3/16/2012 7:09:31 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: God the Deliverer
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 59:1-9
Message of the verses: We will begin looking at Psalm 59 this morning beginning with the introduction of the psalm.
“This psalm is of the same nature and scope with six or seven foregoing psalms; they are all filled with David’s complaints of the malice of his enemies and of their cursed and cruel designs against him, his prayers and prophecies against them, and his comfort and confidence in God as his God. The first is the language of nature, and may be allowed; the second of a prophetical spirit, looking forward to Christ and the enemies of his kingdom, and therefore not to be drawn into a precedent; the third of grace and a most holy faith, which ought to be imitated by every one of us.” (Matthew Henry)
“This is another in a series of laments in which the psalmist pleads for God to defend him against his oppressors. The psalm is a mixture of prayer, unfavorable descriptions of the adversary, imprecations, and praise to God. Though written when David was king of Israel, the psalm recalls an earlier time of anguish when Saul sought to kill David (1Sam. 19:1). Ultimately David’s strong confidence in God’s sovereignty transforms the lament into a son of assurance.” (John MacArthur Study Bible)
“King Saul’s fear and hatred of David became so compulsive that he finally gave orders to kill his son-in-law, and twice Saul tried to do it himself (1Sam. 19:1-10), but his wife helped David escape by letting him out a window (see Acts 9:23-25). Before this attempt, Saul sent out search parties to spy on David (vv. 6, 14), and David wrote this psalm to ask God for the help he needed. The focus of the psalm is on God—Deliverer (vv. 1-9) and Judge (vv. 10-17). Note David’s repeated ‘statement of faith’ in verses 9 and 17. David waited and watched for God to work, and then he sang praises to the Lord for His mercies.” (Warren Wiersbe)
It was on June 20, 2010 that I wrote the following words in my Spiritual Diary concerning 1Samuel 19:1-10: “Today’s SD begins the second stage of opposition to David by Saul and Dr. Wiersbe has entitled it “Saul looks for opportunities to have David killed.” Today I will look at the first ten verses of chapter nineteen of 1Samuel which speaks of Jonathan interceding for David to his father Saul who wants to kill David.
“I like this statement that comes from the pen of Warren Wiersbe about this section of Scripture. “It’s remarkable that such a magnificent son could belong to such a wicked father!” Of course he was writing about Jonathan and his father Saul. Jonathan was the person who could have been the next king but since he was a godly man and since he was such a good friend to David and since he knew that the Lord had chosen David to be the next king he told David that Saul wanted to kill him and to watch out for him. This worked out for a while but then the evil spirit came upon Saul again and he tries to kill David again.
“Dr. Wiersbe writes that Satan was a liar and he was the one controlling Saul at this time so that is why he broke his vow not to try and kill David. David realizes that it was time to get out of town, but first he wanted to go and see his wife before he left.”
On June 22, 2010 I wrote the following on the verses from 1Sam. 19:11-17: “Even though Michal had David’s best interest at heart she kind of went about helping him and scheming to her father in a bad way. Michal was the first wife of David, a man after God’s heart and here she was with an idol in her room similar to Rachel who also had idols that she stole from her father. David on the other hand trusted the Lord to make sure that Saul would not kill him. David wrote Psalm 59 out of this experience.
“1 ¶ «For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to kill him.» Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. 2 Deliver me from those who do iniquity And save me from men of bloodshed. 3 For behold, they have set an ambush for my life; Fierce men launch an attack against me, Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O LORD, 4 For no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me. Arouse Yourself to help me, and see! 5 You, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in iniquity. Selah. 6 They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And go around the city. 7 Behold, they belch forth with their mouth; Swords are in their lips, For, they say, ‘Who hears?’” This is only the first part of this 59th Psalm as in total there are 17 verses, but the point is made here that David was trusting in the Lord to save him from Saul’s men. God uses humans to work out his plan and Michal was used to accomplish His plan for David’s escape even though she schemed to allow David to escape.
“Michal will turn up again when David is dancing before the Lord while the Ark of God is being brought to Jerusalem and that situation if far different than this one.”
“God the Deliverer” (vv. 1-9): “1 ¶ «For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to kill him.» Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. 2 Deliver me from those who do iniquity And save me from men of bloodshed. 3 For behold, they have set an ambush for my life; Fierce men launch an attack against me, Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O LORD, 4 For no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me. Arouse Yourself to help me, and see! 5 You, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous in iniquity. Selah. 6 They return at evening, they howl like a dog, And go around the city. 7 Behold, they belch forth with their mouth; Swords are in their lips, For, they say, "Who hears?" 8 But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations. 9 Because of his strength I will watch for You, For God is my stronghold.”
As I wrote in the earlier SD on 1Samuel 19, we see from these verses that David’s trust was in the Lord, and it was the Lord who would use David’s wife to help David escape and begin his ten years of wondering in the wilderness hiding out from Saul. If David would not have had this “wilderness experience” then Israel and the Church would have missed out on many of the psalms that David wrote about that time in his life.
I was wondering when it was that David began to write his songs and psalms, for it seems that the first time we see David in Scripture God is having him anointed to be king over Israel, and then comes the killing of the giant Philistine. While he was meeting with Saul before killing the giant David mentioned that he had killed both a lion and a bear while tending his father’s sheep. This must have been the time in David’s life that he penned the famous 23rd Psalm, so it seems to me that David had been depending upon the Lord for a long time in his life before he began to write all of the psalms that we see in the Bible. I think that if we can know the background of why David writes the different psalms it will help us understand more about the psalm.
We see at the beginning of Psalm 59 in verses 1-2 that David knows that God hears his prayers and this is very important to David and for that matter to all of us who have troubles and we know confidently that God hears our prayers. David also knew that his prayer to the Lord was not a substitute for doing something for “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26)
We know that the Lord knows the hearts of everyone and therefore He knew the heart of David, knowing that David was innocent, and that Saul trying to kill him was wrong for David had done nothing to provoke Saul into trying to kill him.
As we look at verses 3-7 we see that the Lord knows the hearts of David’s enemies, and for that matter our enemies. David uses the covenant name for God in verse five and calls Him the God of Hosts and the God of Israel.
David immediate enemy was Saul who was trying to kill him, but because of Saul’s mismanagement of Israel the enemies of Israel were also trying to defeat Israel. It is no different today as many nations want to destroy the little nation of Israel, and is surrounded by enemies, but just as back then when David was king God will defeat the enemies of Israel and will someday (hopefully soon) bring the Lord Jesus Christ back to earth to rule all the nations from His throne in Israel for 1000 years. Just as in the days of David when he was the anointed king, but was not recognized, today there are few who recognize that Jesus is the rightful King.
We see some graphic descriptions of David’s enemies and this show how much disdain he had for them. I like what David writes in verses 8-9 about how the Lord feels about His enemies, and that He laughs at them.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: One of the reasons that I admire the life of David so much is his great faith that he had in God. His faith in God to take care of his enemies and to lead the nation of Israel is inspiring to me and hopefully as I read more about his faith that it will increase my faith for “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Hearing and reading God’s Word will increase my faith.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to read and hear the Word of God so that the God of the Word can speak to my heart and increase my faith in Him. As I continue to read the Word of God I desire for it to cause me to be content.
3/16/2012 8:19:10 AM
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