THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LVII. Trusting The Most High To Conquer For Us

(Psalm 57:1-11)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Like David when he fled from king Saul, it often seems like we are hiding in a cave from hotly pursuing foes:

(1) We face it from the federal government: (a) “President Biden has . . . issued an executive order . . . to make the federal government a frank instrument of a racialized radicalism . . . (T)he departments and agencies involved . . . are meant to serve the public at large,” but “Biden is changing, or at least distorting their missions, and diverting some portion of their resources to a goal never authorized – or imagined – by Congress.” (Rich Lowry, “Biden’s push to radicalize federal bureaucracy,” Ibid., Feb. 24, 2023, p. 8A) (b) “ . . . FBI whistleblowers” show that “the FBI has been sicced onto parents at school board meetings and traditional Catholics who go to Latin Mass” as “domestic terrorists,” and “whistleblowers, free speech lawsuits and Twitter Files . . . have revealed that the FBI has been colluding with Big Tech to censor the speech of Americans who criticize the Biden administration.” (Miranda Devine, “Wokey leaks at the FBI,” New York Post, Feb. 27, 2023, p. 15) (c) “Gun violence is a societal issue, resulting from a lack of structure, discipline, love and education . . . largely due to our social-welfare programs, which for over 60 years have given financial aid largely to single mothers, eliminating fathers from the family structure and absolving them from parental responsibility . . . (I)t’s no wonder we have so many young people with serious behavioral issues.” (Pam Salamone, “GOP must identity sources of violence,” Ibid., Republican-American, Feb. 22, 2023, p. 7A)

(2) We face it from the medical field: (a) “The Atlantic noted Feb. 13, ‘a rigorous assessment of 78 studies was published by Cochrane, an independent policy institution that has become well known for its reviews. The review’s authors found ‘little to no’ evidence that masking at the population level reduced COVID infections, concluding that there is ‘uncertainty about the effects of face masks.’ That result held when the researchers compared surgical masks with N 95 masks, and when they compared surgical masks with nothing.” (“Pandemic orthodoxy takes another hit,” Ibid., February 27, 2023, p. 8A) (b) Also, a “report from NBC News” claims: “‘Immunity acquired from a (COVID-19) infection provides strong, lasting protection against the most severe outcomes of the illness, according to research published Thursday by The Lancet – protection experts say, that’s on par with what’s provided through two doses of an mRNA vaccine.’” (Ibid.) Nevertheless, “It wasn’t so long ago that social-media companies were banning users, at the behest of the ‘expert’ class, for acknowledging the effects of natural immunity.” (Ibid.)

(3) We face it from influential but errant evangelicals: Pastor Rick “Warren . . . made an emotional speech in June 2022 at the Southern Baptists’ annual convention . . . standing by his ordination of women.” (Peter Smith, “Megachurch mulls appeal of ouster over woman pastor,” Ibid., February 24, 2023, p. 3B) “Warren, with a social media following in the millions . . . (i)n 2005” was named by “Time magazine” as “one of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World,’ and he delivered the invocation at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.” (Ibid.) The Executive Committee of the SBC is siding with Paul’s 1 Timothy 2:12 directive, claiming that “‘the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture,’” so it ousted Warren’s Saddleback Church from the convention regardless if it has 30,000 weekly attenders who meet on 14 campuses, Ibid. Yet, the pressure is on for the largest evangelical denomination in America to compromise Scripture on this issue, for “Saddleback elders said in a statement” that they will respond to the SBC’s Executive Committee decision, stating: “‘We will engage and respond through the proper channels at the appropriate time in hopes to serve other like-minded Bible believing SBC churches.’” (Ibid.)

Need: So, we ask, “How should we handle feeling like David when he hid in a cave from hotly pursuing foes?!”

I. The introductory notes of Psalm 57, part of the Hebrew text (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 1024), state that David composed this psalm when he fled from Saul and hid in a cave.

II. In Psalm 57, David cried out for God’s deliverance in verses 1-6 followed by a contrasting expression of praise in verses 7-11 for God’s expected rescue. (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Psalm 57)

A. In his prayer for deliverance, David exposed the battle he had over his fear of harm from Saul and his army:

1. David cried out to the Lord for His mercy (v. 1a) and sought refuge from his humanly overpowering foes much like a helpless chick that hides under the wings of its mother bird, Psalm 57:1b.

2. He claimed that his life was threatened by pursuers who were inflamed with hatred against him, Psa. 57:4.

B. However, in great contrast, David in verses 7-11 triumphantly claimed that his heart was steadfastly trusting in the Lord (v. 7a), that he would yet sing and praise God for His deliverance (v. 7b), that he would awaken the dawn with harp and lyre as he sang to the Lord, v. 8. David confidently added that he would one day praise the Lord among people groups, confident of God’s deliverance from his plight in the cave, Psalm 57:9.

