Rather than develop his own strategy for battle or retreat, David would seek the Lord for His strategy.

The apostle Paul would say, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH” (Romans 1:16-17).

If you are a Christian, you’ve been delivered once-for-all from the penalty of sin. You have passed from death to life; you’ve been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. You’ve been declared righteous by grace.

You need never be ashamed to trust Jesus – even though your enemies mock and deride you. You will seem a fool to the world; weak and dependent. Trust in the wisdom of God.

Psa 31:2  Bow down Your ear to me, Deliver me speedily; Be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me.
Psa 31:3  For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name’s sake, Lead me and guide me.

Is that painted rock thing still a thing? Way before it ever was a thing, a dear saint in our fellowship, Susan Calhoun, used to paint rocks with Scripture on them. I have a couple. One she painted, she misspelled “fortress” as “fortrest.” Now every time I read it in the Bible, I think “fortrest.”

You know what: Fortrest is a great devotional thought. As believers we know we’re in the fort; but we can worry its defenses might not be sufficient. I mean, how many times in history or in fiction does the enemy figure a way over, under, or through the walls?

Or we wonder how long will the siege continue, and do we have enough toilet paper.

The Lord is a fort of rest. Don’t forget to rest in your adversities.

Psa 31:4  Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength.

David felt he had been caught in the net. Think of those net traps in the jungle, where you trip it and it closes around you while lifting you high off the ground. You’re stuck there, waiting for your foe to return.

If there is something we could call the secret, or the key, it is to know, “For You are my strength.”

It’s not by might, nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit that you are to approach all of life, including your troubles. Having begun in the Spirit, you wont find strength walking according to your flesh.

Psa 31:5  Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

Where have we heard that before? From Jesus, on the Cross, when He committed His spirit to the Father and died.
Jesus quoted from The Book of Psalms more than any other book in the Old Testament. Notice Jesus did not quote, “You have redeemed Me.” He wasn’t being redeemed; He was the Redeemer. He was God in human flesh, come from Heaven to earth to be our Substitute in order that we might believe in Him and be declared righteous by God.

Jesus quoted from here, but this is not considered a prophecy. It is a prayer; and it is one we all can sing. One commentator said,

The language was appropriate for Jesus, as it is for all others in the hour of death; and His use of the words furnished the highest illustration of their being appropriate in that hour. The act of the psalmist was an act of strong confidence in God in the midst of dangers and troubles; the act of the Savior was of the same nature, commending His spirit to God in the solemn hour of death. The same act of faith is proper for all the people of God, alike in trouble and in death.

In a moment, David will point out that our times are in God’s hands. We “commit” to Him by realizing He’s got us, will never leave us, and will ultimately bring us home.

Psa 31:6  I have hated those who regard useless idols; But I trust in the LORD.

David went directly to the Lord. He didn’t seek help from other sources. He didn’t try to mash-up the Torah with the wisdom of men, or their made-up religions.

Psa 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities,

How does the Lord to know your soul in adversities?

Strong’s Concordance says this Hebrew word can be translated, “make known.” God already “knows” you thoroughly. He wants to make known, to show you, and your adversaries, what He already knows.

Think of Job. God knew him thoroughly. He permitted Job to be tested. Through it He made known that, “though [God] slay me, yet will I trust Him” (15:4).

God knew this about Job before Satan was allowed to afflict him. Job did not know how he would react under real stress. And Satan was confident Job would curse God.

Iron Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Job got punched in the mouth, figuratively, but continued to use his mouth to praise the Lord.

Whatever the Lord decided in answer to David, he would categorize it as “mercy,” and would “rejoice and be glad.”

Psa 31:8  And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place.

This sounds like what occurred at Keilah. Let me finish reading that episode.

1Sa 23:13  So David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.
1Sa 23:14  And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

God set David’s feet in a “wide place.” Note – It was still a place of danger.

Recall a time in the past when God’s mercy attended your adversities. If you’re having trouble, go all the way back to when you got saved.

If you have been a believer since a very young age, you can still go back to the knowledge that God saved you.
Jesus delivered you from death, from the power of sin, and from the captivity of the devil. You didn’t deserve it. It was wholly His mercy.

You can trust Him to be merciful today and every day. His mercies are new every morning. You may not recognize them. That is because this side of Heaven they can be what C.S. Lewis labeled, “severe mercies.” It is more important that the Lord “make known your soul,” than you be in a state of blessing and bliss. That is what awaits us, in eternity. For now, God is working to finish what He has begun in you.

