Psalm 57 - Caveman Psalmist

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. It has been a little bit of a crazy day for me at time of recording.

I went through about eight hours worth of classes on sharing and defending the faith, and so my brain is full right now. So I'm excited to dive into Psalm 57 with y'all today.

I'll say on the outset, there is an amazing song from Psalm 57 that I have linked in the show notes from the worship initiative called Psalms from the Well.

And it was the worship initiative is a music group kind of headed up by Shane and Shane, Shane Bernard and Shane Everett down in Dallas, Texas.

A lot of the musicians are with Watermark Community Church down there, which is a good gospel preaching church.

And they a couple summers ago had a bunch of songwriters from across the country come on in, and they spent, I think it was about maybe six weeks or so, if I remember correctly, about six, seven weeks.

And they just dove into the Psalms and wrote a bunch of different songs. Wrote one on Psalm 19 that I love, More Precious Than Gold. They wrote one from Psalm 16.

Actually, I think they wrote two from Psalm 16, which is my favorite psalm, so I was all about that. They wrote one, I believe, from Psalm 119, just kind of all over. And I love that music album, and so I recommend it to you.

But they've got one from Psalm 57. So we're going to do the exact same thing we've been doing. We've got a passage of scripture we're going to be headed to in 1 Samuel.

All of these are kind of except for Psalm 51, which was from 2 Samuel 11, all the rest of these are kind of couched here in 1 Samuel, maybe like 19 through 23 or 24. We'll see where we get towards the end of the Psalm 50s.

But the inscription says this, for the choir director and the tune that they're supposed to do it to is Do Not Destroy. And this is a mictam of David, one of the golden Psalms. It says, When he fled before Saul into the cave.

So I've been over kind of what David's life circumstances were that he, God had had him defeat Goliath.

And so he had gotten favor with many in Israel, initially with Saul, so much so that he became Saul's son-in-law after killing 200 Philistines and Saul's son, David, Jonathan.

Though by many estimates, he would have been about 20 to 30 years older than David. He loved David like a brother.

And he had faith that what God had told David about him eventually becoming the king, all of that would happen in God's time and in God's way. And Jonathan was for it. He wasn't jealous even though Jonathan was next in line to be the king.

He didn't care. He wanted what God wanted. And he loved David and he wanted David to be on the throne because that was the will of God.

So as we read yesterday, this Psalm comes right on the heels of the story of the last Psalm where David, he's attacked by Saul. He freaks out. He goes to Gath, which was a city of the Philistines.

It was where Goliath was from and he acts crazy. He acts like he's no threat whatsoever to the Philistines. And for some reason, they don't kill him.

Well, I say for some reason, it's through the providence of God. They don't kill him. And so they just like send him away.

They're like, oh, well, what's up with the crazy person? First Samuel 22 and verse number one. So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adulam.

When David's brothers and his father's whole family heard, they went down and joined him there. Man, I'm thankful for that.

The last time that we saw David's brothers, they were kind of mocking him for saying that he could defeat Goliath through the Lord's help. They were like, you know, who did you leave your couple of sheep with? Aren't you supposed to be back home?

And so I'm glad that now they're following him and they're wanting to be joined up to him. It says his father's whole family. And God's initial design was that our families would be a place where it feels like Eden.

It's God's presence is there, God's goodness is there. You are able to enjoy and have help and completion within your family. And certainly the fall and sin has has messed a whole ton of that up.

I know many of you listening, you're like, yeah, the whole garden of Eden, perfection, completion, help, joy, fulfillment, none of that describes my family. But can I tell you, you might be able to give some of that to a family member.

It might not be that all of your family can do it. But you determine that when someone interacts with you, it will be like Eden.

It's going to be like that new kingdom that Jesus is bringing down and that we pray your kingdom come on earth just as it is in heaven.

And you operate as though you love and as you have act like you have abundance, act like you don't need anything from your family members, but that you were there to give, to love unconditionally, to laugh, to enjoy, to cry with, to work through and

solve problems together. You be like David's family here in this verse, where they're coming down and they know David's hurting, and so they're joining them.

Verse number two, in addition, every man who was desperate, in debt or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About 400 men were with him. I love this list.

I've heard a reference before. This is not like the list that would describe the people you would want. If you're building an army, all of the desperate people went to David.

All the people that were in debt went to David. All the people that were discontented, they went to David. And there was 400 of them.

And if this was what described these people, do you think that it was like just a really nice, great environment there? I think the writer of First Samuel here is showing us, this was not an ideal situation.

Certainly, there's some good things about family being there, but there's also like a whole possibility of trouble.

