Psalm 35

Psalm 35, a psalm for when you are hated

Adding Insult To Injury

      Have you ever gone through a time of great pain or adversity, only to find it increased by the gloating of others?  As you suffer, they rejoice. While you struggle to keep your head above water, they are praying for you to drown.  You cry out to God to deliver you, but they cry out, perhaps even to God, for you to be crushed under the trial.  What if they even claim that the suffering you are going through is from the Lord, a consequence or punishment for past wrongs you are guilty of?  They solemnly affirm that not only is this present chastisement well deserved, but that they are actually looking forward to your resulting misery and humiliation in it.
      Ring a bell?  Have you ever had an enemy, a real old fashioned enemy, who desired to see you fail? Who, when you were swirling and smoking in the sky, looked up with pleasure at the expectation of watching you crash and burn? I have. There are those who, for whatever reason- deserved or undeserved- hate me. They literally hope I will "get what's coming to me." And you know what? Sometimes I have.
      God is so merciful to me that when there is an area in my life that is not bearing good fruit, He cuts it off. And believe me, dismemberment is bloody. It is painful. But when the part is diseased or already rotten, it needs to go. That is His tough love, and once I heal from the chastisement, I am all the better for it. Yet sometimes, the hatred will still continue after the discipline, and that is hard. When God has forgiven us, we naturally hope men will, too.
       But there are also those times that there is not a shred of truth to the accusation and no grounding for the hate. Gossip and spiritual warfare have a way of perverting our view of others, and without humility and honesty before the Lord, any one of us can be deceived. Relationships can be destroyed, families broken, and churches ripped apart by one little lie.  I have been the subject of such lies before, and the accompanying ill-wishes of other people. This honestly is the worst: when you know you are not guilty, but still you are hated. Have you ever been there? It's rough.
     David knew this kind of double pain. The trial, already difficult to bear, topped by the curses of his enemies, who gloried in his suffering. David also experienced both types of hatred: deserved and undeserved, throughout the course of his life. Saul hated him without cause, but Bathsheba's family members hated him for his adultery with her and subsequent murder of her husband. In both, however, David appealed to the Lord's mercy. Let's look at a time when David was hated without cause, and see what the Lord may have for us in His Holy Word for when we experience similar trials.

Psalm 35

"Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me.  Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help.  Also draw out the spear, and stop those who pursue me.  Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.” (verses 1-3)

     At this point in his life David is being pursued by Saul and his army.  This Psalm lines up with the time period referenced in 1 Samuel...  David is no longer the popular national hero who slew Goliath of Gath, nor even the celebrated king's son-in-law, a prince of the realm, but rather an outlaw and desperate fugitive hiding in caves in the mountains.
     David begins this psalm with prayer, as he knows that help, if it is to come, will not be from man, but God himself. In verse one, David asks God to "plead his cause", which is a judicial term, but the next portion of the text reveals the "court" in which this plea is to be tried- the battle field. Not too long ago, duals were considered a fair way to end a dispute over honour. When a man was accused or insulted, he could challenge his accuser to a fight to the death. Both were given a weapon and an opportunity to kill the other. "May the best man win" was the idea behind it. It was generally accepted that, like drawing lots in Bible times, God would be the decider of life and death in a dual. The "better man" would inevitably win, even against great odds. Good would be victorious, and evil slain. David pleads that God would do the same for him on the battle field; that his innocence would be proven by the sword: "Fight against those who fight against me."
       David continues allegorically to emphasize this request by mentioning the various armaments of war. Beginning with defensive weaponry, the "shield and buckler", David asks for God to defend him from those who were marching against him, perhaps even as he wrote this.  Then he asks God to also "draw out" His spear from His armoury, and actively prevent the pursuing army from gaining any more ground on him. David, at this point, is merely asking God to protect him from his attackers.
     In verse three, David also asks the Lord to speak to his innermost being, his soul, perhaps which was in a state of fear and tumoil, and to speak words of comfort and assurance to him: "I am your salvation." David knew God was his salvation; that is why he so implicitely trusted in Him and turned to Him in his times of need. But even though we may know something to be true, when our heart is overwhelmed and our emotions are frayed, sometimes a word of strength and encouragement is what we need to keep going. David asked it of the Lord, and we can ask it as well. When we are afraid and overwhelmed by the trial we are going through, we can pray these words of David, "Say to my soul, O Lord, 'I am your salvation.'"

"Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonour who seek after my life; let those be turned back and brought to confusion who plot my hurt.   ​Let them be like chaff before the wind, and let the angel of the LORD chase them.  Let their way be dark and slippery, and let the angel of the LORD pursue them.  For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit, which they have dug without cause for my life.   ​Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, and let his net that he has hidden catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall." (verses 4-8)

     David, in this raw and passionate portion of the psalm, asks for classic poetic justice on those who seek his life: let the trap layer fall into his own trap, let the pursuer be pursued, the destroyer destroyed, etc.  No "turn the other cheek" or "bless those who curse you" here! David's prayer is one for justice. The Old Covenant Law was all about justice; the grace and forgiveness we now associate with godliness is from God's New Covenant with mankind through Jesus Christ. God has always been merciful, but the era of grace we now enjoy and even take for granted is only possible because of the substitutionary death and resurrection of our Saviour. Whenever we read the Old Testament, we have to keep this in mind, and not expect New Testament responses from Old Testament saints.
      David opens up his heart, in all its raw and unprocessed emotion, to His God who he knows will not condemn him for it.  In 1 Samuel, we get a glimpse of what David's experience was during this time in his life and it sheds some light on the passion with which he cries to God for justice on those who seek his life.
     His honour as a war hero, as a nobleman, and as a righteous man has been maligned so severely that all Israel is against him. He has lost his wife and his best friend. His family is lost to him, as is his livelihood as an officer in the army. He is an exile in his own country and an outlaw in the surrounding nations.  His dwelling has gone from a palace to a cave, and even with all this degradation, there were still those who wanted him dead. Former friends at court continued to malign him to the king, fuelling Saul's hysteria, and resulting in attack after attack on David's life. In all this, David knew, before God, that he was innocent of any wrong towards his king and countrymen.
     What we see in this passage is the honest anger of an innocent man unjustly condemned and pursued, and his cry for God to take vengeance upon those who have sought to destroy his life.  

     When we find ourselves in similar shoes, and there are people who are actively slandering us, maybe even openly denouncing us to both friends and strangers, how should we respond? While I don't recommend praying for their destruction as David did, (and we must remember, he was literally going to have to fight these men in hand to hand combat in a "dual" of right vs. wrong, so to speak), I do recommend praying. Our natural inclination is to attempt to "clear our name" by defending ourselves and discrediting the false witness of our accusers. We want to stand up for ourselves and have "our side" be heard. We crave to be understood and inwardly chafe at the knowledge that people believe something horrible and untrue about us.
      But David did not defend himself before men. He took his trouble to the Lord in prayer and only there did he let loose. God can handle our deepest and ugliest thoughts; they don't shock Him. He can handle our wailing and our whining. He does not flinch from our ranting and raving. He listens with a heart full of love for us. He already knows what is in us. Let it out, but let it out only to Him. Don't use your friends or family as sounding boards. Don't attempt to justify yourself to those who suspect you of wrong. Bear it all quietly when in the presence of men, and then when you are alone with Lord, tell Him EVERYTHING.
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"And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; it shall rejoice in His salvation.
All my bones shall say, “LORD, who is like You, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, yes, the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?”  (verses 9-10)
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     Here is true hope. And hope is what we need most. When in the midst of our greatest struggles and fiercest trials, if we have hope, we can certainly endure them. No matter how dark the tunnel is, nor how long, just knowing there is light at the end of it... that there IS an end to it, is enough to make it through. David had such hope. He knew His God, and that was hope enough. His God is the God who delivers His servants. His God is the God who favours the cause the of the poor and needy and hears their cry. His God is the God of the Bible, the worker of miracles and creator of everything. His God is sovereign, all powerful, loving and merciful. David knew his God and thus David had hope.
      We have the same hope, for we have the same God as David did.  He is the eternal God, the Creator of heaven and earth, as revealed to us in His Holy Word. And there are precious promises in His word that we can hold onto in times of trouble. None is more precious, though, than the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Whatever may befall us in this life, there is always that light at the end of the tunnel. We have a living hope that the world cannot comprehend, nor destroy. Even if our very life is lost, we can hold onto this hope, for it is greater even than the grave.
      Christians for the past two thousand years have clung fervently to this hope and overcome all that came against them. For who can kill one who will live forever? Jesus said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. " (Matthew 10:28) and "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." (John 8:51) Jesus is speaking of our living hope- a life immortal after this body is left in the dust. We never need to fear. No matter what happens in this life, our souls can be joyful in the Lord, for He has saved us from something far greater than mere physical death on a battle field. He has saved our souls from hell and offered us life eternal in glory with Himself.
     Rejoice, dear Christian! Our hope is greater than all our trials. As Paul said, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

