God Is Still God and He Is Enough

Transcript

GRM 1150
03/13/2016
God Is Still God and He Is Enough
Psalm 3
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to Psalms again. We looked at Psalm 1 in our previous study, I want to direct your attention to Psalm 3. The book of Psalms in your Bible, that large book of about 150 chapters that is about in the middle of your Bible. And this last song we just sang about the grace of God, you keep that in the back of your mind as we look through this psalm because that is the message of this psalm in so many ways.

In times of difficulty and trial we often come to the Psalms to be reminded of God's grace, His care, His love, His forgiveness, to be reminded that our troubles, our trials, our difficulties are not new. They may not be exactly the same as the psalmist writes about, but they are the trials and difficulties that come into our lives. Those that weigh us down, and at times they overwhelm us. And we come to the Psalms so often to find encouragement, comfort, to be reminded that God is still God and He is still our sufficiency.

Psalm 3 is one of those psalms, written out of trials and difficulties, written during a low time of David's life. You have the title to the psalm there, or the instruction of it at the top of the psalm—A Psalm of David when he Fled from Absalom his Son. Very low point in David's life. His son Absalom had turned against him. As you are aware David had a unique role in God's plan.

We're going to come back to 2 Samuel and just highlight a few matters, come to 2 Samuel 7. Just to remind you, in 2 Samuel 7 God establishes a covenant with David and his descendants, guaranteeing the throne to David's family forever. So the promise given at the end of verse 11, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete, you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever, I will be a father to him, he will be a son to Me.” Verse 16, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever, your throne shall be established forever.” And David is in awe of God's grace and the greatness of the promise He has given to him.

Verse 21, “For the sake of Your word and according to Your own heart You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know.” And verse 24, “You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever and You oh Lord have become their God.” And all of this, verse 26, “is that Your name may be magnified forever.” Then note verse 28, “Now oh Lord God, You are God and Your words are truth.” Keep that in mind; You are God and Your words are truth. David will be hanging onto this fact during a very low time in his life.

Turn over a few pages, staying in 2 Samuel, you come to chapter 11 and there is perhaps the greatest tragedy without doubt in David's life—his sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of Uriah and those involved with Uriah in the battle. In chapter 12 Nathan confronts David about his sin and he says there are three basic consequences David will endure for his sin. We want to take note of those because they are in the background of what we will be looking at in Psalm 3. The first consequence in
2 Samuel 12:10, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house,” the ongoing conflict that will take place within the family of David as a consequence of his sin. Verse 11, “Behold I will raise up evil against you from your own household.” David personally will experience the direct opposition from his own family and that will be the rebellion of Absalom as we will see. And the third consequence is in verse 14, the end of the verse, “The child that is born to you shall surely die.” And we can see in some ways these events happen in reverse order that Nathan gave them because the last thing mentioned, the child shall die, happens first. And that happens later in chapter 12.

When you come over to 2 Samuel 15, chapters 15-18 record the rebellion of Absalom, David's dearly loved son, which the title of Psalm 3 says is going on when David writes that psalm. And just going to highlight what goes on. David's son Absalom foments a rebellion against his father. He does this by using his position as the king's son to gain favor among people in Israel, he gives them certain gifts and does favors for them. They begin to become attached to him and over time we are told at the end of 2 Samuel 15:6, “so Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel.” And this became a growing conspiracy, not just through those that Absalom talked to personally, but those people talked to others. And you know we have contact with Absalom and he is a man who understands us better than David does, he has more of a concern for us, he takes more of an interest in us. And we think he ought to be king instead of his father. And we are told at the end of verse 12, “the conspiracy was strong, the people increased continually with Absalom.”

This becomes a growing conspiracy. Pretty soon David himself will be in danger. Verse 13, “A messenger came to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, arise, let us flee otherwise none of us will escape from Absalom. Go in haste or he will overtake us quickly and bring down calamity on us, strike the city with the edge of the sword.” You see this is a serious conspiracy. David the king has to gather his family and core followers and flee immediately from the city before Absalom has a chance to come up to the city with the growing number of men who are following him.

Additional trials come with this. David's perhaps most trusted counselor was Ahithophel. And in 2 Samuel 15:12 you read, “And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor.” And Ahithophel joins the conspiracy. Down in verse 31, “And someone told David saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, oh Lord I pray, make the counsel of Ahithophel foolishness.” Before God had used Ahithophel and given him wisdom to counsel David wisely, but now that support and help to David is gone. And David asks God instead of giving Ahithophel wisdom, make his counsel foolishness. And God will answer that prayer in a special way.

