David in the Psalms

[Arial]

Psalm 143:7-12

7 Answer me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
I have fled to you for refuge.[a]
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
on level ground!
11 For your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.

In the historical account of the life of David we see him facing physical enemies who desired to destroy his life and remove him from ever being king. We see him facing hardships and betrayals by those he loves. And we see the power and sovereignty and purposes of God interacting with his people in our history.

What we do not see in the historical account is the feelings and emotions that David, as a human, surely felt. But David wrote a lot of Psalms, and in them we get a glimpse of a man who sought God for everything, depended on him for everything, and never ceased to praise him and seek his face.

In some of them we see the anguish and distress---the feelings and emotions----as in Psalm 143. We see him as being just like us.

Our enemies are not physical enemies as David faced, but we face some of the same enemies he did face. Those enemies that war against righteousness still in us, we face illness, and betrayals, and confusion, doubt, suffering, fears, anxieties and persecution, loss and grief and the depths of sorrow. In a very real sense while we are on earth , we sometimes rest in green pastures beside still waters and sometimes we are traveling through the valley of the shadow of death.

We can learn from David in times of trial, to take refuge in our God. To cry out to God even as we are beset seemingly on all sides, by whatever the enemy may be. For the Psalms also tell us, "Wait on the Lord. Wait, I say, on the Lord, and he will again strengthen your heart." And in our weakness, he shows himself strong. He never sleeps nor slumbers and there is no shadow of turning away with him. He has a hold on us and he will not let go.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." We cannot stop when we come to that valley, and we cannot go around it. We must go through it, but we do not go through it alone. He goes before us with the rod of the shepherd to destroy the lions, and the staff that pulls the little lambs from danger when they stray. And underneath are the everlasting arms. And just as there were green pastures and still waters and the restoration of our soul, before the valley, so too they are again when we come out of that valley.

 

[Alive]

Amen, sister. We are so blessed to have these psalms and the examples of all of our brethren through history that have through thick and thin been kept by our Lord and God.

Heb. 11:38 (NAS20S) (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.

Heb. 11:39 (NAS20S) And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

Heb. 12:1 (NAS20S) Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

[Arial]

Amen, sister. We are so blessed to have these psalms and the examples of all of our brethren through history that have through thick and thin been kept by our Lord and God.

Heb. 11:38 (NAS20S) (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.

Heb. 11:39 (NAS20S) And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

Heb. 12:1 (NAS20S) Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The whole book of Hebrews is giving a very important piece of knowledge that we need and teaching us through it, to stand our ground. We are going to be tempted by the world from all sides. Some of these temptations may involve an easy way out of suffering or persecution. But we are owned by God, purchased for him by the blood of the Lamb and the sacrifice of his body. He is our guarantee given by the Holy Spirit, that none will be lost. It is God who predestines us to be conformed to the image of Christ, and God who calls, God who justifies, God who sanctifies.

The book of Revelation also is for our encouragement and strengthening and assurance, to stand fast and not be moved. Sadly, in some schools of thought, I fear that is not seen. It becomes rather an escape hatch, rather than the full glory and power of God manifested in our lives and in the whole world.

 

[Alive]

A little something from John Calvin on verse 38/39...


38. Of whom the world was not worthy, etc. As the holy Prophets wandered as fugitives among wild beasts, they might have seemed unworthy of being sustained on the earth; for how was it that they could find no place among men? But the Apostle inverts this sentiment, and says that the world was not worthy of them; for wherever God’s servants come, they bring with them his blessing like the fragrance of a sweet odor. Thus the house of Potiphar was blessed for Joseph’s sake, (Genesis 39:5 and Sodom would have been spared had ten righteous men been found in it. (Genesis 18:32.) Though then the world may cast out God’s servants as offscourings, it is yet to be regarded as one of its judgments that it cannot bear them; for there is ever accompanying them some blessing from God. Whenever the righteous are taken away from us, let us know that such events are presages of evil to us; for we are unworthy of having them with us, lest they should perish together with us.

At the same time the godly have abundant reasons for consolation, though the world may cast them out as offscourings; for they see that the same thing happened to the prophets, who found more clemency in wild animals than in men. It was with this thought that Hilary comforted himself when he saw the church taken possession of by sanguinary tyrants, who then employed the Roman emperor as their executioner; yea, that holy man then called to mind what the Apostle here says of the Prophets; — “Mountains and forests,” he said, “and dungeons and prisons, are safer for me than splendid temples; for the Prophets, while abiding or buried in these, still prophesied by the Spirit of God.” So also ought we to be animated so as boldly to despise the world; and were it to cast us out, let us know that we go forth from a fatal gulf, and that God thus provides for our safety, so that we may not sink in the same destruction.

39. And these all, etc. This is an argument from the less to the greater; for if they on whom the light of grace had not as yet so brightly shone displayed so great a constancy in enduring evils, what ought the full brightness of the Gospel to produce in us? A small spark of light led them to heaven; when the sun of righteousness shines over us, with what pretense can we excuse ourselves if we still cleave to the earth? This is the real meaning of the Apostle.235

 

[Alive]

Sorry, Arial.
I realized I took your OP around a corner.

 

[Arial]

Sorry, Arial.
I realized I took your OP around a corner.

You did? If you did, it was a good corner and certainly applied. The perseverance of the the saints through the power and faithfulness of God is pretty much the encouragement meant by the OP.

My purpose in bringing up Psalm 143, which I happened to be reading this morning, was that sometimes we tend to see those OT saints as removed from humanity. We don't relate to them as being just like us with all the very same struggles and places of desperation. But it isn't a man that is different, better, more loved by God, than we are. It is God and how he surrounds and sees, and hears, and knows, his covenant children. (Good and perfect Father that he is!) "His eye is on the sparrow, and he watches over me."

David had that knowledge of God and that faith, and even he knew that he had it only because God gave it to him. He always went to the fountain of grace for mercy and in his time of need. And our need is always. God hears. God sees. God knows. God cares.

Imagine the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. It would look as though God had abandoned them. But he was working his purposes of redemption all along. Voddie has an excellent sermon on that. I will see if I can find it and post it in the video section. It has been awhile since I watched it.

 

[Alive]

Amen. I think the Lord in His Grace for the Elect…His Sons..has been consistent before and after the Cross.
My reasoning is from the heart of a father.
We may not understand it, but He is the same always.

 

[Arial]

Amen. I think the Lord in His Grace for the Elect…His Sons..has been consistent before and after the Cross.
My reasoning is from the heart of a father.
We may not understand it, but He is the same always.

I haven't found the video I mentioned yet, but came across one of my favorites so I posted it. To me anyway, it is powerful for Christ.