Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 8 Lesson 80
This week in Sunday school, we take some time to briefly review what we’ve seen over the last nine lessons but also address a topic we did not have time to cover previously: psalms that David wrote while running from Saul. We look at two such psalms in our class and ask: how do the historical narratives in the Bible inform the Davidic psalms, and vice versa? What did David seek to communicate in his psalms? And what can we learn from the psalms about singing to God in the midst of trials?
Our main texts for this lesson are Psalm 34:1-22 and Psalm 54:1-7.
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all right well it is now turning 9:30 so we can get started good morning and welcome to the Calvary Community Church Sunday School class I’m David Koepp OSHA as I was saying before we’ve come to the end of unit 8 in our answer is Bible curriculum now if you didn’t know our weekly chronological study through the Bible is actually based off of a Sunday school curriculum produced by Answers in Genesis you don’t know Answers in Genesis there are Christian apologetics organization and they produced a Sunday school curriculum basically a a survey study through the Bible which they call the answers Bible curriculum or ABC for short nice of acronym we are using the second edition of this curriculum at our church and it’s divided into a number of units the curriculum as a whole is designed to be completed in four years with breaks taken during the summers so with the end of unit eight we also come to the end of year two of the curriculum so actually we’re halfway through our study with this curriculum so how about that but what have we seen over the past nine lessons in this this unit unit eight I’ll just post the lessons that we’ve done much of what we’ve seen over the past nine lessons has been emblematic of that scripture that we focused on briefly in 1st Samuel 2 chapter 34 Samuel 2:30 God speaks to Eli and he says those who honor me I will honor and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed and isn’t that really what we’ve been seeing again and again as we move through the books of judges Ruth and First Samuel we saw how God raised up Gideon who was no one and yet God honored him because Gideon honored God we saw how God raised up cast down and then raised up again Sampson for the same reasons we saw how God impoverished and then made full Naomi saw how God judged Eli raised up Samuel he chose and then rejected Saul and then he raised up and then delivered again and again David and that’s what we’ve been looking at the past few lessons we could add many other records in the Bible as testimonies to the truth of 1st Samuel 2:30 but certainly the spirit the Spirit of God as he speaks to us through his word has highlighted this truth for us over the last nine Lessons those who honor me I will honor that those who despise me will be lightly esteemed now if the spirit is bringing that to our attention and certainly that’s the lesson that we need to learn right and that lesson that we need to learn better so now coming to the end of our unit we need to ask have we learned that lesson do we live our lives in such a way that we say aye I live according to the truth that God declares those who honor me I will honor but those who despise me will be lightly esteemed God doesn’t change the thing that he declared in the scriptures is still true today well as I began to explain the end of unit lessons are technically review lessons and when we are meeting in person the multiple levels of the answers baba curriculum that includes the younger classes that the elementary school grades etc there’s a lot of review taking place in those classes but for our class the adult class we usually try to explore a topic that we didn’t get to in the regular lessons sometimes we watch a video and discuss it or sometimes we investigate something something related to what we talked about so what we’re gonna do for today is lesson rather than watching a video because that’s not really gonna work in our format in our circumstances I’d like us to return to something that we actually didn’t get to it was part of the curriculum for the last lesson but we didn’t get to because we just didn’t have time because you see as we were talking about David hiding from saw running from Saul one of the other books of the Bible that sheds more light on David and his circumstances outside of 1st Samuel is the Book of Psalms yes the Psalms also if we’re just studying the Bible chronologically they go right along with what we’ve been seeing lately you know we’re gonna have an official lesson on the Psalms later on in the ABC in the answers baba curriculum but I want us to take a small for a today into the Psalms to find out more what David was thinking and feeling as he was living what was his righteous life on the run how do the historical accounts and First Samuel inform what we read in the Psalms what does David intend to teach Israel and by extension us in the Psalms what’s the messages or what are the messages of the Psalms and how is the example itself of singing in the midst of trials instructive to us today that’s what we want to find out in today’s lesson but let’s ask the Lord’s blessing on this time of study pray with me please Heavenly Father we look to you for food not just physical food and all this regular things that we need to sustain our lives but we look for spiritual food feed us from your word help me Lord to be able to explain your word accurately helpfully powerfully and God I pray that your spirit would work in those who are listening today so that they would be transformed encouraged convicted all those things god bless your people today work among them in Jesus name Amen we’re gonna look at two Psalms today that are tied to a section of First Samuel that we covered last time the first song that I’d like us to look at together is Psalm 34 so please take your Bibles and go to Psalm 34 Book of Psalms is one of the bigger books of the Old Testament Psalm 34 as I said we’ll talk more about the Psalms later on but just for now give you a few pieces of information about this book of the Bible Psalms are collection of prayer songs or prayer poems they’re written in worship to God they are meant also for communal worship public worshiped these are things that be sung or recited together this collection of Psalms or songs it was put together over several centuries the earliest contributor to the Book of Psalms is actually Moses but the latest contributors they would be some of the Israelites who were coming back after the Exile of Israel in exile of Judah so this book covers a lot of different authors in a large period of time we do get background about the circumstances