WWUTT 1059 For God Alone My Soul Waits?

There are certain ways that you could act that would be going with the rest of the culture. The culture would even give you a pass.

Sure, it's fine to act that way, but are we acting as Christ and is our trust in Him alone when we understand the text?

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, being Thursday, we're back in our study of the

Psalms today, and we're hitting the 60s. That goes well with the fall weather, right?

Psalm 60 is what we're going to start with. We'll probably get through a few psalms today here. To the

Choir Master, according to Shushan Eduth, a mictum of David, for instruction when he strove with Aram Naharim and with Aram Zobah, and when

Joab on his return struck down 12 ,000 of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses, you have been angry,

O restore us. You have made the land to quake, you have torn it open, repair its breaches, for it totters.

You have made your people see hard things. You have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

You have set up a banner for those who fear you, that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah. That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer us.

God has spoken in his holiness. With exaltation, I will divide up Shechem and portion out the vale of Succoth.

Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is my helmet, Judah is my scepter,

Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I cast my shoe, over Philistia I shout in triumph.

Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us,

O God? You do not go forth, O God, with our enemies, O grant us help against the foe.

For vain is the salvation of man. With God we shall do valiantly. It is he who will tread down our foes.

Now this psalm comes in the wake of the events that are talked about in 2 Samuel chapter 8.

And that's kind of talked about right at the right in the title. And it says it's for instruction.

So these are instructions to the nation of Israel when they must go to war against another nation.

Even in the act of war, may we be faithful to God. May we not wander from his precepts lest he take the blessing from us and would be on the side of another nation.

So that's one of the things that they must be cautious of. So for instruction that we remain faithful unto the

Lord or he's going to break down our defenses in the case that we lose against an enemy.

Is it the judgment of God that has come upon us? So we must come to him and repent of our evil.

Now in that header, in the header of Psalm 60 here, it says that Joab struck down 12 ,000 in Edom.

When you go to 2 Samuel chapter 8, it says that 18 ,000 was the casualty.

So what's with the discrepancy here? Why does Psalm 60 say 12 ,000, but 2

Samuel chapter 8 says 18 ,000? The likelihood is that the psalm was written most closely related to the war, probably like right at the exact same time that this war was going on, this psalm was being penned and the casualty list turned out to be much larger than just the 12 ,000 that had been struck down.

And so in a later time when 2 Samuel had been penned, which would have been after the writing of Psalm 60, then the adjustment was made for how many had truly fallen in battle, not just those who were slain on the battlefield, but even those who went home with injuries that eventually claimed their lives and took them overall, the tally would have been 18 ,000.

So it's really not so different a number that we have to look at this as being some kind of contradiction in the word of God.

It's just simply reflective of different times in which those things were being written. Psalm 60 may not have been exact to the casualties that had yet fallen in that battle.

And 2 Samuel 8 was more of an adjustment to the accurate afflictions that had come by the sword in that fight.

So now verse one, Oh God, you have rejected us and you have broken our defenses.

You have been angry, Oh, restore us. This is one of those places we have once again, it being stated that God is angry.

He can be angry with those who have offended him in Psalm chapter seven.

It says that God is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day. I remember R .C.

Sproul saying God is angry with those who say God is not angry. He does feel anger and he hates sin.

And we must likewise hate our sin and pursue his righteousness. We only really come into true righteousness when we've hated the sin that we have done against God.

You have made the land to quake. The Psalm says you have torn it open, repair its breaches for it totters.

You have made your people see hard things. You have given us wine to drink that made a stagger.

You've made us see hard things like no one goes into battle and comes back the same person.

You see some really, really tough stuff. When you go to war and take this from a pastor who has a church that's 60 % military.

We have a lot of guys in our church who have seen active combat and they've seen some really, really difficult things.

I've heard lots of stories and some of them come with very broken consciences. They wonder if some of the things that they've done in battle means that God doesn't love them anymore and they're going to be judged to hell.

They have a very torn conscience because of some of the things that they've had to do. War can really hurt a person.

And so we have it said here, you've made your people see hard things. There are people that serve as police officers that see hard stuff.

They see the seedier side of your community that you probably don't see. And it's really difficult to look at the world through the eyes of a person that sees the harder aspects of life.

And it can make us stagger. It can make us look at the world and go, where is there goodness in this place?

You have set up a banner for those who fear you and they may flee to it from the bow.

So we can still come into the presence of God, getting away from war and finding peace in our

Savior. And that's a good place for a pause. So we have that word say law that your beloved ones may be delivered.

Give salvation by your right hand and answer us. God has spoken in his holiness with exaltation.

I will divide up Shechem and portion out the veil of sucketh. Now, I won't go into each one of these in great detail, but but this is the

Lord speaking here and he's speaking about each one of these places. Gilead is mine,

Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is my helmet, Judah is my scepter.

