Psalms 57:1-7
(1) Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until [these] calamities be overpast. (2) I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth [all things] for me. (3) He shall send from heaven, and save me [from] the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. (4) My soul [is] among lions: [and] I lie [even among] them that are set on fire, [even] the sons of men, whose teeth [are] spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. (5) Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; [let] thy glory [be] above all the earth. (6) They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen [themselves]. Selah. (7) My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
I. There are 150 Psalms contained within the book of Psalms. Of those 150, David is contributed to about 73 with the possibility of it being 85. The remaining Psalms are authored by others, from Moses, Solomon, to Asaph and Korah. Regardless of the author the book of Psalms is the most read and quoted of scripture. It has brought countless people comfort and strength.
A. Psalms 57 was written by David at a moment when his life was uprooted and displaced. When David wrote this Psalm, he wrote it while he was fleeing from King Saul who had already made 4 attempts to kill him, 2 by spear which missed David, another by offering his daughter in marriage if David would bring him 100 Philistine foreskins in hopes they would kill him, instead he lives and brings back 200 and marries his daughter, and the final attempt was when he sent assassins to his home and he fled out the window and his new wife covered for him. To say that David had a lot going on is an understatement.
1. All of this came about, because Saul was jealous of David. Saul was the people’s choice, but David was God’s choice. God would choose David to be the new King after Saul got impatient and performed the duties of the High Priest which was a big no-no.
2. The thing about David being chosen was that when Samuel went to Jesse his father to find the next King. Jesses would display all his sons but David. To Jesse he didn’t see anything worth anointing; man may look at you and cast you off, say you don’t have what it takes, you don’t fit the mold. You’re not smart enough, educated enough, was raised on the wrong side of the tracks, came from the wrong neighborhood, etc… [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
a. There are a lot of people in the church that look the part but they honoureth God with [their] lips, but their heart is far from him. What I am about to say next was not in my original notes but during Wednesday night prayer the Holy Spirit dropped this in my spirit and it’s a little raw, but I am going to be obedient because someone needs to hear this.
b. There are some in the church; you are physically present from time to time, even give in the offering and sometimes pay tithes, but you are not invested from the heart. Your affection, your passion, and your desire are absent from your actions. That is no different than a prostitute. A prostitute performs a service. They go through the same physical motions as a wife, but they are not invested in the activity. They are emotionally detached from the person they are interacting with. Before the night is over, they may have had multiple repeat experiences with other men, but it meant nothing to them.
c. When we come to God with a divided heart, God looks at us just like a prostitute, because all we're doing is performing what we think is expected of us just to keep our fire insurance, but there is no heart in it, no passion, no desire. Jesus does not want a prostitute. He wants a bride.
d. Let me tell you something child of God, you stay in the fields and keep seeking God, keep praising God, keep tending to your duties because promotion [cometh] neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God [is] the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. He is setting some people down now, nope not you…nope you’re not marriage material, etc… here is the one I am looking for! Isa 62:5 …[as] the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, [so] shall thy God rejoice over thee.
B. What drew me to my opening text was where David said in verse 6: my soul is bowed down and verse 7: My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: The word “fixed” in my opening text stands out to me because out of the 783,137 words found in The King James Bible; “fixed” only appears 5 times.
1. It is only used in 3 other verses in the Bible; Ps 108:1, Ps 112:7. Yet my text doubles down on “fixed”; My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:
C. In scripture there is the rule or law of witness and repetition. In the Old Testament and the New you will hear the words, “that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” Jesus said Mt 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Mt 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
1. There is a fundamental rule if it is repeated in scripture you need to take note and hear what God is saying. Job 33:14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, [yet man] perceiveth it not. Ge 41:32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; [it is] because the thing [is] established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Ps 62:11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power [belongeth] unto God.
