Pastor Ed's Series of Psalms

Psalm 1 | Psalm 2 | Psalm 3 | Psalm 4 | Psalm 5 | Psalm 6 | Psalm 7 | Psalm 8
Psalm 9-10 | Psalm 11 | Psalm 12 | Psalm 13 | Psalm 14 | Psalm 15
Psalm 16 | Psalm 17 | Psalm 18 | Psalm 19 | Psalm 22 | Psalm 23
Psalm 27 | Psalms 28-30 | Psalms 31-32 | Psalm 33 | Psalm 34
Psalm 35 | Psalm 36-37 | Psalm 38 | Psalm 39 | Psalm 40 |
Psalm 41 | Psalm 42-43

Psalm 7
12/27/09

Psalm 6 dealt with the first account of David's personal sin and how he dealt with it – he cried out to God and he knew that his prayers had been heard, and not only are his prayers heard, but that his prayers have been accepted. Then he knew he was forgiven and that he had nothing to fear.

This Psalm seems to deal with his personal enemies and how he is crying out to the Lord to assist him with his circumstance and his struggle.

Many of these Psalms offer insight into David's personal circumstance, so that we can get a frame of reference into what he's going through, and learn more about his life. The heading refers to a matter concerning Cush, the Benjamite.

We don't have a reference to “Cush, the Benjamite” in the scriptures – the only reference we have to a “Cush” is in Genesis 10:6 – he was one of the sons of Ham, who was a son of Noah.

But we do know that Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin, and he was chasing David because he was jealous of him. Cush could have been one of Saul's advisors, or one commentator says that the name Cush can really be interpreted to be the name Kish, who was Saul's father.

We can speculate all day about this but the whatever the exact interpretation you choose, the context of this Psalm seems to be David running from the Saul camp.

Let's look at what was happening to David during this period. He has been anointed by God, but Saul is still king. The account of David and Saul is in 1st Samuel. Let me just give you a brief sketch of what happened:

David was anointed by Samuel to be king after Saul had disobeyed the Lord:

The Lord told Samuel in 1st Samuel 15:11 – I am grieved that I made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.

Samuel replied to Saul, when Saul was questioning why the Lord would be upset with him, in the well known verse: Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.

And then later we have an account where the Lord spoke to Samuel and said in 1st Samuel 16:1 How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king

After David was anointed, the Spirit of God left Saul. And he was tormented. David was asked to comfort him because he was the only one around who could play the harp. Saul kept David around and he earned high ranking in the army.

After David killed Goliath, Saul became very jealous of him, because of David's following.

When you read about the account of Saul and David, you can understand why David is crying out to the Lord - listen to the account through the rest of 1st Samuel:

Saul tried to throw a spear at David twice while he was playing the harp.

But then, he seemed to soften toward David and David actually married his daughter Michal.

Then Saul tells his son Jonathan to kill David – Jonathan became best friends with David, so he warned David and he went into hiding. Jonathan interceded with Saul and convinced Saul to make an oath with him not to harm David.

So David resumed into his service.

Then an evil spirit came into Saul again and he tried to kill him again. The spirit of God protected David as he went to see Samuel. Jonathan warned him not to come back.

David escaped into the cave of Adullam. His brothers and father met him there, and David was the leader over 400 men. David accumulated a small army, and Saul was trying to find him in the desert.

David had a chance to kill Saul in a cave, but did not. Saul found out about it and then he then made another covenant with David after he had spared Saul's life.

Saul chased after him yet again, David had another chance to kill him but he let him sleep.

Finally, Saul dies in battle. Later, David is made king.

So you can see how many times David was chased, and he is feared for his life But he knew God's hand was upon him. Time and time again the Lord delivered him and protected him in his “outlaw” days.

Let's pick up verses 1 and 2:

O Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, or they will tear me like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

It doesn't say where in David's travels this Psalm is written – but David finds safety in the Lord – he takes refuge in him. He's saying Lord save me!

“Refuge” means protection from danger.

Moses proclaims in Deuteronomy 33 that: The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Proverbs 14:26 says He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.

Proverbs 18:10 says the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Isaiah 41:10 says so do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

We need to hear these words today! Especially when we feel weak or we are afraid or anxious.
David probably didn't have much to protect himself. If he had, you would think he would have assembled an army and fought, like he did later. He had to totally depend on the Lord to protect him.

We had an experience when our son David was born – he was born 8 weeks prematurely, and as with premature male babies, they try to postpone delivery because of the issue of lung development and other key organs.

David went into fetal distress and the doctors made the decision to proceed with the delivery. When he was born, he wasn't able to eat for three days because of lack of oxygen to his digestive system.

All we could do was to seek refuge in the Lord and his strength. Our doctor even prayed with us, as she realized the gravity of the situation.

We knew he was in serious condition because our Ob-gyn continued to call the neo-natal unit and monitor the situation for days after he was born.

David became so severly jondis that they had the lights above and below the incubator – usually its just on one side. Since he did not improve at all, the doctor told Andrea that they would have to proceed with a blood transfer.

Blood transfers are not the same as transfusions and they told us that the procedure is a very rare one and very risky. It's risky because they are draining blood at the same time they are putting new in, and it has to be balanced exactly.

After we received that news, we prayed. The next morning, the nurses could not believe that the belyrubin test was completely normal – he had a complete turn around. They couldn't explain it.

The Lord upheld us in His right hand!

Continuing with verse 3:

O Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands – if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me or without cause have robbed my foe – then let the enemy pursue and overtake me, let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust.

David is doing his best to be righteous before him – he's saying Lord vindicate me!

