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July 17, 2023 Psalm 56
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July 17, 2023 Psalm 56
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The speaker reflects on Psalm 56, emphasizing the idea that God knows and records every aspect of our lives, including our wanderings and tears. They express gratitude for God's faithfulness and desire to be transformed in sacrificial worship. The speaker also discusses the challenges and opposition faced when staying in the secret place with God, but emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's promises and protection. They encourage themselves and others to rely on God and praise His word, despite the twisting of words and troubles that may come. The speaker concludes by highlighting the significance of recognizing our own mistakes and seeking God's mercy and grace. July 17th, 2023. Treasures in Christ, Psalm 56. Jehovah, safar, nad samdimna, nad sifra. My Lord God who recounts all my wanderings and sets every tear in a bottle, for it is written in his book. Psalm 56, 8. You number and record my wanderings, put my tears into your bottle. Are they not in your book? Oh, Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful that you kept us through the night and brought us into this new day. I'm excited, Father God, this morning as I read this passage, Father God, this verse of your character traits, as we get to know you more, Father God. And we just, I'm excited about that as I come into sacrificial worship. It's been a few days, Lord, and I miss our time in the morning, Father God, when things in life get us busy and moved around and maybe the convenience of things is not in place. And you just teach me, Father God, just to come after you and seek you. And you know the wanderings of each of our lives, Lord, each one of your children. Not only do you know them, Father God, but you capture every tear as each and every day of our life has been written down in your ledger book already. It's a compassion that you have for us, Father God, and this is why we come in sacrificial worship this morning. We desire that you transform us, Father God. Mold us and make us into the very thing that you need us to be, Father God, that your light will come through us and you will be lifted up and others will be drawn to you. We praise you for all that you do in each one of us, Father God, as you follow us and lead us, as you lead us, I should say, as we follow you. As we deny ourselves today and take up our cross to follow you, we know that in this place we'll be putting to death the deeds of the flesh that are not pleasing to you. For we worship you this morning, Almighty God, for you are the sovereign power, the one that reigns over the kingdoms of men from your throne in heaven. We thank you for the salvation which is found in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. We praise you for this truth, Father God. We pray that you'll transform us by it today, Father God, that we'll know your way more so that we can know you more. Oh, what an amazing truth that is. We thank you for the Holy Spirit of power that does all of this work in us, Father God, and through us that your light will shine for. Bless the reading of the word this morning, Father God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen. Oh, I'm encouraged this morning. You know, when I read that passage where he puts every tear in a bottle, it's just an amazing truth. And this is an interesting, you know, just read a little. To the chief musician set to the tune of silent dove among those far away of David, a record of memorable thoughts when the Philistines seized him and Gath. You know, sometimes when we find ourselves trapped and ensnared by the enemy, sometimes we have to just remind ourselves and encourage ourselves that God is in charge of all things. And I love the way David starts because he gives us this perfect direction to keep us in sacrificial worship. The merciful and gracious to me, O God, for man would trample me or devour me all the day long the adversary oppresses me. And it's just an encouraging thing when we see be merciful and gracious to me. See, mercy is implying that there's mistakes that David's going to be making. We have to come to this place. If we think that there's some sort of a perfection doctrine, where we're going to be able to walk perfectly in life without any need for God's mercy, well, then there would be no need for God's mercy. And that just doesn't make any sense, because he's a perfect God. And we are a failed, a frail, I should say, human that has the free will choice to know right from wrong and choose wrong, as we see back in the Garden of Eden. So mercy and grace wins the day. And it's coming from God. And he goes, be merciful and gracious to me, O God, for man would trample or devour me all the day long the adversary oppresses me. For man would trample me or devour me. See, the only place of safety is in the secret place of the Most High. And it doesn't change the fact that the flesh sees what it sees. The flesh is oppressed and trampled, or the attempt to trample and devour is there all day long the adversary oppresses him. And we find the same oppression when we walk in sacrificial worship to the Lord, because the flesh wants what it wants, and the evil one, the adversary, is there to try to tempt us out of that secret place. And David goes on to say, they that lie in wait for me would swallow me up or trample me all day long, for they are many who fight against me, O Most High. See, he just keeps himself in that place, no matter how extreme the oppression seems to be, how the affliction, the attack seems to be, he stays in this place. What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in