2. To give emphasis, certain names, words or phrases are repeated, as: "Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people." Isa. 40:1; "Awake, awake," Isa. 51:9, 17; 52:1; "O Jerusalem' Jerusalem." Matt. 23:37; "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli ... that is to say, My God, My God." Matt. 27:46. Seven persons were addressed by God with a double name, such as "Abraham, Abraham." Gen. 22:11; "Samuel, Samuel," I Sam. 3:10; "Saul, Saul," Acts 9:4. In John's Gospel, Jesus used the double form of "Verily, Verily" twenty-five times.
3. Even how we are to approach God in prayer should carry some emphasis not “vain repetition” but a persistence in our requests. In Luke 18 Jesus said that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; and spoke to them a parable of the “Persistent Widow” who kept coming to a judge asking to be avenged of her adversary and she came to him daily until he realized that the only way to get her to stop making her request was to honor it. In verse 5 he says I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. Verses 6 and 7 say, And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
a. Here is a little nugget for you; in His illustrations showing the necessity of perseverance in prayer Jesus admonishes us to "ask," "seek," "knock," Mt 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. In our English translation the first letters of these three words form an acrostic: AskethSeekethKnocketh
b. When I go the store and my kids see something they want and ask for it and I tell them no. Most of the time they are asking out of impulse, and I know that what they are asking for is just something for the moment. I know that when they really want something, they don’t stop asking for it. That’s how it is with God. Mt 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
II. How many will be honest and say right now I don’t relate to verse 7. I feel more like verse 6 my soul is bowed down, my heart, my soul, my inner being is bowed over from the weight, the heaviness, and the shear bulk of this year has my soul bent. Your heart doesn’t feel “fixed”; if anything, it is unsettled and unstable.
A. This year was supposed to be your year. This was the year where it all would change. This was your Hab 2:3 would come to pass; you knew the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
1. Regardless of what sermon you heard or what word you are holding on too from the past few years, they don’t look like the promises you having been reciting, you are like David and can say Hope deferred maketh the heart sick…
2. I am going to just be real with you today. In the world you can admit to a lot of faults. You can tell your Dr. how you are feeling and he will listen to you without judgement often times their help coming in the form of a prescription. In the world brokenness is often celebrated; you can be called a hero or brave for admitting your short comings. In the church we are to Bear … one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ but we don’t, we feel we must hide our brokenness, …weariness, … fatigue, …disappointment, etc. out of fear of judgment and criticism.
3. I hear preachers say all the time if Hollywood ever runs out of actors, they can come to the church for an Oscar performance. I don’t share in that opinion because an actor has range; they can portray a varied of emotions. In the church we are only supposed to put on a happy face.
4. Don’t tell anyone about how you are feeling, because you are only supposed to feel one way and that is “to blessed to be stressed”, “to up to be down” #blessed, you are the “head and not the tail”, “above and not beneath”, “fake it til ya make it”.
5. We are always supposed to be like the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings chp. 4 and respond to all of life’s questions and problems with, “it is well”. That’s how you respond to bad news, Dr. says you got cancer, but “it is well”, the bank says…, your unemployment runs out…, you lose your job…, your children are stressing you out…, whatever your dealing with “it is well”.
a. I even put that in a sermon and even though the spirit of that is truth, sometimes you don’t feel that way and it’s not always that easy to just say “it is well”. Conceal don’t feel doesn’t always work; there are times it is not well and harboring your feelings and emotions doesn’t work and in reality, the harbor is about to open and it’s about to be fleet week.
b. Elisha knew something was up because the Bible says he sensed that her soul is vexed within her, and learns of her son’s untimely death.
B. Even in the church; Christians can be vexed. There are those inward struggles that come from the outward struggles of life; which has its own problems built in. Job 5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble. Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation” being a Christian does not exempt you from a trouble-free life, the sun will rise on the evil and on the good, and …rain on the just and on the unjust. You're not going to get through this life without trouble, without hardships without pain, without getting your heart broken at least once or twice. There is no guarantee you’ll never hear the word “cancer” or “terminal”. That you’ll never cry over wayward children. That you’ll never be lied on, or that you’ll never lose someone you love, or there won’t be times when you feel like quitting.