When you come over to 2 Samuel 17 and the conspiracy continues to grow. In chapter 16 you have Shimei, let me mention him. In verse 7, verse 6 he follows David as he is fleeing from the city, traveling east to get away. And he threw stones at David and all those traveling with him. And he cursed him in verse 7, “Get out you man of bloodshed, worthless fellow. God is bringing down on you the bloodshed of the house of Saul in whose place you reign. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. You are taken in your own evil, you are a man of bloodshed.” God is done with you, your sins have overtaken you, God has discarded you and replace you with your son Absalom.

And at a time like this it just would have to weigh on David more greatly because here you are with a small contingent, running for your life from your own son. How the king has fallen. Now with a small contingent on the run for his life and this worthless man throwing stones at him, declaring that God has cursed him and it is his own fault, it is the judgment coming on him. This is something of the situation.

You come back to Psalm 3. When you get over to 2 Samuel 17 we are told that David gets advice, he is going to set up camp on the Jerusalem side of the Jordan River, on the west side of the Jordan River. And counselor friends of David send word, you have to get across the Jordan, in effect you have to get out of the country. If you stay another night, disaster will come on you. So David has to make a quick journey, continue the journey to get across the Jordan. That's how serious it is. Not only get out of the city, go hide someplace in the land of Israel. No, you have to get out of the land, you have to cross the Jordan; you have to get away.

So then we read in the title, and these aren't part of the inspired Scripture, and interestingly in the inspired portion of Scripture Absalom is not mentioned. You think part of the Holy Spirit's plan in that is His intention is that these psalms be an encouragement to God's children down through history. But the title probably gives the context. They are very old, we don't know for sure when they were put there, they go back so long, but it's a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. That word psalm that we have, we've noted, a psalm is a poem set to music. That's what a psalm is, that's why Psalms as we've noted before is sometimes called the songbook of Israel. You'll note Psalm 4 the title is For the Choir Director on Stringed Instrument. We don't have that specific direction here but a psalm is a poem. And like many of our hymns, they are written as poems and they are set to music. In our poems we often have the rhymes, Hebrew poetry is a little different but these were Hebrew poems set to music. And this was a poem David wrote in the process of running for his life with family and friends that chose to remain with him. It's a time of trial.

And so the psalm will open up by talking about David's opponents. “Oh Lord how my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me, many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him in God.” David's enemies are numerous and they are growing. There is an emphasis on the word we have translated many, you'll note it—many are rising up, many are saying of my soul. Well, it's the same basic word that you have in verse 1, my adversaries have increased. You could translate that many are my adversaries because it's the same basic word. That increased gives you the idea, but you see the emphasis. It gives intensity. Oh Lord how many are my adversaries, many are rising up against me, many are saying of my soul. This is not just a few disgruntled people, this is a nationwide movement under the leadership of his son to dethrone his father, kill him because that's the concern. If you don't flee across the Jordan you won't survive the night. And install himself as the son.

The adversaries are many. And they build their following by declaring there is no deliverance for him in God. This just piles on. The crushing experience it must have been for David to have this rebellion come from Absalom. You expect conspiracies from time to time, but your own son here attempting to overthrow you and have you killed. And then the nation following him. And the cry is there is no deliverance for him in God. It's like Shimei, God is done with him. We saw Shimei throwing stones and cursing him. God is done with you, there is no deliverance. In the one sense it could have seemed like that to David, everything is turned upside down. Here I am with a few followers, there is Absalom with many, many followers rising up against me. And here is what you have. Remember Psalm 1? The blessed man and the wicked, and the wicked live worthless lives, ungodly lives and they are opposed to God and His people. And that's what you have here—the adversaries, there is no deliverance, and they are many.

Remember when Christ was on the cross, the cry in Matthew 27:42, He saved others, He can't save Himself. And then they went on to say in Matthew 27:43 they quote from Psalm 69, “He trusts in God, let God rescue Him now if He delights in Him.” Same accusation. God really doesn't care about you, God won't deliver you because you don't belong to Him. He is done with you. Charles Spurgeon wrote many years ago, Charles Spurgeon died in 1892, but he wrote during his ministry, “it is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear, that there is no help for us in God. This is one of the tactics of the devil. Sometimes over the years in the pastorate I have had people come and say sometimes I feel like God doesn't care about me anymore, that God has abandoned me.”

