Psalm 60 - When It Feels Like God Abandoned You

Well, hello. And hope that you are having a good day today.

You might ask, hey, pastor, why are you all gussied up today? And the answer is because I'm doing the service for a dear person in our church, or rather a dear person in our church's mother today.

And so would greatly appreciate if you would be in prayer for the Newman family and everyone else related to them. As they now navigate life on this earth without Lori's mom.

Incredibly thankful for the hope of heaven and for the courage, the joy and the certainty that that brings us. But absolutely that's not something that any of us relish or want to have happen. So here is the Psalm that we are in today, Psalm 60.

And the inscription for this song says, For the choir director, according to the lily of testimony, a mictam of David for teaching, when he fought with Aram Nahariim and Aram Zoba, and Joab returned and struck Edim in Salt Valley, killing 12,000.

I'm sure many of you have been in this exact circumstance in your life, and you've said to yourself, I wish I had a song for such an occasion like David did here. Obviously, that's not like David and Goliath. It's not David and Bathsheba.

It's not when, you know, Absalom usurped the throne. So even if you've been around the Bible a little bit, been around church a little bit, you probably don't know this particular story, and that's because it takes place in 1 Chronicles 18.

The book of 1st and 2nd Chronicles, it was originally one combined book. They split it so that it would be easier to copy and to read, all that kind of stuff.

The book of Chronicles comes at the very end of the Hebrew ordering of the books of the Old Testament. So we have all the same books as the Jewish Old Testament, what's called the Tanakh, which I've talked about before.

It's an acronym of three words, Torah, the first five books, the Nevaim, which is kind of like history and prophets.

And then there's the Ketuvim, which is an assortment of some books of poetry, Psalms starts it off, the book of Daniel, and then it ends with 1st and 2nd Chronicles.

So if our English Bibles, there's a few that do, but if our English Bibles use the exact same Hebrew order, then what you would get is you would have 1st and 2nd Chronicles with some of those genealogies, and you would go right into Matthew's

genealogy. So kind of an interesting look there. So Chronicles is Israel's history kind of from God's perspective, from God's viewpoint. How did he see everything that was going on?

What was important to God? So the book of 1st and 2nd Kings, again, used to be one combined book, got separated to be easier to copy down and write when you had to do everything by hand, etc.

So 1st and 2nd Kings dives a bunch into like, okay, hey, here's all of the historical facts of what happened. Here's what happens with the Southern tribe, Southern Kingdom of Judah. Here's what happens with the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

And it goes through like, hey, here's all the terrible things that happen. Here's a bunch of bad things. Here's battles won, etc.

The book of 1st and 2nd Chronicles deals much more with like, hey, what did God in his providence care about and see? What sticks out to God as particularly important from these several hundred years of Israelite history?

And so that's where we get to 1st Chronicles 18. David has become king over all of Israel. Saul has been killed by the Philistines.

There was a few years of some war from some generals that had served under Saul that were still against David. And so they tried to set up a puppet king. It was a whole ordeal.

But now David is finally king over Israel.

God has made his everlasting covenant promise to David and said, you are always going to have someone that sits on your throne, a promise of Jesus, frankly, and a promise that would influence how we think about Israel's future, something that the

Apostle Paul delved into in Romans 9, 10, and 11, of like, okay, as the gospel is going out, we're seeing, yes, some Jews saved, but we're seeing a whole ton of Gentiles saved. Is God kind of done with Israel?

And Paul says emphatically, no, God is not done with Israel. He made these promises and he is going to keep them. But that's a discussion for another time when we go through the Book of Romans.

So here's 1 Chronicles 18. David has received this promise from the Lord. And now here's this.

After this, David defeated the Philistines, subdued them and took Gath and its surrounding villages from Philistine control. He also defeated the Moabites and they became David's subjects and brought tribute.

So these were things that Israel was supposed to do hundreds of years before. This was not a, hey, if you're a Philistine, you're not worthy of like God's love or something.

As I've said before, as we looked at in the Book of Ruth, anyone from any nation, from any people group, any like condemned city, as soon as they were like, hey, we want to be like, we want to follow God. We want to be part of God's people.

