Life's not fair.
Notes
Transcript
Life’s not fair.
We have all heard and probably said this out loud to others. Usually to stop their complaining.
And when someone says it to us, usually it sucks.
Because no one ever says that when they have just won a prize.
Got first place! Lifes not fair!
It always comes at a time of pain and suffering.
Some sort of challenge.
Watching someone else win - when we have done our best.
Or when we feel under attack.
Life’s not fair.
David expresses this in Ps 7.
Once again he sings about being under attack.
And he cries out to God.
And says THIS ISN’T FAIR.
I did nothing to deserve this! This isn’t my Fight.
God if I did this thing, strike me down!
If I earned this - fine… but I didn’t!
What do you do, when it isn’t fair?
When the situation that you find yourself in isn’t right - it isn’t what you have earned?
David helps us work through this, in Ps 7.
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
1 Lord my God, I seek refuge in you; save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
2 or they will tear me like a lion, ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.
3 Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have done harm to one at peace with me or have plundered my adversary without cause,
5 may an enemy pursue and overtake me; may he trample me to the ground and leave my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Rise up, Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my adversaries; awake for me; you have ordained a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of peoples gather around you; take your seat on high over it.
8 The Lord judges the peoples; vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous. The one who examines the thoughts and emotions is a righteous God.
10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge and a God who shows his wrath every day.
12 If anyone does not repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has strung his bow and made it ready.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons; he tips his arrows with fire.
14 See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil, conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit.
15 He dug a pit and hollowed it out but fell into the hole he had made.
16 His trouble comes back on his own head; his own violence comes down on top of his head.
17 I will thank the Lord for his righteousness; I will sing about the name of the Lord Most High.
Continuing through our Summer in Psalms, this week in chapter 7 - next week we will finish up in chapter 8, and let that be it for this series, for now.
Throughout the Psalms, we are spending time with the heart and mind of David, who was a shepherd, appointed King of Israel by God, spent time serving the previous king, Saul, eventually became king. He was called a man after God’s own heart.
He was a sinner - he had enemies who wanted to kill him.
He was a worshiper.
He was emotional.
As Christians today, there is a lot we can learn from this ancient King. He established for us patterns that we can follow.
Our desire is to have real, authentic relationship with God.
David puts that on display. We learn from that with a new testament context. How do we maintain our relationship with God - while also going through some of the hardest seasons of our lives?
We learn from David how to be people of God. It is real and messy. It is a struggle sometimes. But to see him go through it, helps us to go through it.
Pray.
Not all of the Psalms come with a title, but this one does. It says that this is a lament of Davids - a cry out of Davids, concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.
Most scholars say that Psalm 7 was written while David was in conflict with Saul.
The things that he is protesting his innocence of early in the chapter line up with that.
This is the only time that Cush the benjaminite is mentioned in scripture - we don’t know anything else about him. Saul was of the tribe of benjamin, so this person could have been close to the king - and had access to make David look bad in the eyes of the king.
Some people get this idea that if they can make someone else look bad they will look better. It very rarely works that way. We see this in the work place, we see it in schools, we see it in politics.
Cush has - with his words - put David into a position of fear. It may be that Cush is speaking to King Saul and making the situation worse. Saul goes through some pretty crazy things - and starts to believe some really terrible things about David that aren’t true. David tries really hard to live in a way that honors God and honors Saul as King.
David does three things in this Psalm.
Examines himself and submits himself to God.
Calls on God.
Rest in Confidence.
Opening Psalm 7 lime many others, David calls out to God - he starts the conversation, the prayer, the lament. He tells God what is going on. This isn’t where he is working through it yet.
1 Lord my God, I seek refuge in you; save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
2 or they will tear me like a lion, ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.
He again uses the convenential name of God. Lord, my God. Yahweh. Declaring closeness, calling on covenant. Leaning on promises.
This is so common for David throughout the Psalms. His relationship with God is not flippant. It is not casual. It is deep and meaningful, and backed with hundreds of years of God’s goodness.
Here he presents the problem - his enemies are after him.
His description of the problem is probably dramatic, but it comes from his experience as a shepherd.
IF they catch me - they are going to destroy me. God, if you don’t help.
Examining himself
David references the Lord or God 14 times in this psalm. At the beginning of vs 3, he calls on the Lord in the form of an oath.
Ps 7:3-5
3 Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have done harm to one at peace with me or have plundered my adversary without cause,
5 may an enemy pursue and overtake me; may he trample me to the ground and leave my honor in the dust. Selah
David has taken some time here to think.
He isn’t guilty of the things that he is accused of.
This doesn’t mean that he’s perfect.
But he’s not guilty of this.
2. Calls out to God
When things are hard - we call out to God based on our Relationship with God - who he is in your life.
Examples in scripture are really important, because we can gather from generations of the experiences of God’s people about who He is.
We should not limit our understanding of God to our own experience. There are times when it FEELS like God is failing us in one way or another. That is typically because of our situational persepective.
David calls out to God as A judge and a warrior.
Ps 7:8-9
8 The Lord judges the peoples; vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous. The one who examines the thoughts and emotions is a righteous God.