1. All you have to do is look in the Bible and you will see what I'm talking about. David was a great Man of God, a great King of Israel, a worshipper, but that did not exempt David from pain. If you study David’s life, you will see a man who endured much pain. Look at Job: He was a righteous man, but he endured more grief and pain than would seem humanly possible.
2. Sometimes life hurts. Sometimes you're in the pit and sometimes you're in the fire, sometimes you're on the Mountain calling fire down from heaven, and sometimes you're in the cave hoping Jezebel doesn't find you. There are just some things that happen to us all, just because we're in the world. Then there are things that are demonic in nature, attacks straight out of hell; your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
3. Christians and I am going to shock you but even ministers deal with sickness, grief over the passing of a loved one, divorce, family turmoil, lost loved ones that keep you up all night in tears, foreclosure, pink slips, bounced checks, harassment, brokenness, depression, anxiety, and all of life’s trials and tribulations.
C. I deal with stuff too. I don’t always feel like being in church and putting on a smile. To be honest with you I am having an off year When the enemy has come in like a flood, more like a Tsunami; this year has been a hard year for me because I expected some dreams to come true. I turned 40 years old and I thought this was the year of promise. There were days I long to be ministered to instead of ministering to others. Everything around me looks fixed, but me.
1. Just because I am a Child of God doesn’t mean I am not flesh; For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Paul said: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!
a. I fight discouragement and depression too. I fight devils too, there are times I deal with a blast from the past. As a teenager and even in my early 20’s I battled low self-esteem, depression, and struggled with self-worth. Sometimes those feelings rise up from time to time. I am fighting and wrestling against the same principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places] as you.
b. I am weary in well doing and feel like Job; My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2. Studying this week I begin to feel an up righting in my spirit, when the Holy Spirit showed me how David made it through all he went through on his way to the promise. It is so simple but profound, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
III. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. Other versions of the Bible replaced “fixed” with the word “established” or “steadfast” but I am glad that the when they translated the KJV they chose to use “fixed”, the words “established” and “steadfast” are used readily throughout scripture and could have been used here but instead I believe that the Holy Spirit had the translators use “fixed” to be used as an open door for a much deeper revelation.
A. When you study that word and begin to dig into its meaning you start to see that what David was saying here in the midst of his crisis, in the midst of the calamity, at place where he said his soul is bowed down. You find a man at the lowest point; on the inside his heart felt bent down.
1. This year may have been a bowing over year. The words of David ring true within you; For my soul is full of troubles: O my God, my soul is cast down within me. You were bent from all manner of stress, hurt, loss, etc… On the outside to everyone else it was business as usual but on the inside your soul was bent from all the weight and the pressures. Sunday after Sunday you came in here looking like “it is well”, you’re here standing, but your inside did not match your outside.
2. There you are looking to the altar, to the man of God, to seek relief but it just doesn’t seem to come. You come back week after week looking for relief but it just doesn’t seem to come. You cry Ps 143:11 Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. This was not how this year is supposed to be, it’s hard to see the promise when there seems to always be a problem.
a. Abraham was promised to be a Father of Nations, but he had to wait on his son, David was given the throne, but another man was still sitting on it, Joseph was promised the palace but there was the pit, Potiphar, and Prison.
b. Joy is promised in the morning but there is still a night of weeping. Weapons don’t prosper but they still get pulled on you.
B. In Hebrew “fixed” looks like this ??? . Which means kuwn, now what looks like scribble and nonsense carries a deeper meaning. It is the secret sauce to why you are going through all that you going through.