of the Psalms in which they were written a little bit by paying attention to the details that are within the Psalms but another way we get background is by paying attention to the Psalms title if it has one for example take a look at the title at the beginning of Psalm 34 now when I say title don’t get that confused with the heading that might appear in your Bible translation for example you might have a thematic heading listed at the very top of Psalm 34 right underneath the word Psalm 34 for example the new American Standard it has a heading that says the Lord that is Yahweh a provider and deliverer through tonight Alex in the new American Standard now this heading it’s a summary of what this Psalm is about and you see many such headings in the new American Standard for the different Psalms or for just the different sections of the Bible the thing to know about these headings is that while they’re helpful they’re not original they’re not inspired they’re not the Bible itself they’re they’re just the translator or the publisher trying to help you summarize what’s in a certain section when I say pay attention to the title I’m not really referring to those headings which can be helpful but again and not inspired when I am referring to are the other words that appear underneath that heading if you have a heading in your Bible you won’t see these words in the King James Version but they are there in the original Hebrew for example Psalm 34 it reads the title reads a psalm of David when he feigned madness before a bimolecular think oh you know this is just extra information supplied by the translator of the publisher it’s not really the Word of God but I don’t think we should take that view because if you go to the Hebrew Bible the copies of the of the original manuscripts which we had today verse 1 does not actually begin with what verse 1 looks like an our Bible where it says I will bless Yahweh at all times verse 1 actually begins with the title with a psalm of David and that’s consistent with all the songs that have titles so this as far as we can tell this is not something added later by somebody who’s not inspired by the spirit this was and is the Word of God himself so moral of the story pay attention to the titles and only can they give background information but they are they are the Word of God also so look again at the title information for Psalm 34 and let’s see what information we can discern at first notice that the title says of David that is by David David is the author we’re also told when David wrote this song it says when he feigned madness before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed now this reference to a historical event is part of the section that we covered last time but not one that we looked at particularly so I’d like us to go back to the instance where this event appears we see this actually in 1st Samuel 21 so if you’ll keep your finger in Psalm 34 and go to 1st samuel 21 well see what this psalm is referring to it’s a first samuel 21 towards the end of that chapter so starting in verse 10 we’re not going to analyze this passage we’re just gonna read it but know that david has just left the priests a hymn elec who’s given david provision and a sword and he goes to flee to one of the great cities of the philistines there are five great cities of the philistines philistines are enemies of israel but David decides to go to Gath to the King there notice what it says in 1st Samuel 21 starting in verse 10 and we’ll read to the first verse of the next chapter it says first samuel 21 10 then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to a Koosh king of Gath but the servants of a Koosh said to him this is not David the king of the land did they not sing of this one as they and sang Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands David took these words to heart and greatly feared a Koosh king of Gath so he disguised his sanity before them and acted insanely in their hands and scribbled on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard then a Koosh said to his servants behold do you see the man behaving as a madman why do you bring him to me do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act a madman in my presence oh this one come into my house so David departed from there and escaped to the cave of a deulim all right that’s important background information let’s go back to Psalm 34 now and let’s read the rest of Psalm 34 after the title I could turn my Bibles to my Bible to Psalm 34 Word of God says I will bless the Lord that is Yahweh at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul will make its boast in Yahweh the humble will hear it and rejoice o magnify Yahweh with me and let us exalt his name together I sought Yahweh and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears they looked to him and were radiant and their faces will never be ashamed this boy man cried and Yahweh heard him and saved him out of all his troubles the angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear him and rescues them no taste and see that Yahweh is good how blessed is the man who takes refuge in him Oh fear Yahweh yo-you his saints for to those who fear him there is no want the Young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they who seek Yahweh should not be in want of any good thing come you children listen to me and I will teach you the fear of Yahweh who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good keep your tongue for me and your lips from speaking deceit depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it the eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous and his ears are open to their cry the face of Yahweh is against evildoers to cut off the memory of them from the earth the righteous cry and Yahweh hears and delivers them out of all their troubles Yahweh is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit many are the afflictions of the righteous but Yahweh delivers him out of them all he keeps all his bones not one of them is broken evil shall slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants and none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned let’s start our study of this Psalm with basic observations of the text notice that we’re looking at Hebrew poetry here and what’s the most fundamental aspect of Hebrew poetry not rhyme like it is an English poetry frequently but parallelism you see here in this Psalm as in much of Hebrew poetry you have a lot of lines that express nearly the same idea as the line before or after just in a slightly different way this is Hebrew parallelism think of Hebrew poetry as highlighting a rhyming of ideas rather than of sounds this is what they considered very beautiful stylistically and there is beauty to it of course Hebrew