Summer in the Psalms | The Prayer Of The King | Psalms 17 | Devin LaBay

Good morning.

We continue our study of Psalms in the Summer or Summer in the Psalms and pick some psalms that I think uh might be interesting to you.

Uh I know I've enjoyed uh looking over them.

Uh we uh are are have landed on Psalm 17 this morning.

And from the text that was just read, we can we can see that David is in a very intense situation.

And my hope and my prayer today is that we'll see something from this psalm that you may be familiar with or you may not be familiar with.

There's some there's some phrases used in there that I think we've all heard before.

Uh but I want to take a deeper look at where David is uh in this psalm and when he writes this.

Um if you look at at the chronology of it all, David was anointed by Samuel when he was anywhere from 12 to 15 years old.

And when David writes Psalm 17, the scholar suggests that he was probably in his early, maybe to mid-20s when he wrote the words that were just read.

And then David was anointed king over Israel when he was 30 years old.

The message this morning is titled The Prayer of the King.

Your Bible says it's a prayer of David.

David had already been anointed the king when he wrote these words, when he finds himself in this situation.

And here's the thing that I think we need to realize, and the thing that I've come to realize in my life is that the things of the past build toward the things of the present and the future.

And this situation that David is writing about, I mean, David was pretty much on the run from the time that Saul found out that God had already chosen him.

And in addition to dodging spears and arrows and hiding in places that would make me have a really hard time with claustrophobia, he's realizing that God is his sole salvation.

And these are things that he needs to be the king that God has called him to be.

After all, David is known as a man after God's own heart.

That doesn't mean that David was perfect.

David was far from perfect.

And that's why I think that I personally, and I know that we all can totally relate to him and what he's dealing with.

Maybe not the same thing circumstantially.

I haven't had to dodge any spears lately.

Uh, but we can see where he's coming from.

This this psalm this morning, Psalm 17, really hits at the heart, I believe, of who we are at times in our life and how we feel at different times in our life.

And so before we get into the text this morning, I'd like to join together in prayer if we could.

Let's let's go to God in prayer.

Father God, we thank you for the nourishing rain this morning.

It's further evidence that we can look all around us in this beautiful world and this universe that you've created and know that you are the Almighty God.

Give substance to what you told us all to do.

Be still and know that I am God.

Jesus, we thank you for the life that you lived, the perfect life you lived, and the perfect sacrifice that you were willing to be according to will, to the will of your Father and our Father.

Thank you for doing that for us.

There are no words, there are no deeds that we can do to repay you for the salvation you've given us and the sacrifice of your blood on the cross for us.

Spirit, we thank you for raising Jesus from the dead.

You are the power by which Jesus walked away from the grave, and to blaspheme you is to blaspheme the power by which Jesus was raised.

That is the reason why it is the one unforgivable sin.

Spirit, I pray that this message this morning is yours.

That you will speak powerfully to our hearts and our minds, to help us to understand where David is and how we can relate to him.

Not only to help us to be focused and to keep things in perspective in our life, but I pray especially for those who are who are suffering this morning, who are feeling as David feels in this passage.

And I pray that they will find peace, and that they will find peace in your love, and they will find peace and acceptance and love in this church family.

We thank you for our visitors this morning.

I ask that you would bless them and that you would bring them back to us as soon as possible.

Lord, we love you, we thank you, we praise you, and we offer this word together in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Amen.

Psalm 17, as you can see in your in your Bible, is titled as a Psalm or a Prayer of David.

And, you know, it would have been very difficult for David to be a man after God's own heart if he were not a praying man.

You see, prayer for David was not a last resort as it is for a lot of people, myself included.

We have this nature about us.

We want to try to fix it, especially guys.

I mean, we've we we really believe we can fix it, and we don't want to come to the realization that there's just some things we can't fix.

In fact, me personally, if you want it broken, call me.

I'm good at breaking things.

But we get it in our minds so many times.

I can do this, I can do this, but we fail to realize that there's a certain thing in our life that we cannot do without God.

So prayer for David wasn't a last resort, it was of first importance in his relationship with the Lord as it should be for us.

For David, prayer was an open-ended conversation where he shared his frustrations and he shared his jubilations.

In verses 1 to 4, David craves justice.

You can see it.

You could hear it in the reading of the word this morning.

He craves justice in the controversy that he finds himself and those who are oppressing him.

As you move into verses 5 and 6, he requests God to give him the grace to maintain his character under trial.

And then in verses 7 to 12, he seeks protection from his enemies.

In verses 13 and 14, he pleads that they might be disappointed.

And then in verse 15 is so characteristic with David.

David brings it all back to God, confident that the Lord will set everything in its right place as it should be.

