This Is Your Song

Prayer

David’s Song of Praise

So today we’re going to finish up with 2 Samuel, which has really been the story of David, his reign as king of Israel. Last week we looked at the battle between Absalom, David’s son, who was trying to take the throne from David, and David’s troops. We saw how David’s army, in spite of being outnumbered, soundly defeated Absalom’s and his troops. And we saw Absalom’s strange end - getting his hair caught in the tree branches, hanging helplessly, then put to death.

David returns to Jerusalem and reunites the kingdom. All that takes place in 2 Samuel 18 & 19. If you read through the rest of 2 Samuel, you’ll come across a number of assorted stories about events that occurred during David’s reign. But I want to finish our time in 2 Samuel with chapter 22, which is actually a psalm, a song of praise. It’s introduced this way:

2 Samuel 22:1, David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. So I want to take a moment for us to consider what’s happening here, what’s going on with David’s singing this psalm. Particularly to think about why he’s singing this song, what prompts it.

And it’s interesting to take a moment here to consider why we sing in the first place. Role music plays in our lives, in our culture. Music is universal art form, it’s a way we express ourselves - what we believe, what we value. It’s a way we express our emotions - upbeat songs, music to celebrate (Night to Shine prom!). But you’d sing very different songs at a funeral, a time to grieve, to hold to hope. Interesting to think about the annual fervor over the Super Bowl halftime show - this year included. Apparently there a number of conspiracies of all the secret messages the artist was sneaking into his performance. Since I couldn’t understand a word he was saying I missed them all. But all the attention paid to it is just another example of how deeply meaningful music can be to us.

So what’s prompting David’s song here - and what is he proclaiming in his song? We don’t know exactly when he sang this, as far as his reign is concerned (40 years), other than it was after being hunted by Saul, after being anointed king and having defeated his enemies, presumably the foreign nations that surrounded Israel, the Philistines, the Amorites, etc. As far as 2 Samuel is concerned, this psalm is placed right after a series of descriptions of David’s victories over the Philistines in 2 Samuel 21.

Now there’s a lot of things David could have sung a song about - he could have told the story of his humble beginnings as a shepherd and the journey he took to become king, all he endured to get there. Could have sung about all the things he accomplished as king - all his victories over the Philistines, how he conquered and built a new capital city, Jerusalem, expanded the border of Israel, made neighboring kingdoms subject to him, wealth he brought it. Or a sad song - about his troubles, discord among his children, his son, Absalom’s betrayal and death. A love song about Bathsheba - or one of his other wives.

But he didn’t. He sang a song to the Lord. He sang a song of praise, proclaiming the greatness of who God is and what God has done. Not just making general comments about the Lord, but speaking from his own experience of God, but who the Lord is to him and what the Lord has done for him.

And it’s an impressive song, let me share part of it with you, 2 Samuel 22:2-20...

He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me. “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. “In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth. The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of breath from his nostrils. “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

It’s a long song - I only shared the first twenty verses, it goes on for another thirty-one verses. David clearly liked to sing - and had a lot to praise the Lord for. And as you can hear from the song, it truly is all about the Lord. David knows that the only reason he accomplished so much in life, attained such heights - and lived to tell about it was because of the Lord. It was the Lord who watched over him, it was the Lord who protected him. David proclaims that over and over in so many ways - The Lord is my rock, my fortress, deliverer, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, the horn (or strength) of my salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, my savior.

As you listen to that list, what you hear from David is this exuberance over who the Lord is. It’s a great example of one of those moments where you’re so joyful, so grateful, so in awe of something, you’re trying to find all the words you can to express how you feel. Like the words you’re using just aren’t big enough to convey what you want to convey. David at least uses broad range of metaphors - I usually get stuck on the same words, it was great. So good. Great.

Don’t miss that this is deeply personal for David - he knows that it was God who rescued him over and over again. That by all rights he should have been dead by now. He faced a giant, a warrior in battle, as a teen, maybe a young adult. The king - Saul - and an army of men were hunting him down, repeatedly. He fought in battle after battle against Israel’s enemies. He was hunted again by his own son. He’s not kidding when he sings, “The wave of death swirled around about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.” And why he’s so quick to break out in song to try to express to the Lord in some fashion all that he is to David.

Then his expression of the Lord’s power and might. The Lord is a fearsome God. David cries out to him in his distress and the Lord responds - and there’s no doubt about his coming: “The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.” It’s almost this image of a fire-breathing dragon barreling down out from among the storm clouds.