And this is what the people were telling David—God is done with you, we agree with Shimei in effect. And David could have parked here and said it is my sin, I did bring it all on myself. If I only hadn't sinned, none of this would have happened. And all that does is what? The devil can continue, yes, that's right. Why would God deliver you? Why would He rescue you? He is done with you. You understand, and David is going to claim this, God doesn't change. David has God's promise and God's promises.

So look at verses 3-4, “But you oh Lord are a shield about me, my glory, the One who lifts my head.” I say this often to you, I say it again—so important to keep our focus, to hold tight to the truths that God has given. That's what David does. Going back to the past and the sin, he can't do anything about that, he can't go back and live the past or relive it. David has claimed the forgiveness of God for things done in the past, now he can't control the future but he takes hold of God's promises for him. “But you oh Lord are a shield about me.” He says three things here—You are a shield about me, You are my glory, You are the One who lifts up my head. God is the One who protects him, the One whose glory will be brought to David because God is the God of glory and David shares that glory as the one who belongs to God. And God gives him honor. You see what the people say, and it doesn't matter that everybody is saying it, so to speak. Many, many, many, three times in the first two verses. But that doesn't make it true because “You oh Lord are a shield about me, You are my glory, You are the One who lifts my head.” He realizes his only hope is in the Lord, his only defense is in the Lord. Stop and think about it, we have many, many, many opposed to David and we have the Lord as his shield and defender. Who wins? Well we say, of course the Lord. It's tremendously encouraging and a great reminder that David remembers that. Sometimes in our trials and troubles we can forget that. This is true. David had the promises of God, we read 2 Samuel 7, just a portion of it. God had promised He is the God who cannot fail. David has failed, God does not fail, God is still the God of His promises. “You are my shield, you are my glory, you are the One who lifts my head.” David's honor and glory and protection would come from the Lord.

Look at verse 4, “I was crying to the Lord with my voice, He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.” You'll note three times in the right hand column in this psalm you have Selah. We're not quite sure what it means—pause, a musical interlude, a crescendo, something that focuses your attention after each of these statements, something that ought to grab onto us. It took hold of David that he wanted to emphasize, perhaps in the way the music built, where the pauses were given to remind us. “I was crying to the Lord.” Verse 3 tells you David's confidence in the Lord, but that didn't keep him from being a man of earnest, passionate prayer. He is turning to God to do what God promised to do. We just don't say it's in God's hands, and I go on. There is an element of truth in that, it is in God's hands, I have His promises and I want to beseech Him with passion and earnestness to do for me what He has promised. You are my only hope.

Now note here David doesn't have Ahithophel, but Ahithophel is not the first one David would have gone to anyway. Do you know who he goes to first? The Lord. Like the song, Where Could I Go but to the Lord to find a refuge for my soul. But sometimes we think, where could I go? Well, I could call so-and-so, I could talk to so-and-so. And there is nothing wrong with godly counselors and godly input, but my first thought would be I find a refuge for my soul in the Lord. That's what David does. “I was crying to the Lord with my voice and He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.” Wait a minute, David is in the midst of this. Sometimes we talk about the prophetic past, we put it in English, where sometimes the prophets prophesy a future event but they do so using the past tense because when God says it, it is as good as done, it is settled, it is just as sure as if it had happened yesterday. And here David, since God is his shield, his glory, the One who lifts his head, and “I was crying to the Lord, He answered me.” Well David didn't have the answer yet, he hasn't been delivered yet but he is fully confident God has heard him and God will answer.

In the meantime I have to keep hiding. So we go to the Lord and we go to Him in faith believing, as Jesus encouraged His disciples. We go to the Lord and pray about it and then I hope the Lord heard me. What do you mean, you hope the Lord heard you? He has promised to hear us, that's a promise. Sometimes I have to go, “Lord, You know I am overwhelmed, You know I am discouraged. Lord, You know it seems sometimes like You haven't heard, but I know You have heard and I come again to cry to You.” We ought to come to the Lord first. Sometimes just go to your room, close the door, open up and read a psalm or two or three or four and lay it out before the Lord. That's what David does.