Verse 1, David says, Hear, O Lord, my righteous plea, listen to my cry, give ear to my prayer.

It does not rise from deceitful lips.

Look at how the NIV words it there.

Look at what he says.

He says, Hear my plea, listen to my cry, give ear to my prayer.

Family, David is desperate to be heard.

He's desperate to be heard.

He's suffering from pressure and anxiety.

How many times have you needed?

How many times have we needed someone, anyone, especially God, to listen to our story, to validate our feelings, and to counsel our soul.

That may be where you find yourself this morning.

Notice David's disclaimer, though.

He says it does not rise from deceitful lips.

David is declaring his honesty before God as if God doesn't already know.

Family, the Lord delights in.

The Lord gives his attention to those who are completely honest and forthcoming with him.

There's nothing that we can hide from God.

In verse 2, David says, May my vindication come from you.

May your eyes see what is right.

The King James words it this way: Let my sentence come forth from your presence.

Take a look at how that's worded there.

Church David clearly understands that God is the holder of the balance of justice in our lives, and God's judgment is sovereign.

And here, David not only realizes this, but asks God to pass judgment in his case.

May your eyes see what is right.

David is asking God to see and to recognize not only his righteousness, but family, I believe, he's also asking God to see the righteousness that David isn't even aware of.

Family, it's one thing to know for certain our own personal righteousness.

But how many times have we failed to consider the righteousness of others that we didn't even know about?

David realizes that God sees, and God knows all, and he implores God's judgment in the cause of righteousness.

David continues in verse 3.

He says, Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing.

I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.

Now take a look at what he says there.

And answer this question.

How many of us wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason?

And you ask yourself, why am I awake?

Man, I was sleeping good.

I was sleeping real good.

And now I'm wide awake.

You ever been there before?

Jack has.

No, but in all honesty, I do know that when it happens to me and I start to think about it, I got something to pray about.

In verse 3, the King James, and I love the way the King James words this, David says, You have visited me in the night.

Woo! Take a good look at that.

Now that certainly gives us something to think about, doesn't it?

Church, God wants us to talk with him.

God wants us to share with him our frustrations, our concerns, our needs, our wants, our desires to share with him the most personal things in the most personal way.

And according to this verse, right there on the screen, God is willing to go so far as to visit us in the middle of the night for it to happen.

I think that's why we wake up out of a sound sleep.

David says in the New American Standard, you have sifted me, and you find nothing.

That's powerful language right there.

You have sifted me, you have separated me, you have gone through me fiber by fiber by fiber.

You have sifted me, you have visited me, and you have found nothing.

Amy, I believe what David is saying is that God will find nothing that David hasn't already shared with him.

And why does David say that?

He closes verse 3 in the King James with these words.

He says, I have purposed in my mouth that I shall not transgress.

Church, I believe David is saying, Lord, I have made a conscious decision that I will not speak evil against anyone, or wrong anyone, or transgress you in any way.

In as much as it is up to me.

David continues in verse 4.

He transitions in verse 4.

He says, As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.

David acknowledges what God already knows.

Notice in verses 1, 3, and 4 that David makes reference to the mouth of God and to his own mouth.

And the idea that I see developing here, family, is that in his speech, David intends as best as he can to model himself in the Lord with regard to his honesty.

Verses 5 and 6, David requests God to give him the grace to maintain his character.

To maintain his character under trial.

How many of us have needed to ask for the same thing?

I usually ask for it after I should have already asked for it.

What about you?

Verse 5 says, My steps have held to your paths, my feet have not slipped.

In other words, family, David saying, Lord, I am where I am today because of your loving guidance.

Church, we all need to come to that conclusion.

The NIV gives the impression that David is pleading his case from the standpoint that he's done what's been asked of him.

But family, I can totally relate to David here.

I connect with David right here.

And I can tell you, I cannot tell you how many times I've faced trial and said something to the effect, Lord, I've done everything that I know to do.

I've said everything I know to say, I've done everything I know to do, I've prayed about it, and I still don't understand what this is all about.

Have you ever been there before?

Maybe where you find yourself this morning.

In church, when our prayer life becomes more than customs and courtesies, if you know what I'm talking about, we develop a real relationship with God.

We have to get past the preliminary stuff.

We have to dig deeper.

We have to go beyond the customs and courtesies to a real relationship that allows God to mold us and to make us more like Him.

The King James treats verse 5 differently.

It says, Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not.

There's a difference between the way the NIV renders this verse and the King James does.

The King James treats this verse as a request from David to guide his steps rather than a declaration of David's steadfastness in his paths.

Either way, either way you slice it, either way you look at it, it's abundantly clear that David has determined to walk in the Lord's path.

In verse 6, David calls upon God and he says, I call on you, O God, for you will answer me.