"​Fierce witnesses rise up; they ask me things that I do not know. They reward me evil for good, to the sorrow of my soul. ​But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; and my prayer would return to my own heart. ​I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother.
  But in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered together; attackers gathered against me, and I did not know it; they tore at me and did not cease; with ungodly mockers at feasts they gnashed at me with their teeth." (verses 11-16)

      Have you ever been rewarded with evil for doing good? You were loyal, but are now accused of betrayal. You were selfless, but now you are called greedy. You were humble, but now others believe that you are ambitious. It is unfair, unjust, and it just plain hurts! It hurts especially when your accusers are people whom you have loved, trusted, and been vulnerable with: friends, family members, brothers or sisters in Christ, church leaders, etc.
      David experienced the same hurt. The very people who now pointed the finger at him and demanded his execution were people whom David deeply loved. He describes how he was there for them in their trials, feeling their pain as if it were his own, fasting and praying for their healing; but in his own time of trouble, they joined forces to crush him.
     What are we to do when those we love turn against us? When they betray us? The answer is simple, and yet not easy. We are to forgive them. Plain and simple old fashioned Christianity in action. Remember, forgiveness is not for the one we forgive. It is for us. When we allow the sin of another to embitter us by holding onto it, refusing to pardon their offence, we actually poison our own soul. Friend, what they did to you is nothing compared to what you will do to yourself if you withhold forgiveness simply "because they don't deserve it." Of course they don't. No one really ever does.
     Sins are technically unpardonable without punishment of some sort to pay for them. We instinctively know this, which is why we have such a hard time offering forgiveness, and why sometimes we can't even forgive ourselves. The answer is not to try harder to feel forgiveness, but to remember that all sin, theirs and ours, was actually paid for. It was punished in full. The full punishment for all the evil that I ever did and all the evil that was ever done to me was taken by Jesus on my behalf. The enormity of what He actually did is staggering, and yet sometimes so quickly forgotten. When I live in light of His sacrifice, I am compelled to forgive and to receive forgiveness because the sin WAS punished in full. God, in His mercy, took the full circle of crime and punishment upon Himself, acting as Judge while yet standing in as a criminal in our place.
     Forgiveness is what sets us free from the sin that was done against us. It unfetters our soul from the lasting effects of betrayal and cruelty, and allows us to live and flourish in spite of what happened in the past. Forgiveness is the door to emotional healing and deliverance.

"Lord, how long will You look on? Rescue me from their destructions, my precious life from the lions. I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people. Let them not rejoice over me who are wrongfully my enemies; nor let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause. ​For they do not speak peace, but they devise deceitful matters against the quiet ones in the land. They also opened their mouth wide against me, and said, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen it.” (verses 17-21)

     David has real physical enemies who are devising his destruction and death, and his prayers naturally centre upon this very literal threat to his life. But note that intertwined with his pleas for protection is a word of prophetic faith; a confident statement of hope: "I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people."  David, in all his terror and anxiety for his own life, still has his eyes set straight upon His God. He may not know the whole future, nor how things will work out, but He knows one thing well: God is with him and God will deliver him. How does he know this?  How can he be so sure?
     Recall with me one particular day in David's youth. He was out tending the family flock, as usual, when from a distance he sees his brother running towards him.  "David! David! You have to come now! The prophet Samuel is at the house and is asking to see you, (though I can't imagine why)."  Sweaty from his run, David slows to a respectful walk as he draws near the dwellings and sees a crowd gathered in front, quietly awaiting his arrival. An aged man steps forward and David senses the presence of the LORD upon him. This must be the prophet. Instinctively bowing his knee, David lowers his head before the man of God. There is silence for a moment before he feels the smooth warmth of oil pouring down his neck and forehead and the words, "For God does not regard the outward appearance, but the heart." David had been anointed as the future king of Israel.
     Everyday since that day, David continued in his daily tasks, whether shepherding as a teenager or making war on the Philistines as a young man, ever with that momentous event in the back of his mind. One day, he would be king. God had chosen him; God had promised. David knew God would deliver him because He knew God would not fail on His promise.
    We may not know, like David, what great or terrible events lie in our futures, but there are precious promises given to us in the Word of God that we can stand upon with the same degree of faith that David had. We can know, for instance, that God will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He will give us His strength to accomplish His will when we are too weak to do it ourselves (2 Corinthians 12:9). He will give us the words we need to bear witness to Him when we find ourselves thrust into frightening situations (Mark 13:11). He will come back for us someday and bring us home to Him to share in His joy forever (John 14:3). There are thousands more to dig out of the Bible and claim with confidence. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will not fail us. "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.​" (2 Corinthians 1:20)

"This You have seen, O LORD; do not keep silence. O Lord, do not be far from me. Stir up Yourself, and awake to my vindication, to my cause, my God and my Lord. Vindicate me, O LORD my God, according to Your righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me. ​Let them not say in their hearts, “Ah, so we would have it!” Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.” (verses 22-25)
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    Here David pleads with the Lord to not only deliver him from those who are against him, but also to bring them all to justice, both himself and his accusers. Like the innocent man who says, "Search me! Search my house, my files, my internet browsing history, my emails! What you find cannot hurt me, for I am innocent! Your scrutiny will only clear my character in this matter." David's character has been maliciously slandered and lies made up about his actions and motives. Those who used to regard him with honour now believe him to be a scoundrel.
     This is sometimes even more painful to bear than hatred. It is one thing to have an enemy who just doesn't like you for whatever reason. It is quite another to have an acquaintance or even a friend  despise and reject you as an evil doer when you know you are innocent! When truth is overshadowed by a lie, what strong feelings it produces in our hearts. Many powerful stories have been written along this theme, for it resonates deeply within our souls. It also resonates deeply within the heart of God, for it is recorded four times in the just the gospels alone that God will one day set every record straight and let the truth about all be known, "Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known." (Matthew 10:26)
    Jesus Himself was despised and rejected as an evil doer, when He was the only sinless Man in history. He said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." (John 15:18-20)
     When we find ourselves maligned and misjudged by others, remember that the same was experienced on our behalf by our Saviour, Jesus. He understands the pain, the frustration, and the personal agony of being an object of horror and disgust to others. He knows and understands, and He will one day set the record straight... and all will know the truth. Rest in His love. He has not rejected you. He sees even your genuine faults and still accepts and cherishes you for who you are. Let His love wash your hurting soul in comfort and peace. It does not matter eternally what they think of you. The only One who matters loves you unconditionally, and already knows the truth about your situation. He will not ever cast you out.

"Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who rejoice at my hurt; let them be clothed with shame and dishonour who exalt themselves against me. ​​Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, 'Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.' ​And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long."  (verses 26-28)

     David gives a cursing and a blessing upon two distinct groups of people in the conclusion of his psalm. To those who rejoice at David's hurt and exalt themselves against him, he pronounces shame, confusion, and dishonour upon them. To those who favour David's cause, who are "on his side," he pronounces joy, gladness, worship, and praise to God.  This makes sense in light of the rest of the psalm. David believes that God will deliver him from this present distress, and those who had hoped for his death will find themselves frustrated and embarrassed at their failure. Those, however, who stood by David and believed in his innocence, will rejoice and praise God for saving their honest hero. Good will prevail and evil shall fall. And David prophesies of his own personal response when he is delivered and his enemies confounded, "And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long." 
    May we have this response to God's answered prayers as well. When He delivers us, when He heals us, when He guides us, provides for us, teaches and instructs us, uses us, empowers us, ... may we "all the day long" give Him the glory that is due His name. He is the God who saves! Worthy is His name. "Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified!”" (Psalm 40:16)
    The LORD be magnified!!!

Amen.

