Compassed by Songs of Deliverance
Notes
Transcript
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
There is something very interesting about many of God’s children who face great trouble -
either their persistent spirit or their victory is often voiced in song.
I think of a few incidents in scripture:
The children of Israel faced a great threat from Pharoah and his army as they were fleeing Egypt - but God wrought a mighty victory and compassed them in a song of deliverance:
1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Several hundred years later the Israel was once again in trouble - this time they had done evil in the sight of the Lord (Judges 4:1) and was enslaved by Jabin king of Canaan. God anointed Barack and Deborah to fight Sisera the captain of Jabin’s host.
A great victory was won when Jael killed Sisera, and once again the Children of Israel was compassed by a song of deliverance.
1 Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, 2 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, When the people willingly offered themselves.
Another incident we find David when he was running from Saul and other enemies we find that Songs of deliverance are sometimes sung before the victory - now that’s quite a thought -
1 And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; 3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, My saviour; thou savest me from violence. 4 I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies.
In our passage tonight Psalm 32:7 we find something interesting - This wasn’t a prayer for deliverance from outside enemies - but rather from himself.
If I understand this correctly - and while the scripture doesn’t say this I surmise that Psalm 32 was written after his forgiveness from the sin of Uriah and Bathsheba.
It is definitly one of the seven psalms that deal with repentance and forgiveness - Ps. 6,38,51,102,130,143
Listen to how he begins:
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no guile.
No doubt he was feeling extremely joyous -
But Songs of Deliverance come also come from spiritual battles.
I hope you have had some Songs of Deliverance -
I remember the morning I prayed through - Bro. Smith one of the evangelists of the camp had me come to the piano and we sang that song:
“There’s a new name written down in glory,
and it’s mine yes it’s mine!!!”
My song of deliverance!!!
I remember another time Angie and I faced a spiritual battle together and our song during that time - we sang it together, she sang it herself, I sang it at different times during the battle - was:
“I claim the blood - Jesus shed on Calvary -
Those precious bloodstains were made there just for me..
For all my sin my sickness and my pain
When I need healing I just claim those precious blood stains”
Sometimes we are singing a song of deliverance when we are threatened:
We’ve heard the story of Blaze DeAllie in an alley in Germany with several skinheads following him he began to sing - “I sing because I’m happy - I sing because I’m free - His eye is on the Sparrow and I know He’s watching me”
and the next time he looked over his shoulder the threat was gone
Sometimes we sing it when we don’t even realize it is a song of deliverance:
One story about Sankey must be repeated. While serving in the Union army, Sankey was on guard duty one night and felt inspired to sing a hymn. What he did not know was that he was in the sights of a Confederate rifleman who, when he heard the song, lowered his rifle and did not shoot. If ever a man had been "compassed about with songs of deliverance" (see Ps. 32:7), it was Ira Sankey. Wiersbe, W, 10 People Every Christian Should Know p. 75
Let’s not forget that we serve a God who gives us Songs of Deliverance!!!