poetry does interact with sounds too they would be rather clever and beautiful with the way they used sound but not quite like the way that we do in in our English poetry so recognize we got a lot of parallelism here but having heard the whole song having read the whole song how would we describe the attitude or the tone of the speaker is David lamenting pleading confessing celebrating or certainly the tone that where the attitude of the speaker is triumphant it is celebratory it is laudatory that is filled with praise this is not a psalm full of confession of sin or lack of faith in fact there’s no reference to those things in the song and nor is david distressed or still looking for deliverance those things have passed david the speaker is delivered at this point and he is full of gladness and we can see it in just the way he he writes the way he speaks now when examining Hebrew poetry like the Psalms are just good to notice where groups of the same idea appear perhaps this is not separated at all into sections in your Bible and it can kind of seem like it’s just a hodgepodge of words and ideas but that’s not the case there is an organization to the ideas here and so we want to see if we can observe how the ideas are grouped together by just saying where the lines all having the same idea so let’s see if we can do that for this song notice verses 1 to 2 what is the main idea or the same idea that appears in these two verses was it not David praising God David is basically saying these verses I really want to praise God he says I will bless your way at all times but nernst afraid that this praise does not stay private because at the end of verse 2 David says the humble will hear and rejoice I’ve got individual praise but it’s going to involve others in fact if you go to verse 3 David even invites others to join in the praise he says magnify the Lord with me magnify Yahweh with me so we have an expression of an individual desire to praise God followed by an invitation for others to join in now notice verse verses 4 to 7 is there a one main idea expressed here also they’re just the reports that David gives in verses 4 & 6 he says I sought y’all way and he answered me God delivered me from all my fears this poor man cried me and Yahweh heard and say of all my troubles David’s giving these reports but now notice verses verses 5 & 7 so we just looked at 4 in 6 look at verses 5 & 7 is the idea similar or different or both we see again there is testimony of the people who look to God and God delivers them but notice that verses 5 & 7 are talking about people in general not just David so how can we capture the main idea verses 4 to 7 is it not testimony of God’s deliverance David says I saw God and he delivered me and others have experienced the same we’re giving testimony that God is the deliverer he’s delivered us and now I notice verses 8 to 10 because what does David do here he again invites others to join in invites others to find protection and provision and deliverance in God Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good whereas he says fear Him is Saints because then you won’t lack so do you notice how verses 1 2 3 have a parallel in verses 4 to 7 verses are in these two sections we have what starts as an individual action which goes communal and then even includes an invitation for others to join in verses 1 to 3 David says I want to praise I want others to hear and hey listener won’t you join in also and in the verses 4 to 7 David says I want to testify my experience with God others can testify of it too and hey listener won’t you come also an experience God’s goodness and deliverance and notice in verse 11 there’s a shift David moves from praising and testifying to teaching he says come you children I will teach you and what is it that David wishes to teach he says it is the fear of Yahweh that is the life of proper reverence and enjoyment of the true God now it’s not stated explicitly here but from what source do people learn the proper way to live before God is it just David David’s the mom with that knowledge no it actually goes back to the scripture itself right it goes back to the tour and the the rest of the Old Testament and really we can include the New Testament too you learned the fear of Yahweh from the revelation of Yahweh life of proper reverence the life of enjoyment and obedience to God that comes from his word which is why I think we see what we do in Psalm 19 9 that’s one of the Psalms that talks about the scripture itself it calls it a number of phrases and one of the phrases it uses as a synonym for the scriptures is the fear of Yahweh it’s because they’re so tightly related so David says he wants to teach the fear of Yahweh and for whom is this teaching notice verse 12 this teaching is for any person who desires life days and good which persons are those well that’s everybody isn’t it is there any person who doesn’t want life doesn’t want days doesn’t want to experience good if anybody’s thinking in his right mind he desires those things the david says hey people all of you people looking for these things that’s all of you I know I’ll tell you how to get it what’s the way David says in verses 13 and 14 turn from evil and instead seek and do good that’s the way you want these things turn from evil instead seek and do good in other words fear Yahweh going back to what he said in verse 12 this is what a life then actually epitomizes that truly has the fear of Yahweh it manifests in this way turn from evil seek good theological term in the Bible used to describe this is what turning from evil to do good that’s repentance what the Bible calls repentance says you want to be blessed you got to repent and come follow after Yahweh verses 15 to 22 then set up a series of contra but notice between whom the contrast is a contrast are we have on the one hand the righteous those who fear God and on the other hand the wicked those who do not fear God what is God’s demeanor toward the righteous well verse 15 says he’s attentive to them he’s listening to them how amazing it would it is to have God listening and attentive to you but what has God’s attitude toward the unrighteous verse 16 says he is against them to destroy them not only is he not listening but he’s actively working to destroy well what else does God do for the righteous as we keep going through the section it says even though the righteous go through many troubles they’re not free from trouble God delivers them and even better God promises that he will never condemn the righteous those who fear him now again what about the unrighteous as we keep moving to this section what does God do for the unrighteous well there’s no promise of deliverance you will not deliver them instead God says they will be slain by evil or they’ll be