“And He answered me from His holy mountain.” The holy mountain, Mt. Zion. What is at Mt. Zion? The temple. Where does God dwell among His people in the Old Testament? In the holy mountain, the temple, symbol of His presence among His people in these days. He answered me from His holy mountain. So what did David do? “I lay down and slept.” What else to do? I said here is the problem, all the adversaries against me and they are saying God won't deliver him. But I know God has promised me and He is faithful to His promises and I cried out to the Lord to do what He promised and I know He heard me. So I went to sleep. Wait a minute, David, nothing has changed. Absalom is still after you and the nation he has behind him is still against you and you are still a few people. Do you think it's a good idea to go to sleep? Don't you think you ought to lay a strategy?

“I lay down and slept, I awoke for the Lord sustains me.” That's why you have this titled “A Morning Prayer of Trust in God” at the top of the psalm, because it says “I awoke for the Lord sustains me.” And it may well be that after that night's sleep David penned this poem. Because what did he realize? I went down and went to sleep and I awoke in the morning. What did that mean? The Lord kept me through the night, just an evidence of His care. We say that's a little bit short. Remember what Jesus said? Don't worry about tomorrow, each day has enough trouble of its own. He reminded them of the Lord's care for the birds and provision for the flowers. And God loves us with a greater love as His children. So again the Lord sustains me. Stop and think about it, just pause here—Selah, pause.

We have all kinds of different people here, different trials, different situations. Some of you are looking forward to the week, some of you may not be looking forward to the week. If you are going in to the hospital this week, you don't look forward to it. Maybe somebody is going on vacation this week. We are all in different situations. Stop and think about it, whatever is before you, whatever you are going through, here you sit. The Lord has cared for you to this point, He has brought you here to hear His Word, brought you here to remind of His love, His provision, His promises, how good the Lord is. Yes, but you don't know what is coming tomorrow. Wait a minute, none of us do, but we know . . . We have that little saying, I don't know what tomorrow holds but I know who holds tomorrow. It is simple but it is true. That's what David says. I lay down and slept. I awoke for the Lord sustains me just like He promised. He is a shield about me. The assurance, the comfort, the Lord's care for him.

So what does that mean? “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.” The adversaries of verses 1-2 are many, but what they are saying is not true. It is not true about David and it's an attack on the character of God because God has promised His care. David's failures can't change that. They can say for whatever reason that the Lord won't deliver him, but whatever reasons they give, whatever David has done, it is still not true. That's amazing. How encouraging.

So David says I lay down and slept, the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands, myriads of people who have set themselves round about me. It doesn't matter what the numbers are surrounding me, doesn't matter the magnitude of the problems. Why? The Lord sustains me, the Lord is a shield for me, the Lord is my glory, the Lord is the One who lifts my head up. If I keep my focus where it should be, I keep my life simple. God cares. Doesn't matter the number. Look, everybody is saying this. Sometimes believers give good counsel and sometimes we as believers stumble in our counsel. For whatever reason we get off. That's why I want to be sure the first place I go to is God and His Word. As David will say in a later psalm, “Your words, your truths are my counselors.” That's where I go to first, this is the anchor for my soul. And sometimes God uses godly people, they come, they encourage, they comfort, they share the Word of God, they remind me in the times I need that. They bring their strength to me when I don't have strength. God works that way. Sometimes He brings His strength to me through others but remember it's God's truth that arbitrates everything. If we begin to go by numbers and vote, David is outvoted. There are many against him. We take our comfort in the Lord and His promises.

So David prays again, calls upon the Lord for His deliverance. “Arise oh Lord, save me oh my God.” Now again we have a word like I noted on the word many, we've brought a different English translation into it. In verse 1 you have really three uses of the word many, we have on translated as increased. That word in verse 2, “there is no deliverance” is the same basic word translated save me, could have just translated it deliver me. It is the same down at the beginning of verse 8, “salvation belongs to the Lord,” deliverance belongs to the Lord. Both words are a fair and accurate translation, but we lose something of the impact. They are saying there is no deliverance from the Lord, arise oh Lord deliver me—the very opposite of what they say He will do. Verse 8, “deliverance belongs to the Lord.” Not talking here primarily about his personal salvation and forgiveness of sins, he is talking about the Lord saving him from his enemies, from the trials he is in.

“Arise oh Lord, save me, oh my God.” And that's really a battle cry. In Numbers 10:33-36, when the host of Israel broke camp Moses would cry out, “Rise up oh Lord, let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you.” This is what David is crying out. “Arise oh Lord, deliver me oh my God.” And the enemies of David are the enemies of the Lord. You keep in mind the background, this is even though what David is going through is part of the disciplining process for his sin. But doesn't change God's relationship to David, His discipline is not to destroy David. And God will deliver David and it's the enemies of the Lord using their rebellion against God to be instruments of discipline in this process. But that doesn't change the fact that God will act to deliver David when all is said and done.


