THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XLI. Handling Treachery

(Psalm 41:1-13)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

We face a lot of deceptive and powerful treachery today, and we need to know how to handle it:

(1) We face it in the threat of the collusion of Big Government and Big Tech: Steven W. Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, in the New York Post September 18 warned, “‘Americans should be . . . afraid of collusion between Big Government and Big Tech,” for it “provides endless opportunities to plant destructive viruses in our minds . . . to which we have no natural immunity.’” (“Quotable,” Republican-American, Sept. 19, 2020, p. 8A)

(2) We face it in our elections: “New Haven and Hartford,” being sanctuary cities, “obstruct enforcement of federal immigration law and issue identification cards to illegal immigrants” while “the state’s enrollment process” for voting “does not require documentation of citizenship. . . People registering to vote need only claim that they are citizens. Registrars don’t ask for proof.” (Chris Powell, “Connecticut has voter fraud,” Ibid., Sept. 22, 2020, p. 8A)

(3) We face it in the student loan forgiveness program: Not only has House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denied that her fellow Democrat and President Joe Biden has the authority to carry out the program (“Rein in executive power,” Ibid., October 4, 2022, p. 6A), his plan costs “two to three times the expected price,” and “(i)nstitutions of higher education have gobbled up . . . student loan cash and . . . spent it largely on administrators, who . . . have outnumbered teachers” and whose “main work seems to be regulating premarital sex, suppressing speech and stamping out dissenting thought.” (Michael Barone, “Loan forgiveness: A payoff to the woke,” Ibid., Sept. 6, 2022, p. 8A)

(4) We face it in speeches by some of our elected officials: (a) “Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii” said in a pro-abortion speech on the Senate floor that her “remarks were ‘literally a call to arms in our country.’” (“Furthermore: A Call to Arms?”, Ibid., September 20, 2022, p. 6A) The Republican-American editor expressed alarm over this call, for U. S. Supreme Court “Justice Brett Kavanaugh was nearly killed by a pro-abortion zealot and there have been over 40 attacks this year on pregnancy centers that refuse to perform abortions.” (b) Also, “(w)hen Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., claimed Republican policies would kill people, James Hodgkinson, a former Sanders campaign volunteer, responded by shooting up a baseball field full of Republicans, nearly killing Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.” (Ibid.)

(5) We face it with regard to the economy: (a) Marc A. Thiessen’s piece, “Why would Biden add more inflation?” (Republican-American, July 14, 2022, p. 6A) reported, “One of the main reasons inflation is skyrocketing is because Biden’s first act as president was to pass nearly $1.9 trillion in social spending disguised as pandemic relief.” (b) As a result, “high inflation” has now “swept the world,” and “the Federal Reserve and other central banks will likely keep pushing interest rates higher to slow their economies in hopes of pushing down inflation.” (“Wall Street drops back to lowest since 2020,” Ibid., September 30, 2022, p. 5B) (c) However, “(b)y doing that,” they “also” risk “recessions if they go too far” (Ibid.) or worse (d) as a recent “Rasmussen” poll “finds that 57% of Americans are expecting a depression.” (“Quotable,” Ibid, October 3, 2022, p. 8A, citing John Hinderaker, powerlineblog.com, Sept. 28, “Mister, Can You Spare a Dime?”) Thus, by spending $1.9 trillion in social spending disguised as pandemic relief, the president has set in motion events that lead most Americans to think that they will experience a depression.

(6) We face it in the mainstream media: it exploited “the devastation of Hurricane Ian” to try “to prove” that alleged catastrophic “global warming” that is allegedly caused by burning fossil fuels is upon us. The “Associated Press” claimed, “‘Hurricane Ian gets nasty quickly, turbocharged by warm water’ . . . which has always been true since the first hurricane formed,” and “(m)ore ‘climate havoc,’” exclaimed “The New York Times, as Ian” threatened “to hit the same exact places that storms have always hit.” (David Harsanyi, “Dems never let a disaster go to waste,” Ibid.) The mainstream media failed to report that “the frequency of hurricanes has slightly declined since 1900,” that the 1900 “Great Galveston hurricane, which hit eight years before Model Ts began emitting carbon into the atmosphere . . . likely killed somewhere around 10,000 people in Texas,” and that “(t)he 1926 Great Miami hurricane killed 372, causing an estimated, inflation-adjusted $164 billion in damage,” Ibid.

Need: So, we ask, “How does God want us to handle all the deceptive and powerful treachery that we face?!”