1. In order to unlock the sauce you have to look at the words as they relate to Paleo-Hebrew which is the ancient Hebrew alphabet which had more of a pictograph or hieroglyph form than what is now what we call the Aramaic Hebrew alphabet by which it is based. Many believe that when the Hebrew scholars in Babylon decided to adopt the shapes of the Aramaic alphabet, they unintentionally changed the meaning of the words. At the very least they made the meanings less clear. So what we have in the Paleo-Hebrew is kaph (cough) + vav + nun kaph ?, ? = open vav ? = secure nun ?, ? = the seed
a. What that pictograph is saying is of the opening (kaph) of the seed (nun), the going down of the root, which secures (vav) or anchors the plant — it is the thing which allows it to stand upright.
2. Did you catch that? When you look at a tree, you never see the entire tree. You only see what grows above the earth. The most important part is unseen, growing downward into the earth. From the roots come the tree's water, its minerals, and its nourishment. Without the roots, the tree ceases to exist. And if its roots are shallow or weak, the tree and its fruits will wither away. A tree's fruitfulness can never exceed its rootfulness.
a. In God, your life is like a tree. There are two parts to your existence, the part that's visible to the world and the hidden part no one can see. It's the visible part of your life that manifests the fruit, all your good works, your acts of love and righteousness. The hidden part, these are your roots. Your inner life with God, your faith, your devotion, your love, communion, your time with Him in prayer, that which is in your heart.
b. No one can see it, but it's the most critical part by which you receive spiritual life and nourishment. It is this which causes the rest of your life to grow and bear fruit. If your roots are shallow or weak, the fruits of your life in God will wither away. Your fruitfulness in God will always be directly proportionate to your rootfulness in God. The Hebrew word for root is sheresh. And it's linked to deepness, depth. So if you would become great in God, you must become deep in God.
c. No wonder David said Ps 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
3. The secret sauce is that you are still here, the fact you are still here shows that the seed survived. The enemy didn’t steal your seed, temptation didn’t burn it up, and it didn’t get choked with cares and riches and pleasures of [this] life. It survived for [such] a time as this. God’s word: it shall not return unto Him void, but it shall accomplish that which He please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto He sent it.
a. You may have been bowed, but you were not broken. You stayed faithful, like the persistent widow you kept coming, you kept knocking, you took a licking but you kept on ticking. You didn’t give up. You didn’t throw in towel; you were knock down but not knocked out!! The flood of the enemy looked like he was eroding away at your footing at your roots, but in reality, you kept digging deeper.
b. Like the Mangrove tree along the Ocean’s shore their roots are never poisoned by the salt water, battered everyday by wind and waves they still stand. No category of Hurricane has been able to break the hold of their roots. Like the mangrove you can declare 2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, You are like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock., Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; 'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home.
C. There is also another meaning that speaks to the seed as an “heir”. In Galatians 4 it says Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
1. An heir in its simplest form is a person of entitlement to another’s position and property after death. In the case of Jesus, He said [I am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. He is not going anywhere so Romans 8:17 says God made us joint-heirs with Christ so everything that is His is mine. That means that you can find rest from your labors, peace in the midst of your storm, you are healed, are an overcomer … YOU ARE a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people.
a. You have access to it all. Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; … , For we are also his offspring.
2. To all of you that are bowed over today it is time to receive beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that you might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. It’s time to stand up, the test of your roots proves that you can handle the fruit!
3. This whole time you thought you were running on faith less than a grain of mustard seed but in reality, you had what Jesus called great faith.
a. I come to say that I overcame the enemy, the hurt, the disappointment, etc. by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of my testimony; my testimony is not always about what I did in my past, its not about how much I smoked, how much I drank, how much I snorted or shot up. Its not always defined by relationships and sex, not about how much anger and abusive I had. My testimony is more than my past it is my right now that says yeah, I endured a lot but the Blood of Lamb washed me, cleansed me, made me whole. That same Jesus that pulled me out of the pit and set my feet on the rock, who gave me purpose, changed my life and turned it around. It is that same Jesus that I lean on in the midnight hour, it is the same Jesus that gets me through the storms of life, it is the same Jesus that held on to me when I felt like sinking. My testimony is I am still holding on, I didn’t quit, I didn’t throw in the towel. Don’t you see I am still here!