you. He's given us the indicator that it's going to bring fear in the flesh, the flesh is going to have fear of these moments where things are coming all around us and oppressing us and attacking us all the day long, fighting against us. But God is the resolution. Putting our trust, faith, and hope and confidence in God is the solution. He's shown us we've got to stay bunkered down in the secret place no matter what it looks like. Verse four, by the help of God, I will praise his word. On God I lean, rely, and confidently put my trust. I will not fear what can man who is flesh do to me. This is just a reminder of God's promises when we see his word here. And why do we praise his word? Well, because praise comes from God's fulfilled promises in our life. Well, joy comes from it, and from joy comes an outward expression of praise. And what is his word? His word is our help. His word is our direction, our guidance, our protection. God's word is true and cannot come back void. And this is what David is banking on. He's staying in that secret place. Now, in the secret place, there's that temptation to have fear, see, because man is coming against him. Because man is in enmity with God, and he's walking in the sacrificial worship place humbled under the powerful hand of God. And so this is where the threat comes. But he's reminding himself, he's encouraging himself about the word of God and the promises of God and what he can put his trust, hope, and confidence in. And he's reminding himself, what can man really do at the end of the day? Man is only flesh. Man can't protect him now and for all eternity, and man can't really destroy him now or for all eternity, because God is on his side. This is who he puts his trust in. This is where we bunker down. And we've got to bunker down in his word. You know, he's looking for true worshippers to worship him in spirit and in truth. Well, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in all of the truth of God. It is the very main line. It says, verse five, all day long, they twist my words and trouble my affairs. This gives us some indicator of what's going to happen. The things that come against those that stay in the secret place of the Most High are going to have their words twisted and people getting all up in their business. That's just what's going to happen. All their thoughts are against me for evil and my hurt. See, like they say, misery loves company. And so what it wants to do when it sees us, bunker down with the peace of God, with joy and praise coming forth, the heart of gratitude. This gets irritating to those around us who don't want to operate in this place. He says, they gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they watch my steps, even as they have expectantly waited for my life. They think to escape with iniquity, and shall they? In your indignation, bring down the peoples, O God. See, God is the recompense. He is recompense for all the mistakes. But remember how David started. He started with mercy and grace. So David is not saying he's never going to make a mistake. But he's noticing that as he stays in the secret place of the Most High, the fear of those that come around him because they want to come and bring him down. They want to get him out of that place. Misery loves company. And they think that by going their own way, that this is going to bring some resolution or some success. But we know no weapon formed against us can prosper. So it might hit us, but it won't prosper. It won't have any lasting effect. God will thwart the plans of the wicked. So in this process, this is an interesting verse. They think to escape with iniquity, and shall they? In your indignation, bring down the peoples, O God. You number and record my wanderings. This is an important part of the verse here. We have to understand what he's talking about here. When we look at the going deeper there, wanderings, this is an aimless fugitive. This is when we go our own way. This is when David is he's reflecting on the fact of when he goes his own way. And you put my tears into your bottle. What tears is he talking about? Is he talking about the tears because he's grieving the loss of a loved one? No, he's talking about the tears of grief that come when he wanders. See, when we go our own way, and all of us like sheep do, there's this grief that should be in our spirit. There should be a grieving that happens when we go our own way, when we wander off, and outside of his shepherding. And it happens with every one of us. Every one of us like sheep go our own way, have left God's path to go our own way. And this should cause us grief. And these are the tears I believe he's talking about here. He's not talking about any, and it could be the it could be the tears also from this oppression and affliction that comes against him for being in the secret place. But there should be no real tears in that, right? Because God's bringing the indignation. He's bringing the recompense. He's bringing the vengeance. So there really isn't going to be any sadness there as far as the things coming against him. Yes, it's serious. You know, we read a lot of his verses, you know, I feel like I'm going to die in this, you know, so it's extreme. But he's numbering and recording all of David's wanderings. Every time David goes off course, see, the people want to catch him up in this, and they want to come at him with this. They're looking, they're watching every step, he says. They watch my steps even as they have expectedly waited for my life. So they're waiting for David to fall. But God records every fall that David makes, right? Every time that David goes off course, I should say, where he wanders away from God's own way to go his own. And this