THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LXIV. Handling Destructive Conspiracies

(Psalm 64:1-10)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Disputed conspiracy theories abound today, but some conspiracies are clearly true, brazen, and destructive:

(1) It occurs with the woke movement’s fixation on white supremacy: David Strom’s April 26 Hot Air column, “Insanity is being normalized” (“Quotable,” Republican-American, April 27, 2023, p. 6A) reported, “‘I have had’” a “‘conversation with a critical theorist in grad school who claimed gravity was an expression of white supremacy, but none of these people jump out of windows believing they won’t hit the ground. They don’t act like they believe what they say, because they don’t.’”

(2) It occurs with the left’s mistreatment of attorneys who represent conservative clients: “The left . . . has been quietly and effectively” using “courts as well as legal rules and procedures to secure public-policy victories” to punish “attorneys who dare to represent conservative clients . . . Legal analyst David Lat told the (Free Beacon) outlet that ‘lawmakers who do want to take on conservative clients often end up leaving their firms, with varying degrees of voluntariness’ . . .When being openly conservative is deemed unacceptable by every major power center from Fortune 500 companies to major media outlets and even the court system, true fairness and justice cannot exist.” (“Making justice impossible,” Ibid., April 19, 2023, p. 8A; parentheses ours)

(3) It occurs with the progressives’ mistreatment of Supreme Court justices that they target as “conservatives”: “As with ProPublica’s recent smear of Clarence Thomas, there’s a lot of excitement across the left-wing Twittersphere over a Politico hit on Neil Gorsuch . . . (He) broke no law and did nothing that a good-faith observer could deem unethical. So, the piece, much like the coverage of Thomas’ friendship with Harlan Crow, tries to cover up its lack of substantiation with a veneer of vaguely journalistic-sounding verbiage . . . The only thing that matters [to the left] is creating the perception that ‘conservative’ justices – as if that explains Gorsuch’s legal philosophy – are corrupt . . . It’s all part of a concerted effort to delegitimize a Supreme Court that still occasionally upholds a semblance of constitutional limits on the state, the one thing still standing in the way of progressive project.” (David Harsanyi, “Another supreme court hit job,” Ibid., May 1, 2023, p. 6A; brackets ours)

(4) It occurs with the president’s promotion of Marxism: “President Biden . . . is proposing . . . forcing” the “(h)omebuyers with good credit scores . . . to pay higher mortgage rates and fees to subsidize people with riskier credit ratings . . . (T)he policy makes perfect sense . . . (f)or a political party whose economic policies are based not on growing wealth but on courting voters who support the way the party shifts money around . . . The goal is not to elevate the underclass, but to perpetuate its existence as a client base for the party . . . (T)he game” is to “(u)pend the economic incentive structure, force the middle class to bear the brunt of your backward policies, and use the fallout as an excuse to further expand government power.” (“Mr. Biden’s sneaky socialism,” Ibid., April 24, 2023, p. 6A)

Need: So, we ask, “How should we constructively respond to brazen, harmful conspiracies that obviously exist?!”

I. Psalm 64:1-6 describes a brash conspiracy by David’s wicked foes to implement a plan to destroy him:

A. David asked God to guard his life from the secret plan that his foes were making against him, Psalm 64:1-2.

B. Those enemies were sharpening their speech like swords and aiming their words like deadly arrows, planning to ambush David suddenly and without fear of reprisal, Psalm 64:3-4.

C. They even encouraged one another in their evil plan, they spoke of hiding their snares against David and said, “Who will see them?” as if they had no accountability to anyone for their wicked scheme, Psalm 64:5 NIV.

D. David’s enemies were so sure of the success of their evil plan that they said, “We have devised a perfect plan!” to which David responded by claiming that the heart of wicked man was “deep, unsearchable” (‘amoq, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 771) in its cunning. (Psalm 64:6 NIV)

II. However, God was greater than David’s foes, so he relied on the Lord to punish them, Psalm 64:7-10:

A. David figuratively claimed that though his enemies had aimed their words at him like deadly arrows (v. 3), God would figuratively shoot at his foes with arrows, suddenly striking them down, Psalm 64:7. He would cause those wicked enemies’ words to hurt themselves so that all who saw it happen would shake their heads in scorn, and all men would respect God, proclaim His works and ponder what He had done, Psalm 64:8-9.

B. The upright would have reason to rejoice in the Lord and “seek refuge” (hasah, Ibid., p. 340) in Him, and all the upright in heart would have cause to praise God, Psalm 64:10 NIV.

