Psalm 59

It is good to be with you.

My name is Duncan.

I'm one of the leaders here at City Church.

Thank you, Sidney, for reading the Psalm.

Thank you, Sarah, for praying.

As we come to this Psalm, let me pray one more time for us.

Loving Father, I thank you for your word.

I thank you that you, as our God, are a God that speaks to us as your people.

So I pray now, as we come to your word, would you speak?

Would you encourage us?

Would you help us to see you more clearly?

Would you help us to uh know you more deeply?

Would you stir our affections towards you and give us confidence in you and who you are?

In your beautiful name I pray.

Amen.

Our lives, I think, are a bit of a funny thing when we think about it.

We have moments of great joy, moments where we're just thankful for the time that we are in, but we also have moments of deep sorrow, moments where we feel maybe overwhelmed, crushed even.

This is our human experience.

This is what it is to live in our world.

And in this room, I know that you have all faced different things in your life.

I don't know every situation you face, both the joys that you face, but also the sorrows.

What I do know is you've had them.

What I do know is you will have them.

And in particular, when we consider the hardest moments in life, when we when we think about those moments which are so difficult, it's important for us to be prepared.

To consider how are we going to be able to get through?

How are we gonna be able to continue on without being overwhelmed by grief, by pain, by anxiety, by fear?

Because let's be honest, it is so easy for any of us to be overwhelmed.

You don't have to pretend here, you don't have to put on a brave face, you don't have to act as though you have it all together.

No, we all have those moments.

It only takes one phone call and your world is completely turned upside down.

It only takes one comment and everything is suddenly changed, one action, and you are struggling to understand what is happening.

David writes this Psalm in a moment like that.

A moment in which Saul, who is the king at the time, is seeking to kill him.

David, as he seeks to go home, is being warned that he cannot.

That there are men who wait for men who have one goal in mind, and that is to kill him.

That is where we find him.

And what makes it worse is David's not done anything.

He's not caused it, he hasn't done anything to Saul in order to be in this position.

He hasn't like called him some bad name or something like that.

No, but rather Saul, because of his envy of David, is seeking to kill him.

David at this moment within Israel has become quite popular.

The crowds and the people see him and they are singing.

And they were singing, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.

And as David, as Saul, sorry, hears these words and sees their emphasis towards David, envy grips his heart.

Envy which leads to anger, anger which leads to hatred, and hatred leads to him longing for David to be killed.

That's the context.

David's world in one moment is completely changed.

Suddenly his very life is in question.

And as we consider this, I'm guessing we won't maybe face this sort of situation where someone's trying to kill you.

But we all have had moments in which we struggle to know the way forward.

We struggle to know how are we gonna get through, how are we gonna get past this?

And I hope that this might either meet you in that moment that you are walking in right now, or prepare you for that moment when it comes.

David's response is clear.

He cries, he proclaims, and he worships.

He cries.

It is clearly understandable to think that David would cry out here.

As a kid, I used to cry if I lost a game.

I was pretty competitive.

I was that sort of kid, unfortunately.

But David's cry here is not like that.

He's not crying like me when I lost a game.

He's not feeling sorry for himself.

He's crying toward his God.

He's crying out to God to know, because he knows that he is the one who can actually change his situation.

Look at verse one with me.

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God.

Protect me from those who rise up against me, deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.

David does not need to consider how he's gonna respond in this situation.

As his life is being threatened, his instinct is to run to his God.

And how often do we miss this?

How often do we go to God as a last resort?

Acting as though in our wisdom, in our strength, we're able to make it through the mess we're in.

But hear what David says.

See his example of a man of faith.

A man who knows his God is the God of salvation, a man who knows God loves and delights to save his people.

After every earthly protection is taken away from David, even his home, he rightly knows his true protection is in God, not in anything around him.

Now, this doesn't mean David's stupid, okay?

It doesn't mean that David just thinks, okay, I'll go and confront Saul.

That would be dumb.

He doesn't go and confront Saul.