slain by trouble and worse they will be condemned God says they will be condemned so we can characterize the flow of ideas in this Psalm like I said in three main sections and you now see them on the screen verses 1 2 3 we have praise and an invitation to join verses 4 to Tevon just to put it 10 testimony an invitation to join and then verses 11 to 22 teaching and an exhortation to fear and obey God it could of course observe more in this section but those are some good observations let’s now go to the second step of Bible study and ask questions of interpretation and based on what we have observed and what we’ve read about this Psalm and its background first samuel 21 identifies the king from whom david fled as a Koosh but the tile here in psalm 34 refers to this king as a bimolecular hopefully you’ve been with us enough by now to know that the scripture can be believed above all in its original manuscripts it is god-breathed it cannot be broken Jesus says in 2nd Timothy 3:16 that is as God breathed in John 10:35 scripture cannot be broken so it risen isn’t really something wrong with the scripture there must be a act an explanation for this name discrepancy a Koosh Abimelech what’s the solution I think the simplest solution is that King a Koosh also was named a Bimala there’s no reason this couldn’t be in fact Abimelech is a name that appears often in the Old Testament for kings and want to be Kings and Canaan Abimelech actually means something like my father is king or father of a king Malik is the Hebrew word for king and javi would be my father so it would make sense it’s kind of like a royal name or royal title many do believe and I think this is quite plausible that Abimelech is kind of like the name Pharaoh in Egypt it’s just what the king would take on as his name or title so it seems that this king in Gath he was called both a Koosh and Abimelech and that’s why we see the two names and here’s another question I don’t know this occurred to you but to David sin or demonstrate lack of faith by pretending to be insane now they’re good bible-believing commentators who say the answer is yes David did sin he was showing lack of faith but I disagree I don’t think he was you know they had a little argument first and hopefully you noticed this there is no contrition in this commemorative Psalm about David’s deliverance from a Koosh there’s no confession of lying or lack of faith it’s all celebration actually David in praising God he connects his insanity ruse with God’s deliverance David says thank you God for delivering me you did it but then if we just go back to 1st Samuel 21 we see that it was David’s pretend that insane that was his means of deliverance so for David to say what he does in Psalm 34 David must be implying that God delivered David through David’s own actions through his pretending to be insane how could David make such an attribution it if what David did was actually sinful and faithless so I think it’s one reason we we should not condemn David for what he did I think a second reason is that as we’ve seen in other lessons withholding information or allowing someone to believe what is not true is not necessarily considered lying or sin according to the Bible go back in your mind to what we saw about Samuel in 1st Samuel 16 God told Samuel to go to Bethlehem and he was to say that he was offering sacrifice there at Bethlehem even though God also said the main reason you’re going is to anoint a new king instead of salt since that’s your primary reason for going but if anybody asks you why you’re going say that you’re going to offer sacrifice now that was true samuel was going to offer sacrifice but that wasn’t the main reason he was going Samuel didn’t have to give full information of his actions and because of that others especially King Saul probably would conclude something that was actually not true of Samuel namely that samuel was going to Bethlehem and was not going to do anything to undermine Saul’s rule based on how Staniel was acting based on what Samuel said he would have come to that conclusion but that was not true Sam well actually was anointing a king to replace all yet Samuel obviously did not do wrong in this because he was commanded by God to do it and God certainly can’t do wrong God testifies elsewhere in the scripture that he does not tempt anyone to sin nor can he lie so we have the example of the scriptures that not giving full information or allowing someone to believe something that is not true is not necessarily sin now if you are withholding information that results in someone’s harm well there I think you can argue that that is but in general not saying everything that is true about yourself her not giving full information that’s not considered it’s not considered sin and now a third reason why I don’t think we should condemn David is that don’t we all pretend in anak you assign our lives I mean this is something that we do probably every day I mean here’s an example maybe you decide you’re gonna go to a fancy restaurant you never go to a fancy restaurant but you go to one it’s like super pricey that you want to make it special for for maybe your wife or something like that but when you go there you try not to look like someone who doesn’t go to fancy restaurants very much why well because you don’t want to stand out you don’t want people to look down on you or treat you with poor service because they know this guy like these these total pretending to come back here you you try not to stand down or maybe travel to another country and that country is known for its hostility toward Americans so what do you do you try not to make it obvious that you are in fact an American now why well it’s not because you are ashamed of yourself or ashamed of your country necessarily but because you recognize that it’s prudent to blend in and not suffer unnecessary hostility if people think you’re European or I think people think that you’re just a native of the place oh great that’ll avoid you some trouble now people based on how you’re acting in these instances and things like them they may come to the wrong conclusion about you or about what you’re doing yet again you’re not obligated to clarify those misconceptions now though if someone asks you straight out at the restaurant whether you’re rich why did we do that or someone asks you straight out in another country whether you are an American no matter how you’ve been acting as a Christian how should you respond or you can refuse to answer you can dodge the question with the creative answer answer a question with a question for instance or you can tell the truth one thing you cannot do is lie and why because as first John says no lie is of the truth to lie is to be fundamentally unlike God and everything that is good is in God