God was always like, yes, amazing, you're in. And he took four of those individuals and put them into the lineage of Christ himself. So I do want to mention that.

These were things that Saul was supposed to do.

And Israelites for hundreds of years previous had been supposed to do that idolatry and people that were continually attacking and raiding and stealing from and destroying Israel, they were supposed to be driven out of the land.

Because in addition to all of those things, they kept dragging the Israelites into idolatry. I don't know that those would be the people that I would be like, oh yes, I want to worship the gods of the people that are continually raiding us.

But at least is kind of how they thought about it back then. They were like, okay, well, these people are prospering, so maybe their god is helping them out.

And I'm not like receiving all the great things that these Philistines are when they're raiding. And so maybe I should worship their god instead. But now David is fighting.

He's taking Gath, that city that Goliath was from, the city that a couple of days ago we looked at, that he had once gone to when he was on the run from Saul. But now it is finally a city that belongs to the Lord. Also wanted to mention that as well.

Israel was not winning the land for Israel. That's something that we looked at in the Book of Leviticus, that all of the land belonged to God.

And so, when Israel rebelled against God, God says, okay, this is my land, so I'm going to have Assyria and then Babylon take you guys out.

Or after the rejection of Christ, there was, okay, now Rome is going to kind of disperse you guys to the wind again.

So, the land belonged to God, and so now the land is finally being made holy for God, that those that are steeped in wickedness have been driven out.

Now, I do want to mention just one thing, because I've seen some out of pocket people saying things online. This does not transfer over to the New Testament.

This is God working in a specific way, a very specific, commanded way for a specific people at a specific time. This is not for everyone everywhere at all times. God told Noah to build a boat.

That does not mean that you need to build a gigantic ark to put a bunch of animals in, unless of course you're Ken Ham or something. God told Jesus to die on the cross. You do not need to die on the cross.

Not everything that God said to every person is applicable for every time. And that is by God's intent, by the way. It's not just like, oh, well, he doesn't really believe all of the Bible.

I believe all of the Bible wholeheartedly. But that does not mean that we do everything that God commanded for specific people at specific times. Christians are not to be those that take up the sword.

We learn that from Jesus. Christians are not to be the ones, like we don't spread the kingdom by warfare. We spread it through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That the gospel and the Holy spirit and Christ's new life, that changes people, that changes nations. And that's what we've seen over the course of 2,000 years.

That when churches, when professing believers have tried to spread the gospel, quote, unquote, through the power of violence or the sword or conquering, it has always brought reproach and shame on the name of Christ. That's not how we do it.

We don't spread God's ways by coercion. We spread God's way through spreading the gospel. So, now, verse 3, David also defeated King Hadadezer of Zobah at Hamath when he went to establish his control at the Euphrates River.

David captured 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers from him, hamstrung all the horses and kept 100 chariots. When the Arameans of Damascus came to assist King Hadadezer of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 Aramean men.

Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became David's subjects and brought tribute. Yahweh made David victorious wherever he went. David took the gold shields carried by Hadadezer's officers and brought them to Jerusalem.

From Tibhath and Kun, Hadadezer's cities, David also took huge quantities of bronze from which Solomon made the bronze basin, the pillars and the bronze articles.

When King Tu of Hamath heard that David had defeated the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah, he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and to congratulate him because David had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him for two, and

Hadadezer had fought many wars. Hadoram brought all kinds of gold, silver and bronze items.

King David also dedicated these to Yahweh, along with the silver and gold he had carried off from all the nations, from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines and the Amalekites.

Abishai son of ziraiah struck down 18,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley. He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. Yahweh made David victorious wherever he went.

So David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all his people. Joab son of ziraiah was over the army. Jehoshaphat son of Achalud was the court historian.

Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests. Shavshah was court secretary. Baniah son of Jehoiada was over the Karathites and the Pelopithites.

And David's sons were the chief officials at the king's side. So here these were all the locations that God had given to Israel many, many, many centuries before. And that only now was God's rule actually being seen in these places.

