knows when they pull up in front of a house and see a sign on the fence that says, “Beware of the bad dog”, that sign means “BEWARE OF THE BAD DOG!”
The background for this Psalm is found in that passage of scripture known as 1 Samuel 19:8-17.
There are many things about this passage that are interesting. One of the things I want to show you is this:
• In 1 Sam. 19:6, he said, “And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan; and Saul sware, As the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain.”
• In 1 Sam. 19:11, we read, “Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning…”
Saul, the politician, did the opposite of what he said he would do.
DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR ABOUT POLITICIANS? It sounds like he said, “Read my lips”, and did the opposite of what he promised he would do.
WHY? Saul’s jealousy of David was so severe it practically drove him insane. David had outdone him by killing the almost ten-foot giant, Goliath, and was getting all the attention, and Saul could not stand it.
Illus: He reminds me of Kayleen Resusser. She said that her first-grader came home, and proudly reported to her dad that she recently joined the girl scout troop, and was now officially a "Brownie." Not to be outdone, her three-year-old brother, Christopher, rushed up to his dad also, and proudly announced that he was a cupcake! (Kayleen J. Reusser, Bluffton, Indiana. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom.)
Saul was waging an all out effort to make sure that he stayed in the lime light.
In this Psalm, David finds himself in a dilemma. The life of David makes the life of “007” look like a boy scout. This fellow was always barely escaping from his enemies, who were trying to kill him.
As bad as the LION, BEAR AND THE GIANT he had faced were, King Saul, eaten up with jealousy, was his worst nightmare.
Notice, David refers to his enemies as “dogs”. Look at Isaiah 56:11 “Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough...” David was saying that Saul had turned the dogs loose on him.
David referred to these enemies as DOGS, but Paul, in Acts 20:28-31 refers to them as WOLVES! Paul warns the church to beware of wolves, who would come in and spare not the flock of God.
Illus: Many times, a pastor will have these bad dogs and wolves within his own congregation, and he is ready to pack up and leave because their attacks are so severe.
But as he goes elsewhere to seek relief in another church, he often finds out that they have bad dogs and wolves in that church also. SOMETIMES HE ENDS UP IN A WORSE SITUATION THAN HE LEFT. All he did was jump from the frying pan into the fire.
You will find these bad dogs and wolves everywhere you go. Remember Jesus had Judas.
Today we face these savages, wild dogs, and wolves. Let us learn how to handle these situations from David's experience. Notice:
I. DAVID’S PETITION
Look at verses 1-2, we read, “…O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.”
He wrote this Psalm during a difficult situation. The old king, Saul, had turned on the new king with jealousy.
David had faced a lion, a bear, and even a giant almost ten feet tall, but it was these bad dogs that caused him to cry out to God.
When we face difficulties in this life, we generally have a number of places we can turn to for help. Sometimes we turn to:
• Loved ones
• Friends
• The courts of the land
• The police
• Institutions
But there are times we face difficulties and we have no one in this world we can turn to but God.
David had turned to everyone he knew that might help him, but he knew that he was up against something that only God Himself could help him with.
But notice some things as he turned to God.
A. WE SEE HIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT
He said in verse 1, “O MY God…”
There are times when we can see why people will do foolish things, like taking their own life.
Illus: I just told you a few minutes ago that there are times when we face some of the difficulties of life, and they are so severe that there is no one that can help us but God. NO ONE!
But listen, when the lost man faces these difficulties, and he has sought help everywhere he knows, and is convinced there is no solution to his problems, there are times when a lost man will get a gun, and point it to his head and pull the trigger.
He has sought relief everywhere he thought he might find some relief, and after exhausting all of his resources, he brings his miserable life to an end by the pulling of a trigger on a gun.
WHY WOULD A PERSON DO SUCH A FOOLISH THING? Let me tell you why; because he did not know the God of David. HE HAD NO GOD!
But David had a God, he cried out, “O MY GOD!”
Isn’t it good to have God in our life all the time, but especially as we face the difficulties of life?
In these two verses WE SEE HIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT, but also we see something else.
B. WE SEE HIS AGENDA
David had a very specific list of things he wanted God to do.
Illus: President Ronald Reagan is known as a great president, because as he took control of the White House, he had a few things he wanted to do. There were a lot of things he would like to have done, but he knew that he had to deal with reality, and choose those things he considered to be most important and deal with them. And he is considered to be successful as a President, because he had specific things that he wanted to accomplish.
Every Christian should get alone, and jot down on a piece of paper what they consider to be the most important things in their life, and specifically pray that God will accomplish those things in their life.
They could jot down a thousand things they would like to see take place in their life, but they need to deal with reality, and specifically pray for those things that are within reason.
We Christians need to learn to pray specific prayers.
Illus: When you walk into an ice cream parlor, you do not walk in and say, “I would like to have some ice cream.” They knew that when you walked in the door. What they want to know is, WHAT KIND OF ICE CREAM DO YOU WANT?
And when we pray, we should be as specific as we can be. There are some things we do not pray for.
Illus: (Humor) If you are praying for a white cat with pretty blue eyes, you do not need to pray any longer. See me after church, my wife has one and I will give you a white cat.