The old testament is his introduction to us. If we rightly understand something about God from the Old testament then we rightly understand that about God - He doesn’t change.
Names of God:
Jehovah (Isaiah 40:3)
Jehovah-Rohi: The Lord My Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)
Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord Shall Provide (Genesis 22:13-14)
Jehovah-Rapha: The Lord Who Heals (Exodus 15:22-26)
Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord Is My Banner (Exodus 17:15)
Jehovah-M’Kaddesh: The Lord Who Sanctifies (Leviticus 20:7-8)
Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord Who Is Peace (Judges 6:24)
Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord Who Is Righteous (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
Jehovah-Shammah: The Lord Who Is There (Ezekiel 48:35)
Author of Salvation (Hebrews 2:10)
The God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac (Exodus 3:2, 6)
The Lord of Glory (1 Corinthians 2:8)
I AM (John 8:58)
The Almighty (Revelation 1:8)
The Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6)
The First and the Last (Revelation 1:17)
The Faithful Witness (Psalm 89:36-37)
The Image of the Invisible God (Colossians 1:15)
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6)
A Sacrifice (Ephesians 5:2)
A Ransom (Mark 10:45)
The Lord Who Heals You (Exodus 15:26)
Heir of All Things (Hebrews 1:1-4)
The Temple (Revelation 21:22)
A Sanctuary (Isaiah 8:14)
Intercessor (Hebrews 7:25)
Author and Finisher of Our Faith (Hebrews 12:2)
Advocate (1 John 2:1)
Surety of a Better Covenant (Hebrews 7:22)
Teacher (John 13:13)
The Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)v
The Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24)
Yahweh (Isaiah 26:4)
God (1 Timothy 2:5)
Son of God (John 1:34)
Beloved Son (Matthew 17:5)
Lord (John 20:28)
The Word (John 1:1)
Messiah (Daniel 9:25)
Alpha and Omega (Revelation 22:13)
Savior (Luke 2:11)
Redeemer (Job 19:25)
Light of the World (John 8:12)
Lamb of God (John 1:29)
Creator of All Things (Colossians 1:16)
Master (Luke 8:24)
Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5)
Bread of Life (John 6:48)
High Priest (Hebrews 3:1)
The Lamb (Revelation 7:9)
A Lamb Without Blemish and Without Spot (1 Peter 1:19)
Lamb Slain From the Foundation of the World (Revelation 13:8)
The Shepherd of The Sheep (Hebrews 13:20)
The Way (John 14:6)
The Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
The Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4)
The Rock (Psalm 18:2)
My Rock and My Fortress (Psalm 31:3)
The Rock of My Refuge (Psalm 94:22)
The Rock That Is Higher Than I (Psalm 61:2)
The Rock of My Salvation (2 Samuel 22:47)
My Rock and My Redeemer (Psalm 19:14, NIV)
The Builder (Hebrews 3:3)
The Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11)
A Sure Foundation (Isaiah 28:16)
A Stone (Isaiah 28:16)
A Living Stone (1 Peter 2:4)
A Chief Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6)
A Precious Stone (1 Peter 2:6)
A Stone Cut Without Hands (Daniel 2:34-35)
The Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45)
God’s Firstborn (Psalm 89:27)
The Firstborn Among Many Brethren (Romans 8:29)
The Firstfruits of Them That Slept (1 Corinthians 15:20, KJV)
A Witness to The People (Isaiah 55:4)
The Amen (Revelation 3:14)
The Light (John 12:35)
The True Light (John 1:9)
The Light of Men (John 1:4)
He Is the Lamb Who Was Slain (Revelation 5:12)
He Is Faithful (Hebrews 3:2)
He Is Our Strong Tower (Proverbs 18:10)
He Is Our Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11)
He Is Preeminent (Colossians 1:18)
He Is the Tree of Life (Revelation 2:7)
The Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16)
The Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2)
He Is Our Gift (2 Corinthians 9:15)
The Head Ephesians 4:15
The Head of the Body, the Church (Colossians 1:18)
A Life-Giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45)
The Head of All Principality and Power (Colossians 2:10)
3. Rest in confidence
David is confident in who God is - He is confident in his understanding of evil. He knows how God feels about it.
10 My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge and a God who shows his wrath every day.
12 If anyone does not repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has strung his bow and made it ready.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons; he tips his arrows with fire.
14 See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil, conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit.
15 He dug a pit and hollowed it out but fell into the hole he had made.
16 His trouble comes back on his own head; his own violence comes down on top of his head.
God is going to handle it.
The wicked one is pregnant with evil.
14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire.
15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,
22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.
David knows that sin doesn’t lead to what you want to to.
Ps 7:16
16 That’s what happens: mischief backfires; violence boomerangs.
After all of that - David ends in Worship. Putting his heart in the right place.
Ps 7:17
17 I will thank the Lord for his righteousness; I will sing about the name of the Lord Most High.
Even in the midst of our toughest situations, we come back to a place of worship. That puts our heart in the right place, it brings us into the throne room of grace.
Worship in the hard times.
Sing praises to God in the most difficult places.
Sang praises in the cafeteria at Roquette.
What was the outcome?
David made it.
You will make it.