David has a chanve to kill Saul when Saul entered a cave where David was hiding and David snuck up on him and cut off the corner of his robe, but he let him go without harming him. But he called out to Saul and said to him:

Why do you listen when men say David is bent on harming you? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said I will not lift a hand against my master because he is the Lord's anointed. See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand!

I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion, I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.

So, David knows he is not guilty of anything – his hands are clean. So he has confidence the Lord will deliver him. His illustration gives us motivation to search ourselves and make sure we can put ourselves before the Lord during any kind of dispute so we are clean before Him.

This is yet another example in the Psalms where David's example leads us to soul search to make sure we are pleasing God first.

After David says that he is innocent, he calls on the Lord to act:

Verse 6: Arise O Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake my God decree justice. Let the assembled peoples gather around you. Rule over them from on high, let the Lord judge the peoples. Judge me O Lord according to my rightousness, according to my integrity O Most High. O rightous God who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.

Notice David doesn't say – I have judged the situation and Lord I want you to act like this! When he says Arise and Awake Lord, he means for the Lord to take action, but only as he sees fit. He appeals to God's authority to judge the situation.

He didn't try to judge for himself, but he appealed to His authority to handle the situation.

Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian leader and evangelist, explored this situation David was in and how he handled it in his book Spiritual Authority.

He notes that “David could have killed Saul when he had the chance but if he would have, he would have been rebelling against God's authority which put Saul over him. David would rather deny himself than be a rebellious person.

That is why he finally became God's designated authority. Should David rule his kingdom but fail to be subject to God's authority, he would be as useless as Saul.”

God lifted David to be his authority because David denied himself. He submitted himself to the authority of God, which in this case was the kingship of Saul.

You might say that it was easy to act this way because David knew he was going to be king anyway, if he just bided his time.

But he was under attack! His life was threatened! But he was still able to restrain himself, and keep his focus on the Lord.

I imagine that David spent a great deal of time when he was running out in the desert praying for the Lord to show him his will. That became the most imprtant thing to David, and should be to us as well.

Besides, we get into trouble when we appoint ourselves as judges:

Here is an illustration from the well known pastor Chuck Swindoll – you might have heard of his daily radio show. He said that he was at a pastor's conference and the first day there a man had approached him and said how greatly he was looking forward hearing him speak, that it would fulfill a lifetime desire.

That evening Swindoll noticed the man sitting in the front. But after only a few minutes the man was asleep. Swindoll thought to himself the man was probably tired after the long day's drive and couldn't help himself.

But the same thing happened the next few nights. Swindoll was getting exasperated.

On the last night, the man's wife came up and apologized for her husband's inattention to his messages. She explained that he had terminal cancer and the medication he was taking made him extremely sleepy.

But it had been a life-long ambition to hear Dr. Swindoll speak and he had fulfilled his goal.

You heard about my Walmart story this morning.

For those that weren't here, I was in Walmart recently with my kids and we were over by the electronics section. I wanted to look for a gift over by the televisions, but they both said they would not go with me and they promptly left together and went their own way as I looked for the gift.

Now, it drives me crazy to get searated from them in Walmart because of the big crowds and the fact that they are still 8 and 9 years old. So I was pretty upset and laid into them when I finally found them.

I went on about how dangerous it was to get separated from Dad like that and don't you ever do it again. With tears in their eyes, they told me that mom had told them to not let me go by the electornics section for fear that I might discover what my Christmas present was. It turned out to be the new Susan Boyle CD. They weren't trying to disobey me all along.

When we try to make judgments, we make a lot of mistakes!

That is why we should appeal to our higher authority, as David does in verses 10-13:

My shield is God most high, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword, he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.

Psalm 125:4 also says Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart.

Now, David seems to be calling on the Lord to bring this evilness to an end. These verses show a different side of God – the side of wrath and judgment are something we don't like to think about – but here we have in God's Word verses like:

Isaiah 14:23 – I will sweep her (Babylon) with the broom of destruction

and Isaiah 26:20-21 – See the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the bloodshed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer – in that day, the Lord will punish with the sword, his fierce great and powerful sword.

We are warned by these verses aren't we?

David ties this description of the Lord with his enemies in verses 14-16.

He who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment. He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made. The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own head.

David has examined himself first and then he makes observations on those that might be filling Saul with false information, but he still leaves it up to the Lord to make the final judgment.

This language is similar to Proverbs 26:27 where it says If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it. If a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him. And in 28:10 – he who leads the upright along an evil path will fall into his own trap, but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.

David is appealing for wickedness to end! So many of these Psalms illustrate the wide contrast between good and evil.

When David finally says in verse 17, I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of Lord Most High, he has been through a process where he has called out to the Lord for protection, he has examined himself thoroughly to make sure that he can stand before the Lord, and he gives the situation over to the Lord for the Lords judgment – he has appealed to the ultimate authority of God.

What this Psalm is about is that David has maintained His obedience to God, above everything else. Even when he is confronted with death, he still is able to restrain himself, and focus on God's will. He denied himself – and because of that God exalted him.

Toward the end of his life, David wrote a song of Praise and victory. The account is in 2 Samuel 22. Part of this song goes:

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness according to my cleanness in his sight. The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior. He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me, who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, O Lord among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.

David kept his eyes firmly on the Lord's will for his life – he didn't take the easy way out, and since he was obedient, God was able to use him for his purposes.

Think about a situation in your own life that you may be struggling with – ask God to show you the right way to act, the humble way to act. Search the Lord's will for your life. David's example in this Psalm was that God was able to use David, but only after he learned to restrain himself from his own desires.

As we talked about this morning – learn to seek Him and his plan for your life.

Let us pray.