Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19970209.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Sixty - Teaching Us How A REAL Faith In God Operates
(Psalm 60:1-12)
  1. Introduction
    1. Jesus told His disciples in Mark 11:23-24 that if they were to say to the Mount of Olives, "be thou cast into the (Dead) sea (visible from the spot)," and believed it, the mountain would go, B.K.C., N.T., p. 158.
    2. However, that could NOT actually have happened then, for the Mount of Olives has to remain until Christ's feet to touch it at His Second Coming, cf. Zechariah 14:4-5. In effect, Jesus was emphasizing the need for faith WITHOUT adding another key requirement for success in a life of faith.
    3. Psalm Sixty aims to teach us what that key ingredient is so that we can have a workable faith for blessing!
  2. Teaching Us How A REAL Faith In God Operates, Psalm 60:1-12.
    1. The introductory notes of the sixtieth psalm are part of the text of the Hebrew Bible, and present important historical data. This section notes that David wrote the psalm mainly to teach, "For teaching" (NIV)!
    2. If we view the psalm's historical and literary contexts, we learn a big lesson in living by faith as follows:
      1. When the event of national distress occurred in Israel, it was a matter of great alarm as it seemed confusing in view of other experiences of VICTORY David had just enjoyed!
        1. The battle in Psalm 60 where Joab "returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt" as the psalm's introductory notes relate occurred after David had gained victories in the far north, 2 Samuel 8:3-12.
        2. Apparently the Edomites south of Israel had felt David was so preoccupied fighting up near the distant Euphrates that they could successfully invade Israel from the south, Leupold, Psalms, p. 448!
        3. Thus, David was alarmed at how contradictory it seemed for God to supply victories for David in the north while allowing this calamity of Edomite invasion in the south! David called out to God, lamenting that He had shown Israel hard times, Psalm 60:1-4! As Allan Ross writes, "Israel was championing God's cause, but God was letting them get defeated." (Ibid, B.K.C., O.T., p. 838)
      2. Then David instructed his readers on how to handle this difficult situation:
        1. Verse five begins with the Hebrew word, lema'an, which interpreted means, " (In view of what I have just said, I said it) in order that . . . ", cf. B.D.B., Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 775.
        2. The stated purpose following this word is David's call for God to deliver His covenant people, 60:5.
        3. The CONFIDENCE behind this request was what God's PROMISE had stated regarding Israel's possessing the land Edom had just invaded, and of her conquering Edomite pressures: (a) David quoted in verses 6-8 an edict God had made known to him during his life; (b) that divine edict predicted that God would give Israel both the uplands of Shechem and the lowlands of the Jordan Valley to Israel (Vale of Succoth), and the East Ban k of the Jordan (Gilead) and its corresponding Western Bank (the tribe of Manasseh being partially on both banks) along with Ephraem (on the West Bank), v. 7a,b. (c) Also, the tribe of Judah would wield the scepter, and since David was from Judah and was Israel's king, he expected from this promise to be the instrument to claim that land that Edom had now invaded, Ps. 60:7c! (d) In fact, God had promised victory over the Moabites, Philistines and over EDOM, Ps. 60:8!
        4. Thus, based on God's PROMISE, David knew God had to give him victory over Edom's invaders even though he did not know why God had allowed them to invade in the south in the first place!
        5. Thus, David closed Psalm 60 by expressing his confidence that God would give him victory, 60:9-12.
      3. God honored this request and gave a great victory to David's military commanders. God honored David in this victory, giving him great fame as a result, cf. 2 Sam. 8:13-15!
Lesson: To enjoy God's fullest blessing in a life of faith, our tendency to interpret circumstances as a basis for decision-making must play SECOND FIDDLE to the clearly stated WORDS of God! As the saying goes, "God said it, I believe it, and that SETTLES it!" That should be our practice!

Application: (1) Beyond BELIEVING in HIM, God wants us to learn to believe His WORD regarding His WILL for us in life and OBEY it regardless of our own judgment in life's events. (2) God may allow threatening and experientially CONFUSING events to happen to us in an effort to wean us from relying on our own interpretation of life's experiences and choose instead to obey His W ORD!