brings grief in David's life. And the fact is, and David recalls this, and this is why that other psalm is so beautiful that, you know, when we were perfect and beautiful, well, when God knit us together in our mother's womb, and every day of our life was written down in his ledger book before we were even born. So God knows every day already before it happens. He knows where we when we're going to wander and all of these things. And when we're truly grieved for going our own way, this is what he's talking about. And David's just recounting and recalling to bring him back to memory to encourage himself that they are already in his book, it is this is not anything catching God off guard. But remember how he started the mercy and grace. You know, it's just, it's just always important to remember in context, where David's mind is at, and where his heart's at, his heart realizes his need for God, he recognizes his need for God, in needing mercy and grace, which means not getting what you do deserve, and getting what you don't deserve. And so David's just making a point to encourage himself here. God already knows and records every time he goes astray. And in that sadness and grief that's caused by David's, you know, wandering, God's putting, keeping those in a bottle, and are they not in your book, he says, God already knows every day before it happens. Then shall my enemies turn back in the day that I cry out, this I know for God is for me. And this is so important. See, the day I cry out, what's he talking about? He's not talking about the oppression and attack from the enemy. He's talking about his wanderings. And in his wanderings is where the attack comes. Because isn't that just like the the liar to tell us, oh, you've made a mistake, you might as well just keep on going. Yeah, you've already done it might as well do more. He does that to me often, I'm confessing. But the reality is, at the end of the day, when conviction comes, repentance should be the natural response. Because we know God is for us, and he's for the relationship. And so that's an encouraging word. It says in God, whose word I praise in the Lord, whose word I praise. So now we have in God, whose word I praise, and we were talking about those promises of God. And this is where the source of our praise is, is the promises of God being fulfilled in our life. It brings us the joy of the Lord in this forth, forth praise. And he says it twice. So it's the Father, which is the ultimate will that we're following. The Lord, which is the leadership that we're following in the word of God, in the truth. So when we see the word word there, we could just say truth, whose truth I praise, you know, in the Lord whose truth I praise. Because not only is the ultimate will of God fulfilled in his promises, in his truth, but the leadership that we follow also when we're in that place of turning, when we come back into repentance, that's the leadership is leading us back into relationship. And that's through the truth, through the word of God. And he says in 11, in God have I put my trust and confident reliance. See, at the end of the day, that's just where it's at. Your hope, trust, and confidence has to be in God. It can't be wishy-washy. And he says, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? And it's just again, he's reminding himself, it doesn't matter what comes against him. God is the one who's going to show him the mercy and grace in that place of repentance, in that place of grief where he's grieved and vexed the Holy Spirit because he's wandered and went his own way. He says, your vows are upon me, O God. That's his promises again we're talking about. This is God's truth and his promises. What God says he's going to do for us, he's going to do for us. We have to operate in that place that is required for us to operate to be able to receive it. And from it, he says, I will render praise to you and give you thank offerings. See, again, this is how we know because the God's fulfilled promises in our life bring us joy. In fact, in the presence of God is the fullness of joy. So when we're operating in sacrificial worship and he's transforming us and we're coming into that place where we come into repentance and then God's grace and mercy meet us at that place and he comforts us and he does all of these things, it brings us the joy of the Lord and how he's operating in our life. We're intimately in operation with him in the kingdom and from that stimulates the fullness of joy which comes forth from us as praise. And that heart of gratitude, see, because it just depends on how we are looking at it. If we're just looking at it, you know, God, whatever, this and that or the other, but to think that God is that gracious and merciful to spend the time and the long suffering to bring us into that relationship and that's his goal. He's not trying to squash us or destroy us. He wants to bring us into relationship. This is what the vow of God is. He vows never to leave us nor forsake us, that nothing can separate us from his love, even our own iniquity when we go our own way and we wander off. But this is the process, this is showing us the process of coming back in repentance. We see the tears, the grief that comes from it and the fact that God is sovereign over all of it, even all of our mistakes, he's sovereign and his promises are his promises. His word is his word, his truth is his truth. It is good for our existence and it's good to lead us through the life that we live, which is the two references to God and the Lord in verse 10. And a reminder in verse 11, that it's that we have to put our hope, trust and faith in. And verse 12, just another reminder of how good God is in it and what comes from it. And this is why we say, oh, praise