Judah is referred to as a scepter in the book of Numbers as well and in other places. Why would Judah be called a scepter?

Because that's where the Messiah is going to come from. The king of kings is going to rise out of Judah.

That's why he's referred to as a scepter or that that tribe is called a scepter. Moab, my washbasin, upon Edom I cast my shoe because Edom is eventually going to be destroyed.

Over Philistia I shout in triumph. The Philistines who have fallen by the mighty hand of God who will bring me to the fortified city.

Now, this is not God speaking anymore, but the psalmist. This is supposed to be a congregational psalm, though.

All of Israel's singing this together, asking for God's deliverance and forgiveness. Who will bring me to the fortified city?

Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go forth,

O God, with our armies. They're looking at the slain, those who have fallen in the midst of battle and saying,

God must not be with us because of our dead. O grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man.

With God we shall do valiantly. It is he who will tread down our foes.

Humbling themselves before God, knowing they don't have the victory in their hands unless God goes with them.

And so as Christians in this world, how would this psalm apply? Well, we know that God is conquering the pagans through the gospel that's being proclaimed.

It may not be a physical striking down of somebody, though there may be some cases in which that is done, but we have the hearts that are being pierced by the sword of the word through bone and through marrow.

That is the way the word is described in the book of Hebrews. And it is through the sword of the spirit that God is slaying demonic powers and winning dead souls, bringing them to life in Jesus Christ.

And so in this way, through the preaching of the gospel, we know that God is striking down our enemies and those who come against us.

Well, there's a day of judgment that is coming for them as well. And that will be the great day of the Lord on the return of Christ.

Psalm 61. Now, this one's short for eight verses to the choir master with stringed instruments of David.

Hear my cry. Oh, God, listen to my prayer from the end of the earth. I call to you when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings.

For you, oh, God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Prolong the life of the king. May his years endure to all generations. May he be enthroned forever before God.

Appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him. So will

I ever sing praises to your name as I perform my vows day after day.

This is most certainly a psalm of endurance that day by day we would seek after God.

That he would lead us to the rock. That he would be a strong tower for us against our enemies.

And that in a day of trial that we don't despair. We don't wonder where God is.

For he has been our refuge all the while. We have always been in the citadel of God.

And even when we face these trials, we do not despair. For we know the Lord upholds us with his mighty right hand.

And we have such a joy in the Lord that we are compelled to sing his praises.

We have this split up into about four different parts here. Psalm 61 verses 1 through 3 is,

Here my prayer for you have been my refuge. Then in verses 4 and 5, let me dwell in your tent forever.

Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings. We are welcome guests in God's presence.

And he is also our benevolent provider and gentle with us in the sense that we find a shelter in his wings.

Verses 6 and 7 then would be part 3. Prolong the life of the king. May his years endure to all generations.

May he be enthroned forever before God. Appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him.

When the king was blessed, the rest of the people were blessed. This is that concept of federal headship.

We don't really have that so much in a Western world government. But in the monarchy, when the king was the federal head over a kingdom and whatever the king said or did, that applied to all of the people.

So we have that being the case here, wishing for blessing to be upon the king.

That way all of the people would benefit. Steadfast love and faithfulness to everyone who is under the king.

So will I ever sing praises to your name as I perform my vows day after day.

And that last verse is part 4. We find fulfillment, fullness in the presence of God.

And that is demonstrated through the outpouring of our heart in song and praise to our great king.

We go on now to Psalm 62. To the choir master according to Jejuthon, a

Psalm of David. I'll go through this a little more slowly. For God alone, my soul waits in silence.

From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.

I shall not be quickly shaken, greatly shaken. You can see some similarities already between this

Psalm and the previous one that we just read, right? Now let me ask you something. So coming back to verse 1 here.

For God alone, my soul waits in silence. How countercultural is that?

So right now, we've got these movements that are going on. And it's like a plethora of movements, but they basically come down to something very similar.

All of these people think they've been oppressed by someone or some system. And so they must raise their voice and they raise it loudly.

And they cry out and they point fingers and they speculate and they assume and they slander and they're very prejudiced, putting groups of people into constituencies and pointing the finger at those groups and saying, all of you people are like this and all of you people are like this.

This group is a monolith. They all experience the same things, so on and so forth. And everybody's very loud about it.

Everybody's trying to put their oppression, quote unquote oppression, over somebody else's oppression.

Well, I'm more oppressed than you are. You have that intersectionality thing going on where people claim a victim status and the more victim statuses they have, the more points of intersection.

And they're able to claim a higher grievance standing in the culture than anybody else has.

And so everybody's trying to shout their victimhood over somebody else's victimhood. It's just a lot of noise.

It's a lot of complaining, a lot of whining, a lot of entitlement. You owe me, et cetera.

So how unlike that response is this here in Psalm 62, one for God alone, my soul waits in silence.