And even as there would be all of the running that would take place later at the end of First Samuel, you have where the men say that they're going to kill David after their wives and children are captured by the Amalekites.

And so these were some fickle guys. And we are not guaranteed like all good times are all happiness. Sometimes we're going to have to interact with troublesome people.

Sometimes those will be family members. Sometimes it'll be coworkers. Other times it'll be neighbors.

It might be your fellow church members. But be prepared to encounter people in your life that are desperate, in debt or discontented.

Verse number three, from there, David went to Misbah of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, please let my mother, please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.

So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold. Then the prophet Gad said to David, don't stay in the stronghold, leave and return to the land of Judah.

So David left and went to the forest of Horeth. I do think it's interesting there that David goes to the king of Moab, and on his father's side a few generations back, his ancestor Ruth was a Moabitess. And we went over Ruth several months ago.

Now I don't actually remember when we were there. But that is when David flees from Saul into the cave of Adulam. And this is what he prays to the Lord.

I'm turning my page real quick just so I can see how far we got. He says, Be gracious to me, God. Be gracious to me.

It's open in the same way he did last time. He says, For I take refuge in you. Just like I'm hiding in this cave, I am hiding in the Lord, trusting in him, relying on him to keep me safe.

He says, I will seek refuge in the shadow of your wings until danger passes. Now you might go, wait a second. God has wings?

Well, number one, God is the spirit. And so a lot of times in the Old Testament, when there's descriptions of God, something like this, like, hey, by your mighty arm, protect me. This is, let me see if I can get the term right.

I think it's an anthropomorphism that is something that is not human. So God is spirit, not flesh and blood, not material. Obviously, I'm not talking about Jesus here.

But the father in his eternal state does not have literal physical hands or wings.

Here it's saying, like, I am seeking refuge that just like, you know, a mother hen sweeps up her chicks under her wings and nothing's going to see them or find them there. David says, that's what I'm doing for you.

That's what I'm seeking from you, God. Like, will you cover me? Will you keep me hidden from Saul?

Danger is coming by and I need the Lord to cover me. And that is what we need from God for our ultimate salvation.

As we encounter, as we look at, as we anticipate sin and its effects and hell and death, we need to hide under the shadow of the wings of Christ. That his blood covers over us, it protects us.

That when that death angel comes by, so to speak, borrowing from Exodus, that he sees the blood of Christ and he passes over us and we are safe in him. What a good thing it is to find refuge, safety in the Lord.

Verse number two, I call to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He reaches down from heaven and saves me, challenging the one who tramples me, Salah. Man, I love those verses.

God has a purpose for me. God has a purpose for you today. And God is the one who fulfills his purpose in your life.

If you don't have to worry about maybe if you are good enough, if you are intelligent enough, if you're making like all the finite perfect decisions to be able to fulfill God's purposes in you, God will fulfill his purpose.

I think of Philippians chapter 2 and verse number 13. It is God who works in you both to will, to desire and to do of his good pleasure. God gives you both the desire to do what's good and he gives you the ability.

I think as well that God is the one that works all things according to his purpose, that we would be conformed to the image of Christ, that Jesus would be glorified and that our ultimate good would be realized. So God will fulfill his purpose in us.

He reaches down from heaven and saves us, is challenging the one who tramples us. Man, that's what Jesus did. He came down from heaven.

He saved us. And the one that was trampling us, that old serpent from the garden, the one that was trampling us, his head got crushed. And not only that, but God invites us in on that.

Romans Chapter 16, that the God of Peace will crush Satan under our feet shortly. I'm thankful that God has challenged the one who trampled us, and that he has saved us.

The end of verse 3, God sends his faithful love and truth, his hased, that steadfast covenant love that never leaves, and that loving kindness. Verse number 4, he says, I am surrounded by lions.

I lie down among devouring lions, people whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. God, be exalted above the heavens. Let your glory be over the whole earth.

They prepared a net for my steps. I was despondent. They dug a pit ahead of me, but they fell into it.

Salah. Here, as he talks about being surrounded by lions, he would have known what this was like. He tells Saul, like, yeah, I fought against a lion.

I fought against a bear. I've got my sling. And that was a formidable weapon.

Much like a gun would be today. I don't know if you all have seen videos of Middle Easterners using the same type of sling that David would have. It makes an amazing popping sound, by the way.

But here David says, I'm surrounded by these killers, people that have tongues of sharp swords, teeth of spears and arrows.

That is their words, how they talk about people, their tone, what they say they're going to do to people, how they talk about people. Everything is designed to kill, to bring down, to destroy. How do you talk about others?

How do you talk about the people you dislike? How do you talk about people that have done you wrong? Are you talking about them in a way that tears apart their dignity, that ruins them in the minds of others?