Give ear to me and hear my prayer.

Family, if there's anything that David knows, he knows what too many of us fail to trust and to see.

The Lord will answer his prayer.

I truly love the way the King James words this.

It says, incline thine ear to me and hear my speech.

Family, visualize that in your mind.

What does that look like?

Visualize that imagery right there as a friend would lean to hear the whispers of a friend.

David asks for the ear of God.

Who was sitting next to Jesus?

Who leaned toward the Lord just as this verse says and asked a question.

You know who did that?

John.

As a friend who leans toward another friend and asks for their ear.

Verse 6, like verse 1, communicates the intensity of David's request.

Look at what he says again in your text, in your Bibles.

He says, I call on you.

Answer me.

Give ear to me and hear my prayer.

We've all been there.

We've all been there.

And I fully believe that there is someone within the sound of my voice, whether it be here in 316 or online, that's where you find yourself this morning.

In verse 7, David says, Show the wonder of your great love.

You save, you who save by your right hand, those who take refuge in you from their foes.

Take a good look at what David says there.

David is calling God to action.

David's hit that point in this situation.

He's hit that point in his life and in his relationship with God.

David is calling God to action.

He's asking God to show him his love.

He's not asking for words.

He's not asking for a pep talk.

He's not asking for encouragement from God.

He's asking God to do something.

Again, you ever been there?

He's saying I'm stressed out.

He's saying I'm afraid.

He's saying I'm hurt.

He's saying I'm angry.

I'm lonely.

And I need to see that you care for me.

He's saying, Lord, I need to know that my faith isn't for nothing.

Show me, Lord.

Show me the wonder of your great love.

Again, have you ever been there?

I have.

I've been right there.

Notice what David says.

You who saved by your right hand.

You see, in his culture, in David's culture, the right hand is the favored hand.

The right hand, no offense to our left handed folks.

The right hand is the favored hand.

It's the powerful hand.

It's the hand of friendship, cleanliness, and righteousness.

And what David is saying, Lord, I need to see your presence in my life in an overwhelming fashion.

I need to see you.

In an overwhelming fashion that is unmistakable to me and unmistakable to my enemies.

I need to see you.

Church, we need to ask for the same thing.

We need to ask for the same thing in our lives, in our marriages, in our children's lives, in our schools, in our community.

And in this church.

That we fail to ask him for.

There's a story about a guy who dies and he goes to heaven and he goes to the pearly gates.

And guess who's there to meet him?

Who's always at the pearly gates to meet you?

Peter.

I don't know why, but it's just Peter.

Peter's there.

And so Peter takes him on a tour of heaven.

And, you know, they're seeing everything.

They're seeing the streets of gold, and they're seeing all of this and all of that, meeting people along the way, saying hello to Abraham and hello to hello to Moses and whatnot.

And he sees all this stuff, stuff that he's heard about, some pretty cool stuff that he hadn't heard of, but then he sees this massive building.

Looks like a warehouse amongst millions of other ones.

But Peter takes him straight to this one, and the guy says, What are we doing here?

It looks like an Amazon warehouse.

He said, You're close.

And so they go in, and he, as far as the eye can see, I mean, it's acres and acres of beautiful gifts wrapped in white paper and gold ribbon, and they're everywhere.

And Peter says, Wow, whose gifts are all these?

And Peter says, They're yours.

Or they were yours.

You see, this is these are all the blessings that God was ready to give you if you just asked him for it.

See, that's that's that's your that's your peace section over there.

There's your joy section over there, there's your healing section over there, and over there, those those really, really big ones.

See, the bigger the box, the bigger the gift.

And those are the ones that you should have asked for with relationships and the people you love.

God is aching to give you what you fail to ask him for.

Verses 8 and 9.

Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.

Look at the intensity of what David is saying.

As much as David trusts in the power of the Lord, he is abundantly aware of his own mortality and the gravity of the situation.

Family, no part of the body is more carefully guarded than the eye.

And of the eye, no portion of it is more protected than the central apple, the pupil of the eye.

The Hebrew refers to the pupil as the daughter of the eye.

Dads, if you have a little girl, she's the apple of your eye.

Right?

This is where that phrase comes from.

Church, God placed the eye in a well-protected position within the body, surrounded by the projecting bones of the skull, much like the mountains that surround Jerusalem.

And when we look at verse 9, we see that David's enemies are mortal enemies.

David's not playing around here.

They're mortal enemies.

These are people who will be satisfied with nothing less than his death.

And David requests the protection of God in the most descriptive and vulnerable way when he says, Lord, keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings.

If that's not vulnerability, I don't know what is.

He's completely trusting and dependent on the Almighty God.