Lesson: David handled the brazen, harmful conspiracy of his foes by seeking refuge in God Who would cause his enemies’ own plan to hurt themselves that the upright might praise God and the Lord be glorified.

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 handle brazen, harmful conspiracies that clearly exist by relying on the Lord to cause the conspirators to be harmed by their own efforts to the glory of God.

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

While responding to brazen, harmful conspiracies by asking God for His deliverance, we also have Scripture insight on God’s practical guidance in dealing with the issues of concern mentioned in our introduction (as follows):

(1) On the claim by a woke critical theorist in grad school that gravity is an expression of white supremacy, Jeremiah 38:7-13 NIV records how Ebed-Melech, a black Ethiopian official in king Zedekiah’s court, rescued God’s prophet Jeremiah from a cistern where he had been imprisoned, and when Jeremiah’s feet were sunk in mire. Ebed-Melech acquired thirty men to help him pull Jeremiah out of the cistern by lowering ropes for the prophet to put under his armpits with rags between his armpits and the ropes to protect him from harm. So, a black Ethiopian official led thirty other men to pull hard against the force of gravity and the mire that held Jeremiah fast in the cistern to rescue God’s prophet! Thus, the woke claim that gravity is a white supremacist expression errs – just ask Ebed-Melech!

(2) On the left’s mistreatments of attorneys who dare to represent conservatives, Paul in 2 Timothy 4:16-18 reported how in his preliminary hearing before Emperor Nero, no one stood with him to defend him, for they feared the Roman ruler who was publicly persecuting Christians at the time. However, Paul testified that the Lord stood with him, giving him strength, so that through him the message of Christ might be fully proclaimed and that all the Gentiles might hear it. Paul also reported that he had been saved from the lion’s mouth where so many other believers were then being slain by lions in the Roman Coliseum, and Paul was confident that God would bring him safely to His heavenly kingdom without Paul’s failing the Lord by sinning against Him.

Likewise, if we ever face a court case where no attorney would be willing to represent us, the Lord will stand by our side, giving us the words to speak in accord with Christ’s promise in Matthew 10:17-20.

(3) On the left’s smearing of Supreme Court justices, and its undermining of the Judicial Branch of the federal government, Psalm 11:1-7 answers the fearful question doubters had asked David, namely, that if the foundations of society were destroyed, what could the righteous do (v. 3). David replied that God was on His heavenly throne, and He loves the upright, so all the righteous need to do is look to Him to provide the stability they need in society to fulfill God’s assignments for them. (cf. Psalm 138:8 ESV “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.”)

(4) On the president’s Marxist effort to force homebuyers with higher credit scores to pay higher mortgage interest and fees to subsidize homebuyers with lower scores, we once again apply 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 that calls us to earn a living independently to avoid material need. Applied to buying a home, we should limit our exposure to the Biden administration’s added costs to home loans. Thus, if we must get a home loan (as nearly everyone does!), (a) we can minimize our exposure to higher loan costs by (1) saving for a larger down payment and borrowing less to lower interest and fee costs, (2) applying for a shorter loan term (15 versus 30 years) to lessen total interest payouts, (3) prepaying (paying more per month than the mortgage requires) to shorten the term of the loan and lessen total interest payouts, (4) buying a less costly house or (5) one that costs less because it needs repairs that we as the buyer can perform, all to borrow less money and lower loan costs and (6) paying off other debts before getting a home loan to be better equipped to pay off the home loan. (b) In addition, we can minimize the harm of higher loan costs by heeding Proverbs 24:27 to acquire a good career that offers sufficient income before we buy a house. In today’s era, this involves (1) choosing a time-tested career that offers good income, and long-term security (Proverbs 12:11), (2) obtaining the technical training or higher education to be qualified to enter a good career field, and (3) practicing self-discipline in working in our career field in order to maximize productivity and income security, Proverbs 20:4. This last proverb is better rendered, “The sluggard will not plow from [the start of] winter [on] . . .” that implied the need for farmers in ancient Israel to succeed in gaining a harvest by waiting for the October-November rains to start plowing and then planting the winter crops. The sluggard postponed the plowing and planting work due to the wet, cold weather, so he failed to acquire an adequate harvest. However, a wise farmer understood the long-term value of plowing and planting in rough weather, so he disciplined himself to perform these tasks in unpleasant weather so that he eventually acquired a good harvest and met his livelihood needs. (Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Proverbs 20:4).

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 then handle obvious, brazen, harmful conspiracies by calling on God for help and heeding His Biblical advice on living wisely in today’s world.