“Arise oh Lord, deliver me oh my God, for you have smitten all my enemies on the cheek, you have shattered the teeth of the wicked.” Wouldn't you say, David, that's a little bit presumptuous? That has not happened yet. As far as David is concerned it is as good as done. He is crying on God to do what God has promised to do. So the picture, his enemies being completely crushed, smitten on the cheek, their teeth shattered. And in those days and the warfare with swords and clubs, that's the picture—enemies being beaten down, their heads being crushed.

He calls the Lord to arise and deliver him and then he says you have done it. It is similar to his previous prayer. Verse 4, “I was crying to the Lord with my voice and He answered me.” He doesn't say and I knew He would answer me. Arise oh Lord, deliver me and I know you will, I know you have. It is as good as done because you are a God who is good to His word. You know what the devil likes to do is shake our confidence in what God has said, what God has promised. And then we feel like we are standing on an unsettled surface, and we are. You know we sing the song, “Standing On The Promises That Cannot Fail,” but then the trials come and we say, I don't know what to do, I don't know where to turn. Where could I turn but to the Lord. We express these truths in our songs.

You have brought me the deliverance I have cried for. “Deliverance belongs to the Lord, Your blessing be upon Your people.” You'll note in all of this David doesn't fall back on his own self-confidence—I am the king of Israel, I am the mighty warrior king. And it is true, he was a king of bloodshed and God would not have him build the future temple because of that. But David doesn't fall out, I've won great battles before, I've been against overwhelming odds before. You remember I came on the scene by defeating Goliath and I'll defeat these . . . No, no. David is not claiming anything about himself. Deliverance belongs to the Lord, Your blessing be upon Your people. He is calling God to do what God promised to do, bless His people. The covenant He has given to David and his descendants, the promises to Israel. The nation is at risk here, this is a rebellion not just against David, but against God. Honor your promises.

This is just written, and we see what God is doing with David. As I noted, I think one of the reasons Absalom is not mentioned and the specifics of Absalom, we just have highlights here, because the Spirit put it here for us. Listen. Romans 15:4, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Let me just note a few observations that I've made of this psalm in its application to us. First, sometimes the problems in our lives can be many and overwhelming, verse 1. The adversaries we have, the trial we are going through may not be the exact same kind of trial that David had but nonetheless it is the trial that we are facing, the difficulty that is confronting us, whether it is individuals in certain situations where it is a different kind of trial. Sometimes it is overwhelming.

Secondly, it may seem to some that the Lord has abandoned you and He is not going to intervene, not going to deliver you, verse 2. It doesn't matter many are saying, want to be sure, I want good and godly counsel but I have to be faithful to the Word. And just like I can stumble, so sometimes those who might counsel me could stumble. So first we want to go to the Word. Even though David's sin was behind many of his trials, God had forgiven him, God had not abandoned him. God would discipline him, not abandon him. And you have to remind yourself of that, I have to remind myself at times because sometimes when things come in, if I only had this, if I only had that, if only this, if only that. Lord, you pick me up where I am. David doesn't talk anything about what he did in the past. I realize there is truth in what they are saying, and what Shimei is saying may have some truth in it, and what Absalom is doing, it's my fault, I brought this on. It's all irrelevant. Do you know what that is doing, turning back on? To look at me. You know what I am supposed to be looking at—the Lord

So they say there is no deliverance for him but that will never, ever be true of you if you are a believer. That will never ever be true of me as a believer, that God will fail in delivering me. Doesn't mean there won't be trials to go through, doesn't mean there won't be discipline I experience, but it will never be true, there is no deliverance for him in God. I belong to God, He works all things together for my good and His glory. He was doing that for David, even through all this. I'm not going to believe lies, often coming from the wicked like in chapter 1. They are living worthless lives and trying to attack the work of the Lord.

A third observation. In overwhelming trials we remember it is the Lord who protects us, He gives us glory and honor. “You oh Lord are a shield about me, my glory the One who lifts my head.” We are reminded Lord, it's about You. If I sinned, obviously it has to be dealt with but I'm going on. I'm not living my yesterday over again, I'm living today. And I have no control over the future, He controls the future. I'm walking with Him today, He's the God who will bring about His purposes to me, He's the God who promises ultimately to bring me into the glory of His presence. That's settled. David doesn't see the final outcome here of how God will do what He has promised He'll do, but he's sure God will do it. That's what we have the assurance of.