C. David professed that God’s “loyal love” (hesed, Ibid., Kittel) reached to the heavens and His “faithfulness” (‘emet, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 54) to the “clouds” (shahaq, Ibid., p. 1007), v. 10, the physical opposite of the underground cave where he had hunkered down to hide from Saul!

III. The basis for David’s assurance of God’s deliverance regardless of his concerns is given in Psalm 57:2:

A. First, David called God the “Most High,” ‘El ‘Elyon, (Ibid., Kittel), and wherever this title occurs in the Old Testament, God is victorious over the wicked or He gives His people victory over them, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 751.

B. Also, this “Most High” God “completes, accomplishes” (gamar, Ibid., p. 170) that which “regards, concerns” (‘al, Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 752-758) “me” [David].

C. Applied to David’s crisis of hiding from Saul, David trusted that (1) the Most High Who is always victorious over the wicked and Who gave His people victory over them would give David victory over Saul, (2) for the Most High purposed that David would be king based on His anointing of him to that end in 1 Samuel 16.

Lesson: Though hunkered down in a cave hiding from hotly pursuing, hateful foes, David overcame his fear of harm to rejoice assertively in God’s coming deliverance due to David’s knowledge that El Elyon, the Most High God Who gave his people victory over the wicked, would deliver him to fulfill El Elyon’s predicted destiny for him.

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 overcome concerns about hotly pursuing foes by trusting in our Most High God’s Biblical purposes regarding our personal destinies.

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

We apply this sermon’s lesson to the issues of concern mentioned in our introduction (as follows):

(1) On the president’s effort racially to radicalize the federal government, (a) Daniel 2: 41-44 predicts that this effort will fail, for Western Civilization will remain racially divided even into the Tribulation period after the Church is raptured. (b) Meanwhile, we must love all men (Romans 13:8) and (c) not feel guilty when charged as “white supremacists” for succeeding in life, for 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 teaches that God values all believers by His spiritual gifts for service to each one, and Proverbs 10:4 and 12:24 claim that diligence makes anyone rich and a leader.

(2) On the FBI’s censoring free speech and opposing conservatives as domestic terrorists, God in 1 Peter 2:11-17 calls us to live down such slander by living as law-abiding citizens.

(3) On the influence that the government’s welfare system has in breaking down the family and law and order, 2 Thessalonians 3:10 directs us to work for a living, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 tell us to do so independently to avoid material need and to have a good testimony and 1 Timothy 5:8 calls heads of households to support their dependents.

(4) On the medical field’s COVID-19 directives to wear masks and get mRNA vaccines over sanctioning natural immunity as shown by 78 studies to be in error, (a) we can heed 1 Timothy 5:23 to use home remedies as a first priority along with sensible good diets, hygiene, etc. by application, and (b) we can heed Proverbs 3:13-18 to get wisdom that starts with a respect for God (Proverbs 1:7) that we might live a relative long life, Proverbs 3:13-18.

(5) On influential Pastor Rick Warren and his big Saddleback Church touting the ordination of women, (a) we must obey 1 Timothy 2:12-15 and not let women teach or exercise authority over men but make homemaking their key focus. (b) Also, we should not try to grow a big church like Saddleback Church, for it plays into Satan’s plan as Jesus noted in Matthew 13:1-52: Christ there predicted that (+) a minority of people in churches would respond to Bible truth (Sower, Matthew 13:1-23), and even among them would be varying degrees of reception (30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold, v. 23). (+) Satan will take advantage of the cover provided by spiritually weak people in churches secretly to “plant” unbelievers among weak believers, and God will not uproot the unbelievers lest it upset the discipling of weak believers (Tares, Matthew 13:24-30). (+) Satan will then foster vast numerical and organizational growth of this group of believers and unbelievers (Mustard Seed, Matthew 13:31-32) so as to (+) corrupt it with error (Matthew 13:33, Leaven) and sabotage true discipling. (+) To overcome amid such Satanic activity, God calls His servants not to get distracted by Satan’s efforts but to acquire and expound Old and New Testament truths to believers (Hid Treasure = O. T. truths, Matthew 13:44 and Pearl = N. T. truths, Matthew 13:45-46 and the Householder parable, Matthew 13:51-52]) (+) with God’s promise that in eternity, He will separate the unsaved from the saved (Dragnet, Matthew 13:47-50). (+) God will then greatly reward His obedient servants (Matthew 13:43, 51-52).

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 trust the Most High God to give us victory in achieving His planned destinies for us.