if God cannot lie then lying can never be good and we’ve talked about that in previous lesson so if you want to know more about that I can point you to that after the lesson now if we recognize that we pretend in these various everyday situations what about in war if it’s innocuous if it’s okay if it’s not condemned condemnation worthy in everyday life then what about in war when you are in enemy territory as David was certainly we can understand the prudence of pretending and not giving full information so for these reasons I don’t believe that David does wrong and pretending to be insane before a Koosh I don’t think it’s a sign of lack of faith David as far as we’re told he does not speak any lies but he does act in a way to convince the Philistines that though he’s a great commander and warrior of Israel he poses them no threat I think this interpretation is consistent with the information and the tone that we see in Psalm 34 well let’s ask another question this this very celebratory Psalm does it promise continual prosperity for those who follow after God hopefully you saw just by paying close attention to the text the answer is absolutely not because even though this song is very triumphant it only comes after what a time of great danger in pain it wasn’t super great for David and when he was there in Philistia with his life in danger that happened to someone who was righteous and even david testifies directly in the psalm many are the troubles of the righteous many are the afflictions it’s just a fact people david says so our brothers and sisters you got to realize this for yourself if you are a Christian you are going to go through many troubles you know so easily we are tempted not to believe that that’s true difficulty comes upon us and we’re like what’s going on like this doesn’t seem right I’m trying to follow God and I got all this terrible things happening to me something’s up something’s wrong well actually the Scriptures told you ahead of time that that would be the case many are the afflictions of the righteous but what’s your comfort what was David’s comfort it’s what’s listed in the song but the Lord Yahweh delivers the righteous from them all no matter how many troubles you go through no matter how difficult or how long those trials are God will deliver you the Lord delivers you from all trials in the perfect way in the perfect time that’s a promise from God no amount of faith or righteousness is going to make your life trouble-free it will come but God will deliver you through it and from it so with that clarification what is the main message of this song what’s the fundamental idea well considering its structure and its emphasis on the goodness of God I’d summarize it in this way to experience God’s great blessing and deliverance join the righteous and following after God this Psalm is so much an invitation isn’t it celebration and invitation you can almost I think you can you can feel David’s great passion for God in this song is longing for others to know the goodness and the greatness of God in their own lives and don’t we feel some of that today certainly should we look at our unsaved family and friends or we look at the leaders of our country or other countries or we just consider our country and society in general our hearts should say if only you knew the goodness of God only you knew Yahweh you wouldn’t you wouldn’t be wasting your time in all these efforts you wouldn’t be so downcast they wouldn’t be pursuing all these self-destructive sins if only you knew isn’t that what our hearts say and you know what God feels the same about himself and how do we know that because God is the one who ultimately wrote this song yes David wrote it but God wrote it through David so in essence God is saying through this song everyone who hears listen now listen how I’ve delivered one of my faithful ones I’ve delivered David when he was in trouble I’ve done this again and again for my people so won’t you come also and enjoy my bounty won’t you enjoy my goodness won’t you join in and praise of me why do you continue to live in fear why do you continue to seek your own way instead of my way why will you continue to trust in your own strength of your own righteousness instead of mine consider the great difference of those who fear me and those who don’t both have troubles but those who fear me they are delivered unto life and blessing even for eternity but for the others for those who do not fear me who insist on being the king of their own lives what do they experience they are destroyed and they are eternally condemned so won’t you embrace the fear of Yahweh won’t you come and follow after me God says my friends we need to listen to the Spirit of God that speaks to us via song if you don’t yet know God through Jesus Christ well heed the exhortation stop foolishly pursuing your own way a way that is vain it will not ultimately produce what you’re looking for and worse it will receive the condemnation of God because you remain a rebel someone who’s usurped the throne of his own life when really that throne belongs to God you’re his creation he’s been good to you you want to follow after him therefore repent as this Psalm exhorts repent and believe in the only God and Savior Jesus Christ now if you do know the Lord but you’ve become caught up in some stubborn sin or ongoing fear and anxiety well then also here the excitation of the spirit in this Psalm God speaks to you won’t you find your comfort in God won’t you repent of your sin your fear your unbelief and rest in the Lord the deliverer why don’t you even rejoice again and the God who delivers all who look to him at the right time and in the right way just as he did for David come join the righteous they’re experiencing the blessing they’re experiencing the deliverance you could too if you’ll just give up your stubborn way now we don’t just want to pay attention to the message in the words of this song but let’s consider it as an example in connection with song or with first samuel 21 how do these two chapters taken together provide a an instructive pattern for our lives in light of 1st Samuel 21 the psalm 34 not show us that when we when we experience the deliverance of God that we ought to praise him praise him privately and publicly because that’s what David does God delivers David in first table 21 and then we hear about it in Psalm 34 that’s an instructive example for us think about the deliverance you know in salvation but also the victory and deliverance you experience in sanctification becoming more like Jesus and becoming more holy or the deliverance that you experienced from oppression and dangerous trials what should you do in light of those deliverances is it not publicly praise the Lord testify before the church and even before the