Psalm 34

Psalm 34
A psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

    It is not often that David subtitles his psalms with an exact account of his reason for writing it, and this particular account is rather of an unflattering nature. This has to be one the most bizarre stories in scripture, not because of an unbelievable miracle- (miracles are believable when you believe in God), but because of an apparent character lapse on the part of a Bible superhero. David, the giant slayer, (who famously slew Goliath of Gath, the Philistine champion and genuine giant of a man, at around 9 feet tall and wearing 200 pound armour, plus weaponry), is faking lunacy before an average sized Philistine king to escape death.
    To give you just a bit of background regarding David's dealings with the Philistines, and to reveal how out-of-character this appears, consider this: David's bride-price for Michal, the princess of Israel, had been 200 foreskins (I know. Gross, right?) of Philistine warriors, which he singlehandedly slew. And the young maidens didn't sing, "Saul has killed his thousands and David his tens of thousands!" for no reason. David was Israel's greatest war hero and champion, slaying Philistine warriors left and right.
       So why does David seem to suddenly act like a coward, slobbering and drooling all over his beard in front of the Philistine king?  Was he being cunning, relying on his own ingenuity to get himself out of a fix, or was he just terrified, acting on gut instinct to save his skin through deception?
      Fear can make you do strange things, but what is even stranger is that this experience actually inspired one of the most beautiful and well known of all the psalms! And to hear David tell it, it wasn't his own craftiness in playing the madman, nor his cowardice in hiding his identity, but God's hand that delivered him from certain death at the hands of the Philistines. Read on.

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.  Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together." (verses 1-3)

     David begins his psalm with both a declaration and an invitation: he will worship the Lord, no matter what happens to him, and he desires to do so collectively with like minded believers.
      To "bless the LORD" means to praise and glorify God in heart, word, or action, and David wills himself to do so "at all times", regardless of circumstances. While he may not be in continual song or speech, he declares that such praises are "continually" in his mouth, ready to be spoken. For words of praise and adoration of God to be on the tip of our tongues continually, the worship of God must be in our hearts at all times.
     Rather than glorying in his own strength or wisdom, David declares that his soul, his very inmost being, will "make its boast in the LORD," rejoicing in the strength and wisdom of God.  While the world may look on in confusion or contempt, those who share a humility of spirit towards God will "be glad" to know that David, the great leader and anointed future king of Israel, is humble before God.
      When we find our source of pride in our own achievements or character, we are but poor examples of Christ to the world. As Paul wrote to the Philippian church, to be earthly minded is to  glory in our shame! (Phil. 3:19) Yet when we find our confidence and esteem in Christ, we become a witness to the lost world of a great and good God who gave everything that we might have life in Him. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:7)
     Our very lives are a gift of God's grace, and when we set our eyes upon that truth, all else fades away into the peripheral. My soul will make its boast in Jesus Christ and what He has done, not in my qualifications or expertise, my works of righteousness, or any good that I have done. He alone is worthy of my praise!
     As the humble hear of it and are glad, they long to join in David's continual worship, so he invites them to join him. "Oh magnify the LORD with me..." The idea of magnification is that of enlargement through intense focus. David invites all of us to focus intently upon the LORD with him, that He may become larger than all the other fancies, worries, or occupations of our hearts. When God rightly appears big and all consuming before us, all else will seem small and insignificant in comparison, as they are in reality.  God is magnificent, but we may not see Him as such because we become so intently focused on our small issues, like a child studying an ant with a magnifying glass who is unaware of the great elk who stands before him.
      "Let us exalt His name together" is a beautiful invitation to collective worship.  To "exalt" is to lift high, and a person's name is tied to their character. Some of us received names at babies that have nice meanings that we hope are indicative of our true character as we grow older. My sister's name means "graceful," and I bear witness that she is indeed a graceful person in both manner and in speech. One of my children's names means "peace," and that is my prayer for him, that he learns to be a man of peace.
     My name means "flowering shrub," so there's not much there to go on, but the point remains: God's name is God's character. He is who He says He is, and Who that is, I want to lift high in worship.  Will you join me?

"I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.  This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them." (verses 4-7)

      David now begins his account of what happened that infamous day in Gath, but he does not begin at the beginning, but rather jumps right into the moment of danger when he feared for his life... the moment he "sought the LORD."
     It says in 1 Samuel 21:10-12, "Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.  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’?”Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath."

     The whole scenario begs for answers. Why did David flee to Gath, and how did the people there recognize him?  It wasn't like today where we have photographs, internet, and Facebook. You would have to know someone personally to recognize them. Why did they call him the "king"of Israel, and if the king, why is that so dangerous for him? Needless to say, what had transpired in the days before this event are significant in understanding what took place with David before the king of Gath.
      Saul, the king of Israel, had been rejected by God for disobedience, and the prophet Samuel had prophesied to him of the man who would replace him. Saul clung to his throne, and tormented by his sin, God's judgement, and his anxiety over the future, he developed a form of psychosis, calmed only by the harp playing of a local shepherd boy by the name of David.
      Unbeknownst to Saul, David was chosen by God to be king, and remained unknown to both Israel and Saul, until the day he killed Goliath of Gath in a dual. Israel and Philistia were at war with each other during this time, and David became a national hero overnight. It was apparent to all, including Saul, that God was with him.
     Fearing that David was the prophesied king to replace him, Saul became even more disturbed.  Regretting having promised his daughter, the princess, to the man who killed the giant, Saul sought to have David killed in battle before the wedding. He sent him out again and again against the Philistines with impossible odds, but David would come back victorious and more popular than ever.
     When Saul finally gave up attempts at secrecy and openly sought to kill him, David fled, making a pit stop with Ahimelech the priest to grab some food and the sword of Goliath. He then directly made a run for the border, hoping to hide out incognito amongst the Philistines until his friends within Israel could shelter him from the king.
    Things went horribly wrong, however, when he entered Gath, the home city of Goliath.  His sword gave him away. All at once, men recognized him as their greatest enemy, David of Israel. They had no doubt heard of his fame amongst his own people and knew personally of his success in battle, and perhaps even had heard whispers of his anointing as king, for they call him "the king of the land." Imagine that! They were more in tune with David's true destiny than his own people.

    So here we are, back at the verse. David is surrounded by his enemies, and is terrified. Saul and his army are seeking to kill him and all of Philistia now has him in their grasp. What does he do? According to Psalm 34, he prays.
     He calls himself "this poor man," and says that he "cried out" to God in the midst of all his fears and all his troubles.  Note that he does not say, "Vindicate me, O God, from those who persecute me wrongly!" nor does he say, "See my innocence and come speedily to my rescue," but rather, "Oh, God! I am a wretch. Have mercy on me!"
    In fear, David had twice acted in faithlessness and folly on the journey to Gath, first lying to the priest, and then foolishly taking Goliath of Gath's sword with him to Gath, of all places, but Psalm 56 reveals what took place once he got to Gath.

"A Michtam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.  Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; fighting all day he oppresses me.  My enemies would hound me all day,
for there are many who fight against me, O Most High.  Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You." (Psalm 56:1-3)

      David was captured immediately upon entering the city. Seeing at once his folly, he cries out to God for mercy, all at once declaring also his confidence in God's protection. By the time he is brought before Achish, he is in a right state of heart and mind before God.  Still afraid, but no longer terrified, he is trusting in the LORD to deliver him now.  How does God deliver him? As a madman.
     Was it not crazy of David to flee to his greatest enemies for shelter while yet in possession of the chief article of evidence against him, the sword of their champion?  Was it not approaching lunacy to enter their capital city thus armed, silently proclaiming himself the most infamous villain of their time? David was Philistia's greatest national threat, and yet here he is: alone, in their capital, with Goliath's very recognizable sword. Was he insane? David's escape to Gath was nothing short of an act of madness. How fitting that God should have delivered him through acting the part of a madman!
     David is released by the king in disgust, as he drools on his beard and claws at the gate.  Never did David appear so undignified. God's deliverance was powerful and effective, humbling His servant while yet saving him from certain death... God's justice and mercy working together for David's salvation.
      "They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.  The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them."  Verses five and seven speak of those who, like David, looked to the LORD in their time of distress and found acceptance and deliverance. When you look into another person's face to discover their feeling towards you, and are met with a broad smile of acceptance, a sense of peace and joy will wash over your soul.  To onlookers, you may appear to almost glow from within. True acceptance is wonderful. In spite of his failings in the previous days, David looked to the LORD and found acceptance. Radiant with God's forgiveness, he was unashamed.
     As it turns out, David was not alone in Gath. The angel of the LORD was with him, his forces encamped all around David.  Like Elisha of old, who did not fear the army of Israel's enemy because the army of heaven surrounded him, David was safe in God's care all along. God was with David to deliver him.
     Returning to our original question, was David's escape by his own cunning? Was this a lapse in faith? No. God saw it fitting to deliver David through feigned madness and David rejoiced in His mercy.

