THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LXVIII. God’s Triumphs On Behalf Of The Oppressed, Psalm 68:1-35

B. God’s Help For The Burdened

(Psalm 68:7-19)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

We face two major burdens in today’s world – livelihood instability and foes to our welfare:

(1) As for livelihood instability, (a) days before failing to send checks “to Social Security recipients, veterans and others” and creating “financial upheaval at home and abroad,” Congress and President Biden signed a debt ceiling and budget-cutting bill. (“House on track to raise debt ceiling,” Republican-American, June 1, 2023, p. 9A) However, the nation’s debt ceiling is now set for $20 trillion due to the failure of officials for decades to solve our nation’s debt! (b) It occurs at the state level: “Liberal Democrats in the (Connecticut) state legislature are . . . proposing to run the unfunded pension liabilities back up and extend them over many more years during which taxpayers not yet born will pay for them . . .” (Chris Powell, “State has bad spending priorities, not a ‘budget crisis,’” Ibid., June 6, 2023, p. 6A).

(2) As for foes to our welfare, (a) “Parents in Granby,” Connecticut “attended a Board of Education meeting at town hall Wednesday to discuss a Pride Month video shown to students at Wells Road Intermediate School” without parental knowledge or consent. (Lesley Cosme Torrea, “Granby parents meet with school board to discuss pride video shown in school,” June 7, 2023; ctpublic.org/news) The video had “elementary school aged kids” telling “the gender identity they feel most comfortable with and” expressing “what it’s like to have LGBTQ parents.” (Ibid.) In addition, the preadolescent “children” who were shown the video were then “sent home with puberty kits.” (Ibid.)

(3) We face foes to our welfare at the personal level: Last week, I learned about a woman who married an evangelical pastor’s son only to learn after the wedding that her husband was controlling and emotionally abusive. She then discovered that her father-in-law, the pastor, was also controlling and emotionally abusive, and he has turned the entire church against her in sanctioning his son’s efforts to divorce her and to obtain custody of their children!

Need: So, we ask, “How can we effectively deal with the big burdens of livelihood issues and foes that we face?!”

I. Psalm 68:7-18 “celebrates God’s victorious march from Egypt to Jerusalem” in the Exodus (Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Psa. 68) during the procession of the ark to Jerusalem, B. K. C., O. T., p. 842.

II. Two major needs that Israel faced and that God met in the Exodus were the nation’s needs for food and protection from her enemies, what Psalm 68:7-18 reported and testified (as follows):

A. God met Israel’s livelihood needs in the Exodus, Psalm 68:7-10: When He led Israel in the wilderness, the earth shook at His glory on Mount Sinai (Psalm 68:7-8a with Exodus 19:18) and the heavens figuratively poured down with abundant showers of quails and manna for His people to refresh them and to meet their needs for food, Psalm 68:8b-10 NIV with Exodus 16:35; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Psalm 68:9!

B. God met Israel’s need of protection from her foes in the Exodus and her conquest of Canaan, Psalm 68:11-18:

1. When God gave the word for Israel’s enemies to be defeated, great was the “company” of those who proclaimed it, Psalm 68:11. The Hebrew word rendered “company” is the Qal plural feminine participle mebasserot from the verb basar, “bear tidings,” and it refers to Israel’s women who sang of the victories of Israel’s battles; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Psalm 68:11; B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 142.

2. In Canaan, kings of armies fled before Israel, and her warriors divided the plunder in their camps (Psalm 68:12). Even when some of Israel’s men in the later era of the judges slept among the sheepfolds, refusing to go to battle (Judges 5:16; Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 843; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Psalm 68:13), God caused Israel to prosper like a dove with wings sheathed in silver and its feathers with gold, Psalm 68:13.

3. “When God dispersed the kings of Canaan, it was like snowflakes driven by the wind (or melting) against the dark wooded slopes of Salmon (a hill near Shechem),” Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Psalm 68:14.

4. Psalm 68:15-18 “speak of the Lord’s choosing Zion above other mountains and of His triumphant entry into it like a conqueror” in the psalm’s procession of the ark of God, Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T.

III. In a summary application of this part of Psalm 68, Psalm 68:19 offers a comprehensive praise of God:

A. The Hebrew word for “Lord” in verse 19 is ‘Adonai, and it means “my Master” (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1032; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 10-11), the personal God of David Whom God’s people Israel were to serve.

B. However, Israel’s Master Himself graciously “carries the load” (ya’amas, from ‘amas, Ibid., p. 770) “pertaining to us” (lanu, Ibid., Kittel) His servants, for their burdens are too great for God’s servants to bear!