It’s not just that the Lord is so mighty, so powerful, but that he intervenes on David’s behalf. He responds to David’s calling out in distress. In his power and might the Lord saves David from all his enemies. And so David sings. And sings. A song of praise to the Lord. A word of praise to the one on whom David can stand steady, secure. Let me share one more section of David’s song of praise, 2 Samuel 22:32-37 - and as I do, pay attention to how David moves from singing about the Lord, in the third person, to singing directly to the Lord, in first person. It’s almost as if, as he’s declaring the glories of God, he can’t help but express them right to the Lord:

For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? Is is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield; your help has made me great. You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.

What’s Your Song of Praise?

What’s clear about this psalm is that as David reflects on his life, all the dangers he’s endured, the troubles he’s faced (let’s be honest, he brought a lot of those on himself, especially later in life). But there’s one clear conclusion to it all: the Lord was at the very center of it all. That as David looked at his life, he could see the hand of God in all of it, God’s fingerprints all over: the Lord being for him, rescuing him, protecting him. The story of his life makes no sense apart from the Lord.

Last Sunday, after worship, we spent time talking about our faith stories. As I’ve thought about it, it seems to me that the better way to think about it is simply as our stories. In other words, to call it a faith story suggests that it’s just one aspect of who I am, one story I can tell you about myself - as if there were a lot more stories that Jesus has nothing to do with.

But just like with David, there is no story of our lives without Jesus. We were created by him, and not just by him, but in his image. We were created for him. As Paul says in a sermon he preached in Athens, quoting an ancient philosopher, “For in him we live and move and have our being.” In other words, the stories of our lives only make sense in the story of Jesus.

And I have to be honest, this so goes against the grain of my thinking. I think of my life as my own, my story as my own - I’m the main character and Jesus plays a secondary role all too often. He’s a character that shows up periodically.

But the beauty of David’s song of praise - of David’s heart, was that he knew that wasn’t the case. It was in the Lord and he lived and moved and had his being. The Lord was his rock, the one who gave him firm footing no matter where he found himself standing. The Lord was his refuge, the place he could always find safe harbor, no matter how big the storm he encountered. He knew that the Lord delighted in him, so no matter what others might have thought about him, the one person who’s opinion truly mattered, that’s where he anchored himself.

What’s your song? What’s your word of praise to the Lord? Who is the Lord to you? What would you want to proclaim about what he had done for you? Where do you see him at work?

It seems to me that one of the ways that we grow as followers of Jesus is in becoming more “God aware”. Our eyes see more of God working in our lives, and in the lives of others. We have a greater discernment in hearing his voice to us, his Spirit speaking to us - through the Scriptures, through times of teaching, etc.

That we recognize that, with Paul - like David - that it is in Jesus that we live and love and have our being. That the stories of our lives make no sense without him, that he’s right at the center.

Spiritual Disciplines - how might we take what Jesus is teaching us here today and live it out, put it into practice?

Because it seems to me that one of the things that’s so hard (at least for me), is to see my life not as my own, but that I live in Jesus. One of the ways I’ve been trying to embrace that is by praying Galatians 2:20 every day: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I’ll focus on different parts of that verse, because it’s so rich, but one phrase I keep coming back to, Christ lives in me. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Solidify that truth that there is no more just Rob, by dying with Jesus to sin, I united with him - not just in death, but in life, in new life. That life is Christ in me, me in Christ. As one. (Baptismal Renewal!). Or, as we’ve been talking about this morning - the story of my life is centered in Jesus.

Whether it’s through this verse, or what Paul taught in Acts 17 (For in him we live and move and have our being), memorizing a verse, reciting it, and praying it every day as a way to live more fully into that great truth.

Second, take time this week and sit down with pen and paper - and write your own psalm. Your own song of praise. Praise God for who he is, declare what wonderful things he’s done in your life. Write it with a heart of praise toward him. Be expansive in your language. If you have difficulty getting started, spend some time in the psalms, borrow some of their language, make it your own. You might take the first verse of David’s song of praise here in 2 Samuel 22 and begin with that, then write your own from there.

The beauty of this is that it can be for God’s eyes only - and how he will delight in your praise of him! At Capernaum yesterday, Wren put together our crafts and she had a bunch of construction paper and markers and stickers for our friends to make a Valentine’s day card for anyone they wanted to. One of the parents already posted a picture of his on Facebook. Very simple - card in the shape of a heart, had “Dad” in foam letters, signed by our Capernaum friend, and two foam crosses.

This dad shared it because he wanted to let others know how much it meant to him, that his son, with all his limitations, expressed his heart to his Dad so beautifully. Do you not think that sharing your heart with the Lord, singing your song of praise - that will not delight his heart as well? No matter how simple or eloquent the language? Absolutely.

Let’s close our time with a word of praise to our Lord and God.