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.  The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing." (verses 8-10)

    To "taste" is to sample something personally. The food must be brought into the mouth where it comes in contact with our special flavour receptors, the "taste buds." If it discovered to be pleasant, the natural response is to swallow it.  Others may report their findings and counsel us accordingly, "You should try the mocha cheesecake; it's delicious!", but until we try it for ourselves, the food experience remains impersonal. Should someone ask you which food to eat, you may only say, "Well, I have been told that the cheesecake is delicious," and can offer no recommendation from personal experience. Once, however, that cheesecake has entered your mouth, you have a personal testimony as to it's quality and flavour.
    It is the same with "seeing."  You can hear it told hundred times, but until you personally bear witness to it with your own eyes, you cannot truly say you know something.  God has given us these senses that we may accurately comprehend the world around us in a personal way. Each sight, sound, smell, texture, and flavour becomes in some way "ours" when we experience it through our five senses.  What are a remarkable gift God has given us!
     David tells us to "taste" and "see" that the LORD is good.  It has been said that Faith is our "sixth sense", by which we can apprehend the realities of the spiritual world, most specifically God. And verily there is truth to that, for "faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen", according to the writer of Hebrews. (Hebrews 11:1) Those realities of the spiritual realm, such as the promises of God, are accessed by faith alone. We cannot see, feel, smell, hear, or taste them physically, but by faith we can still know without doubt that they are real and tangible.
      God is spirit and is thus beyond the realm of our five senses.  To know Him, to experience His power and provision in this life, we must come to Him by faith. It is entirely reasonable to believe in God; it is not illogical nor fantastical, but it is mystical. He is in another realm outside of our physical three dimensional world.  He has designed it so that men may know Him, but they must come to Him by faith, not sight.
     David completes his invitation to experience the reality of God's goodness with a blessing upon anyone who "trusts in Him." To trust is to actively believe in something or someone. It is faith with response. Thus when David invites us to "taste" and "see" God's goodness, he lets us in on the secret of how to do so: trust in Him.
David is essentially saying, "I was in need and cried out to God in faith, and He came through for me.  Why don't you do the same! Trust Him. Try Him. See if He doesn't come through for you, as He did for me!"
   Choosing provision as a starting point for a walk of faith, David suggests that we look to God to provide for our physical needs.  He ties in his invitation to "taste" with his declaration that God will provide food for us when we are hungry.  Unlike the lions, who must hunt down their own food, and experience lack, those who try God in the area of provision will find Him faithful to meet their needs.  As David said in another Psalm, "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread." (Psalm 37:25)

     We can trust in the LORD for all our needs. 

"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.  Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. "  (verses 11-14)

     David invites the next generation to learn from his mistakes and develop a healthy fear of God. God is righteous and holy; we are born in sin and depraved by nature. When we understand the great gap between us and God, only then can we fully appreciate His mercy in sending His Son to redeem us to God. David knew the promise of the Saviour, and lived his life in faith towards that promise.
    Yet, like us, he occasionally slipped. When he lost sight of God, everything else appeared out of proportion. The fear of God puts everything back in its proper place. When God is big, all else is small.
     Beginning with a leading question, (for who does not desire life, love many days, and want to see good?), David then gives the answer. If you want to have a long and happy life, here is what you do, or rather don't do: don't lie or deceive. Flee from sin, and instead do what is right; in fact, pursue it. Run away from evil and run towards peace.
   David writes this practical bit of counsel immediately following his incident with Ahimelech the priest at Nob.  What actually happened there? It is a tragic story.  David flees from Saul to the priest, who has not yet heard of Saul's intentions. He lies to Ahimelech, saying he is on an errand from the king and needs a sword. Famished from his hasty escape, he eats the holy bread from the Table of Showbread, which is appointed only for the priests to eat, takes the sword of Goliath, and departs. It is only upon his return to Israel that David hears the rest of the story.
      After he left, Saul went to Nob and accused the priest of conspiring with David against him. Of course he knew nothing of it, having thought he was serving the king in helping David. Listening to no reason, Saul mercilessly commanded that all the priests, and their whole families, be executed that day. An entire city of innocent men, women, children, and babies were put to death by a paranoid king, all because David's lie had put them in danger.
      The guilt must have indeed weighed upon David, for this is the one morsel of advise he will pass along to the next generation: fear the Lord and don't deceive, if you have any desire to have a full life. David connected his disaster in Gath to his deceit in Nob, and knows that apart from God's mercy, the chastening for his lie would have been fatal.
    Now, when we lie, it doesn't often result in the deaths of hundreds of families, but it is equally sinful. We would do better to suffer the consequences of whatever we are trying to avoid by lying, than to compromise our integrity and invite the chastening of God. Seeking peace often involves giving up our own rights, whether that be the right of ownership or the right to express our own opinion.
     In David's case, it was giving up his right of reputation and God given right to be king, to live at peace with Saul. As Paul said, "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." (Romans 12:18). As you will see, if you follow David's life from this point onward, he took his own advice. He chose, again and again, to let God be his vindicator and refused to lift a hand towards Saul. He was truthful and just, and rightly earned the nation's respect. When he was finally crowned king at Saul's death, he had a reputation of honesty and integrity to stand upon.
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the source of integrity.

"The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.  The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.  The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit."  (verses 15-18)

     Although David is speaking of the "righteous" (those who trust in the Lord for His righteousness) in general, it is easy to read his own story into his words. David had stumbled his way out of Israel, leaving a wake of destruction and lies behind him, and upon walking into Gath, found himself awake in his worst nightmare. He cried out to God, first in repentance and then in petition, for God to forgive his sins and rescue him from his awful situation.
    David knew that his righteous standing before God was entirely due to his dependence upon God's mercy towards him. In this context, and in this moment of repentance, David declares his confidence in the Lord's deliverance. He does not cite his own merits as the reason for asking God to deliver him, but rather his standing before the Lord as a humble sinner made righteous through faith.
In contrast, he speaks of those whose righteousness is in themselves, whose evil works are not forgiven. When they meet disaster, there will be no help for them, as those who trust in themselves have only themselves to turn to. Pride goes before a fall.
     Verse eighteen describes the heart condition that God is looking for in all people who turn to Him in their hour of need. "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart..."
     Although we are familiar with this idiom in our culture, David is not speaking about romance gone awry. The "broken heart" he speaks of is more akin to what we might call a "broken spirit"; someone who has had their human spirit and vitality so battered and bruised by life's circumstances that the person appears to be "broken" in their innermost being. Do you know someone like that? Is it you?
    Going back to the verse, who is the LORD near to? Those whose spirits have been shattered by the hard things in this life. All else may have forsaken them, but not the Lord. He is there with them, waiting for them to simply turn to Him and receive a new Spirit, full of life and love.  If life has ripped your heart to shreds and you feel like a broken person, take this promise to heart. The Lord is near to you, and has a plan for healing just waiting for you to receive it. He calls His Spirit the "Comforter" and assures us in His Word that He will send this comforter to all who need Him. For Him to begin His work of healing and restoration of your broken heart, you first have to invite Him to do so.  Take a moment right now and ask Him. He's been beside you all along just waiting for you to open the door of your heart to Him.
     "... and saves such as have a contrite spirit." Contrite means: "feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt." Here is the reason why most people, broken or whole, do not receive the healing offered to them through Jesus Christ: our pride.  To acknowledge our own sin and error, our own imperfections and misjudgments... our own guilt, is the essence of humility. Contrition is the state of humility before God that enables Him to show mercy to mankind. It says in James 4:6  "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
     Humility is the foundational virtue of Christianity! Without it, faith is merely presumption, and all other virtues become but extensions of our pride. To imagine that I can unconditionally love or forgive anyone, apart from humility, is foolishness. Pride makes all virtues simply outlets for my own self righteousness, as I deceive myself into believing that out of my own store of "goodness," rather like a god, I can grant pardon to someone else's offences.  Humility, however, approaches the offences of others from the opposite direction, the right direction.
     With a healthy grasp of my own offences before a perfect God, and His vast mercy and forgiveness that He has extended to me out of unconditional love, I am able to truly forgive and love my fellow human being. For what right do I have to hold anything to their account when my own has been mercifully cleared?  Jesus taught this in the parable of the two servants in Matthew 18, ending with the admonition to forgive others even as we have been forgiven by God.
     The offender and offended are now on level ground, neither one more inherently good than the other, and thus, neither one more inherently bad... the offences are equal. We become simply two sinners, in need of the forgiveness of God, freely offered to all.
     Humility is the foundation for all forgiveness, whether we are seeking it, or we are offering it.