#2 – It’s Important That You Expect The Lord’s Mercies In Present Trouble (v9-24)

What do Jonah, Jeremiah, and Jesus have in common? No, it isn’t that their names all begin with the letter ‘J.’

They each quoted from Psalm 31 in their adversities.

The writer of Psalm 73, Asaph, also seemed inspired by Psalm 31. Those guys are four of the Bible’s greatest sufferers. If this psalm could comfort them, think of what it can do for us.

Psa 31:9  Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body!
Psa 31:10  For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away.

These feelings need no exposition. If you’re human, you’ve experienced them. One thing that does need clarification is that David seems to blame what he is going through on his own “iniquity,” on his own sin.

Other translations read, “My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak“ (NIV). We miss the point if we say, “David brought this trouble on himself.” That is what Job’s comforters claimed – to their shame.

Commentators blame David as an easy out, because the things he suffered defy their shallow approach to human emotional pain. They won’t admit a believer can continue to hurt.

David knew emotional pain. It was part of knowing his soul. He worked through it – but it took time. He suggests it took years – “years with sighing.”

When you are hurting, it can take time to work out spiritually. Time doesn’t heal the wounds. But it gives you the opportunity to work things out with the Lord.

Sure, you are to rejoice in the Lord always. But that is sometimes more of a future hope – a place to get back to as you seek the Lord.

What if someone told you that your pastor was sunken so low in depression that he “wept by the hour as a child – yet didn’t know what he wept for?” Or that he described life as a “beclouding hopelessness?”

If someone told you that, your pastor would be Charles Spurgeon. The Prince of Preachers fought emotional pain all his life.

We need to retire our cliches and understand that Christians can hurt and yet be godly.

Psa 31:11  I am a reproach among all my enemies, But especially among my neighbors, And am repulsive to my acquaintances; Those who see me outside flee from me.
Psa 31:12  I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
Psa 31:13  For I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me, They scheme to take away my life.

These verses describe David’s treatment by others. Not just enemies; “neighbors” and “acquaintances” treated him badly.

Again, we are not told what event prompted all this, but it would certainly apply to the time David fled from the palace as his own son, Absalom, marched to overthrow and kill his father.

If you’ve never been treated any of these ways, I’m happy for you. Don’t discount the possibility that, one day, you might be treated these ways.

Psa 31:14  But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”

Are you being ignored or mocked or slandered? Not by Jesus. Not by your Father in Heaven. Not by the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the Lord’s merciful love you find all that is necessary to overlook the onslaught of others.

The more we ‘get’ that all that matters is the opinion of Jesus, the less we will be hurt by others.

Psa 31:15  My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.

We use the expression, “Just wait until I get my hands on you.” If you’re saved, you are in God’s hand. He got His hands on you at the Cross. He holds you tight.

Psa 31:16  Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies’ sake.

We talk about “lighting up” when we see someone. God lights up seeing you.

Psa 31:17  Do not let me be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You; Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be silent in the grave.
Psa 31:18  Let the lying lips be put to silence, Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

David wasn’t wishing his enemies would die. He wanted them to be as silent as dead men.

Psa 31:19  Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!
Psa 31:20  You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.
Psa 31:21  Blessed be the LORD, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!
Psa 31:22  For I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before Your eyes”; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried out to You.

The gist of these verses is that, previously when David was besieged in the “strong city,” and thought himself “cut off” from help, God had delivered him. It gave David hope of deliverance in his present trouble.

David spoke of being hidden “secretly in a pavilion.” God was his fortress – his fortrest.

A while ago, we pointed out the most common description of a believer in the New Testament is to say you are “in Christ.” Listen to these two verses from Colossians run together: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (3:3), in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (2:3).

You might be in a city under siege. You might be being hunted down in the wilderness. “In Christ,” you have every spiritual resource available to you.

Psa 31:23  Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.

This describes the end of all things:

In the end, believers will be preserved.

Nonbelievers will receive their pay, their wages – the wages of sin (which is eternal death).

Psa 31:24  Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD.

Hope in the Lord; He will strengthen your heart; you’ll be courageous as you face adversities.

It’s not a formula; it’s not Hope + Strength = Courage. It is three simultaneous things that are present as you walk with the Lord.

Hope in the Lord. He saved you; He goes on ‘saving’ you; He will save you in the end. He may rapture you; that is our blessed hope. If not, if you die, into His hands you commit your spirit.