I. Psalm 41 is a lesson based on a prayer for God’s deliverance from “treachery” (B. K. C., O. T., p. 824), and Psalm 41:1-3 presents God’s promise to deliver from treachery those who have given “caring attention” (sakal, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 968) to others who “materially lack and are socially not influential” (dal, Ibid., p. 195; H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, v. I, p. 190).

II. David had evidently practiced these good deeds, so he asked God to deliver him from treachery, v. 4-10:

A. David described the trials of treachery that he faced in Psalm 41:4-9: His enemies hoped that he would die (v. 4-5), he faced deceptive and secret slander (v. 6-8), and a close friend had betrayed him. (v. 9)

B. Accordingly, David called upon the Lord to deliver him from this treachery, Psalm 41:10.

III. The Lord then gave David encouraging signals to signify that He would indeed deliver him, Ps. 41:11-12:

A. God assured David of His coming deliverance by not letting David’s enemies triumph over him, Psalm 41:11.

B. The Lord also assured David that He would help him by supportively upholding him in his trial, Psalm 41:12.

IV. Consequently, David praised the Lord for the encouragement of His anticipated deliverance, Psa. 41:13.

Lesson: David had given caring attention to those who materially lacked and were socially not influential, so he called on God expecting Him to rescue him from treachery, and God signaled that He would do so by not letting David’s foes triumph over him and by supporting him in his trials. David then praised God for His deliverance.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we give caring attention to those who materially lack and are socially not influential that we might call on God, expecting Him to deliver us from treachery. God will signal that He will deliver us by not letting our foes defeat us and by supporting us so that we might praise Him.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and provide additional guidance . . .)

Scripture offers more edifying insight on God’s support for the godly on each issue noted in our introduction:

(1) On the collusion between Big Government and Big Tech that threatens to plant harmful viruses in our minds “to which we have no natural immunity” (Ibid., Mosher; emphasis ours), (a) Jesus in John 8:31-36 said that those who heed His Word would know the spiritual truth, and that it would free them from bondage to having to sin. (b) Also, Satan who controls the world cannot touch a believer’s new life in Christ, 1 John 5:18b-19 ESV. Thus, no mental “virus” by Big Government in collusion with Big Tech can pierce God’s supernatural mental shield of godly people so that though they may not be aware of all the “virus” stuff heading their way, they will still avoid sinning!

(2) On the treachery we face in our elections, Psalm 4:6-8 claims that though many may say that no one will show us believers in Scripture’s God any good, the Lord will encourage and make us glad so that we can lie down and sleep in peace, for only God makes us to dwell in safety.

(3) On the treachery of the student loan forgiveness program, (a) no matter what officials do, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 calls us to work independent of others to have a good testimony and not be in any need! This order implies that doing these things will cause our personal needs to be met regardless of government actions! (b) As for the use of student loan money by schools to hire administrators whose “main work seems to be regulating premarital sex, suppressing speech and stamping out dissenting thought” (Ibid., Barone), Proverbs 1:1, 4 teaches that Scripture gives “open-minded; undecided in views and easily misled” people (peti, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 834) “shrewdness; prudence” (‘armah, p. 791). A student who knows Christ as his Savior merely needs to heed Scripture to avoid being misled!

(4) On the use of treacherous speech by elected officials, Psalm 119:23-24 NIV promises that even if princes were to convene together to produce slander against a believer, if that believer meditates on God’s Word, God’s statutes will be both his delight and also his counselors to advise him on withstanding the harmful efforts of officials.

(5) On the treachery we face with the economy due to high government spending that fuels inflation and the reactionary raising of interest rates with resulting hardships that lead most Americans to think they are headed for a depression, (a) Hebrews 13:5-6 directs that if we are content with what we already have, God will meet our material needs no matter what others like government officials do. (b) Also, Paul in Philippians 4:11-13 testified that he had learned to function with an abundance and also with a lack of provisions, to do both through Christ Who strengthened him. (c) Finally, we can apply Proverbs 11:14 to heed the advice of godly believers who faced the Great Depression, and they testify of our need to “make do” with what we have,to minimize our need to spend money!

(6) On the mainstream media’s exploitation of Hurricane Ian to promote climate change alarmist ideology, as we have often stated, and what we will continue to state as long as climate change alarmism is being so heavily pushed, in Genesis 8:22, God promised that we would face “cold and heat,” “summer and winter,” and “seedtime and harvest,” a climate with temperature variations to be sure, but a climate still capable of crop production for our survival, and that as long as the earth exists! Thus, climate change catastrophism is an utterly false ideology!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we give caring attention to those who are materially and socially lacking that we might call on God for deliverance from treachery, and may we look to Scripture for the truth and encouragement in it all.