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.  Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned."  (verses 19-22)

    Why does God allow bad things to happen to those who trust in Him? It is a question many have asked, including Asaph, another psalmist, in his famous complaint recorded in Psalm 73.

"For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men.... Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence.  For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning." (Psalm 73:3-5, 13-14)

    Asaph questioned the benefits of serving God when he compared his troubles with those who only lived to serve themselves. According to him, "they are not in trouble like other men, nor are they plagued like other men,", whereas Asaph was plagued "all day long," and "chastened every morning."

     In time, Asaph realizes that his understanding was too shortsighted. Those who avoided earthly trouble by living selfishly would pay dearly in eternity, while those who trusted in God throughout their troubled life on this earth would inherit all goodness forever in the presence and abundance of God.

     Thus David declares, "many are the afflictions of the righteous," himself not excepted, but also declares his hope: The Lord will deliver him out of them all.  Whether in this life with a literal deliverance like the one in Gath, or in the next, as Asaph contented himself with, God will preserve those who trust in Him.

    David reiterates his confidence from verse sixteen that those who choose to trust in themselves will perish in their own sins, condemned by their own choices. However, in conclusion, those who "trust in Him" will face no condemnation, and their "souls" God Himself will redeem.

    Clear as day, the gospel is in the Old Testament. Although David faced earthly dangers and prayed often for physical deliverance from them, he also understood that the greatest danger mankind faced was that of eternal condemnation of soul. He also grasped the "New Testament" principle of repentance and faith towards God. David was, at heart, a Christian, even before Christ came. This is the reality we will find throughout the Bible.

     Those who lived before Jesus came, lived in expectation of His coming. They understood how to be saved, and died in faith that God would accept them for their trust in the Saviour not yet born. Hebrews 11:13 says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them,fn embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

   The reality is that people have always been saved the same way: through humility and faith. Jesus began His public ministry crying out, "Repent and believe!" and David spoke of a contrite heart that trusts in God's mercy. God's "formula," if you will, has not changed since the beginning. Abraham was justified by faith, and so are we.

   If you have not yet set aside your own attempts at morality and virtue to embrace the forgiveness and righteousness freely offered by Jesus Christ to those who trust in Him, then why not do so right now? There is no better time.

“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:7)

Psalm 33

Psalm 33
A psalm of national worship

"Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the LORD with the harp; make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.  Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy."  (verses 1-3)

     The unknown psalmist opens this national hymn with an invitation to worship. To whom does he address this invitation? To the righteous, to the upright. What does it mean to be righteous? It means to be in right standing before God, and to be upright is to live righteously. There has never been born a man, save One, who could claim this from his own merit. We have all done wrong things and no one who has done wrong is in right standing with God. Who then, can rejoice in the LORD? Who can sing this worship song?
     God has a righteousness that He offers to mankind as a gift; an imputed right standing with God. To "impute" means to attribute something to another persons's character.  In other words, God offers people complete forgiveness and pardon from their wrongdoings without any good works, effort, or cost on their part. He makes men righteous enough to be with Him, the perfect God, through faith in His mercy.  He offers "perfection" as a gift to those who know they aren't perfect.
     It doesn't make us act perfect, but it gives us a perfect standing in the eyes of God. One day, when we die, He will also give us a perfect body. Then we will be complete and perfect in practice.  For the ancient Israelite, this imputed righteousness was accomplished by faith in the Messiah who would one day come, and for us today it is accomplished by faith in the Messiah,  Jesus Christ, who did already come some two thousand years ago.
    Those who have received righteousness from God are thus invited to rejoice in His goodness to them, and what a wonderful reason to rejoice is that! Specifically, it is an invitation to all Israelites to worship the God of their nation: Yahweh, the One true and living God. He calls their praises "beautiful," for so they are when arisen out of a thankful heart.

     I have read this passage before and felt disappointed that I could not do what the psalmist says here, for I cannot sing well, compose music, nor play an instrument of however many strings skillfully!  I can shout for joy, though, and I believe that the beauty of the worship to the ears of God in found, not in the quality of sound, but in the heart that it is born from.
     Yet, I believe that here the psalmist is simply encouraging the temple worship leaders to join in the act of worship by playing skillfully and joyfully. Sometimes it can be hard to focus on the Lord while playing an instrument or leading in song (I have been told), as there are so many other factors besides the words to focus on. The psalmist reminds them that they too can enter into worship as they pour out their hearts through their hands.

"For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth.   He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.  He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.  For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast."  (verses 4-9)

     There is truth. It is not relative. There is a right and a wrong, a good and an evil in this world.  From the very beginning, God is One who has defined truth, because He IS truth. It says in John 1:1-4, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
     It also says in Genesis 1:1-4, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. "
     God, who existed eternally before the creation of this universe, set an order in place through His spoken Word. That order is known as right and wrong. "He loves righteousness and justice." He loves what is good. The very first thing He created was light, because light reveals truth.  God wants mankind to know and understand truth.

     By His spoken Word, God created everything that exists... "by the breath of His mouth." I love how emphatically the psalmist writes, "For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." I can't improve upon that, nor does it need explanation. There is infinite power in His Word.  God spoke the universe into existence. This is the God of Israel.
     I love our national anthems (I'm a dual citizen), and get emotional when I sing them. I have a healthy national pride in both of my countries of earthly citizenship. But oh, imagine being an Israelite!  To have a country founded by God Himself, and worship hymns for national anthems!  There is no God like our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Truly, when God told Abraham that through his Seed all the nations of the world would be blessed, He was speaking of all of those who would come to know and love the Living God through the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is our God!

"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.  The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance."  (verses 10-12)

    As the current situation in the middle east continues, these words gain immediate significance.  The modern "counsel of the nations" to Israel is to allow themselves to be annihilated by their attackers, and all efforts to defend themselves are hailed by the the rest of the world as "war crimes." Yet, Israel need not worry. The LORD Himself will bring their counsels to nothing and their plans to no effect.
     God has ordained Israel to exist and He will ensure that they do. His counsel and His plans will stand, to all generations... even ours. Israel, even in modern Judaism and atheism, are still God's chosen people, and He will uphold His promise to preserve them. God never lies.
     At the time of this writing, however, Israel did worship the LORD collectively.  "Blessed," or exceedingly happy, is the nation who has the true and living God as their country's Diety, who were chosen by Him for Himself.  Israel alone holds this distinction.
     Canada and America, true, were founded upon Deism and Judeo-Christian values, and throughout their history, they have been nations in which Christianity has thrived and born great fruit.  Yet, North America was not chosen by God in the same way as Israel.  There is no nation under the sun that was founded by God Himself, except Israel.
     As the psalmist writes and the people sing, a spirit of healthy national patriotism arises, as the children of Israel reflect that they are a nation whose origin was divine and whose promises of endurance are divine.  Without knowing the future of their nation, they could with conviction prophesy that theirs was a nation that would endure to the end of time... as it has.
     There has never in history been a people who have been displaced for hundreds of years, let alone thousands, that have rejoined to again become a nation, except Israel. None but the Israelites have maintained national identity, culture, and religion for millennia, while their nation was scattered across the globe. Truly, these are people held up by God himself, for the current existence of Israel is otherwise inexplicable.

"The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.  From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works."  (verses 13-15)

     God is still picking out a special people for Himself today, a people for His own inheritance.  He is not looking within national boundaries, nor even within specific cultures. He is not focused merely on one continent, nor on one people group. He is looking everywhere, all the time, searching, searching, searching. What is He searching for?“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." (2 Chronicles 16:9)
     God is searching for individuals whose hearts are seeking for Him. He is not searching out the strong, the wise, or even the moral. He looks at their hearts. He looks at their actions. And He reads their souls. What is He looking for?
     He is looking for people who see their need for a powerful God that He can show Himself strong on behalf of. In short, He is looking for people who want to be saved by Him!
    While He chose Israel as His own special earthly nation, He yet receives all who come to Him to be saved, and makes them His own special heavenly nation.  I have no earthly promise of a national homeland that will be preserved from enemies, but I have promises just as real of a heavenly country of which I am now a citizen. Both are real. One is physical and the other spiritual, and both belong to God.