Strength in the Lord is the promise He has provided all you need for life and godliness. You are stronger than you know, and He wants to show you that you are.

Courage makes me think of our idiom, “take courage.” We “take” it from “hope” and “strength.” It’s yours; take it.

In the most recent Wonder Woman, there are hints early on that Dianna is more than she knows. At one point in her training, she instinctively brings her arm bracelets together and a wave of power is emitted that bowls everyone over.

(BTW – Jesus did something like this. When the mob came to get Him, in answer to their question, He said, “I AM,” and they all fell backward).

I’m not saying we should be able to knock people down. I am saying that we have more power than we realize in our adversities.

Psalm 24 – King Of The Hill

Ticker tape. Thin strips of paper used for electronic printing of stock market quotes and sports scores. If you remember the movie The Sting, it was the machine that provided the results of the horse races they were betting on. Invented by Edison, it got its name from the ticking sound the machines produced. They went obsolete in the 1960’s.

During the Statue of Liberty dedication in October 1886, office workers threw ticker tape out their windows and onto parade-goers below. Thus was born the New York tradition of the ticker tape parade.

Psalm 24 was written for a celebratory procession in Israel. It was written on the momentous occasion of King David returning the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. According to the account in First Chronicles, David “gathered all Israel” (15:3). There were “singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy” (15:16). For his part, David “whirl[ed] and play[ed] music” (15:29).

The psalm was also prophetic. As we read it, you will see that it perfectly anticipated Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in His first coming.

Here is something really cool that substantiates that claim. The Mishnah is a collection of Jewish oral traditions.

In it is a list of seven psalms, each of which would be recited in Temple worship on a certain day of the week. Each day had its own psalm. The psalm for the first day of the week, for Sunday, was (you guessed it) Psalm 24.

That means this psalm was being sung when Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday.

For us futurists, Psalm 24 has not exhausted its prophetic fulfillment. It looks forward to the yet future Second Coming of Jesus to Jerusalem to establish the one thousand year Kingdom of Heaven on earth and rule as its King.

While looking forward, Psalm 25 starts by looking back – all the way back – to creation. It reminds us that before we can join in the roar of the crowd at Jesus’ Second Coming, we must be made right by believing Him for what He accomplished at His first coming.

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 You Are Made Right For The King’s Return, and #2 You Are Heard Roaring At The King’s Return.

#1 – You Are Made Right For The King’s Return (v1-6)

Why look back to Genesis? What does that have to do with Jesus’ comings? It has everything to do with it. Let’s discover how as we look back with David.

Psa 24:1  A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
Psa 24:2  For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.

David was familiar with the Genesis account of special creation. “Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so” (1:6-7).

As its Creator, God has claim to not just the earth, but to its “fullness.” Nothing is beyond His rightful ownership. But all that – all of creation and its fullness – was only so God could create mankind. Those who “dwell” in the “world” God created for them are His.

When our minds are drawn back to Genesis, a huge question is answered: “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” Just look around. Something has gone terribly wrong. If you didn’t know better, you might think God had abdicated or abandoned creation.

In fact, nonbelievers feel comfortable deriding God for the tragedies and traumas that characterize life on earth. Elton John sings,

If there’s a God in Heaven
What’s He waiting for
If He can’t hear the children
Then he must see the war
But it seems to me
That He leads His lambs
To the slaughter house
And not the promised land

He’s waiting for you, Elton John… and others.

What does Genesis tell us? God put mankind in charge of creation, and they immediately disobeyed God. Their tempter, Satan, became the god of this world. Tragedy and trauma are the result of mankind’s sin bringing death into God’s perfect creation.

Adam and Eve represented all their descendants; all mankind. They had a choice; they had to have a choice, or else there is no such thing as free-will, or love. They chose badly.
To suggest a limited analogy – they chose to be ruled by Scar instead of Mufasa.

Far from abdicating or abandoning, God began to reveal a plan to redeem and restore His creation – especially mankind. That plan involves both comings of Jesus to set things right.

As the psalm begins, nonbelievers are assured, and believers are reassured, that God remains in charge. He hasn’t abdicated what He created; He hasn’t abandoned those He created.

Psa 24:3  Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place?

Do you have a special place you like to go, maybe on vacation? And a particular place at that place? God has a special place; it’s Jerusalem.

In Psalm 87, we read, “His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loves the gates of Zion More than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! (v1-3).

We read in Psalm 132, “For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it (v13-14).

When the Lord returns, in His Second Coming, New Yorkers won’t give Him a ticker tape parade. He’s not coming there. Jerusalem has that singular honor.

Psa 24:3  Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place?
Psa 24:4  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.

You must meet these prerequisites to be in God’s presence:

“Clean hands,” behaviorally. The deeds of your life – what you’ve done and will do – must be without any stain of sin.

“A pure heart” means you’ve never had any thoughts that were impure, or ungodly.

As for idolatry, were told in the Bible that covetousness is idolatry. So this means you can never have coveted anything.

“Sworn deceitfully” – your every word has been absolutely true and free from any deceit whatsoever.

No one even gets one out of those four. David failed in all those ways in the episode with Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah. The “man after God’s own heart” did not himself have a “pure heart.”

Nevertheless David and procession brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. The disciples, and a great procession, followed Jesus into the Temple. How could they?

Psa 24:5  He shall receive blessing from the LORD, And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

On account of the “righteousness of God” that you receive from “His salvation,” you “receive blessing from the Lord.” If you believe Him for salvation, He gives you His righteousness. You are not perfect, but He can see you that way, and you can thereby be in His presence.

Under the terms of the Old Covenant, the High Priest could by the shedding of lambs blood go through the veil and enter the Holy of Holies to represent the Israelites. Coming out from Gods presence, the people “receive[d] blessing from the Lord.”

In the New Covenant, at the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God, the veil leading in to the Holy of Holies was torn. Now all who believe in Jesus live in the very presence of God, and are, in fact, the Temple of God – indwelt by the Holy Spirit, enjoying “the blessing of the Lord.”

You do not meet the prerequisites on your own. They are not works you can perform in order to make yourself right with God. He declares you right, then sees you perfect as He goes about perfecting you day-by-day.

I like to think about this in terms of clothing; in terms of a dress code. Do you recall the The Flip-Flop Flub? It led to The Flip-Flop Flub Flap. In 2005, a fashion faux pas caused an uproar when several players on the Northwestern University championship women’s lacrosse team wore flip-flops to a ceremony at the White House.

There is a strict dress code for being in the presence of Jesus. You must wear the white robe of the righteousness of God.

It cannot be purchased, or merited in any way. It can only be given to you, as a gift, by Jesus. It is given as a gift to “whosoever will believe on Him.”

Jesus takes upon Himself your sin; He gives you, in exchange, His righteousness.

This imputed righteousness is how a person may stand in the presence of God.

Psa 24:6  This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Selah

Abraham, Issac, Jacob. Then Jacob had the sons who became the patriarchs of Israel’s twelve tribes. In this psalm, “Jacob” is short for Israel.

Remember, this psalm was written for, and sung at, the procession returning the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Looking around, at what is described elsewhere as “all Israel,” you could excitedly exclaim, “This is Jacob!”

If you follow college football… You know the famous chant of Penn State. The stadium erupts with, “We are… Penn State.”

The words of the psalm are like chanting, “We are… Jacob.” At the first prophetic fulfillment of this psalm, the nation was initially excited; but not its leaders.

It could have been a generation of believers, but “Jacob” officially rejected Jesus.

A mystery was then revealed: Jesus would ascend to Heaven for a time while the Good News of imputed righteousness by grace through faith went out to the Gentile nations of the world. The resulting believers would be known collectively as the church, and our time on earth as the Church Age.

Another mystery was then revealed:

1Co 15:51  Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed –

1Co 15:52  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

1Th 4:17a  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air…

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1Th 4:17b … And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

The church will be resurrected and raptured prior to the Lord’s Second Coming. In fact, we will return with Him.

What Adam and Eve did was not a minor flip-flop flub. Our nakedness, representing guiltless purity, was replaced by guilt and impurity, illustrated by our original parents sewing themselves garments. Since the Garden, mankind has mimicked Adam and Eve by sewing garments of religion, philosophy, and psychology.

It’s interesting, is it not, that many religions have official garments. They are all fig leaves, hand sewn. They cannot make you right.

You must be declared righteous in exchange for your sin, and receive the robe of righteousness from Jesus.

#2 – You Are Heard Roaring At The King’s Return (v7-10)

Most of you probably know that the drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is functional. It has only been raised twice, once in 1955 for the grand opening of Disneyland, and then in 1983 for the rededication of Fantasyland.

