The Lord our God - our shared trust
Notes
Transcript
The Lord our God - our shared trust
The Lord our God - our shared trust
While as believers all times that we gather together are important, some are more important.
Some of life’s milestones should be well marked. How we do that will probably be personalized. But some way or another, what is important warrants some kind of milestone.
Who we are, how we determine milestones and how we mark them, speaks volumes about who we are!
That is true physically and spiritually.
Bronzed baby shoes
Marks on the wall
Saving cards and momentos
Music
Multiple generations - skinning knife, pressed back rocking chair, marked graves
Psalms 20 and 21 provide for us book ends as to how we might mark spiritual milestones in life. When David wrote Psalm 20 an undefined battle loomed on the horizon. By the time that he wrote Psalm 21, the battle had been won, or more accurately, God gave the victory.
Without the spiritual foundation affirmed in Psalm 20, the victories of Psalm 21 in all probability could not have been realized or celebrated.
As I suggest this connection, some of us will remember or will have memorized this Psalm with slightly different but consistent wording - hear versus answer.
Both translations of the Hebrew are valid. But in most of the newer word for word accurate translations, the translators have determined to underscore that God not only hears us but answers when we call to Him. Not only is He not deaf but when He hears He answers.
Sometimes in certain translation, the same word in the original Hebrew or Greek is translated by synonyms.
Sometimes those synonyms insure that we understand the full extent of the meaning of a word - HESED - loving kindness - demonstrated by grace.
Inferred is a combined hearing/answering/responding relationship with God. That was underscored by successive generations in Genesis.
God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
Referred back to his wrestling with and talking with God.
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
An excellent example of hearing and answering dovetail in the same verse would be.
In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
for you answer me.
or
When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
Jesus also tied the pieces together.
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
May the Lord answer you. - 20:1-5
As we read this Psalm, most of us would prefer a bit more information like when was it written and what were the circumstance of this day of trouble referred to. Until we read and reread the Psalm and prayerfully compare it with other Scriptures, most of us find ourselves thinking that it would help if like some other expressions of prayer and worship, someone had recorded who said what and when.
For sake of time, please allow me to abbreviate what most conservative evangelical commentators agree on and with that in mind provide you with the most probable context for this Psalm.
First of all:
Psalm of David written by him as some earlier date and thereafter sung by the Israelites at times of crisis - National Anthems - O Canada, The Maple Leaf Forever, Star Spangled Banner - O say can you see by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars were so gallantly streaming?, Battle Hymn of the Republic - Julia Ward How - overlooking an encampment of Union Soldiers during the Civil War
“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the faithful lightning of His terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch fires of an hundred circling camps. They have builded Him an altar in the the evening dews and damps. I can read His righteous sentence in the dim and flaring lamps, His day is marching on.
He has sounded for the trumpet that shall never sound retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. O be swift my soul to answer Him; be jubilant my feet. Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; as He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah ...”
SO IT WOULD SEEM THAT PRAYER/HYMN ANTHEM that David had written was in the context here collectively sung by the Israelites for David their king and for them as a people.
In the day of trouble - 20:1
Day rather period of distress - not defined at the beginning whether oppression and pressure or a potential foreign power - sometimes easier to contend with an enemy that can be named and identified by name.
From the sanctuary - 20:2-3
With David having earlier written this psalm/prayer, we are wise to ask if in fact when it was initially written, David had been praying for Saul. The mention of both Zion and the sanctuary provide the historical context when both Zion/Jerusalem and the tabernacle/sanctuary with the sacrifices at Jerusalem are referred to. This illiminates Saul. So perhaps David is praying for himself.
Word for sanctuary - simply holiness - a synonym for Zion - God’s person = holiness. They are not relying on the ark or the law, the priests but God Himself.
The later reference to chariots and horses provide for us another part of the background for this prayer of the people/representatives of the people for their king
An example of this might have one of David’s battles with the Philistines, Moabites, Syrians and Edomites when their chariots and horses were specifically noted as a threat/danger.
After this David defeated the Philistines and subdued them, and David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.
And he defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.
David also defeated Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his power at the river Euphrates. And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots.
And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 men of the Syrians. Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.
When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer,
And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
Then he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.
Offerings - 20:3
Remember - pattern already set. This was not a hail Mary pass/offering!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary The Lord Answer You! (20:1–5)
The divine name was not regarded in Israel as magically potent (as in some heathen systems) but as a token of God’s self-revelation and his readiness to be invoked (7)—with the added reminder here of his commitment to Jacob and his posterity. With the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24ff. God let his name be ‘put … upon the people of Israel’, as if marking them as his possession. And to this idea was added that of their acting on his behalf, which is the thought of verse 5 and of Asa’s avowal ‘We rest on thee, and in thy name we go’ (2 Chr. 14:11, AV). All these aspects are carried over into the New Testament: e.g. John 14:14; 17:6; Acts 3:6; Revelation 3:12.