"No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength.   A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.  Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine."  (verses 16-19)

    Speaking of all who "hope in His mercy," whether Jew or Gentile (everyone who is not a Jew), the psalmist offers up a contrast. Some people trust in armies, with their great numbers, valiant warriors, and powerful horses to deliver them from death, but that is vanity. Even a mighty king cannot escape death by the power of his nation's military.
     Those, however, who trust in the living GOD, look to Him not only to save the body from danger and death, but the soul from damnation.  He can indeed heal our sicknesses, provide for our needs, and protect us from our enemies, but ultimately we all will die in this body sooner or later. Only He can deliver our souls from eternal death. How great is that salvation!

"Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.  For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You."  (verses 20-22)

     The hymn ends with collective worship, as the tense moves from third person to first person plural: we, us, our.  Israel as a whole is represented in these words. The soul of every Israelite is waiting upon the LORD for He is their "help" and "shield", or in other words, their "Department of Defence;" they have an army and weapons, to be sure, but their hope is not in their strength of arms, as the psalmist previously stated. Their trust is in "His holy name." A person's "name" is their reputation or their known character. God has proven His own name faithful and we can trust in Him.
     The song concludes with a prayer for God to display His mercy in His dealings with their nation, and with a final vote of confidence by the people: "We hope in You." They are saying that in regards to matters of trust, they are placing all their eggs in one basket: God's faithfulness to them.
     God keeps His promises. We can count on that with our life.

Psalm 32

Psalm 32
A psalm of forgiveness

"A Psalm of David. A Contemplation. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." (verses 1-2)

     David identifies himself as the author of this beautiful psalm and classifies it as a "Contemplation," meaning that this psalm was intended to aid in private introspection regarding our personal relationship with the LORD.  Three times throughout the psalm David inserts the word, "Selah," which literally means, "pause and meditate," or "contemplate."  While the song may certainly have been sung in the temple, aiding worshippers in their self-examination before offering sacrifices for sin, it also may simply have been a psalm written for his own personal use, later added to the national treasury we now know as "The Psalms."

     In the very first words of the psalm, we have its theme clearly defined. The word "blessed" simply translates "happy," but it is not so shallow a word as our modern English happy. "Blessed" implies a state of bountiful goodness resulting in great satisfaction and joy, or blessedness. Those who appreciate classical English might say to be blessed is to be "incandescently" happy, or so happy that the person seems to be shining from the inside out.
     What does David here say that will cause such profound happiness? Forgiven transgressions and covered sins.  What then is a "transgression"?  "Trans" means to cross and "gress" means to step. To transgress, then, is to "step across," as in over a line. Thus a transgression is when someone has violated a known rule of law. It was deliberate and intentional act of disobedience.
     To "forgive" is to completely absolve another person of their guilt. The root of “forgive” is the Latin word “perdonare,” meaning “to give completely, without reservation.” (That “perdonare” is also the source of our English “pardon.”) [1]  The idea being that of a cancelled debt, to "forgive" is to wipe the slate totally clean, requiring nothing further from the indebted person.  They are no longer in debt; they are no longer guilty. They are as free and clean as if they had never even transgressed the law to start with.  "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven."

     What does David mean by "whose sin is covered"? Isn't that a bad thing generally... to cover up sin?  David is not speaking about hiding our own sin up so others won't see it, but rather God covering our sin up so He won't see it.  In the Old Covenant of the law, God instructed His people to make animal sacrifices for their sins as a regular reminder of two things: 1. Sin causes death, and only death can atone for sin. 2. God had promised a Redeemer who would make an end of sin, and by offering sacrifices for their sins, the people were acknowledging their need for this Saviour.
     When the people thus offered sacrifices to God in faith, He covered their sins from His own eyes.  The man whose sin is covered is the man whose offering of faith has been accepted by God.  "Blessed is he... whose sin is covered."

     David again reiterates the "blessedness" of a person who has been cleared of all guilt in verse 2, "to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity." To "impute" is to attribute something to another person. Iniquity is related to the word "inequality", implying injustice. To break a just law is unjust,  and as such is iniquity, or simply sin. "Sin", by the way, is an archery term used to describe arrows that miss the mark.  It says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." The fact is that we all have sinned, as we all have not hit the mark of God's glory, His state of perfection. We all have committed iniquity and we all have transgressed God's laws.  We are undeniably guilty.
     Yet, we have great cause to rejoice, for David's hypothetical state of bliss, this blessedness, is actually a reality for all those who have trusted in Jesus. Our transgressions, sins, and iniquity are all forgiven... cancelled... wiped clean... covered... removed... GONE. Why do new believers wear such broad grins everywhere they go? They are FORGIVEN!!! They are experiencing that incredible state of bliss known as blessedness. They are incandescently happy beyond anything they have known.
     If you are a believer in Jesus, but are not feeling so blessed right now, perhaps you have forgotten just how much you have been forgiven. Remember where you came from, who you were before Jesus came into your life and changed you. Remember what it felt like to live in sin and guilt, and remember how wonderful it felt to be finally free of that guilt! You are blessed.
     If you are carrying guilt for what ever reason, remember that Jesus died for ALL of it, and put it down right now. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Simply confess your sin and let it go. It was forgiven before you committed it. You are free, because whom the Son sets free is free indeed!
     To have a spirit where "there is no deceit" is to walk in transparency before God and men.  Don't cover up your sin; confess it and be free of it. Forgiveness is obtained by faith, and fellowship is restored by confession.
     "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."  (1 John 1:7)
     You CAN be blessed. Contemplate that.

"When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long.  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah. (verses 3-4)

     David here describes what it felt like to carry around the burden of guilt and sin.  He felt like he was aging from within, his miserable soul moaning like a withering old man. He felt like God's hand was actually pressing down with weight upon his soul, too heavy to bear up under.  He felt like his life and love for life was drying up like the dew in the consuming heat of the summer sun.
     When did he feel this way? "When I kept silent." David, like so many of us when caught up in private sin, was hiding his sin from others and avoiding dealing with God. His guilt was essentially eating him up inside. Have you ever felt physically ill from guilt before?  Do you know that unresolved guilt is recognized even among secular psychologists as the root cause of most mental illnesses?  Guilt can even wreak havoc on a person's physical health, as the body, soul, and spirit are all somehow entwined.
"Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed."  (James 5:16)
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

David pauses the psalm with a "Selah," that the worshipper may contemplate what they have just sung.

"I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah." (verse 5)

     Knowing that the remedy for his troubles is confession, David comes before the LORD to get things right spiritually.  He acknowledged his sin to God and revealed his iniquity that he had been hiding. Citing the course of his own thoughts, David recalls that at some point he said to himself, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." It was an act of the will, as much as it was an act of faith. When he originally transgressed, it was an act of the will in disobedience to God, so to make it right, David deliberately chooses now to confess his sin to the One he has sinned against.
     And oh, the relief!  No sooner had David confessed it than God forgave it.  The just judge pardoned the unjust iniquity. How does that work? How does God's righteousness dwell alongside His love? One demands judgement while the other demands mercy. He cannot offend Himself by offering one to the exclusion of the other.
     That is the miracle of the gospel. In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's holy righteous judgement met face to face with God's holy loving mercy, and both were satisfied. There was no contradiction, as both were simultaneously poured forth upon mankind through our perfect representative, Jesus our Saviour.  He died our death for our sins and He rose to life to make a way for us to be raised to life. Through simple, child-like trust in Him to save us from our sin and judgment, we receive complete pardon! We are totally forgiven, spotless, and holy before God, never mind what our present life may look like.  Our righteousness is a gift, unearned and undeserved, just simply received.  No wonder it is called the "gospel," which is translated in English as "good news!"
     Selah. Indeed. Think on that.