And maybe not like in a safety way of like, hey, don't go around this person. They will rob you, not in a safety way, but just in a kind of cruelty of speech, degradation of character. David says, this is who these people are.

This is what they do and what they're doing to me and all around me. Saul is doing this and Doeg is doing this and Akish and the Philistines are doing this. And I don't know where to turn God.

But instead of him just saying like God, maybe as he does in other places like God, destroy the enemies, you know, bring down, crush, trample the one who is trampling me. He says, God, let me see you glorified.

Like, act in such a way, save, rescue, put me in a new circumstance such that I am astonished by how amazing you are. There he says, God, be exalted above the heavens.

He says, God, you're not just like the other heavenly beings, the other Elohim, the spiritual ones. He says, God, you are far greater above the heavens.

I think of what God says, I think it's in Isaiah, as far as the heavens are above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts, that God is even higher than the highest of heights. There's an old Cathedral's quartet song, Champion of Love.

He is higher than the highest, greater than the great. No one can ever take his crown away. He is greater than the mightiest.

He reigns from above. He's the all-time undisputed, undefeated Champion of Love. I love that old song.

It describes God a little bit like a boxer, which is an interesting thought, especially for a Southern Gospel quartet. But it really works, and it'll light a fire under you. So he says, God, be exalted above the heavens.

Let your glory go over the whole earth. He said, they prepared an end for my steps. I was despondent.

He says, God, I can see the traps that everyone's setting for me, and I'm freaking out. He says, but I've seen how you have made it so that through the pride of the Philistines, that they didn't think I was any sort of problem for them.

And so they fell into this trap of thinking that they were safe. I've seen what Saul has done, that he tried to throw a spear at me multiple times, but you saved me out of his hand. And now he is trying to follow me, but he can't get to me.

And I'm so thankful for God's providence in saving us. Then verse number seven, My heart is confident, God. My heart is confident.

I will sing. I will sing praises. Wake up, my soul.

Wake up, harp and lyre. I will wake up the dawn. He says, hey, I'm bringing out all my instruments, everything that I can play, everything that my 400 men can play, and we're going to wake up the praise of God.

We're going to make it loud. Verse number nine, he says, I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations, for your faithful love is as high as the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches the clouds. God, be exalted above the heavens. Let your glory be over the whole earth.

There in verse nine again, I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations.

He says, whether I'm in Israel, whether I'm in Gath of the Philistines, whether I'm in Moab, whether I'm in the cave of Adulim, wherever I go, whoever I interact with, I'm going to tell them how great you are. I am going to sing about you.

If David can write songs and sing and proclaim God to all of these different places, do you think you can sing in church this Sunday?

It might not be good, it might be off-key, but can you sing to the one whose faithful love is as high as the heavens, that though your sins were great, though to this day you've never got a day without doing or thinking or saying something wrong,

that God's love and His forgiveness are so much greater. Isn't He worthy of your song, His faithfulness, that what He has promised, His daily provision for you, His forgiveness, His scripture, His church, His coming return? It is steadfast.

It is faithful that He will keep His word. Even what He promised to Noah back in the book of Genesis. Summer, winter, springtime and harvest will not cease for as long as God exists.

God said, I will never again flood the whole earth. I won't again judge the whole earth with a flood. He has kept His promises.

And because He is faithful, because He said, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, and because you are saved, because He is faithful to keep His word, He deserves your praise. And can I tell you, He doesn't just deserve it on a Sunday.

He deserves it. If you're sitting in the kitchen right now at, you know, 5 a.m., if you're right now driving on the way to work, as soon as, you know, as soon as this podcast ends, like, sing to Him. It might sound awful.

You might not have a great singing voice, but your God doesn't care how well you can do a melody or how on tune you are. He cares about gratitude from your heart. Express to Him, God, be exalted above the heavens that, God, I see the stars.

I see the incredible sun. I see the moon. I even see, you know, in the much lower atmosphere.

I see planes and helicopters. I see the clouds. And, God, you are so far above and greater than it all.

You made it all. And so, God, I'm going to give you my gratitude. I'm going to tell other people how great you are because that's the kind of God you are.

God, be exalted above the heavens. Let your glory be over the whole earth. David here is saying, God, you've saved me.

You've protected me. You've rescued me time and time and time again. You've given me family.

You've given me friends. You've given me opportunities to see your greatness. And so I'm going to praise you to whoever will listen.

What are you going to do today? Thank you for tuning in and hope that you have a great day. And I'm looking forward to Psalm 58 tomorrow.

Please do listen to that music album. Psalms from the Well by Worship Initiative and specifically Psalm 57.