And where God's rule was, there was, as we read, righteousness and justice for all of the people. And what a wonderful thing it is when the righteous rule. And there's many proverbs about that.

Did want to mention one other thing that I noticed, and I hope you did, too. All of these victories that David won, all the spoils of war that he got, the valuable gold and silver and bronze, he didn't keep it for himself.

He dedicated it to what would become Solomon's Temple. These areas where now God's worship would be, that God would be adorned with every praise, with every beautiful thing that Israel had and that David had.

And I think for our lives, are we looking to beautify the work of God through what God has blessed us with?

And I know that's something that I want to do, that I want to do better, because as we look to the Lord, as we try and rely on him, as we bless God's work, I think a lot of the promises of the Old Testament have seen how God blessed those that were

faithful to obey direct commands. And in the New Testament, like we don't have a command to tithe.

But if God blessed those people that were obedient to obey, and he says, if you just obey, I'm going to pour out blessings from the store room of heaven.

I have to think that there is unique blessing for those that under no direct command of God, those that voluntarily enter into generosity towards God and towards others, that there is blessing in that, that when we refute covetousness and greed in

our own hearts and lives, what can God do? So that's just a little thing. It's not from the Psalm, but it just stuck out to me that David could have like absolutely brought those things to himself.

Like at that time, there was just the tabernacle that was for the worship of Israel, and it had already been set up for like hundreds of years with everything that it needed, all of its jewels, etc.

So, David didn't need to do that, but he did it because he loved the Lord so much and was grateful to him, and so he dedicated what he got to the Lord. So, I just thought that was an interesting thought. Okay, now Psalm 60.

This is only 12 verses, and we'll see some interesting things. So, Chronicles is God's view of the events that take place. Here is David's view of what takes place.

God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry.

Restore us. You have shaken the land and split it open. Healed its fissures for its shutters.

You have made your people suffer hardship. You have given us wine to drink that made us stagger. You've given a signal flag to those who fear you, so that they can flee before the archers.

Salah, save with your right hand and answer me, so that those you love may be rescued. God has spoken in a sanctuary. I will celebrate.

I will divide up Shechem. I will apportion the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine.

Manasseh is mine. And Ephraim is my helmet. Judah is my scepter.

Moab is my washbasin. I throw my sandal on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia.

Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? God, haven't you rejected us?

God, you do not march out with our armies. Give us aid against the foe, for human help is worthless. With God, we will perform valiantly.

He will trample our foes. I just find it so interesting that as I read through this Psalm, God is looking at these battles.

God is looking at kings with tens of thousands of men and chariots and horses, and God is seeing his victory, and God is seeing what's being done.

God is seeing that even when the initial king, so David's fighting against the Philistines, he's fighting against the Moabites, God brings victory, but then there's King Hadadezer, and God sees the victory there.

And then the Aramaeans from Damascus, what we would know now as Syria, they come in to try and help Hadadezer, and God wins the victory there.

And then there's the Salt Valley, and Abishai, son of ziraiah, under kind of the leadership of his brother Joab, who was like the main commander overall, and Abishai was the one leading the particular attack, that Joab and Abishai, they fight Edom in

the Salt Valley, and they find victory. So God is seeing victory after victory after victory after victory. And that's what he records. But David, in the middle of this, he's not feeling victorious.

Like he's just, he's just battling again and again and again.

And he's like, God, it feels like you are not here, that you have abandoned us, that you are not fighting for us, that you are like breaking our land open, that from the north with Syria, from the east with the king of Assyria or Mesopotamia,

whatever Hadadiza was over, him and the Edomites and within the land, like to the west, the Philistines. He says, God, everywhere I turn, there is warfare and it feels like you are abandoning, but God was actually winning a victory.

And I think that is so amazing. So verses one through four or one through three, he's declaring like, God, I need you to stop rejecting us. I need you to fight with us and for us, because we're going through these hard times.

We're fighting all of these battles against all of these armies. But then in verse number four and five, he notices like, hey, where is my hope from? He says, you've given a signal flag.

