Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.
Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Your Word is Truth, and I am sanctified by the Truth. Your Word is Christ – Christ was in the beginning with God, and was God.
Christ, Your Word, became flesh and dwelt among us. The Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came by Your Word.
As we start a new month and quarter, and as we go on through this year, we continue to meditate on Your Word, and we are hopeful and confident that we will bear fresh fruit in its season.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen.
Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.
Psalm 60
Urgent Prayer for the Restored Favor of God
(cf. Ps. 108:6–13)
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Lily of the Testimony.” A Michtam of David. For teaching. When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
1 O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again!
2 You have made the earth tremble; You have broken it; Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.
3 You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion.
4 You have given a banner to those who fear You, That it may be displayed because of the truth.
Selah
5 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
6 God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver.
8 Moab is My washpot; Over Edom I will cast My shoe; Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”
9 Who will bring me to the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
11 Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
12 Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
Today I brought up Psalm 60. You’ll under the Psalm’s subtitle that Psalm 108:6-13 is mentioned. When you turn your Bibles to that Psalm, you’ll see that those verses were copied word for word from here, in Psalm 60:5-12.
You’ll also notice in Psalm 108 that there is a reference, not only to Psalm 60, but also to Psalm 57:1-5; and you’ll see that it was almost directly copied into Psalm 108:1-5.
Psalm 57’s subtitle calls it a ‘Prayer for Safety from Enemies‘.
Psalm 60 is an ‘Urgent Prayer for the Restored Favor of God‘.
Psalm 108 is ‘Assurance of God’s Victory over Enemies‘ – David’s response to God’s response to his prayers.
This all tells me at least two, or three things. First, though we may not all be as musically inclined as the Shepherd King, I believe that even in our prayers, we cry out in Psalms – that may not necessarily be in song all the time, but we would burst out in speech, song or writing; We would recognize the full extent of our enemies, their works and their devices against the promises of our good God.
Second, we would be singing Psalms before, during and after our situations and circumstances. By David’s example, we can see how the Holy Spirit brings us to truly rejoice, always.
Finally, let us not be surprised if we would be singing the same words upon recognition of our circumstances, and after the resolution of the situation. See the words in Psalm 57:7-11, which were composed before the same words in Psalm 108:1-5:
O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
2 Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise You, O LORD, among the peoples, And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
4 For Your mercy is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth;
David had a steadfast heart intentional in taking time to explicitly worship the Lord with his people, with his instruments – both during and after his enemies were dealt with.
David recognized God’s great mercy, praised His name, and recognized His glory above all the earth – again, both during and after his enemies were dealt with.
For us to ‘rejoice always’ goes beyond our being brought to a peaceful and powerful mindset no matter what comes our way – it is our being directed by the Word, and our being directed to see the Word see us through.
So when the Word we remember when we are struck down is that all is well, so all will also be well when we are delivered from our enemies.
When the Word we remember as things unfold is that our God is our Father who is part of our family, and an offense against our family is an offense against our Father… well, all the more reason we pray for mercy upon these bad actors, because that’s the same thing we’ll be singing when the resolution comes to light.
And today, as we go through Psalm 60, I believe the Word for us to dwell on (not only today but throughout the rest of this week) would be at the end:
Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
I come against the contention some folks may have against the doctrine of the grace of God, which states that we who preach it are encouraging laziness, because Christ did all the work.
To this I respond, that we do work the work of God. And if we are going to do any work, it is working to believing in the One whom God has sent (John 6:29).
We aren’t lazy, we labor – we labor to enter into His rest (Hebrews 4:10-11).
We work and labor, appreciating the presence of the Lord, and the peace that goes beyond all understanding… and it is from His presence and His peace that we will do valiantly.
God is our Father, who is our present Help from trouble – He helps us by way of being with us; In His presence, there is peace, and in His peace, we have power.
That’s something I’m taking in today, as I am fully aware of all the things that are happening around me, the things that are taking forever to start, and the things I have no clue as to how to handle:
That the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, the Creator of all things seen and unseen; The Father of my Savior, Jesus Christ, who Himself is God along with the Holy Spirit – God is here, God is my peace, and God is our Partner.
By His precious Word, in the name of Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit: We shall do valiantly, and He shall tread down our enemies.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen.
Thank You, Father, for the reading of Your Word.
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