Verse 4, we earnestly do seek the Lord. Go to Him in prayer. “I was crying to the Lord with my voice and He answered me.” Do I have that confidence? If we ask in faith in the name of Christ He promises to do it. I don't come telling Him what to do, but I can claim His promises. He has promised to work all things together for my good. And Lord, you know I am struggling and crushed and I can see no good that comes out of this. But Lord, I don't have to. You have promised and I hold onto that promise. This is for my good and you are the God who cannot lie and you keep Your word. And Your love for me has not failed. It's not I still love You but not quite the same. No, His love for me is the same every day. That's the amazing thing. Well, I love you less today than I did. No, His love for me is an infinite love. We sing about it, we read it in the Word, but sometimes we forget. I need to remind myself, that's why I say we need to come back to the Word first. Go into a room, close the door, open and read the Psalms, stop, refresh my mind with the promises of God. Then I cry out to the Lord to do what He promised, and I trust You will in the way You choose to do. Then I can say it is well with my soul. “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves round about me.” The result, we have peace and confidence in our relationship with the Lord. Why do you? You don't know how it's going to come out. I know what God has promised, I do know how it is going to come out. Maybe not short term but longer term. God can't fail on His promises, that's my assurance, that's my confidence.

We're going to get to 1 Peter 5 in our studies in 1 Peter, there Peter wrote “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time. Casting all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Isn't that a great promise? Maybe I'll just get a good night's sleep. Cast all my cares on Him because He cares for me. Do I believe that promise is true? Lord, You know the anxieties that overwhelm me, You know the concerns, You know the fears. And You know many of the situations I am facing are real, these are real enemies. These seem to be things that have the potential to destroy me. Lord, all I can do is turn it over to You. That's a situation we have, the world does not have. That's why we started Psalm 1 and it says the man who is a godly man is blessed of the Lord and he has God's prosperity in his soul, while the wicked, the ungodly are living empty, worthless lives. He's the God of all peace, His peace stands guard in our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

So salvation and blessings, deliverance comes from the Lord. He'll deal with the problem and bring the victory, verse 8. “Salvation,” deliverance, “belongs to the Lord, Your blessings will be upon Your people.” That doesn't mean He will make me rich, doesn't mean that He'll heal me, doesn't mean He'll do this or that. My confidence is in my life that is in the Lord's hands. I do know He will do for me what He promised. If He chooses not to remove the trial, He promises to give me the grace to go through the trial, as we talked about with Paul in our study in 2 Corinthians. My confidence is in my God, not in my sure knowledge of every detail of the future. That's why I come to Him.

I love this, that David in the midst of his adversity writes this beautiful poem to ultimately be re-sung, re-studied by others because the Spirit directed him in the writing because it is truth for God's people. Jesus said on His last night with His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” “If God be for us, who can be against us,” Romans 8:31. The other reference was from John 16:33. If God be for us, who can be against us. If God is on our side, He is our shield, He is our honor, He'll lift up our head. Doesn't matter whether we are talking about myriads, we don't have to fear. There is no problem so great, no enemy so strong as the God that I serve, and I belong to Him. It doesn't get any better than that. That's why we share the truth of God's love and salvation in Jesus Christ, so others can have this hope and know the difference. That's why we are not depending on the outcome of an election. We serve the God who is working all things according to His purpose. It is well with our souls.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace, the grace that we enjoy every day. Thank You, Lord, that You are a God of forgiveness and mercy and kindness, that David can record this psalm, Lord, without any reference to his past sin or sins because they are forgiven. He can record it with the full confidence and assurance of Your protection, Your blessing and ultimately Your deliverance. And Lord everyone of us as Your children share this same joy. You are our God, we belong to You as David belonged to You. You have promised us Your protection, Your care, Your unfailing love. Even when we are unfaithful You are faithful because You cannot deny Yourself. Lord, we are secure in You and Lord in whatever trials, whatever distress, whatever conflict we may come into, may our first response be to take hold of Your Word and Your promises, to look to You in Your greatness, Your love, Your promises, Your protection and find strength that only You can give. Pray for any who are here who don't know the wonder of a relationship with You, that they may consider that in love You provided Your Son so that He might pay the penalty for their sin so that by believing in Him they can be born into Your family, become Your children. We pray in Christ's name, amen.