Praise the Lord!

Praising God for Past Deliverance (v. 1-12)

Victory over our Enemies (mainly sin and death) (v. 3-6)

David begins by praising the Lord for the Lord’s victory over David’s enemies. Those who seek evil will not be able to stand before the lord. And the cause of the righteous will stand.

We have seen this several times over the last few psalms and in David’s life, as he constantly had to face injustice against Saul and his fellow Benjaminites. We also saw how David faced injustice from his own son, Absolom. However, God was faithful to continue to give David victory over his enemies.

Again, there is a difference between David and us in that he was a king who was charged with protecting God’s people from those who would seek to destroy or oppress them. While we should not hope for the utter destruction of our enemies, but rather pray for God’s blessings on them, we should also be praying for justice and praising God when He does bring forth justice and protection.

However, what we see here is a physical picture pointing towards a spiritual truth. We do praise God for how He has defeated our ultimate enemy of Satan, sin, and death. Christ on the cross has utterly defeated those enemies and has maintained the cause of those who put their faith and trust in Him. We praise Him for His love and care over His people.

God brings Justice to the earth (v. 7-8)

Next, David praises God for His acting justly towards wrongdoers. While we are called to be people of grace, to both receive grace and mercy from God and to show God’s mercy and grace to others, we are also called to be people who stand up for justice and not to turn a blind eye to wickedness. There is nothing gracious and merciful about allowing evil and injustice to go unanswered.

While we can show grace to someone when they do us wrong, we are not called to ignore the injustice of the oppressed in the name of grace. We are called to seek their justice and good.

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

We must act justly for other people, while showing grace and kindness towards those who hurt or offend us. Above all, while we seek both grace and justice, we must walk humbly before God, knowing we are only deserving of His justice, but that He has graciously shown us mercy.

Refuge from the wicked (vv. 9-10)

Next David praises God for His refuge from the wicked. No matter what this world throws at us or the enemies that press in on us, God has promised to always be with us and there is nothing we need to fear from the world or from those who oppose us.

Jesus even promised us in Matthew 28:20

Matthew 28:20 CSB

teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

John Bunyan, a Baptist pastor, was arrested on November 12, 1660, as he was about to preach near Harlington, Bedfordshire, because he would not conform to the Church of England’s doctrinal standards. Bunyan would spend the next 12 years in prison. However, as he was in prison he wrote some of his most influential writings, such as Christian Behavior, a rebuttal of licentiousness in the Christian life, and his classics such as Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and The Pilgrim’s Progress.

As Bunyan later reflected on his time of suffering, he came to the conviction that “the church in the fire of persecution is like Esther in the perfuming chamber” - being made “fit for the presence of the king.”

While God did not take Bunyan out of his adversity, God proved Himself a refuge to Bunyan and he experienced great blessing and growth in the midst of that suffering. We can praise God that even in the midst of suffering and opposition, that God remains a refuge in which to turn.

Learn to praise God for His past faithfulness and let it remind us of His future faithfulness for which we pray (vv.11-12)

Prayer for Future Deliverance

We ask for God’s help because of His grace and for His glory (v. 13-14)

James M. Boice writes, “This is a foundational petition, showing that David never approached God on the basis of any supposed goodness in himself or any achievement for which he believed he should be rewarded. He came always as a sinner seeking mercy.”

David starts His prayer by asking for God’s grace and mercy, not by claiming a position of righteousness that deserves God’s help or answer. This is not always the same attitude that we as Christians have. Sometimes we fall into this name it and claim it mentality that because we are good, upstanding Christians, then we need to claim all the blessings of God because we deserve it because of our faith and good works. David knows there’s nothing good in him to deserve God to give him anything. Anything David receives from God is undeserved grace and mercy.

And why is David asking for God’s help? David is relying on God’s desire for His own glory. David is asking for God’s help, not simply for David’s benefit, but so David can turn around and glorify God and exult in God’s salvation!

James 4:2–3 CSB

You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

James tells us that when we do ask God for help, so many times we do not receive what we ask for because our motivation is for us to spend what we are asking for on ourselves instead of turning it back to God and for His glory. We are selfish people with hearts that are seeking our own glory and benefit. God will not share His glory with another. However, God can change our hearts to seek His glory and that should be the desire within us as we approach Him in prayer with our requests. And we need to remember to praise God for who He is and for His goodness and faithfulness, whether we have received what we ask for or not, but especially when He answers our prayer, we must seek to honor and glorify God for the answers He provides.

We are reminded God has created natural consequences for those who turn away from Him and to pray for the poor and need and for justice to come upon the oppressors (15-20)

Again, we should be praying for the salvation of the lost, but we also can and should pray that God will protect people from wicked men and nations who seek only to bring harm upon others.

During WWII, Dietrich Bonhoeffer saw it as an act of obedience to rise up against Hitler and his regime. But it was different for him, because Hitler wasn’t attacking him. Bonhoeffer was safe as a fellow German and as someone who fit the mold of the perfect individual. Bonhoeffer rose to fight for the protection of those who were coming under Hitler’s attacks, the Jews.

Pray for the salvation of wicked men and leaders. But we must also intercede for those who are being unfairly treated and oppressed by those wicked men. We should pray that God would intervene in situations like the Russia and Ukraine conflict. Pray for Putin’s salvation, but pray that God will also cause Russia fail in their unrighteous and wicked attack against Ukraine.

For we receive this promise that the needy shall not always be forgotten and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. We pray knowing that God’s character stands against the proud and wicked and will lift up the poor and humble.

Pauline bruten

Glennys - praise

rosemary - job at good Sam, husband looking for a job.

lupe

awana

clint

duston

season harris