Verse 10 says, They close up their callous hearts and their mouths speak with arrogance.

You know, as a rule, the bigger the mouth is, the smaller the heart is.

And this verse indicates that these are people who have given themselves so far over into evil that their hearts are impenetrable.

They're hearts of stone.

And their mouths speak with overconfidence.

David continues in verse 11.

He says, They've tracked me down.

They now surround me with eyes alert to throw me to the ground.

The King James here says they have set their eyes bowing to the earth.

Now picture that.

What does that remind you of?

Family, this verse denotes the intensity in which the enemy watches for an opportunity to cause the righteous to stumble.

Verse 12 says, they're like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover.

You know what's interesting?

It's very interesting to me that David makes this parallel between his enemies and the lion.

He describes his pursuers as ruthless predators, detailing how a lion will fix its eyes on its prey, crouching low to lock in the exact distance and the right angle of pursuit in order to make the kill.

Church, I believe many times we fail to realize how much David struggled against Satan.

Just like we do.

In fact, probably more so.

If you take a detailed look at the life of David, which at some point in time in the future, we will do a sermon series dedicated to David himself.

We'll discover that his struggles with Satan and sin were very intense and very real.

In 1 Peter 5, verse 8, where he writes, Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8

David is there right now in this text.

In verses 13 and 14, David pleads that his enemies might be disappointed.

Here we see a transition in David's attitude.

Verse 13 says, Rise up, O Lord, confront them, bring them down, rescue me from the wicked by your sword.

Again, David pleads with God to reveal himself through action in his life.

And here's the thing that David knows, and we need to wrap our heads around.

David knows that when God meets our enemy's family, the battle will soon be won.

David concedes that only God can rescue him.

And that his success is totally in God's hands.

That's a lesson we all need to remember.

Verse 14.

David says, Oh Lord, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life.

May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies, may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones.

Wow, take a look at that.

That is some intense language right there.

David has gone full human mode now.

His humanity is on full display right there.

We see a snapshot of what's really going on in his heart and his mind.

He is frustrated.

And he's lashing out against his enemies.

Family, it's clear that David is dealing with men who have no regard for God and have resolved to forfeit heaven for the things of the world.

Again, David says to God, May you, may what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies.

May their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones.

May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies.

Church, what has the Lord stored up for the wicked?

Judgment and punishment for their evil ways.

In essence, what David is saying to God is, these are men of the world who have no interest in the blessings of the Lord.

Let them have their fill of judgment and punishment for generations to come.

That's intense.

As we come to verse 15, we see that David characteristically brings it all back to where it's supposed to be.

He wraps it all up in a nice, beautiful package of faith and brings it all back to God.

Confident that God will set all things right.

Look at what he says.

And I, in righteousness, I will see your face.

When I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Church David, in all his frustration and all of his fear and concern, anger inventing, David still understands that it's all in the Lord's hands.

David, we've seen David ride the roller coaster of emotion in this psalm.

Responses here.

And whether he lives or whether he dies, David is confident that in the morning, when he awakes, he will be satisfied in seeing the face of his God.

Now, whether that likeness is seen in himself or seen in the feet of his enemies, or if David stands in the presence of God himself, David is satisfied.

Are you satisfied?

I don't know what you're dealing with this morning.

I don't know what intense emotional roller coaster you've been on this week and you're on right now.

The question is, are you satisfied?

Are you satisfied with where you stand in relation to the Lord?

David was.

Regardless of what was going on around him.

What about you this morning?

Are you satisfied?

If you are, great.

Keep pushing in your faith.

Pray until something happens.

Push.

But you know what?

You may need help with that.

You may need the family of God, your church family here at Central, to pray with you and to pray for you to keep on keeping on.

Are you satisfied?

If you're not satisfied this morning, then what are you going to do about it?

What can you do about it?

More than you think.

If you're not satisfied with where you stand with God this morning and you haven't named Jesus as the Lord of your life, had your sins washed away, and walk in the newness of life with the Holy Spirit living within you, that is the greatest satisfaction that this life has to offer.

And I encourage you to take hold of it.

And we would love to help you with that.

Maybe you're a believer and you are dealing with some very intense things in your life.

Life happens to be that way.

And you've realized that just like David, you can't do it.

You just can't do it anymore.

Let us pray with you and pray for you.

Our shepherds are going to be right down front with me to receive you.

Come to them.

Let them pray with you.

Let them pray for you.

Let them listen.

Let them embrace you.

Let them love you.

That is their calling as shepherds.

Whatever your need this morning, if you're looking for a church home, I hope you found it.

We want you here.

But whatever you need this morning, please do not walk out of this place today without that need being met, without being satisfied in the Lord together while we stand and sing.