world and say look at how great God is look at how good he is is that characteristic of your life you just love to give public praise to God for his deliverance and all facets of your life we also learn another lesson we should be careful to remember to write down even the amazing works of deliverance of God that we experience in our lives I mean David wrote a a praise a work of praise based on the deliverance he experienced and that song became one of the great songs of Israel a song that has been included for us as inspired Scripture even shouldn’t we also then be commemorating the deliverances of God that we see in our lives because all too often what happens we experienced some deliverance from God we thank him for it but then we forget about it we forget about it and then we experience some other trial and we despair of ever being delivered from it we totally forget what God did for us in the past we don’t remember God’s greatness but what will help us remember a purposeful effort of commemorating it even a song and that’s part of the reason why we sing Christian songs today isn’t it because we want to commemorate the deliverance the deliverance is that we have in God we need reminders of how great a God we have and music is one of the ways that God has provided us to remind ourselves so we’ll be encouraged when we encounter the next trial now Psalm 34 is a prayer song from someone who has already experienced deliverance but what about a person who is still in danger is not yet experienced deliverance let’s go look at another song take your Bibles and go to Psalm 54 I’ve been in Psalm 34 but now let’s go to Psalm 54 this is a shorter Psalm notice the title information of the psalm with me it says for the choir director on stringed instruments I’m a skill of David when the ZIF fights came and said to Saul it’s not David hiding himself among us that’s interesting interesting title information here statement that it’s for the choir director it tells us this is for the worship leader of the singers the tabernacle so this song was to be part of the regular public worship in Israel it says on stringed instrument meaning instrumental accompaniment is as part of the design for this song it’s called a mass kill we don’t know what that term means it appears to be some technical musical term perhaps it means something like skillful song or teaching song or wisdom song or memory song but here it’s also written by David this is another psalm of David and we get the occasion when the ZIF fights told Saul about where David was now first samuel tells us that this happened twice may have happened more but we know at least happened twice the first is in 1st Samuel 23 verse 23 verses 19 to 29 we won’t take the time to go back and read that now but the ZIF fights tell about David’s location Saul comes down he surrounds David’s position nearly captures him but then a messenger comes to salt the last moment saying hey Philistines have attacked and saw withdraws the other instances in 1st Samuel 26 verses 1 to 25 and that’s when we looked at together Saul comes out camps in the wilderness with his men all around him but David infiltrates the camp takes all spear and a water jug and his show saw the next day says I could have killed you but I didn’t it’s all leaves one of those instances is in the background one of those instances most likely is in the background of this song so let’s see let’s see what the psalm actually says as we continue with it starting in verse 1 David says save me O God by your name and vindicate me by your power hear my prayer O God give ear to the words of my mouth / strangers have risen against me and violent men have sought my life they have not said God before then say la behold God is my helper the Lord is the sustainer of my soul he will recompense the evil to my foes destroy them in your faithfulness willingly I will sacrifice to you I will give thanks to your name o Yahweh for it is good for he has delivered me from all trouble and my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies let’s make some observations on this song if we look to discern the organization of this song as well by looking for similar ideas within the lines we can break down this Psalm into three main sections now it’s not always three seconds I know three seems like the magic number for preachers but I think that’s the number that’s appropriate for this Psalm just look at verses one and two we can see my main idea is David calling on God for help and salvation he says save me O God verse 1 so automatically we’re seeing that the situation and even the tone of this Psalm is very different than the one we just looked at this is not a delivered David trying thing this is a David in danger calling for help now we see beginning in verse 3 that David begins to describe his situation and it’s a it’s a very dangerous one he says strangers and violent men who do not know God they’re seeking to kill me now that’s interesting because according to first name of 23 and 26 which men are specific specifically seeking to kill David well it’s Saul it’s all servants and it’s the even the Zipp fights David calls them in this psalm strangers violent men those who do not know God these are dangerous men powerful men and wicked men and they put David in their sights and notice the words say law and verse 3 this is another technical musical term which has a meaning that is unclear to us today certainly would have been clear when it was originally written but we just can’t figure it out quite yet it may mean increased pitch it may mean increased volume it may mean pause maybe a musical interlude we’re not entirely sure but it is a musical it is a musical term for how to sing or to do this song but verse 3 is not the only part of the account of David’s situation he does have these violent these evil men coming after him but what else does David have he says God is my helper and the sustainer of my soul yes I see these wicked men coming from me on the one hand I need your help God but I know you are my helper in fact notice what David expects God will do going going on in verses 4 and 5 he says he will recompense the evil to my foes he will pay them back for the evil that they do and that they seek to do and isn’t that what David himself said to Saul back in 1st Samuel 24 and first Haman 26 says may Yahweh avenge me on you but I will not lift my hand against you for you are you always anointed he says I know Yahweh will do it though now the end of verse 5 is powerful it may be a little bit shocking what does David call on God to do destroy these wicked men in your faithfulness huh so verses 1 to 2 are David’s call for help verses 3 to 5 they give David’s situation before men and before God and now look at verses 6 and 7 what’s the main idea of these verses I think we can characterize it as it’s an expectation of praise and deliverance David says in verse 6 that he anticipates praising God and giving thanks to God based on God’s unveiled goodness and David talks it in verse 7 about deliverance and satisfaction based on what God does to David’s enemies notice the verb tenses though in verses 6 and 7 David says in verse 6 he’s talking about future actions I will give you praise I will give thanks but in verse 7 it’s a past idea or technically what we call present perfect grammatically deliverance has already been accomplished he has delivered my eye has looked with satisfaction now wait a second wasn’t David just pleading for deliverance in verse 1 why are we suddenly shifting with the idea that deliverance has already come well let’s take that question into the interpretation step we’ve made some observations let’s talk about interpretation again why this past idea in verse 7 why does it sound like deliverance as ready come one answer would be that deliverance came while David was praying and singing David speaks about deliverance having already come because it literally has while he was praising that’s possible but I think that’s unlikely because the rest of the song is anticipatory even verse six is quite plainly future he says I will give you praise when you do this if the deliverance already had come then surely he would say I now give you praise or let me just go right into praise I think the idea is that no it is still future despite what verse 7 says so why this past idea in verse 7 I think the more that the answer is that verse 7 is an example of a special mode of speaking that we sometimes see in the Old Testament and even the New Testament and that is where someone talks about the future as if it were past because of how certain that future is for example we see the same thing in Isaiah 53 you’d be familiar with that section of Isaiah it describes the suffering servant it is a prophecy of the amazing work of Jesus Christ in his sacrificial death on the cross and yet it’s described as in the past tense like the serpent has already lived died and suffered when clearly that hasn’t happened yet he hasn’t obtained redemption for his people at least by the time Isaiah was writing but it was already a certainty even at that time so it is with David and verse 7 he is not yet experienced deliverance but he anticipates it so strongly that he considers it a done deal God will deliver me I know it it’s like it’s already done he will just lead judge my enemies I know this for certain in a sense it is already done right because God has decreed everything since before the foundation of the world he has an eternal decree which has already established how he will and when he will deliver his people so in a sense it is already done another question that may have occurred to you as we went through this song is David right to pray for the destruction of his foes clearly David was not wrong to pray this because this Psalm is ultimately written by the Spirit of God and David wrote this Psalm even for the choir director this is a song that David thought was exemplary enough to be used by Israel in public worship even with this line about destroy the minier faithfulness but how to square this with Jesus’s teaching about loving enemies and praying for their good like in Matthew 5:44 we can get into a pretty prolonged discussion about this issue but I think the answer is actually simple and that is that both things are true at the same time we do love our enemies pray for their good at the same time as we pray for God’s justice and we pray for God’s vengeance on enemies for example just to illustrate what this would look like it is right for us Christians to pray God don’t let the wicked get away with what they do Lord avenge the blood of your believers who have been slain by Boko Haram in Nigeria father bring justice for all those who have been trapped and ensnared and ruined by America’s pornographic industry it’s right to pray those things but we should be praying even at the same time yet God have mercy upon those murderers bring great conviction to them for their sin so that might turn to you and find life God for those who ensnare others into a sexual sin caused them to repent caused them to cry out to you before it’s too late deliver them from themselves and from their own soon I don’t think these things are inconsistent to pray together because as Christians don’t we desire both justice and mercy and why because these are both the things that God is God is fundamentally a God of justice but he’s also fundamentally a God of love and mercy so it makes sense that we would desire both Our Lives even for our enemies and that’s why I think we see in the scriptures that both prayers both types of prayers are expressed it’s not really a choice between one and the other it’s actually both and we should be praying both in our lives I don’t think we should make exception for David he’s actually being quite exemplary here and asking for the Lord’s vengeance on those who do evil what is the main message of this song again considering its organization its flow of ideas let me give you my take my summary of this I would say this Psalm is a brief map and how to respond to trials in order to see God’s blessing three basic steps verses wanted to turn to God verses 3 to 5 see your situation properly yes you’ve got terrible foes in danger but you’ve got God as your helper and then verses 6 to 7 expect God’s deliverance anticipate it like it’s already done what’s amazing about this Psalm is that it shows us that you don’t actually have to experience deliverance to be totally confident and joyful that you will be delivered this is what made David’s heart steadfast in the midst of storm and really it’s what makes our hearts steadfast when we encounter trials how are you gonna have joy when you don’t see any deliverance and you’re in a very dangerous and difficult situation in your life it’s the same way that David did by turning to God seeing your situation properly and expecting God’s deliverance so will you heed the voice of God’s it speaks to you from this song I mean are you facing trouble do you not see deliverance I know probably are all of us are in one way or another our society certainly is we can become very fearful about this but we need to heed David’s word it’s these same things are true for us turn to God see your situation properly expect God to live rents and we know what was the outcome for David don’t we it’s not mentioned here in this psalm but it is in first name l23 and first samuel 26 god did not fail David and you will not fail us you’ll not fail you trust him stop being fearful stop pridefully looking to yourself instead of God rest in him expect deliverance