A Prayer For When A Lion Thinks You're Supper (Psalm 7:1-17) Series

Today, we get to work through Psalm 7. Let's start, by simply reading the first three verses (Hebrew numbering).

(7:1) A Shiggaion of/for David, that he sang to Yahweh concerning the words of Cush, son of Yemini.

(2) O Yahweh, my Elohim/God, in you I have sought/taken refuge,

save me from all the ones pursuing,

and deliver me,

(3) lest he tears as a lion my soul/inner being/life/neck,

dragging away, and there is no one to deliver.

My father-in-law used to have guinea hens. They were cute, in an ugly sort of way. But then they started to disappear over a period of a couple weeks. Some days, one would be missing. Other days, it was two or three.

One day, he was in the yard, and he finally saw what was killing them. A fox had a hen by the neck, dragging it off to the tall grass to kill and eat it. The hen was helpless. My father-in-law yelled at the fox, and chased it, and the fox let the hen go and ran off.

In psalm 7, the psalmist finds himself in a situation like the guinea hen. Someone, much more powerful than him, is his enemy. And things are hopeless for the psalmist-- UNLESS God steps up. Unless God saves him, and rescues him.

So it's very obvious what the psalmist needs, right? He needs help. And this help, needs to come from God.

The question is, how can he persuade God to help him? What type of appeal can he make, that would lead the God of heaven and earth to fight for him?

Sometimes, maybe, we think that God doesn't really like to help his people. We put a question after God's help.

Like, God will help?? Maybe?? Hopefully??

This question mark maybe doesn't seem to matter, practically speaking, at times when we have enough strength to defend ourselves. Sometimes, we'd like God's help, but we're pretty sure we will be able to scrape by if He doesn't.

But if you're a guinea hen, and a fox is after you... that question mark is crippling.

You raise your voice, and cry for help... and God does what?

Well, God will either help you, or you will dragged into the tall grass and die.

The psalmist NEEDS God's help. And this is a psalm that's designed to take the question mark out of this. When I turn to God, God----will-----help.

Let's reread verse 2 (Hebrew numbering throughout):

(2) O Yahweh, my Elohim/God, in you I have sought/taken refuge,

save me from all the ones pursuing,

and deliver me,

If you want God's help, it's important, first of all, that you actually take refuge in God. A lot of times we pray, asking for God's help, but we don't actually take refuge in God.

Maybe the easiest place to see this is with physical sickness. We ask God to heal us of our headaches, or backaches, or whatever, and then we immediately grab an advil. Or we are like a helpless guinea hen when it comes to seasonal allergies, and we pray for help while grabbing Claritin.

Maybe God will rescue you, if you do this. And maybe He won't. But if/when you do this, you're not really taking refuge in God, right? You're hoping something else will rescue you. And you will read these words, and know that you can't pray them the way the psalmist did.

The psalmist has genuinely sought refuge in God. God will either help him, or the psalmist will suffer and maybe die.

But if he suffers, and if he dies, he will suffer and die as one who is committed/consecrated to God. (Here, I'm echoing something from John G. Lake). His refuge is Yahweh.

This leads to the second point. If you want God's help, you need to let him know that you have taken your refuge in Him.

When you take this step of faith, let God know. You've thrown yourself on God, trusting Him to rescue you. Let Him know this.

For a couple weeks in June, my seasonal allergies got really bad again (God healed me from this two years ago, fwiw). My family walked on eggshells around me, not sure what to say. One day, in particular, life fell apart for me. Out of control sneezing, congested and runny nose. Sinus pressure. I was miserable.

I got home that night, showered, and still was suffering. I grabbed a jar of Vick's, and then put it back. I told God I was seeking refuge him, trusting him. And God would either heal me, or I would be miserable with allergies three months of the year, for the rest of my life.

I say this, not trying to make myself a big deal, not really liking talking about myself. And I know it's "just" allergies.