Australian males prize self-sufficiency. It’s not masculine to ask anyone else for help. It’s not macho to admit that you can’t handle something on your own. I’m probably one of the worst offenders when it comes to having this sort of attitude. I hate anyone having to show me how to do anything, because that suggests that I might not know everything. I much prefer to just wander in blindly, breaking things along the way, as I try to work it out for myself. I even tried to convince my dad when I was 16 that I could teach myself how to drive, that he didn’t need to come if he didn’t want to.
I remember a instance on packup day at my beach mission a few years ago when the kitchen tent had been taken down and rolled up and had to be carried over to the trailer. Now our kitchen tent is really rather heavy. Not quite as heavy as the marquee which takes at least four guys to lift, but heavy nonetheless. I was given the job of moving the tent. A couple of people came over and offered to give me a hand, but I said no, I’d do it myself. One of them looked at me with that sort of "yeah, right James" sort of look. But I had decided that I was a man. I didn’t need anyone’s help. Well, I bent the knees took and deep breath, lifted the thing off the ground, staggered toward the trailer and dumped it in. I’d like to think that I got plenty of admiring looks from the ladies standing around watching my display of raw power. I don’t think they were quite as impressed when I then collapsed to the ground clutching my back. Nor do I think they were impressed when I tried to do the same thing with the marquee and only managed to get one corner about three inches off the ground. But I wanted to do it all on my own. I wanted to show I was tough, independent, that I didn’t need anyone’s help. To do anything else would be admitting weakness.
As you can see from Psalm 59, David doesn’t exactly share my attitude. For some context, lets turn to 1 Samuel 19:9-11a.
1SA 19:9 But an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
1SA 19:11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning
Saul’s men are camped outside his house waiting to kill him in the morning. Already, Saul has made several attempts on David’s life which have only just been averted. Now, he waits. If he was like me, he’d probably be thinking, ’how can I get myself out of this’. I’m a pretty clever chap, surely I can think of a way. I killed Goliath with one stone, didn’t I? I reckon I can take on a few of Saul’s men!’
But no, he cries out to God. Deliver me from my enemies, O God, he says. Reading verses 1-5 we can see that David is in real fear. Those standing outside his front door are not a bunch of four-year olds with cap guns. They are "bloodthirsty men", "fierce men" who are conspiring against him. He has done nothing to deserve it, though. David is not saying he is innocent before God in vs 3-4 (although the incident with Bathsheba is yet to occur), but he is saying he has not done wrong against Saul. In his envy, Saul had decided that David was a threat to him and so had to be removed. David had not been disloyal, but the evil spirit working within Saul drove him to kill.
It’s the same situation Christians come across day after day. Whether it be the subtle digs at the stupidity of the gospel, the constantly negative portrayal of Christians on television, or the execution of Christians in Iraq, Iran, India or the Sudan - it’s all the same as David’s experience. I have done nothing wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Why? Well, just like Saul, the sinful hearts of humanity cannot accept or deal with the fact that we are a people who have the blessing of God.
The irony is, though - and it is a wonderful irony - that it is this same God who we turn to in times of strife and persecution. David’s first reaction when faced with this very real threat to his life is to call out to God. "Deliver me, O God, protect me from those who rise up against me", says David in vs 1. In vs 4-5 he seems to get more desperate: arise to help me, look to my plight, rouse yourself!
David’s langauge here reminds me the incident when Jesus was in the boat on the Sea of Galillee with his disciples in Mark 4. But we see there that Jesus was never oblivious to the plight of the apostles. "Do you still have no faith?" he asks them in Mk 4:40. Psalm 121:4 tells us that "he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep".
Yet we can see as we continue reading Psalm 59 that this apparent desperation doesn’t reflect a lack of faith on David’s part. Instead, he has complete confidence in the willingness and ability of the the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, to protect his servant and smite his enemies. Reading from verse 6:
PS 59:6 They return at evening,
snarling like dogs,
and prowl about the city.
PS 59:7 See what they spew from their mouths--
they spew out swords from their lips,
and they say, "Who can hear us?"
PS 59:8 But you, O LORD, laugh at them;
you scoff at all those nations.
The wicked may snarl, and prowl about at night flaunting their supposed power, but God just laughs at them, says David.
I’m a big Monty Python fan. In one of their movies – the Holy Grail – King Arthur is going on a great quest for this great artifact. And he comes across this castle. He wants to take refuge there for the night, but he’s refused entry by these Frenchmen. The Frenchmen then proceed to insult him and his knights, hurl abuse while Arthur stands there threatening to take the castle by force. But he’s powerless, he can’t do anything. Eventually, the Frenchmen start catapulting cows, sheep and other livestock over the walls at the them.
Far be it from me to compare God to a character from Monty Python. But in one sense He’s a slightly more refined version of the Frenchmen in the castle, throwing down insults at the obviously powerless Arthur, King of the Britons.