David wanted music and lyrics that would coincide with the opening of the gates. Think of this as a great crowd, performing a scripted, musical yell.

We need to read it all through to get the feel.

Psa 24:7  Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
Psa 24:8  Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.
Psa 24:9  Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
Psa 24:10  Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah

I hate to ruin this with detail, but there are some things we need to have pointed out. The “gates” and “doors” being “lifted” means they were strong, heavy grates that could be lowered down grooves on each side of a gateway to block it.

Their “heads” were the top. So it’s a poetic way of describing their opening from ground to top as the Ark of the Covenant approached.

The Ark, you’ll recall from Exodus, was more than a representation of God’s presence.

His presence dwelt there. “Everlasting doors“ expressed their desire to always have God present among them; in their midst. God with them.

Jesus at one point in His ministry called Himself the door. In the lyrics of Psalm 24, He is the “everlasting door,” never to be shut, by Whom all who believe enter in to eternal life.

“Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.”

King David was fresh off a victory against the Philistines when he brought the Ark back. He had no trouble giving the Lord credit for the win.

“Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.” Selah.

Listen to what the Lord said to David about the battle with the Philistines:

2Sa 5:23  Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.
2Sa 5:24  And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

Who marched on the tree tops? Sounds supernatural.

In His first coming, Jesus had battled Satan and demons – posting a ‘W’ every time. At the Cross, in what looked like a victory for evil, Jesus triumphed. His death as a Substitute defeated death and sin and Satan, once-and-for-all.

At His Second Coming, Jesus will… Well, let’s read it:

Rev 19:11  Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.
Rev 19:12  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.
Rev 19:13  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14  And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.
Rev 19:15  Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16  And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17  Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God,
Rev 19:18  that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”
Rev 19:19  And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
Rev 19:20  Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21  And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.

I’d say, “mighty in battle,” is understatement.

One source said that “the Lord of Hosts appears 235 times as a name of God. “Hosts” can be translated armies. What kind of armies? Angelic.

At His first coming, Jesus let it be known that He could at any time call upon legions of angels. Angels figure prominently in the years leading up to His Second Coming.

“Selah.” We’ve encountered it twice in this psalm. No one really knows what it means. For one thing, it’s not translated; it is transliterated. It is simply sounded out from Hebrew into English so we can pronounce it. It is generally accepted that Selah is a musical notation of some sort, and that it is there to provide musical direction.  Most likely, a pause.

It might be a pause for reflection. But in keeping with the action of the psalm, consider this.

Think of tens of thousands of Jewish voices singing these lines, then pausing in silence. Then singing again, louder; then pausing. Exhilarating.
Now think of ten thousand times ten thousand believers singing them as Jesus returns to Jerusalem in the future.

Ten thousand times ten thousand
In sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints
Throng up the steep of light:
Tis finished, all is finished,
Their fight with death and sin;
Fling open wide the golden gates,
And let the victors in.

Happily Ever After (Psalm 1)

In June of 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. In the preamble Jefferson lists what he identified as three inalienable human rights: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. His draft was then heavily edited and adjusted, shortened by a quarter. In fact, Jefferson commented that the committee had “mangled” his version. But one phrase that survived throughout the process was “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Historians note that this list isn’t entirely original to Jefferson. John Locke had argued that God granted men the right to “life, health, liberty and property.” Why had Jefferson made the switch from property to happiness? Some historians believe he got the idea from Scottish moral philosophers. No one is quite sure. More importantly, what did he and the rest of the Continental Congress mean by ‘happiness’ and how to pursue it? Jefferson never specified, but it was obviously important to the thinkers of the day.

Of course, the desire to be happy is natural. Not just for Americans, but for all people. You want to be happy. So do I. But what does that mean? How should it be defined? When you were a small child, it made you happy to splash in puddles and eat mud pies. I’m guessing most of our tastes have changed since then. But, as people who understand more about life and the world, as people who recognized that there is more to life than this life, more than our emotional feelings right now, are we even supposed to pursue happiness? Is that compatible with a life lived for the glory of God?

You’ve probably heard the phrase “God doesn’t want you to be happy, He wants you to be holy” before. You may have even heard it here. And, in the normal, emotional feelings sense, there’s some truth to that. The great purpose of your life is not that you feel the way you want to feel at any given moment. But, the fact of the matter is that God does want you to be happy. There are more passages than we have time to go through that talk about God’s intention for our joy and our fulfillment and for abundant satisfaction. It’s happiness God’s way.