You marked out a thing so that your people know, like God, you clued us in to where there was danger. Yeah, we're fighting these battles. Yeah, there's so many of them.

But you have kept us safe in some ways. You've kept us safe from the things that would be truly devastating. Here are the archers that from far away could just send a whole barrage of arrows and kill a bunch of people.

And he says, you protected us from that. And so I'm going to think about that. He says, God, save with your right hand and answer me so that those you love may be rescued.

And God answered that request, like five or six times over, just within first Chronicles 18. And so then that leads him to say in verses six through eight, God has spoken in his sanctuary, I will celebrate.

And he says, here I'm going to divide up Shechem. I'll apportion the Valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine.

Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is my helmet. Jude is my scepter.

Moab is my washbasin. I throw my sandal and eat them. I shout in triumph over Philistia.

God says, I am the one that is in control of all of these places. This whole land is mine. And so you can trust that I'm not just having you fight these battles for no reason.

I'm fighting these battles so that you can administer righteousness and justice in the land.

I'm fighting these things so that those that want to follow me, those that I love can be rescued, that they're not going to be subject to all of these constant raids that we read about in first and Second Samuel and first and Second Kings.

He says, I'm working so that is no longer the case. So then David says, who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

God, haven't you rejected us? God, you do not march out with our armies.

He doesn't realize that, yes, he is fighting battle after battle after battle, but he's fighting it with the Lord, that the Lord is accomplishing victory, even though David's tired, even though David doesn't feel great about the circumstances, even

though here this last battle against Edom in the Salt Valley, he's like, God, you're not with us, but he doesn't know that God's going to defeat 12,000 people in the battle. He says, give us aid against the foe for human help is worthless.

David realizes, God, if we're going to have any victory, it's not going to come because of how great Israel is. It's going to come because of how great God is. And then the last verse, with God, we will perform valiantly.

He will trample our foes. Here, another hargain back to Genesis 3, with God saying that the descendant of the woman, the seed of the woman, is going to crush the head of the serpent.

And obviously, performed first and foremost through Christ on the cross, and how he defeated sin and death and hell and Satan and all of it. So what can we learn from this? Number one, God is with us even when it doesn't feel like he's with us.

So trust him. Believe in him. Believe that even when you are fighting against temptation, even when you are going through trial after trial after trial, it's actually God writing a beautiful story of how he won the victory again and again and again.

Saul's conversion in the New Testament is so striking because this was a persecutor, this was a Pharisee, this was a kidnapper, and yet God shined the light on him and saved him and turned around his life dramatically.

And so every bad point along the way now was just a token of God overcame this and this and this and this in Paul's life. So even when we don't feel it or see it, God is working and his presence is still there with us even when we don't think it is.

And then everything belongs to God. Here is God is saying like all of these lands, all of these places are belonging to me. The truth is that you and I belong to God as well.

That we, there was no part of our life that we should ever say, God, you don't have access to this. I'll give you my, I'll give you an hour of my Sunday, but all the rest of the time is mine.

God, I will give you, you know, some people will say, God, I'll give you 10% of my income in a tithe, but you can't have anything else from me.

You're not going to have my love, you're not going to have my witnessing, you're not going to have my involvement in any sort of church thing.

God wants all of you, that every part of you would be sold out to him, that whatever God wants you to do, you will do. Whatever God says, hey, why don't you love this person? Hey, why don't you take some time to share with that loved one about Jesus?

Hey, why don't you take some time to disciple this younger Christian? God wants to work in your life to accomplish those things. God wants to make you more like Jesus.

God wants to increase your discipleship, that those things that Jesus told his disciple, that he led his disciples to do and then told them to pass on to others, that it would be passed on to you.

And because God owns everything including all of you, give him what he is due. Don't be like the Israelites and wait hundreds of years to give God what is his.

Go into battle for it, like fight your flesh, fight the devil, fight the world and give God everything that he is worthy of. As we do that, what joy there is. Thanks for tuning in today.

Hope that Psalm 60 was an encouragement to you.