C. Also, their Master daily bears the burdens His people cannot bear, the idiom, yom yom, “day day” translating into our idiomatic expression of “day by day,” Ibid., Kittel; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 398-401.

D. This Master of His people is able faithfully to bear His people’s burdens, for He is ‘Elohim, the “Creator God” of Genesis 1:1-31 (Ibid., Kittel, p. 1-2) Who made the entire universe out of nothing (Hebrews 11:3), Who also is their Yeshu’ah, their “Deliverance” (Ibid., Kittel, p. 1032; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 447) from trouble!

Lesson: Israel’s great livelihood needs and her needs in handling her foes in her wilderness journey and conquest of Canaan were all met by her Master, Creator and Deliverance – God, for He in infinite ability and deliverance graciously daily carried the load of these issues of concern that His people could not bear for themselves.

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) For issues of livelihood and handling foes in today’s world, may we trust in our Master, Creator and Salvation – God, for He in infinite ability and deliverance graciously not only can, but is also willing to carry the load of these issues of concern that we ourselves cannot bear.

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

Our sermon lesson noted that God provided manna to meet Israel’s livelihood needs and He gave Israel victory over her enemies in battle. However, though providing for these needs, God gave Israel instructions that required responsible actions on Israel’s part for God to bless His people in meeting these needs, and we learn from those instructions patterns of responsible behavior that God expects us to apply as He addresses our needs today:

(1) As for the issue of livelihood needs, (a) when God put His food provision for Israel of manna on the ground each morning for 40 years, His people were to collect it each day before the wilderness sun melted it (Exodus 16:14-21)! God thus wants us every morning to get up and go to work to meet our livelihood needs (2 Thessalonians 3:10). (b) As each person had enough manna for his food needs (Exodus 16:18), God wants us to live within our assigned means, not to practice deficit spending in worldly lust like the federal and state government leaders do!

(2) As for facing foes in public schools who promote Pride Month videos to preadolescent children without their parents’ knowledge and then send the children home with puberty kits, (a) 1 Corinthians 6:9 KJV condemns the “effeminate” and “abusers of themselves with mankind,” expressions that refer both to the orientations and to the lifestyles of “homosexuals, the first to those who allow themselves to be used unnaturally, and the second, to active homosexuals,” and 1 Corinthians 6:11 reports that some of Paul’s readers were washed, sanctified, and justified from such orientations and lifestyles. (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to 1 Cor. 6:9) Thus, all LGBTQ+ orientations and lifestyles are sin! (b) Also, Ephesians 6:1-4 calls parents to rear their children, not any other entity! (c) Since parents have the choice before God of using public schooling, Christian schooling or home schooling venues, if they use even today’s public schooling venue, they can still disciple their children by (+) intercessory prayer for their children, (+) by leading their children to receive Christ as Savior (John 3:16) that become indwelt by God the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9b) (+) and then to teach their children to rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit and Scripture for needed discernment (Galatians 5:16 with 1 Corinthians 2:12-15 and Psalm 119:11) and a complete intolerance of evil (1 Samuel 11:1-7).

(3) As for facing conflicts with abusive foes at the personal level, Deuteronomy 20:1-20 provided plans and actions for Israel’s army to take before, during, and after their battles. Applying these actions in principle, (a) as Moses told Israel’s men before their battles (+) not to fear but to trust God for victory (Deuteronomy 20:1-8), we must rely on the Holy Spirit for the discernment to identify carnal abusive people as 1 Corinthians 2:12-15 teaches. Such discernment keeps us from becoming vulnerable in friendship or getting married to an abusive party! (+) Moses also told the army that before it went to war, it was to organize itself (Deuteronomy 20:9), so before interacting with an abusive party, we must plan to set parameters of interaction with him to avoid needless conflict. (b) When then facing the abusive party, like Deuteronomy 20:10-18 directed, (+) we should first try to interact peacefully with the party, (+) but if that effort is unedifying, we must decisively, (c) and after that effort (+) permanently withdraw from the abusive party’s influence for our welfare, 2 Timothy 3:5! (The KJV “turn away” translates apotrepou, the middle imperative of apotrepo, “turn away from, avoid” (U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 735; The Analyt. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 48). The middle voice directs one’s need to turn away or to avoid the abuser as far as is necessary for one’s own welfare!) (+) Like Moses also implied in Deuteronomy 20:19-20, we should seek to avoid producing collateral damage to others around us if we do have to face an abusive party.

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 God as our All-Sufficient Source of alleviating our burdens of a livelihood and handling our foes, following His Biblical guidance on the responsibilities we are to have in each case.