Unlike Jefferson or John Locke, God has carefully described and defined what real, Godly happiness is all about. And it’s much more than a fleeting feeling. It’s more than a passing fancy. Heaven’s happiness is presented as the most important thing you could pursue with your life. In fact, at the beginning of the book Psalms, this incredibly personal and devotional and essential book, we’re given God’s truth about the pursuit of happiness. Psalm 1 is all about happiness God’s way and it is presented as a matter of life and death, covering our day to day experience all the way through to the end of human history.

Now, maybe you find yourself in a time of great personal difficulty. Maybe this talk about happiness is making you think, “I don’t have time for happy thoughts. I’m just trying to get by. I’m just trying to survive.” God’s word says today that your ultimate survival is exactly what Psalm 1 is talking about and that our Lord intends much more for you than just getting by as you live out life.

This is a very significant Psalm. Scholars agree that it serves as a preface to the rest of the Psalter. They point out that, in some of the ancient manuscripts, it’s not numbered, but presented as an introduction to the songs that follow. Charles Spurgeon said all the other Psalms serve as the sermon describing what is revealed in the text of Psalm 1.

As a text, it has echoes and parallels in the Parables, the Sermon on the Mount and other parts of the New Testament. In 6 short verses it delivers to us a powerfully concentrated dose of guidance and truth, showing the way to a vibrant, meaningful, happy life. The first verse, the first phrase of this remarkable book of the Bible is:

Psalm 1:1a – How happy is the man…

Happy. Blessed. Enviable. Highly favored. This opening line is loaded with implications for us. As Bible students we would call this a “beatitude.” What follows is God’s revelation of the supreme ideal for your life. A state of fulfillment that is well beyond splashing in mud puddles.

You see, when humans do the defining of happiness, it’s completely subjective. One person might define happiness as being wealthy. Another person might define is as being loved. Another might define it as feeling good all the time. Which is it? God, the Creator, says that this is it. And it’s His definition that matters. Notice how He says it: “Happy IS the man.” Not, “how potentially happy a person could possibly be.” The Holy Spirit presents this to us as a statement of fact. Most of you are very familiar with this text, maybe even have it memorized. But, from the outset, it’s saying: If you are a believer who will go God’s way, this is the ramification and the result. This is how God has designed the Christian life.

We’re conditioned to be wary of get rich quick schemes or sales pitches that seem too good to be true. But God is on record here as providing the way for you to have a truly happy life. That should arrest our attention. If someone came to you and said, “I’ve got the map that leads to El Dorado, the city of gold.” And if you believed they were telling you the truth, wouldn’t you act on it? Of course we would. And here, Psalm 1 lays out a map to everlasting treasure right before us.

Now, the fact that this Psalm gives us the roadmap to real happiness in life indicates that we don’t know the way ourselves. This is truth that we won’t just stumble upon accidentally. We needed a God of grace to reveal it to us and instruct us in the way. The question is: Do you believe that God knows better than you? Does God know better about your future? If the answer is yes, then we’ve got to go His way, rather than our own. And His way has to be revealed.

As verse 1 continues, it begins describing Godly happiness and it does so by telling us what it’s not. This isn’t that unusual. If I were to ask you to describe what it means to be healthy, one of the first things you’d probably say is, “Not being sick.” Here’s how the verse goes on:

Psalm 1:1 – 1 How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinners or join a group of mockers!

The Bible makes it clear that there are only two paths in life. There is God’s way and there is the other way. Religions like Buddhism try to imagine “the middle way.” Right now in politics there’s a lot of argument about whether the country should go right or left or center. But, when it comes to salvation, there is no third route. One way or another.

While we can detect a downward progression in this verse – your translation may show it plainly as walking then standing then sitting – I was struck by the general bombardment of ungodliness confronting the happy person. If you put yourself in the Psalm, you’ve set out in pursuit of happiness, and immediately you’ve got the enemies of God standing in your way, giving you advice, flooding the airwaves with their philosophies and their scorn. But, like health is the absence of sickness, we see here that Godly happiness is to be free from the influence and mindset of those opposed to the Lord. And it’s not just talking about Christ-hating atheists who make it their mission to mock our Savior. The Bible explains that if a person or a system or a philosophy is not submitted to God’s way, then it is going the opposite way. But they’re inviting you to come along, to join them on their yellow-brick road. To be a part of their party. But this Psalm and many other passages of Scripture explain that the way they’re going leads to ruin.

