For the choir director: according to “A Silent Dove Far Away.” A Miktam of David. When the Philistines seized him in Gath.
Be gracious to me, God, for a man is trampling me;
he fights and oppresses me all day long.
My adversaries trample me all day,
for many arrogantly fight against me.
When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
They twist my words all day long;
all their thoughts against me are evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps
while they wait to take my life.
Will they escape in spite of such sin?
God, bring down the nations in wrath.
You yourself have recorded my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call.
This I know: God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mere humans do to me?
I am obligated by vows to you, God;
I will make my thanksgiving sacrifices to you.
For you rescued me from death,
even my feet from stumbling,
to walk before God in the light of life.
PSALM 56:1-13 CSV
Here is a song that most of us can relate to. Oh, wait a moment! We don’t know the melody! Okay, though we don’t know the melody, we certainly understand the meaning of this prayer that David has written. Who of us has not experienced a time when we felt ourselves seriously threatened and we didn’t know where to turn? It may have been physical danger that threatened our life. I suppose it was more likely a financial reversal that endangered our ability to provide for our family. It could even have been the dissolution of friendships that left us feeling utterly isolated. Or it might have been a threat to our reputation, leaving us disoriented and unsure of how to respond. Whatever the circumstances may have been, we felt like a dove on distant oaks.
That is a graphic description. Though we may not have surrendered to despair, as the pressure mounted we felt as though we were hearing the mournful song of a dove. We searched the branches of the trees about us, and at last somewhere in the distance we saw the dove producing the forlorn song. And we felt as though the mournful song was being sung for us at that moment. We were sad, exhausted, and drained. If only we could rest for a moment, we thought to ourselves; if only Jesus would come NOW!
In our exhaustion, we find ourselves identifying with Motel in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Motel was speaking with the Rabbi at a time when the Jews are being forced to leave their village when he said, “Rabbi, we’ve been waiting for the Messiah all our lives. Wouldn’t now be a good time for Him to come?” What’s taking so long, Lord?
Amos cautioned the people of Israel against longing for the Day of the LORD. The Lord GOD directed Him to write,
“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
Why would you have the day of the LORD?
It is darkness, and not light,
as if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
and a serpent bit him.” [1]
[AMOS 5:18-19]
Amos paints a graphic word picture. A man encounters a Judean lion. Fleeing from that danger, he runs into a Syrian brown bear. Wow! Talk about a problem! Okay, maybe some readers might conclude this wasn’t such a dreadful scenario. Therefore, in order to ensure that the reader fully understands the serious nature of the caution he provides, the Prophet of God continues with his description by suggesting that the fleeing man runs into the house to escape the animals he had just encountered. Exhausted, the man leans against the wall, only to be bitten by a death adder. Does the prophet have your attention now? It is as though all nature conspired to trap the man, sentencing him to death.
David had precisely that dilemma. Fleeing from one immediate danger, David ran straight into another situation that threatened to deprive him of his life. Saul was determined to kill David. The king was jealous because David received greater praise than did the king. Jealousy boiled up in Saul’s soul, driving him to attempt to kill the younger man. He attempted to induce David to fulfil dangerous, almost impossible missions, to please the king. In a maddened rage, Saul precipitously tried to kill David with his own hand. At last, the king dispatched his loyal guard to kill David.
Alerted to the king’s wicked intent to kill him, David fled for his life. But where does a general flee when the leader of the nation is intent on killing him? Israel was an island surrounded by a sea of enemies to the nation. David had led the armies of Israel against most of these foes of Israel, defeating them in battle at one time or another. Where could he flee in order to be safe from Saul’s murderous intent?
DANGER! DANGER EVERYWHERE! Some of you will be of sufficient age to remember a television show that was entitled “Lost in Space.” It was not a particularly memorable show as I reflect on it, but one event that was seemingly repeated in each episode was the trouble that a young boy managed to stumble into. The boy’s companion was a robot who was most noted for sounding the warning, “Danger, Will Robinson.” No doubt many of us would welcome a robot to tell us when danger is near, though I don’t imagine that we would enjoy the incessant hectoring.
For the follower of Christ, danger is ever near. Think about the import of what is written in the greatly loved Shepherd’s Psalm,
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.”
[PSALM 23:4]
This verse is nothing less than a confession that the one whom Christ shepherds does walk through regions that pose deep danger. And David was in grave danger! He had fled from certain death at the hand of Saul, only to run into the hands of the Philistines, Israel’s sworn enemy,. You can read of his danger and how the uncrowned king barely escaped death by feigning madness.
These events are recorded in 1 SAMUEL 21:10-22:1. “David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, ‘Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
“Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands?”’
“And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, ‘Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?’
“David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.”
Like David in Gath, you, because you follow Christ Jesus, because you have received Him as Master over your life, can expect to face danger throughout the days of your life. Hasn’t the Master warned us repeatedly of this very thing?
As He was sending His disciples out to labour in His Name, Jesus warned them, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household” [MATTHEW 10:16-26].
The Master’s follower is commanded to speak the truth, knowing that those who appear to have authority in this world will not welcome their word. The world hates the follower of Christ. The Master continued, urging His followers not to give way to fear. Jesus taught, “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” [MATTHEW 10:27-33].
Though it would feel as though the whole world was opposed to the messenger of Christ, intent on silencing the one inspired by the Spirit of the Lord to speak, that one must not permit himself to imagine that being silent will relieve the hostility. Because you believe that Jesus is God’s Son, you will face opposition even from those whom you love most in this world. Jesus continued, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” [MATTHEW 10:34-42].
There is nothing positive, as the world counts positivity, to be drawn from these words Jesus spoke. One must look beyond this moment to see that what is happening in the life of the follower of the Master is not to be counted as some aberrant event. With these words, Jesus mapped out the normal course of life for the child of God. Even as He was preparing His disciples for His exodus, Jesus taught, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’” [JOHN 15:18-25]. The world hates the Master; and because the world is powerless against Him, those of this dying world will strike out at you in a futile effort to hurt the Saviour. Yet, God’s people are not deserted by Him!
Jesus encourages all who follow Him, teaching His beloved people, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you” [JOHN 15:26-16:4a].
Praying for His people immediately before He was seized and sentenced to the cross, Jesus prayed, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” [JOHN 17:6-21].
Dear people, the world hates the people of God because they hate the Son of God. And the world hates the Son of God because His very existence exposes the wickedness that reigns over the world. Those of this dying world do not want others to see the chains that bind them. It is as witnessed when the Apostle of Love writes, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” [JOHN 3:17-21].
Followers of the Christ have been warned, as John writes, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death” [1 JOHN 3:13-14].
If you are a Christian, you are living on enemy territory. You are living behind the lines of an implacable, merciless foe who seeks your death. Christian, the devil wants to kill you. Our Lord has warned us, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” [JOHN 10:10a]. We are taught that the devil is the thief against whom we are warned. Christian, know that the devil wants to kill you, and he wants to destroy this church.
WHEN I AM AFRAID —
Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;
my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many attack me proudly.
When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?
[PSALM 56:1-4]
As followers of the Christ, we are always in danger. You need not look for dangerous situations, you live under dangerous conditions. And because you are always in danger, you must be wary. It would be unusual if you didn’t know fear at times. I daresay, if you have never been afraid you haven’t actually been in the fray. Though the battle now swirls about you, and you have not yet taken up your sword and shield, you will feel that gnawing, niggling sense of fear as you take up buckler and shield. The issue is that no one can enter into the conflict without fear. You may think that in the midst of the conflict you are so busy that you haven’t time to fear, yet it is fear that enables you to focus, bringing to bear the training you received to meet the challenge you must face.
When the evil one unleashes the full weight of the powers of hell against the child of God, he will often use people or situations to seek the destruction of that Christian. The assault may appear as a reversal of financial independence, or it may come in the guise of the loss of friendship, or it may be a crisis in your health, or a crisis in the health of a loved one. When such trials come, and such trials do come to all, you will be afraid. The Psalmist demonstrates how we are to respond when we are in fear, and we are therefore given a primer on the godly response to the conflicts we will assuredly face.
David confessed that he was afraid, and he had ample reason to be afraid! Here, he confesses to the Lord that he is trampled by those who were opposed to him. What was worse, from David’s perspective those trampling on him were at their dastardly task “all day long!” They didn’t quit; they seemed tireless in their efforts to crush him. Those attacking the Psalmist were many, and what was worse was that they were proud in their attacks. They were shameless! Can you relate to David? Can you relate to the sense of hopelessness as you are under attack?
It is essential that you and I pause for a moment to note the Psalmist’s response to the pressure he was experiencing. So long as David focused on the fight and on those attacking him, he saw only their overwhelming numbers and the boldness they displayed as they sought to destroy him. But his focus didn’t remain on those opposing him.
David confesses his fear before speaking of his response whenever he is afraid. David confesses,
When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?
[PSALM 56:3-4]
There is no need to admit to being afraid if you are not prepared to confess your trust in God and in His preservation of you as one of His beloved saints. However, if you have known fear, I trust that you are equally prepared to confess that the Lord your God did deliver you. You are being taught that fear and faith can occupy the mind at the same time. That was the case for David, and it is often the situation for you.
Perhaps you will recall the words Matthew presents as he writes of the women who had gone to the tomb wherein they supposed lay the body of Jesus of Nazareth. When they arrived at the tomb, they saw an angel seated on the stone which had closed the tomb. The angel had this message for the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you” [MATTHEW 28:5b-7].
Note that these women rushed away from the tomb “with great fear and great joy” as they ran to obey the command they had received. I’m left with the impression that these women had never known such fear in their lives, and simultaneously, they had never experienced such incredible joy. Holy fear mixed with holy joy as they rushed to do what they were commanded.
Again, you may recall how when the Lord appeared to the disciples, we are told that they “disbelieved for joy and were marvelling” [see LUKE 24:41]. Clearly, these men did believe or they could not have had any joy. And yet, the joy they knew at that time seemed to have been cut away from its own roots. “They disbelieved for joy,” an experience that is common to the people of God.
At those times when I fear, whether the fear arises from the attacks of mere men, or whether the fear arises because I realise that I am facing demonic powers, as one who belongs to the Lord God, my faith drives me to God. Unregenerate fear drives one from God; gracious fear drives the child of God to Him Who delivers.
THEY WAIT FOR MY LIFE —
All day long they injure my cause;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk;
they watch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.
For their crime will they escape?
In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
[PSALM 56:5-7]
Evil is persistent, and it may seem that evil people never tire, nor are they ever ready to cease their wickedness directed toward the godly. Have you ever wished that the wicked would just go away? And yet it seems as if the wicked are long-winded, unlike us. We run as fast as we can to avoid the fight, running until we are exhausted, and the wicked seem to be so many that there is always another just waiting for us to stumble and fall.
The Hebrew is particularly powerful in the verses. One translation seems to make the evil plotted against the righteous pop out. Listen as I read this current translation:
All day long they cause me trouble;
they make a habit of plotting my demise.
They stalk and lurk;
they watch my every step,
as they prepare to take my life.
Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape!
In your anger bring down the nations, O God!
[PSALM 56:5-7 NET BIBLE]
The wicked are plotting the demise of the righteous. They stalk the follower of the Christ, lurking in the shadows so that they won’t be observed as they watch every step the saint is making. Above all, they think of the death of the righteous. No wonder the child of God resorts of the Living God. He will not strike out at the evil, but rather he will commit them to the Lord. Let God take care of them. What is vital to note is that the righteous will not take up the cause into their own hands. They are prepared to trust in the Lord, for he is pledged to preserve them. God will not permit the wicked to prevail over the righteous, for God is watching over His own.
I don’t want anyone to imagine that every lost person wants to kill us. Some of these are our relatives, perhaps even our father and our mother, or possibly even our children. However, what should be obvious is that the lost do not seek our welfare. Those who are outside of Christ are still disturbed when we do not go along with them in their activities that are opposed to righteousness. Don’t I know what it is to have a loved one throw into my face my refusal to enter into some wicked action with them! Haven’t I experienced the resentment when I would not agree with them in their wickedness! And you have known what it is to sense the resentment and the irritation because you neither shared in the wicked acts of loved ones nor agreed to condone what was done.
Isn’t this what Peter speaks of when he writes, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” [1 PETER 4:1-5].
I know we love our parents, we love our siblings, and our children are precious to us. No doubt we will pray God’s grace for them until the day we are called home. However, as one who follows the Risen Saviour, we know that our love for Christ far exceeds even that love which we have for our family members. We are cautioned by the Master, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” [MATTHEW 10:34-39].
There is no getting around the stern words Jesus spoke which Doctor Luke recorded. Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” [LUKE 14:26-27].
I say these things, not to speak ill of our loved ones who do not believe, but to remind each of us that while we enjoy sweet family ties on earth, those precious ties will be severed eternally at death if our loved ones should die outside of Christ. I would not ever condone any of us being ungracious or harsh with family members who have yet to look to Christ.
For this reason, I do urge the people of God to pray for those of our own families. I do urge followers of the Christ to speak gently to those who are our own flesh and blood, telling them of our love for them and urging them to look to Christ the Master that they may be saved. For Jesus will receive them when they turn to Him. And the Master does hear our prayers, showing us mercy and compassion that we can’t even imagine. Who knows but that our Lord will speak to their heart, granting repentance to those who are outside of the Faith and giving them life eternal.
GOD TRACKS MY TRIALS —
You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
I must perform my vows to you, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.
[PSALM 56:8-13]
I suspect that each of us has at one time of another questioned whether the Lord knows our trials, whether He understands how discouraged we are, whether He even cares. When the world is crashing down on you and your strength is exhausted, you must never forget that, “We walk by faith, not by sight” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:7].
Our Saviour knows the trials we face, and He knows the fears that plague our minds, just as He knows what is best for us. Dear people, we serve a God Who is too good to needlessly allow us to suffer and too wise to ever make a mistake. The Psalmist confesses his faith in God’s grace and mercy. He reminds us that God has noted every tear that has fallen from your eyes. He has recorded in a book all our doubts and our fears, so that throughout all eternity He will reveal the perfection He is even now bringing to the fore in our beings.
Take note of the manner in which Peter opens his first letter to the saints of the Diaspora, saints who were well acquainted with suffering. Peter writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” [1 PETER 1:3-9].
The outcome of your faith is your salvation! And God is bringing that to fulfilment through the testing you now face. There is a result that you have not likely seen at this time. What is happening has been kept from your sight because the process is ongoing and you are consumed with what is happening. But you know that God is even now working to bring you to perfection through your present experiences.
The story is told of a silversmith at his furnace, melting the silver. A man observing the smith at his work saw him skimming the dross and continuing heating the silver, frequently peering into the cup in which the silver was melted. “How will you know when it is pure?” the man asked.
“It is pure when I can see my reflection in the metal,” the smith replied.
Just so, the trials we face now will bring us nearer the perfection our God plans for us. He is even now, through the opposition we experience and through the trials we face, transforming us into something that is far more precious than any mere metal. God is bringing His children—God is bringing you—to perfection through the trials now experienced. Isn’t this what is revealed when Isaiah writes,
“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.”
[ISAIAH 48:10-11]
One of the most encouraging revelations in the whole of the writings of the Old Covenant is one which is recorded in the Prophecy of Malachi, who writes, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name. ‘They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him’” [MALACHI 3:16-18].
Perhaps it is because the Psalmist realises Who controls his life and because he is assured of Who it is that is directing his steps that he is able to testify,
“This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
[PSALM 56:9b-11]
Because you are a child of the Living God, because you are redeemed by Christ the Lord, your testimony is that of the Psalmist, you can testify, “This I know, that God is for me.” You and I would do well to memorise this truth and repeat it often to assure our soul. Say this aloud with me, “This I know, that God is for me.” Amen. Child of God, you are not deserted; your Father is watching over you even during the trials you now know.
Note the manner in which David concludes this beautiful Miktam. He speaks of performing his vows to God. He speaks of his determination to render thank offerings to the Lord GOD. He does this because of God’s goodness in standing with him and because God has preserved Him. We serve God not in order to compel God to do something good for us, we serve God because He has already done wonderful things in our behalf. We honour God, serving Him and fulfilling His will for our life because He has already showered His goodness upon our lives.
This is why we invite others to faith in the Risen Son of God. We want others to know of the grace of God given through the salvation that is found only in Christ the Lord. We invite you who hear to believe this message of life because we know the goodness of God and because we know the grace of Christ the Lord, grace that is promised to each one who comes to Him in faith.
Jesus invites you, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” [MATTHEW 11:28-30]. The invitation is for you. Believe Him even this hour. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