from him even when you don’t see how it’s gonna happen with your eyes you know so often we pray to God not expecting that he actually won’t answer our prayers oh god please help does this our God what were you I I don’t know and we plead with him but we don’t expect that he actually will do what we we ask for you know what James says about that in the New Testament he says anybody prays a God like that shouldn’t expect any deliverance because he’s a double minded man that kind of prayer doesn’t honor God but if you have faith the size of a mustard seed if you say God you said you’d do it I’ll trust that you will see and help me now believe that not only will God answer that prayer but you’ll have the peace and joy of God until he does that’s what got men is for there is something else exemplary about this song again if we connect it with the the narrative passage knowns we learn from this Psalm that we should pray to God confidently during trouble but that we should even sing to God sing to God in the midst of trouble that may seem counterintuitive but it’s not you know as you go through the Bible not every godly song is celebratory and triumphant like Psalm 34 is you have a lot of songs in the Bible even in the Psalms that are full of sorrow pain even righteous complained to Yahweh but you know what all the godly songs in the Bible have in common it’s faith faith in Yahweh to listen to the cries of his people to bring comfort to the pain to establish justice and vindication for his people all these songs are happy but they are all full of faith these things that these even sad songs in the Bible remind the people of God up there the things that we need to be reminded of today to when we go through trials and what better way to remind ourselves then through a song now find it really interesting that when you go to the book of Acts chapter 16 you have this instance where Paul and Silas are enduring terrible persecution for God’s sake they’ve sought to be instruments of the Lord and Philip eye witnesses evangelists but they are then falsely accused being incessantly with rods thrown in prison and have their feet fastened into stocks it’s a terrible turn of events and Paul and Silas have done nothing wrong they’ve been following the Lord but what do we see them doing soon after after they’ve endured all this pain they’re still in the midst of their trial what are they doing in the middle of the night acts 16:25 but about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God and the prisoners were listening to them there’s a pattern for us there isn’t there I know brothers and sisters sometimes the sorrow and trouble of life is so severe that you can’t even find the voice to sing yet David and Paul and Silas they show us that singing and praying and remembering songs of faith in the midst of trial there are ways that we comfort ourselves in the Lord and become buoyed in his faithfulness I mean just speaking experientially I can think of different times in my life where I felt spiritually low or just very tempted towards anxiety or sin but then I’m greatly comforted by remembering and even singing Christian songs and again the song doesn’t have to be happy it doesn’t have to be happy day you know one of my favorite songs that’s super happy it can be a song full of sorrow but if it’s if it speaks the truth of Scripture and remind you who God is then the the faithfulness of the Lord it just gets into your heart in a way that mere mere words sometimes aren’t able to do I think that’s one of the ways one of the reasons God gave us music to help it’s kind of like putting some sort of coating on the truth so that it actually is able to to pierce pierce the of the hardness of our hearts that we face in a difficult situation we remember that song we hear that music or even singing ourselves and we say oh that is true God is faithful I think that’s another thing we need to learn from these songs even Psalm 54 we should sing to God in the midst of trial again doesn’t have to be with your words I think it’s really helpful if you do out loud but even in our hearts remember the truth about God in the midst of trial even this song even Psalm 54 because that will bring comfort to you in the faithfulness of God well as you see we’ve been talking about application really as we’ve been going through the interpretation of step by time as we close our show today let me just summarize some of the applications we’ve seen I won’t expand these now since we’re pretty much out of time but this is what we’ve seen today Psalm 34 turn from your evil way your vein way you won’t be able to deliver yourself in the end turn to God join God’s people in experiencing his goodness he invites you he wants you to he’s a loving God praise God publicly for his great works commemorate God’s deliverances in your life even through song turn to God in trouble be confident God’s coming to coming deliverance and sing God’s truth during your trials see some comments there in the side AHA alone read those and interact with those just a moment but that’s it for this week we’re actually going on break for summer Sunday school there there won’t be we won’t be taking another lesson next week we’ll be doing a break until the fall and I thank you so much for being the sunday-school steady today and maybe even the past few weeks when we resume in the fall we’ll continue studying the life of David as well as the life of Solomon and even see how the Kingdom of Israel splits into two under Solomon and why that happened and what God was doing hope you’ll be back for that if you have a question or a comment that you’re not yet expressed in the YouTube chat please do so I’d love to interact with it afterwards and again thank you for your participation in our site today let me close our time in prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for these two songs songs that commemorate your wonderful deliverance but also song is of those who are looking for your deliverance and hadn’t yet seen it because we go through both of those things and Lord we’re to be instructed not just by the messages of the Psalms but even the examples of the psalm writer himself oh god you are comfort in the midst of trial and even if we don’t see your deliverance we know it will come Lord help us help us not to fear not to be anxious not to trust in ourselves rather than you but to say my God has never failed his people and he won’t start with me Oh Lord we thank you that you are deliverer there is no hope except in you thank you for making yourself known to us and for saving us in Jesus name Amen thank you again for your joining us today and if you have a comment or question please post in the chat I’ll see you in the livestream service on YouTube and otherwise I’ll see you again soon