Rather, the happy person follows the path laid out by verse 2.

Psalm 1:2 – 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Christianity is much more than just not doing certain things. It is an active life that engages the mind, the heart, the body, our skills, our time, our resources.

The Psalm says that a happy person is characterized by a love for the Word of God. Commentators argue over whether the immediate meaning was the Torah, or whether the Psalmist meant the book of Psalms itself, others say it’s the whole Old Testament. We don’t know when exactly this song was written, but there’s no need to debate. Because God’s Word is unified. It’s complete and in harmony with itself. All of the Bible fits together. And now, of course, along with the written word, we have the Living Word, Jesus Christ. The Word, Who put on flesh and came and dwelled with us.

Psalm 1 explains that people who have laid hold of Heaven’s happiness are people who love Jesus Christ and love the Scripture. We’re told that the Bible has been given to us as instruction for life and Godliness. Usually people don’t get really excited about the release of a new instructional guide. When the seventh and final Harry Potter novel was released in 2007 people waited in long lines to get a copy. One young fan was interviewed by the New York Times after camping out in Piccadilly Circus to get her copy. She said, “I slept three hours in the last two days in the rain,” but then said she was going to have to read a chapter before she went to sleep. That’s delight and excitement. People don’t usually behave like that when it comes to the Ikea instructions for putting together their new table. So how can our Psalmist talk about delighting in God’s instruction book?

Though God’s Word is given for our instruction, it’s much more than just a reference manual or a pile of information. It’s a whole library of truth and life-changing secrets. It contains real wisdom. It stirs us up with adventure. It professes God’s love to us. It explains the mysteries of the world. It provides perspective to make sense of everything around us. It teaches us. Comforts us. Corrects us. Prepares us. It sets before us a delightful feast to enjoy as long as we live.

When the Bible describes what our relationship to it is meant to be it uses really intense images. Like how we are to “write it on our hearts.” Or that man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word of God. That sort of intensity is repeated here as we see God’s Word being a delight to the happy man.

Psalm 119 is all about our relationship to the Scriptures. Here are a few selected phrases from that song:

Psalm 119:35, 47, 92 – 35 Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found…47 How I delight in your commands! How I love them!…92 If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery.

Here in verse 2 it’s explained that we’re not just to appreciate God’s word, but we’re to apply it.

The Living Bible paraphrase renders the second half of the verse this way: “Night and day [they] are always meditating on [God’s] laws and thinking about ways to follow Him more closely.”

In the happy life, God’s Word has replaced the guidance, the advice, the mindset of the unbelieving world. Which includes our own thoughts, ideas, plans and opinions before we were Christians.

If, at this point, you think to yourself, “I don’t delight in the Bible. I’m not even hungry for it.” I understand. But when we detect that attitude in ourselves, it’s a sign of a problem. The fix is to remove influences that crowd out the airspace in your mind and to simply go to the Word and see what it says. On a practical level, it might help to switch to another good translation for awhile. It might help to switch to listening to the Bible sometimes instead of just reading it silently. The delight in the Word is essential to Godly happiness. It’s essential to knowing how to make decisions and how to navigate relationships and whether God wants you to go one way or another.

Verse 3 describes how going God’s way, in delight of His Word, impacts a person’s life.

Psalm 1:3 – 3 He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

The image of a tree is wonderful and illuminating. God’s plan is to make you like a great tree. Not a statue, rigid and motionless. But a tree. Strong. Growing. Beautiful. Useful. Fruitful.

Not a random tree, isolated in some haphazard place. But a tree that’s been specifically planted in a particular location for a purpose. And that purpose is fruit. Fruit trees are so remarkable when you think about it. But a tree doesn’t enjoy it’s own fruit. In fact, you’ve got to get that fruit off the tree. Fruit is for others. It’s for the farmer. It’s for the people who take it from the branches. Now, fruit, in spiritual terms, can mean a variety of things. Sometimes in the Bible it refers to the future rewards we will receive in eternity. More often it’s referring to spiritual growth in your life and ways you glorify God. Or ways you serve others using the gifts God has given you. All around, according to the Bible, there are so many ways you can be bearing fruit in your life. Glorifying God. Observable progress in becoming more like Jesus Christ. Serving the Church. If you’re a Christian here this morning, take a look at your branches. Is there fruit growing? It’s an important question because lack of fruit production is the sign of a spiritual problem. It would kind of be like waking up tomorrow with no vision in one of your eyes. You probably wouldn’t just go about your day. You’d take it seriously, get it checked out and figure out what you needed to do to restore the proper function of your eye.