"For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah."  (verses 6-7)

    So when you stumble and fall, as you will, (we all do.... our souls may be redeemed, but our bodies and minds are still attuned to patterns of sin), remember that yours sins were already punished on the cross never to be brought before the face of God again. They were forgiven. So when you sin, come boldly to the Throne of God, called the throne of grace in Hebrews, and confess your sin to God, that you may be restored in heart and mind to that place of peace that comes from walking in obedience.
     As David says in verse 6 here, "everyone who is godly shall pray" to God when He is able to be found. When is God able to be found? Now. Every day. All the time.
     "For He says: 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."  (2 Corinthians 6:2)

     When we feel guilty for unconfessed sin, we become a target for the enemy of our souls.  He whispers fear, despair, and judgment into our hearts, so that we begin to see life and other people through distorted lenses. We think others are always judging us or that God is angry with us. We become like the proverbial wicked man who, plagued by his own conscience, will "flee when no one pursues." (Proverbs 28:1)
     But when the air is cleared between us and God, there is a pervading peace that weathers the storms that may still follow as a result of our sin. Sometimes our sins come with clear consequences in this life, and while we must still endure them, we need not bear the weight of the accompanying guilt. Jesus already bore that for us on the cross. Spiritually we are clean. As such, when the "flood waters" and the "trouble" present themselves on our doorstep, we don't have to fear being swept away in them nor overcome by them.  We can hide our hearts in Jesus, who will preserve our hearts through the coming storm.
     Isn't that such a beautiful word picture in verse 7? The LORD will surround us with "songs of deliverance." While we may be assaulted by fresh reminders of our sin as we walk throughout the consequences of it, He is there with us, "surrounding" us with powerful reminders of the deliverance He has already accomplished for us at the cross. When you are assailed by satan's words of condemnation, remember that Jesus is singing over you songs of deliverance!
    Now that is something to Selah on.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.  Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you." (verses 8-9)

     The speaker changes. David was not only a poet, but a prophet. At any given point in writing his psalms, sometimes the Lord would just take over and begin to write through him. Here the LORD answers the repentant sinner who has confessed and is now rejoicing in the finished work of Christ on the cross in their behalf.
     The LORD says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye." How many times have you wondered, like me, what to do in a situation? You pray and wish the LORD would just answer you clearly, so you can be certain what course of action to take. Here God promises to instruct, teach, and guide you in the way you should go!
     But notice the context: You have just sinned and confessed it to God. You are rejoicing in His forgiveness and meditating on His completed work on Calvary. At this point, while you are in a place of humility and worship, God speaks to you. What does He say? He will show you what to do and where to go. He will direct your steps.
      The promise is written to the humbled sinner who is basking in the forgiveness of the cross from the floor of the valley of humiliation.  He is as low as he can go and is content, even blessed, to be there because of the renewed joy of his salvation.
    At this place, in this time, God offers this promise. When we have hit rock bottom, we legitimatley need someone to extend us a hand and help us up, to recommission us on a path and purpose in life. That is what God is doing here. The repentant sinner lying broken in the valley is lifted up, healed, and restored to a calling and purpose in the kingdom of God.
    Note what God says next, however. Don't be like a stubborn mule that has to be forced in the right direction! Sometimes when we ask for guidance, and then God clearly answers us, we may wish He hadn't!  His calling may be anything but what we had envisioned for our life. His directions may seem hard or even unpleasant to obey.  I can assure you, though, that the only place you ever want to be is in the will of God. Read that sentence again. Yes. There is no other place you want to be in. It is only in His will that you have promises of peace, protection, provision, and power. He is with you wherever you go, but His presence will be felt when you are walking in obedience to His will.

      If you are at a place right now where you are not experiencing the many promises of God in His word, and feel like you may have taken a wrong turn somewhere, it is not too late to Selah in your life's course. Pause. Meditate. Contemplate when was the last time you KNEW that God had spoken to you... that you knew what He wanted you to do.  Are you still there, or did you get impatient and move on in your own way?
    Was it taking too long for that husband to show up? Did you give up on waiting for God to lead you into a ministry you once believed you were called to?  Did you tire of waiting for life "to begin" and set out on your own to make it happen? Are you striving to maintain a lifestyle that you likewise obtained by striving, rather than waiting on God to fulfil His word to you?
    If so, don't despair. It is not too late to turn back and turn to Him. He can right your wrong and lead you in the way to go. It says in James 4:10, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."  God is just waiting for you to humble yourself and cry out to Him. Confess your sin, and He will forgive you. Rejoice in His forgiveness, and He will instruct and teach you in the way you should go.

    One last thing. It says He will guide you with His eye. This is a reference to a servant waiting upon his master for instruction. While going about his daily duties, a faithful servant would always keep his eyes attuned to his master's posture and position in the house, ready at any moment to to do his bidding. The highly attentive servant would notice if his master desired anything of him by simply watching his eyes.
     If, for example, he looked at a wilting plant, the observant and faithful servant would immediately move to water it, without a word spoken to that effect. If the servant noticed his master glance at his bare feet while walking on a cold stone floor, the servant would hurry to bring him his house shoes. Furthermore, the master had only to meet the servant's eye and then direct his gaze towards something to be done, and the faithful servant would be prompt to do it.
   This is all to say that waiting upon the LORD is not the same as doing nothing. It means to be attentive to the LORD, ready to act upon His guidance when finally given. Be eager to obey Him.

"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him."  (verse 10)

    David resumes speaking and gives a contrast: those who live in their sin unrepentantly, who do not turn to the LORD for forgiveness: the "wicked"- they will experience many sorrows. They will not have the promises of God as their shield, joy, and confidence. They will reap the fruit of their own bad choices without the comfort of God's surrounding songs of deliverance. Rather than blessedly happy, they will be very sorrowful.
     Those who put their trust in Jesus and receive forgiveness of their sins shall be surrounded by God's mercy. Thank you, LORD!

"Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"  (verse 11)

The psalm concluded with an admonition to all who hear and understand its message: if you have been forgiven and are counted righteous by virtue of Christ's sacrifice on your behalf, Rejoice! Be glad! Shout for joy!
    You have every reason to bask in the light of God's love for you. You are blessed! Be incandescently happy! You have every reason to be. God has forgiven you because of what Jesus did out of love for you.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever should believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Now that is a reason to celebrate!


[1] http://www.word-detective.com/2007/12/forgive/

Psalm 31

Psalm 31

A psalm of trust in the face of accusation

"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.  Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily; be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defence to save me." (verses 1-2)

     Written to the Chief Musician of the Levitical temple choir, this psalm was intended to be used for temple worship. Like songs written today, some are meant for personal edification, while others are designed for church worship. The latter are usually easy to sing while the former can be delightful to listen to, but improbable to imitate. Perhaps this song was, as such, a simpler melody as can be sung and appreciated by many.

     David is the declared author, and it has been suggested that this psalm may have been written during His son Absalom's rebellion.  Forced to flee Jerusalem, and rejected by many of his own countrymen and even his own advisors, David is forced into a place of absolute trust in the LORD.

      David says, "let me never be ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness."  David has placed his hope for salvation solely in the LORD.   He was not his "last resort," to be called upon only after money, men, and might had failed him, but rather his first and only resort. Appealing to God's inherent righteousness, David places the entire weight of his deliverance upon the LORD, through whom he expects to be delivered. David is essentially asking God to guard His own Name, as much as David's, in working out David's salvation.

     In his cries for deliverance and protection, David asks the LORD to be his "rock of refuge" and "fortress of defence."  Zion, the great fortress city conquered by David at the beginning of his reign, is fixed upon a great rock mountain. It had been his refuge and defence in times of war and danger. Now, as he is driven from it in great fear, he turns to the LORD to be his "Zion".

"For You are my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name's sake, lead me and guide me.  Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength.  Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth."  (verses 3-5)

     Growing more confident in the LORD even as he pens the words, David now declares emphatically that God is his rock and his fortress.  He asks for guidance and deliverance from his enemies, citing God's own reputation as being at stake, since David has so boldly and publicly put all his trust in Him. His enemies have plotted against his life, and David passionately petitions the LORD to rescue him from their evil designs.

     Again noting that God is His strength,  David places himself in the loving care of his God. The famous quote, as spoken by our Saviour Jesus Christ upon the cross, "Into Your hands I commit my spirit," is first written here by a fearful, but faith-filled David. Not a surrendering of his soul unto death, David speaks these words rather as a surrendering of his life into God's keeping.  He believes that God will let him live, and as such declares boldly, "You have redeemed me!" in the past tense. The God of truth will save him from even this.

"I have hated those who regard useless idols; but I trust in the LORD.  I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, for You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities,  and have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place."  (verses 6-8)

     The keyword here is "useless." David has a real need and he needs a real God. All the idols worshiped by the nations of the world could not help him; they were useless, vain, profitless, futile.  Instead, David has placed his trust, his whole expectation, upon the LORD.  Citing how the LORD had delivered him in the past, David declares his intention to rest his hope fully upon God alone.

     By contrast, he hates those who forsake the LORD to instead worship false gods.  As Christians, are we to hate those who worship vanity? Of course not. Why then does David?  We must remember the context: David is not a Christian. He was a Jew under the Old Covenant law, which states that idolatry is an abomination to the LORD, inasmuch as treason is an abomination to an earthly king. Faithful citizens would "hate," or treat as an athema such a person who would act falsely to his own countryman and king.

     We, as believers, were once idolaters and have found redemption and deliverance from our sins in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  No longer bound to false worship, we agree with David that it is useless.  However, we still dwell in sinful bodies and must yet regularly check ourselves to see if we have accidentally defaulted to our old way of living.