In essence they were asking that they who were identified as God’s people might know God full protect with the fullness of who He is.
Your heart’s desires - 20:4-5
Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary The Lord Answer You! (20:1–5)
Although, in the Hebrew, grant you your heart’s desire differs slightly from the expression in 21:2, it beautifully links the two psalms as prayer and thanksgiving on either side of a crisis. Plans is the word sometimes translated as counsel or strategy: cf. Isaiah 11:2; 36:5, where the limitations of human planning, recognized in the psalm, are exposed from above and below
Victory
Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary The Lord Answer You! (20:1–5)
Victory, here and in verses 6 and 9, translates related words from the root ‘save’ (cf. the name Jesus). Such a meaning, in contexts of battle, adds a positive content to ‘salvation’, beyond that of bare deliverance. On the name, see on verse 1. Set up our banners (a single word in Heb.) recalls the orderly array of the tribes in Numbers 2:2, etc. (‘each by his own standard’) and the visual impact of ‘an army with banners’ in the Song of Solomon 6:4, 10
He will answer you. - 20:6-8
It is encouraging that from vs 5 - “May the Lord fulfill your petitions” to v.6 - “Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed.”
It is almost like the repeated intercession settled into the hearts of those who prayed, with the result that a peace/contentment/assurance soothed and settled their hearts. In addition to collective “Please answer Lord” to an individual/personal “Now I know the Lord saves the annointed.
I know - 20:6
Not wonder or they know but not me but I know, thank you Lord.
Knowing must become personal - Ps 23 - not collective
We will trust the Lord - 20:7
Having that knowing must be personal, much of what affirm personally can best be applied collectively
Worship
Singing
Ministry usually most effective in a team context.
Backdrop - some trust in chariots and horses
BUT we trust in the name of the Lord - cc 20:1
Main verb - “We will trust”
The word translated - trust - has a sense of boast - NASB . This is supported by the broader OT context where those who called on the name for protection and victory where is a very real sense not simply passively affirming that they trusted in the Lord rather than chariots and horses - THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT DAVID DID NOT GO TO BATTLE WITH AN ARMY - HE DID/THEY DID - But in the calling they were confessing their faith and trust.
that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them,
Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel,
and who came from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
In that day chariots and trust were what most confessed to as a basis for their confidence.
God had been and would be their boast/confidence - Red Sea & Kedesh - that did not mean they did nothing. They did their best as they called on the Lord.
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for he had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.
So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
May He answer us - 20:9
O Lord, save the King
Literal - save/give victory to the king
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Psalms Homiletical and Practical
OSIANDER: Great, exalted titles do not make a king invincible, but God’s help, which is gained by the prayer of faith. The victory is a gift of God, and is not accomplished by great preparation or a great host
Answer us when we call!
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Psalms Homiletical and Practical
LUTHER: God must help and advise; our plans and actions are otherwise of no value
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Psalms Homiletical and Practical
SPURGEON: Chariots and horses make an imposing show, and with their rattling, and dust, and fine caparisons, make so great a figure that vain man is much taken with them; yet the discerning eye of faith sees more in an invisible God than in all these. The most dreaded war-engine of David’s day was the war-chariot, armed with scythes, which mowed down men like grass: this was the boast and glory of the neighboring nations; but the saints considered the name of Jehovah to be a far better defence.—C. A. B.]
Living Psalm 20 is outwardly deceptively simple but in reality, profoundly difficult.
Do we consistently and collectively call on the Lord to hear/answer us?
For most of us prayer is one of the discipleship disciplines that most of us struggle with most. After a significant amount of time with Jesus, the disciples still asked Him to teach them to pray.
When we are with other believers is praying together as natural as talking together? If we can talk we can pray - more than the Lord’s prayer - When Calls the Heart.
Start with 2’s & 3’s - husbands & wives, grace, family devotions, then small groups, then larger groups, then when we gather as a congregation
Prayer is not just Pastor & or Elders .
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
Consistent collective ground swells of prayer should bubble up from our midst like artesian wells that water an otherwise dry barren land.
Do we consistently and collectively affirm and confess that the Lord is our trust?
Baptism - what is your confession?
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Consistently and collectively what are we trusting God to answer/to do now?
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TRUST God together - share/care
5 of us at Fort MacMurray
And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold