They’re Playing Our Song
2 Sam. 22
It might be a song on the radio; it might be a song you made up. It might be a song nobody else ever heard, or it might be a Top 40 hit. Whatever the tune or the words, somehow it captures the love between you and that special someone. Ever since people have been singing, I suppose couples in love have said, “Listen, sweetheart! They’re singing our song.”
How did it become “our song”? Did the composer get with us and say, “Give me an idea of exactly what you want to say to this person you love. I’ll write a song just for you two lovebirds.” Probably not. More likely, it’s a song written by somebody you’re never talked to at all. Yet somehow, that song captures something beautiful and special about your relationship with your beloved. It might be hard to believer, but there are probably thousands, if not millions of couples who call the same song “our song.”
This morning I want to look at a song that King David might call “our song.” This song doesn’t express the love between himself and some beautiful Israelites maiden. It’s a song that expresses the love between himself and his Lord. The tune has not been preserved for us, but in these words you can hear the heart of a man who loves God, and you can hear the love God has for him. David could easily say about 2 Sam. 22, “Lord, this is our song.”
But what’s even better is the fact that everybody in this room can make this song their song. David writes this song not just for himself, but for all of us who want to enjoy loving and being loved by the Lord. I want us to hear this song today, and make it your song, and my song, between us and the God who loves us. Look with me at the first verse (v. 1-20)
PRAYER
I’ve divided this song into 3 stanzas, each of which describes who God is to us:
I. HE IS MY SAVIOR (v. 1-20)
David’s story is a lot like your story and my story—he’s seen his share of trouble and conflict in life. When Samuel came looking for a king, his own family forgot all about David out tending the sheep. After he was anointed by the prophet to be king, he had to run for his life from the murderous king Saul. He survives a battle with the giant Goliath, war with Philistines, and several rebellions, one led by his own son Absalom. Through it all, God has kept David safe—which vs. 1 tells us the reason David writes this song. He wants to express his love for the Lord, His Savior. He sings about two ways God is his Savior—two ways God wants to be your Savior also.
a. God is my refuge. (v. 2-4) Notice how David describes the Lord in these verses: my Rock…my Fortress…my Stronghold…
All of these names describe God as a place to run to when you are threatened, a place to go when you’re scared or in danger. When David was on the run from his enemies, and he needed a place to fins shelter and safety, God always provided that place for him. But more than this, David says You, Lord are my refuge. I love you, Lord, because no matter what the threat or who the enemy, I can always run to You and be safe. David also says
b. God is my rescuer. (v. 5-20) in vs. 5-6 David describes himself in the suffocating grip of trouble and death. I was drowning in the waters of death, the grave (Sheol) had me tangled up in its web, I was trapped with no way to escape, nobody to rescue me. It looked like it was all over—until I called on the Lord!
Vs. 7-20 describe God’s reaction: He hears my cry (v. 7b) comes raging out of His Temple, surrounded by dark clouds of His fury and power, riding out to rescue His beloved child. Scattering the enemy right and left, He reaches down and lifts me out of the depths of death, just when my enemies thought they had put me down for good, and places me in a spacious place of His blessing. Lord, I love you, because You are my rescuer, my King in shining armor Who shows up in the knick of time to save me.
This is David’s song of love He sings to His Savior, His Refuge and His Rescuer. This is a song God wants you and He to call “our song.”
Everybody needs a refuge. You need someplace you can go to escape the worries and fears of life. You need to have some place of safety where you don’t have to be afraid—somewhere you can catch your breath, get your strength, so you can back out and face this cold, cruel world. The Lord wants to be your Refuge. He wants you to come to Him and let Him hide you in His love and care, and shelter you.
Everybody needs a rescuer. No matter how careful or cautious you are, trouble will always find you. Often trouble will overwhelm you. Bills pile up, your health starts to fail, your home gets shaky, and before you know it, you seem to be drowning in problem. And don’t forget about the biggest problem we all have: what do to with the guilt of our sins. Who will rescue us from disaster and death? The Lord wants to be your Rescuer. He wants you to cry out to Him when you get in over your head and you’re going down for the last time. He wants to reach down to wherever you are and save you.
David sang this love song to the Lord because God was his Savior. Is He your Savior this morning? Second stanza:
II. HE IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS (v. 21-29)
There is a reason David knows that God will always be his Refuge and His Rescuer and that reason is David’s righteousness, which he describes in vs. 21-25:
God rewards David according to his righteousness—my cleanness, my blamelessness.
Wait a minute David—who are you kidding? What do you mean by talking about the “cleanness of your hands”- Your hands are just as black with sin as mine! You committed adultery with another man’s wife, and then tried to cover it up by murdering him! What kind of righteousness is that? How can you dare call yourself “blameless” or “righteous”?
David is not claiming to be sinless here. What he is claiming is a righteousness he receives from God through faith and forgiveness.
First, David receives God’s righteousness because of his faith in God. You can think of righteousness in one of two ways: either you’re righteous because you’ve never done anything at all wrong, or you’re righteous because God somehow makes you righteous. The only Person Who was ever righteous because He never did anything at all wrong was Jesus Christ. Everybody else-including David, you, and me- have already blown it too bad. If David, or you, or I ever hope to be righteous, God has to make us righteous. How? By faith in Him.
Genesis 15:6 And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
David knew this verse, and he knew that it was not because Abraham was righteous not because he was sinless, but because he trusted God, and because he trusted God, God gave Abraham, or imputed to him God’s righteousness. The apostle Paul talks about how David also recognized this in
Romans 4:6-8 6 ….David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”
Which brings us to another reason David could call himself righteous- he was forgiven. God wiped David’s slate clean, and gave him clean hands and a clean heart. Only God can do that!
Psalm 103:10-12 10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. 11For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
How did God do this? How can He treat a murderer and an adulterer like a saint? How can He just wipe the slate clean? Because Jesus made it all happen on the Cross.
On the Cross, the Bible says
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
For everyone who truly trusts Christ, He bore your sin on the Cross, and gave you His righteousness. You are righteous before God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:14 in whom [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
This is how God shows Himself merciful and blameless and pure, and One Who lifts up the humble, but casts down the proud (vs. 26-29) God’s grace offers His righteousness and forgiveness not to the self-righteous, but for those who realize they are sinners and come to God for mercy and grace. This is how God gives you His righteousness.
USA Today newspaper interviewed the famous actress Sophia Loren back in Feb. 1999. When they asked her about her religious beliefs, this is what she said: I pray. I read the Bible. It’s the most beautiful book ever written. I should go to heaven; otherwise it’s not nice. I haven’t done anything wrong. My conscience is very clean. My soul is as white as those orchids over there, and I should go straight, straight to heaven.
How many of you here this morning would like to raise your hands and say, “Bro. Mike, I’m righteous! I’m blameless!” In yourself you would never say that. You know what you have done; you know what you are capable of still doing. But in Jesus Christ, every single one of us who place our faith in Him can say He gives us His righteousness. If you are a Christian, you are clothed in His robes of righteousness. You stand forgiven and accepted by a holy and righteous God.
David sang of the righteousness God gave him. Where do you stand today? Is He your righteousness? Do you have the assurance that all of your sins have been forgiven? Can you say the Lord is my righteousness? Third stanza:
III. HE IS MY STRENGTH (v. 30-51)
I know a lot of people who use the caffeine in coffee to get them going and keep them going. But I got an e-mail about how to tell if you drink too much coffee:
* You can type sixty words a minute with your feet.
* You chew other people’s fingernails.
* You help your dog chase its tail.
* You’re so wired you pick up FM radio.
* You have a picture of your coffee mug, on your coffee mug.
David says he has a much better way to get going and keep going—a strength beyond anything else the world knows about. Look at vs. 33: God is my Strength, and Power! I like the way one preacher once put it, speaking to Christians- you have to understand that you are not Superman. But you also have to understand that a Superman lives in you! David believes that.
Vs. 30- because of You I can face down a whole gang of bad guys—I can leap over the tallest wall in a single bound- I can run like a deer (v.34) I can bend a bronze bow (v. 35)
v. 31- God’s way is perfect—and He makes my way perfect! (v. 33) He empowers me to live in line with His perfect will!
Lord, you’ve filled me with so much power I can defeat my enemies (v. 38-43) and kept everything right at home (v. 44-49).
Lord, it’s you that will keep giving me strength, both now and forevermore. (v. 50-51)
David is singing out loud and clear Lord, You have given me so much strength I can do anything through You! Sounds a lot like another man named Paul who once wrote:
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
But now wait a minute-let’s be sure we understand what David and Paul are saying here. David does not say Lord, you make me so strong that everything is always smooth sailing. David and Paul both endure some very tough times- times when they were weak, and weren’t sure they will survive. David often lived as a fugitive, an outcast, and a nobody. For every time David felt like he could run like a dear and leap over a wall, there was at least one time when he just could keep plodding along. But he always knew it wasn’t his own strength that kept him going- it was God’s strength. That’s the kind of strength God gives you and me.
It’s the power to persevere, even when we feel like giving up. It’s the strength to keep going when you’d rather call it quits. Sometimes it’s just enough strength to get up in the morning, to put one feeble foot in front of the other. Sometimes it’s just enough strength to get up after you’ve fallen again.
God’s power sometimes comes to us in small doses, but it’s always enough power to help you make it through. Do you need that power today? Are you feeling weak, and helpless—wondering how you will keep going? Take courage. If you lift your hands to the Lord, He will strengthen you. Some days you’ll feel like you can leap over a wall—other days you won’t feel like kicking so high. Where will the strength come from when you have no strength left? David says it will come from the Lord. That’s why he sings this song.
Is David singing your song this morning? Can you honestly look at your relationship with Jesus Christ and truthfully say: He is my Savior—He is my Righteousness—He is my Strength?
Today, if the Holy Spirit is tugging at your heart, and you need to make sure everything is right between you and the Lord, then I urge you to do something today. I urge you to come to Christ, just as you are, and ask Him to save you, ask Him to give you His righteousness, ask Him to be your strength. Your heart can sing the same song of love to the Lord, if you will come to Him right now.