We need to pray specific prayers, like the sailor on the ship that saw a torpedo headed straight for where he was standing. He prayed, “O Lord, stop that torpedo that is headed straight for us, traveling 22 degrees southwest at twenty-knots an hour.” When we pray we need to be as specific as we can.
David cried out to his God to do THREE SPECIFIC THINGS.
• Defend me from them that rise up against me
• Deliver me from the workers of iniquity
• And save me from bloody men
We looked at DAVID’S PETITION, now let’s look at-
II. DAVID’S PERCEPTION
It is important that you know who your friends are, but it is equally important that you know who your enemies are.
David knew who his friends were, and he also knew who his enemies were. Look at how he describes these enemies. He not only knew them, but he knew how they conducted their evil lives. He referred to them as “dogs” in verse 6!
Sometimes when you think of the ungodly, you have to think of them as wild animals.
• There are sinful men and women today that remind you of the filthy hog that wallows in the mud. The more filthy sin is, the better they like and enjoy it.
• There are sinful men and women today that remind you of a Tom Cat that is on the prowl, going from one cat to the next.
• There are sinful men and women today that remind you of the slimy snake, that is always hiding in the grass until it gets a chance to bite the innocent person who walks by.
It is no wonder that David refers to the ungodly men as “dogs” in verse 6. He knows a great deal about these enemies of his.
Look at verses 3-5, we read, “For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD. They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold. Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.”
We looked at DAVID’S PETITION and DAVID’S PERCEPTION, let us also look at-
III. DAVID’S PERIL
We need to look at two things about his enemies:
A. DAVID’S DESCRIPTION OF THE LOST
Look at verses 6-7. We read, “They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear.”
David describes these people as a pack of wild dogs, but notice that he says, “…They make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.”
He says they make a noise “Like a dog.” One of the most aggravating things that can happen when you are resting at night, is to have an old howling dog in the neighborhood. All night long these dogs howl, and when you can’t take any more, you raise the window up, and wake the whole neighborhood up when you scream, “Shut-up, before I give you something to howl about!”
But notice, they not only howl like a dog, David said in verse 7, “They belch out…”
The word “belch” is the Hebrew word naba', (naw-bah') which means to gush forth; to emit (a foul odor):--belch out, flowing, pour out, send forth, utter (abundantly).
The ungodly are like this, their mouth is no more than a cesspool of filth.
• At the close of any given day, you can take all the things that have come from their mouths, and you will have no more than spiritual vomit.
• You can search through their words the way a man might search through a garbage heap, and not find one descent thing.
• They will not walk across the street to says something good about God. They hate God and they despise His church. But when they get some bad news they can spread, they will go “yapping” all over town.
David said, “…They make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.”
Saul had deliberately unleashed these hounds, to do as much damage as they could to David.
• When I think of some folks who have lived a dedicated life to the Lord on this earth, I wish I could be in their shoes on the judgment day.
• When I think of the ungodly that have done so much harm with their wicked lives, I would not want to be in their shoes for all the money on the earth.
I am serious. When God gets through with them for the harm and damage they have done, all the money on earth will not be worth the punishment they are going to receive.
We looked at DAVID’S DESCRIPTION OF THE LOST, but also we see…
B. DAVID’S DESCRIPTION OF THE LORD
Look at verses 8-9, we read, “But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.”
We see two things in these two verses.
(1) GOD’S PLAN
Today God stands before a lost world with arms outstretched toward the lost. But I want to warn every lost person here today. One day the GOD OF MERCY will become the GOD OF JUDGMENT.
David speaks about that coming day when he says, “But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them….” The ungodly will have made such fools of themselves in this life, that in that day, God will laugh at them.
Illus: Suppose you walked by a little ant, and he draws his fist up at you and tells you what he is going to do to you, and says that you can not stop him. We would laugh at this little crazy ant that has lost his mind.
And when little feeble man threatens God, and tells Him what he is going to do, God will one day laugh at him also.
This is, GOD’S PLAN, but let us look at-
(2) GOD’S POWER
Every day we have to make decisions about where we are going to put our trust. Many people have been let down so many times, they do not know where to put their trust.
David knew where he was going to put his trust, and why he was going to do it. Look at verse 9, we read, “Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.”
We looked at David’s PETITION, PERCEPTION, and his PERIL. Now, let us look at-
IV. DAVID'S PLAN
David told us a great deal about our enemies, but he also wants to tell us some things about this wonderful God we serve.
First, let’s look at-
A. DAVID'S PROTECTION
Look at verses 10-15, we read, “The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah. And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.”
Listen, people can do us harm and think they are going to get away with it. But I am here to tell you, God knows what they have done. Commit them to God, and before your very eyes you will see God taking care of them.
B. DAVID'S PRAISE
When we face severe difficulties in our life, we can sit down and have a “Pity Party”. But we can also sit down and have a “Praise Party”.
This is what David chose to do. Look at verses 16-17, we read, “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.”
Even though David is probably in a cave somewhere, He could say, in verse 17, “Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.”
Conclusion:
David was in Great Danger, but David (just as we do) had a great deliverer. God was his protection, and therefore we are able, as David, to Praise the Lord even in our darkest trials. GOD IS GOOD - ALL THE TIME!
I. DAVID’S PETITION
II. DAVID’S PERCEPTION
III. DAVID’S PERIL
IV. DAVID’S PLAN