I'm not looking for approval from anyone else. I'm not looking for what the culture says is justice that I deserve.

My soul waits for God in silence for from him.

Comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation.

He's my worth. He's the one that gives me meaning and purpose.

God is the one who gives us forgiveness of sins and an eternal place in his kingdom forever through faith in his son,

Jesus, the rock of our salvation, my fortress, I shall not be greatly shaken.

Verse three, how long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood.

They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse say law.

I've had this set of me sometimes where somebody will compliment me. Well, you're a great this, but you're really terrible at this.

And then we'll slander me and tear me down. And their only desire is to attack a man, not to show charity and certainly not to show grace.

God, forgive me when the attitude of my heart has been the same toward somebody else.

There are going to be people who hate us and there are going to be people that are going to be prejudiced against us and accused us of things that we're not actually guilty of.

But we must understand Romans eight one. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And knowing this, we can have peace say law. Verse five for God alone.

Oh, my soul, wait in silence for my hope is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.

I shall not be shaken on. God rests my salvation and my glory, my mighty rock.

My refuge is God. We cannot truly receive closure or justice from this world.

Any meaning or purpose or significance or anything lasting and genuine and pure and true is only going to come from God.

He only is my rock, my stability, my foundation, my salvation.

Trust in him at all times. Oh, people pour out your heart before him.

God is a refuge for us. Say law. So before you get caught up in the voices of the culture and start blending your voice in with them, have you poured out your heart before God?

Have you taken your cares and concerns to him before you've let somebody else have it or you've aired your grievances before others, maybe to gain approval from other people or a pat on the back or an oh, poor you.

Have you opened your heart up to God and cast your cares upon him because he cares for you, as it says in first Peter five.

And, you know, sometimes when we go toward complaining with our friends, we find our friends, we get together, we complain about our circumstances with them.

They might show us some sort of kindness and affection, but it could be that they just like gossip.

And so you're pouring out yourselves to them, but you're not really getting anything genuine from them either.

They're just using you because they like to hear gossip and you're using them because you want somebody to air your dirty, dirty laundry out to or what this person did to you or whatnot.

But we must trust first in God. We must take our cares before him.

Don't say things like, hey, I've really got a prayer request about a person I want to share with you and use that as an excuse to gossip or say, hey,

I really need some advice about somebody. And really what you want to do there is gossip and take your cares before God.

Trust in him at all times. Verse nine, those of low estate are but a breath.

Those of high estate are a delusion in the balances they go up.

They are together lighter than a breath, put no trust in extortion, set no vain hopes on robbery.

If riches increase, set not your heart on them. Those who are of low estate are but a breath, like your trials and your tribulations, they're only going to last for a moment.

Those of high estate are a delusion. There's no security there either with those who have much.

And in this psalm, we see those who have the power are oppressing those who do not have.

Your oppression will last but for a moment. And those who oppress are deluded into thinking they have more power than they actually have.

Set your trust on God. Set not your trust on the things of this world. Believing, hey, if I could just have the power that they have, well, that would be the solution to my problems.

That would not get you out of this mess. It would just cause a different mess. Once God has spoken, this is verse 11, once God has spoken, twice have

I heard this, that power belongs to God. And that to you,

O Lord, belongs steadfast love, for you will render to a man according to his work.

I preached to my church on Sunday that whenever I go through a trial or a circumstance or some sort of conflict, when

I come out of that conflict, what I want to be asking myself is not, did I win? Like, did

I come up with the best arguments? Did I crush that person and come out the victor? That's not what

I want. When I go through a conflict, what I want to examine is, did

I behave myself like Christ? When I was reviled, as it says in 1 Peter 2, when

I was reviled, did I revile back or did I do as Christ did and continue to entrust myself to him who judges justly?

I want to be Christ -like in all circumstances, whether I am abounding in much or I am languishing with little and I am in trial and persecution, may

I still behave as Christ in the midst of these things and rely upon God for true power belongs to him.

And he searches mind and heart and even we who are being oppressed by another are still going to have to answer for our words and our behavior and our actions in the midst of those difficult circumstances.

The person who is oppressed is not automatically the innocent one. We must still continue to entrust ourselves to him who judges justly.

Do you understand? Does it make sense to you? Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, you are so good to us and you have given us forgiveness in Christ and I pray that we not only seek forgiveness for our sins, but we also behave in a forgiving way toward other people.

We hold no grudges, but we forgive. We even have an attitude of forgiveness before someone has done us wrong so that we may show grace to one another.

We may show kindness to those who may not be kind to us, for God was kind to us when we did not have kindness to him.

Romans 5, 8, God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

So let us continue to live according to that sacrifice in faithfulness to our God and King who purchased us by the giving of his blood.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You can find a complete list of videos, books, devotionals, and other resources online at www .tt