the Lord. We can't just get, just start clapping and shouting, praise God. You see, that's not what praise is. That's just making sounds, audible sounds with our body. Praise, now we may do that in real, in actual praise, but praise is in that place where we're responding to the joy of the Lord inside of us. And this is why I like the way, you know, a lot of ministers do this. They make, they encourage those to think about the things the Lord has done, you know, and don't you have a reason to praise God? That's that place where he's fulfilled his vow and his promise in our life. And we're full, have the joy of the Lord down, the peace of God. And this propels us to praise. And I don't, I can't see any reason not to be grateful here. So I can see why David pours forth thanks offerings, thankfulness and gratefulness come forth where he get, he thank you God, right? So grateful for what God is doing, that God was able to restore him from his wanderings. Well, here he goes. He's going to say it in verse 13, for you have delivered my life from death. See that, that the thought of the salvation of God now in all eternity, for all eternity is an amazing thing. Because if we continue to go wander off, we will die the wages of sin. I mean, we're all going to die anyways, but the reality is we're going to die prematurely probably. And we're going to be dying in our sin. And this is the deliverance that God brings for you have delivered me from life from my life from death. Yes. And my feet from falling. See, even though he wandered, God is a restoring God and a redeeming God. And God has delivered his life from death. Yes. And his feet from falling. He's kept him during this process of wandering that he can come back that he got well, that's what he's going to say that I may walk before God and the light of life and of the living. So this is not something we're just waiting to die to do. This is now in all eternity. This is the light of life walk before God in the light of life. That's the light of God shining through him, as God is showing him mercy and grace and transforming him, getting him back on track, you know, getting him away back out of the wanderings and into and onto the right path, the path of God. And this is where God keeps us our feet steady and makes our path straight, right? He makes the crooked path straight. And he makes the uneven ground level for us to walk on. And in that walking, because God is operating in our life. And this is what allows God's glory to shine in us in through us. It's not just that I can say glory to God. It's that I'm walking before God, like, you know, he, where God tells me to go, I'm going where he's leading me, I'm following. And this is where the light of life shines through. And, and he's just reminding us that this is not just something we do when we die. Because he says end of the living. Well, we live now in the Lord in the kingdom, and we live for eternity. But he is talking about right now, because he's talking about his wanderings. He's talking about the grief from that. He's talking about the fact that God knows him, that even though everything around him is coming to try to stimulate him to go more and more further this way, he's going to come back to God in the promises of God being fulfilled in his life, the vows of God to redeem him, deliver him, what do you say, deliverance is going to come, stability is going to come, direction is going to come, purpose is going to be fulfilled. And he is truly now living that full life. And it's going to be abundantly fruitful. We know that. And that's an amazing truth. Well, what an amazing little passage of not very long, but it really shows us the brass tacks of what happens when we do wander off. And the fact that things will come up in against us to encourage us to wander off. And also once we're wandering off to attack and come against us. But it's God and God alone that must be our trust, hope and confidence, knowing that he has every day of our life written down in the ledger book. And the tears he's keeping in this bottle are not just our grief and sadness for sin, but it's our, I mean, you know, the price we have to pay for sin, I should say. Oh my God, I go to prison. You know, that's not the tears he's talking about. The tears he's talking about is those tears that are drawn up out of us when we go and wander away. And we're just so grateful that God is the redeeming God. And he's the God that knows it all. He's the God we can put all our hope and trust and confidence in. God's vows are going to be fulfilled in our life if we walk in obedience to repentance in this place. And it'll pour forth from us praise and gratefulness. And what an amazing truth and a reminder that Psalm 56 truly is a treasure in Christ and a treasure in heaven. And that God is Jehovah, Sefar, Nad, Sum, Dima, Nad, Sifra. Our Lord God who recounts all our wanderings and sets every tear in a bottle, for it is written in his book. Oh, Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful for this truth today. We're thankful that you know everything, that there is nothing outside of your control, and that it's our position in place to come back from our wanderings, Father God, and be transformed by it as we come in repentance. And as we watch your vow of deliverance come true in our life, it will pour forth praise. So I pray this over my life today, over the body of Christ today, that they'll be in this place, Father God, that they won't allow the wandering to leave them further away, but that they'll be encouraged to come back because of your promises of deliverance, Father God, your promises of forgiveness, your promises of grace and mercy. And I pray this over the body of Christ today, in Jesus' name I pray, amen and amen.