Bearing fruit isn’t just something God wants for your life, He expects it. And whether it was the nation of Israel or the letters to the churches in Revelation, when Jesus came to inspect the trees and didn’t find Godly fruit, He wasn’t happy. In John 15 Jesus said that the Father “cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit” and that if we remain in Him, we “will produce much fruit.”

Not only is the Godly, happy life fruitful, it’s evergreen. Whether in the storms of winter, the terrible heat of summer, the cool of spring or the mild of autumn, our leaf will not wither. This tree isn’t subject to the weather around it but by the inexhaustible supply of God’s presence and power.

Psalm 1:4 – 4 The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Think of a beautiful, 20 foot pear tree. Rock solid and stable. Then think of the skin that comes off a peanut. That’s the difference as far as heaven is concerned. Now, many of the Psalms wrestle with the fact that, from our vantage point, so often it seems like the wicked get everything they want. They have the strength. They often have wealth and power and prominence. But we’re always encouraged to remember their end and the beginning of the Psalms where we see them for what they really are. Oz The Great And Powerful seemed so impressive and important until the curtain was pulled back. And here, the Lord reveals the true reality of the way of the wicked. The wind, which for the tree will carry off seed and fragrance, will utterly eliminate the wicked.

What does it mean to be “wicked” as far as the Bible is concerned? For us, that’s a strong word, reserved for particularly evil people. But in Biblical terms the wicked are simply all those who do not know and are not known by God. In the context of our passage, it is all those people who are on their own way rather than going God’s way, as revealed in the Bible. The Bible Knowledge Commentary says it this way: “People described [as wicked] are not in covenant relationship with God. They live according to their own passions. They may do kind and charitable deeds, but God’s evaluation of them is that they are without eternal merit.”

What about you today? Are you in relationship with God? Have you been born again by believing on Jesus Christ and repenting of your sins? You see, everyone is born in sin. Everyone is wicked. There is none righteous, no not one. But when you turn to God and receive His salvation He gives you His righteousness. He makes you the happy person Psalm 1 is describing. If you haven’t received that salvation, you’re not in verse 2 and 3. You’re in verse 4 and 5.

Psalm 1:5 – 5 Therefore the wicked will not survive the judgment, and sinners will not be in the community of the righteous.

What we’re talking about here is not just theoretical. It’s not just a thought experiment. It’s not just a dream someone has of a good life. We’re talking about a real course for your life that is going to end one day. And, if you are not in Christ, your road will end in what is called here “the judgment.” You will not survive. You will be lost. Ruined. Your version might read that the wicked “will not stand” in the judgment. That’s because there, before the Great White Throne, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But, by then, it will be too late for salvation. There the wicked will be judged and sentenced and sent forever into the lake of fire. No pardons. No time off for good behavior. No appeals. You will face the crushing wrath of God’s judgment.

That’s not what God wants for you. We know so because He says so directly. He’s not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance. He inspired this song so that we could know the difference between the two roads. One leading to a happily life now and forever, the other leading to ruin and death. And you are free to select either way.

It’s interesting: the Psalm opens with the wicked trying to convince a person to come along with them on their path. We see where that path ends. But we also see where God’s way leads. At the end of the line there is an assembly of the righteous, whose lives have been saved and made beautiful by God’s power. The question for each believer here today is: Who are we bringing with us? Will we pass through the gates of heaven alone or will we add more than just us to the community of the righteous? We can’t force people to believe, that’s not our responsibility. But we’ve been planted in a specific time and place by God so that we can influence people, spread the Gospel and be a part of God’s life saving work on the earth.

Psalm 1:6 – 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

This Psalm has the day-to-day in mind and the long view. It covers your life from this morning on through to eternity. Along the way, we are assured that a caring, loving God is watching us. Not passively but as a Counselor, a Friend, a Yokefellow, our Bridegroom and as Judge.

The Lord is watching because your life matters. And so He has provided everything necessary for each one of us to avoid ruin, find fulfillment, and bring others with us as we walk in heavenly happiness.

What does it mean to pursue happiness? Psalm 1 defines it as a person, going God’s way, applying the Word to their lives and, as a result, growing, strengthening, and blessing others.

The happy life of Psalm 1 is not defined by personal selfishness or emotional feelings. Rather, it’s all about the Father, our fruit and our future.