     Is there anything you have placed your hope in to bring you satisfaction or security? Money? Health?  Family? All these will fail you. Only our LORD Jesus Christ can satisfy and in Him is all security. "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" (Hebrews 13:5)   Turn from these vain idols to trust in the living God in all areas of your life; He will never let you down.

     David speaks of his feet being "set" in a "wide place."  The implication of this common ancient saying is that of having a safe and easy road to travel on.  A wide road allows for speed even with obstacles present, as there is sufficient room to simply avoid them, and it is safer, as you can see what is coming up ahead and around you. David sees his path made "wide" by the presence and purpose of the LORD. God will help him navigate through every road block and enemy along his life's course and this gives David great comfort and peace in facing the future.

"Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with grief, yes, my soul and my body!  For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.  I am a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and am repulsive to my acquaintances; those who see me outside flee from me.  I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.  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."  (verses 9-13)

      Have you ever been falsely accused?  If you have, then you can sympathize with David at this moment in his life.  There are few things more troubling than being accused wrongly.  Those who already have something against you, your enemies, rejoice at this new "information" that allows them to further slander you, and those who know you, but not well enough to know it to be false, may believe the lies and turn against you.  It is a terrible place to be in. I have been there, several times. Painful. There is an instinct to defend yourself, and yet a fear that to do so will only worsen the situation. Yet to be silent is to allow the false accusation or gossip to run its full course unchecked, like a disease on a rampage.

     The worst part is when those who are friends, but who have heard the slander, avoid you, either because they are not sure who to believe and want to stay out of it, or because they actually suspect you of guilt. That is like a guttural punch. Ouch. Takes the breath out of you.

     And have you ever heard people speaking negatively about you, unaware that you are listening?  The fear that can overtake your body is paralizing; the pain agonizing. There have been times that I have not even been able to weep for the fear of what men are thinking of me, and then when the tears finally come, have been unable to stop them. Character assassination is a horrible experience to go through.

     David understood this kind of agony of soul. He was often slandered and maligned. He spent a good part of his life running for his life! The simple fact is, that those who are called into the Lord's service, especially into positions of leadership, are like giant targets for arrows of accusation, both true and false. No one is perfect, and there are times that people fall into sin, but for every sin, there are ten accusations of sin, nine ungrounded and completely false.

      David here admits he sinned; yet, what was being said about him was not true. That is often what makes slander so painful; there is always some truth in it. David is being battered both from within and from without. His own heart condemns him alongside the hurtful accusations of those who are against him. A hard thing for anyone to do is to humbly acknowledge their sin, while not taking the lies and condemnation upon themselves as well.  David takes them both to the LORD.

"But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.'  My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.  Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me for Your mercies' sake.  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.  Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous."  (verses 14-17)

     David declares his trust in God in the midst of this nightmare. He says, "You are my God." Period. Sometimes that recognition is all we need to stand. God... He is my God. He is in charge. David knows that God alone determines the number of his days, and reminds himself of that. He is not in man's hands, but God's.

     He prays again for deliverance from his enemies and persecutors, those who have made it their "calling" to destroy David.  Have you ever visited a website that is devoted to one thing: the slander of some person or organization? Is it not disturbing when there is so much hate in a person that they devote their lives to spreading hate? It is worse when that person is a believer, and truly believes that they have the "ministry" of slander. Of course they would call it "discernment" or "prophesy", believing themselves to be like watchmen on the wall warning others about bad people and bad ministries, but in truth, there is no spiritual gift of accuser. In fact, that is one of satan's titles: the "accuser of the brethren."  

     Is it not possible that these "discerning" Christians have actually become mouthpieces of our true enemy, slandering other members of the body of Christ? "But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" (Galatians 5:15)  Let us be careful that our tongues are not used for slander, but rather the building up of one another in love and humility.

     "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers."  (Ephesians 4:29)

     David mentions that the lies spoken by his enemies are proud, insolent, and contemptuous.  I find this description interesting because it is so well spoken, so fitting. Those who are inclined towards gossip and slander of other Christians and ministries, so speak out of their own pride. As Paul wrote to the haughty Corinthians, "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?" (1 Corinthians 4:7)

    Any knowledge we may posses, any wisdom, correct doctrine, or understanding has been given to us as a gift from God. If we have not stumbled in a particular sin or error, is it because we are inherently better than another, or is this too, a gift of God's grace?  Once while looking upon a condemned criminal, the English martyr John Bradford exclaimed, "There but for the grace of God, goeth John Bradford!" Indeed, but for the grace of God, we are all condemned sinners and as such, what place have we in judging one another? Oh, that the mercy of God would so penetrate our hearts that we would seek to show mercy at every turn out of the mercy that has been so greatly lavished upon us!

     "For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:13)

"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!  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."  (verses 19-20)

     You have heard the old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." It is not true. Words can be the most painful and powerful weapons ever wielded. It was words that brought the world into existence, words that brought the first man and woman into sin, words by which satan sought to tempt Jesus Christ in the wilderness, and words that in turn defeated that old tempter. Spoken by God, angels, devils, and man, words are no small thing.

     Thus David here speaks of "hiding" in the presence of the LORD from words spoken in malice against him. We may never be subject to a council of people seeking our death, but we may yet experience the terrible effects of maligning words and slanderous accusations.   Like David, our natural desire is to flee from such painful arrows, but where can we go?

     There is a place of peace. It is quiet place, secure, safe, and invisible. It is the pavilion of God's presence. It is the still and beautiful courtyard of that fortress upon that rock of refuge that David spoke of. It is God Himself. When surrounded by lying lips, judgment, and defamation, there is only one place of sanity and rest: in the LORD. He is the castle of our defence. We can be face to face with hateful or condemning accusations and maintain peace and calm in our spirit if we but hide ourselves in the presence of our great God, who envelopes us in His love.

     Far from a high and lofty concept, this is a practical reality. If you find yourself in such an unsavoury circumstance, even by your own fault, know that you can claim this verse as your help in that moment. Hide in His presence. He will shelter you from the turmoil of soul that rages in the words of the other person.  He will help you see clearly what is truth and what is a lie, and give you wisdom how to respond.

"Blessed be the LORD, for He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!  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."  (verses 21-22)

     Written likely after the fact, David concludes this powerful psalm with worship. Although he thought at first that God may have abandoned him, he was soon proven wrong, as God indeed heard his prayer and delivered him. If this was indeed written around the time of Absalom's rebellion, this portion gains some significance.

     David was not a perfect king, and in his one great failing, the sin with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of her husband, David's lineage was cursed with strife.  "The sword shall not depart from your house," was God's sentence of judgment on David.  As the years passed, and strife did indeed plague his multi-wife household, David no doubt grew in regret for his sins, although long forgiven.

     He further added to his own infamy with the national census, forbidden in scripture, and the consequential plague that took the lives of over 70,000 Israelites.  David was not always a popular king, and in his latter days lost the hearts of many of his subjects to his charismatic and handsome young son, Absalom. When Absalom took the throne, David fled for his life.  He even refused to punish those who, on his way out of town, threw stones and shouted curses at him, citing this as perhaps the Lord's discipline upon him.

     He reasoned that if God was done with him as king, due to his many faults over the years, he would not resist His will. Even while crying out for deliverance, he yet was ready to accept it if God did not answer him this time. Clearly his concern was unnecessary, for God did answer him and did restore the throne to him.

     The strong city is Zion, which has been restored to him, but it is also figurative of that rock fortress that David hid himself in during his time of great fear. God is our rock of defence and our pavilion of peace. He is our Zion.

"Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD preserves the faithful, and fully repays the proud person.  Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD."  (verse 23)

 David ends his psalm with a call to the multitudes in the temple to love God for His deliverance and justice.  Absalom, well loved by David as father loves a son, was yet a man of pride and insolence. Those who followed him were no less proud. David, by contrast, was always humble before God. Even though he had been anointed by God to be king, he would not lift a hand against the previous king Saul, whom he called "God's anointed", believing such right belonged to God alone.  David would not steal a throne; he would wait for God to give it to him. Yet his own son did not fear to touch God's anointed, his own father, and lifted up his hand against him to kill him and take his throne. God fully repayed him and those who followed him in his folly.

     David was restored to his throne in the mountain fortress of Jerusalem, and lived to write this psalm.

     He concludes with an exhortation to take heart when faced with like difficulty because God will come through for you, just as surely as He did for David:

"Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD." Amen.