David knows he’s onto a sure thing when it comes to the God whom he serves. The question I have, is do we have that same attitude? Is our first reaction to cry out to God in faith?
A little while ago I was counselling a teenager through a few particularly distressing and upsetting things that were happening in his life. I remember he was crying - sobbing would perhaps be a better way to put it - and telling me what he feared would happen to him and his mother. Now I’ve never been one to take the "oh, everything’s going to be alright" sort of line with kids. I think it shows them no respect whatsoever, as well as sometimes being deceitful. But what we did talk about were ways in which try and work our way through these problems. Ways in which we could deal with the issues he’d raised, things we could do to make things right. And it was only as I was writing this sermon that I realised I hadn’t mentioned God at all. My first thought hadn’t been, "we need to rely on God in this time of trouble". I hadn’t spent time reassuring him that whatever happened, God works for the good of those who love him. I had been trying to work out how I could make the situation right rather than trusting that God would.
I think it’s a temptation we all face. We get so caught up in doing stuff that we forget to rely on God. We forget that we can’t breathe or eat or sleep without God, let alone save the world or even help a kid whose mother ignores him.
That’s why the conclusion to Psalm 59 would be a great mantra for us to take up. David uses it twice in the psalm. vs 9 - O my strength, I watch for you; you O God are my fortress, my loving God; vs 17 O my strength, I sing praise to you; you O God are my fortress, my loving God. David relies on God.
But there is more to it than that. Not only does David rely on God, he also is concerned for the glory of God’s name and the faithfulness of God’s people.
Look at vs 10 – “God will go before me
and will let me gloat over those who slander me.
PS 59:11 But do not kill them, O Lord our shield,
or my people will forget.
In your might make them wander about,
and bring them down.
Now obviously David’s request isn’t based ona sudden feeling of mercy for his enemies. In fact, he specifically says in vs.5 that there should be no mercy for wicked traitors – although perhaps he had changed his tune slightly by the time he wrote Psalm 51. Instead, David’s desire is for their suffering and God’s judgment to be drawn out.
I’m sure you’ve heard people say something like that before. The serious criminal and the victim’s family who say “oh, death’s too good for him, death’s too easy. He should be made to suffer.” It’s an attitude based on revenge, and it’s a feeling that we probably all get sometime. But is that David’s motive? Is it because David so desperately wants to see his enemies bleed? Psalm 59 might give you that impression – after all, David looks forward to being able to gloat over them in their defeat. But more importantly he wants to see God’s name glorified. Look at the reason he mentions in vs 11 – but do not kill them or my people will forget” and in vs. 13 “consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more. Then it will be know to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob.”
How does prolonging their suffering and consuming them make Israel remember God? How does it make God’s power known to the ends of the earth?
Just a few years before Jesus was born there was a Jewish rebellion against the Romans. As they often did, the Romans put down the rebellion viciously and executed every last man involved. But they didn’t just dump them all in some mass grave – they wanted their executions to be a reminder to the rest of the people of what happens to enemies of Rome. So they set up literally thousands of crosses lining the road between Jerusalem and Jericho at 100m intervals. They crucified these thousands of men, and then left them there. Left them there until their flesh was eaten by birds and eventually their skeletons broke away from the nails and fell down.
In the same way, having the defeated enemies of God wandering the earth is a great reminder that the LORD is in control. David knows the history of his people. He knows that it didn’t take the Israelites long to forget the power of God when the Egyptian army had been drowned in the Red Sea. Having the enemies of God caught in their pride will show everyone the futility of resistance, and the glory of God.
Romans 9:22-24 tells us that God bears with great patience those who will be condemned to hell so that those on whom he has mercy will know the full riches of the gift he has given them. Think about it. If there was no punishment for sin, then forgiveness would mean nothing to us. If we don’t see judgment, then we won’t be thankful for the great blessings God has given us.
The God of the Bible is on who demands to be worshipped. He seeks to glorify his name – and rightly so. But he is also a God who protects his servants. When Saul’s men were waiting outside for David that night, God provided a way out – Saul’s wife led him down through the window and he escaped.
Even as he was under siege, David knew God was his fortress, his shield, his protector. He could say with complete confidence those words of vs 16 – “in the morning I will sing of your love” – because he knew that God would deliver him.
We find it hard to think like that, don’t we. We’re self-sufficient, we don’t need anyone!
But our first thought, our first desire, our first yearning, must be for the LORD God. He will go before us and in his wake we will conquer the world. So next time you’re struggling with something, when trial and temptations threaten to overwhelm you, go to sleep at night confident that in the morning you will sing of God’s love. Let us seek his glory, let seek protection in him, and let us say David’s refrain in truth: “O my strength I sing praise to you: you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.