No, David does run, he he flees his home.

But David knows that it is his God he needs more than anything else.

It is God who will protect him, it is God who will ultimately rescue him and his life from his enemies.

And this is why he's crying out.

Notice how he shares with God.

Verse 3 for behold, they lie in wait for my life.

Fierce men stare up strife against me for no transgression or sin of mine.

Oh Lord, for no fault of mine.

They run and make ready, awake, come to meet me and see.

I know you might read this, you might hear it as you sit there and think, there's nothing surprising there.

David is merely sharing what is happening, and essentially what he is doing, he's asking the Lord that the Lord would take notice, that the Lord would pay attention, that the Lord would come to him.

But think, think about this.

David knows God.

He knows the creator God.

He knows that God is not unaware.

God isn't caught by surprise, being like, oh wow, didn't see this coming.

No.

David knows this and yet he sees his need to cry out.

And I believe this is so significant for us.

This is huge, because what David knows is that his God, our God, is a God that longs to hear us.

He longs for his children to come running to him, to come and bring all the burden, all the rubbish, all the things that we are facing, and bring it before him and say, Here, take this, have this.

Because when we fail to see our need to pray, we fail to see our need to confess, to cry about what is truly happening, we miss the way God has wired us.

That the reason he calls us to come to him, to cry out to him, is not for him to grasp and gain insight into the situation we're in.

He already knows.

But rather for us to know that he is a God who longs for relationship.

He is a God who through our cries brings healing.

Through our cries encourages us and emboldens us in our faith by the Holy Spirit.

David grasps his need for God.

David knows that even though his God sees all and knows all, it is for David's good that he is on his knees before the Lord.

As the Psalm continues, we we find that David grows in confidence.

But it begins with a cry, a cry for help, a cry for God to move.

Brother, sister in Christ, in your darkest days when you feel as though there is nowhere for you to go, look toward your heavenly father, who longs to comfort, who longs to assure you in your cries for help.

Maybe you're so gripped, you're so overcome in a moment that all you can do is say help.

God, the God of the Bible is not after our perfect prayers.

He's not after you to construct carefully your words as you speak to him.

He is after your heart, he is after you, longing to save, longing to rescue.

That is who he is.

A God who saves his people from their brokenness.

A God who gives to his people and does not take.

So often I speak of how we so easily miss the God of the Bible to view him completely wrong as though he is just sat there and he's just continually disappointed, continually thinking, oh, I'm just so fed up of them messing up.

That isn't who he is.

David does not question, can I come to him?

Have I done enough?

Can I cry out to him?

No, he cries out to his God, the God who loves to save, loves to rescue his people from their brokenness.

Because for us, we need to know that we should have no doubt in our mind of his commitment to save us.

When we gaze upon Christ Jesus, we see the beauty and the glory of our salvation.

We see Jesus Christ not just upon the cross, beaten and ridiculed, but risen and reigning at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.

Like, think about that.

Consider him, even in those dark moments when you struggle to even cry out.

He is crying for you.

He is declaring, they are mine, even when we don't have the words.

We need to be people who cry out to our God.

Because the truth is, it is not chiefly that our circumstances will change, but rather that we will be changed through it.

We will see with eyes of faith.

We will realize more and more that there is nothing to fear in this life.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Being prepared is to know your God.

That in the moment when your life seems to be crumbling, you will not wonder where you need to go.

You will instantly run to him, crying out with confidence.

Because this is what David does.

You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.

This declaration, this confidence he has is in who God is.

It is the more we know him, the more we enjoy him and see his character, the more we will cry out to him.

Crying out for what truly matters, crying out that he would work and move in our lives in our day.

I promise you, if you treat your spiritual life lightly, you will struggle in those hard days, those dark moments.

I can encourage you, I can challenge you to take seriously your spiritual life, to take seriously how you seek God in prayer, how you seek Him through the Word, how you seriously prioritize being part of church, not just attending church.

But I can't make you.

I have nothing to do that.

But what I can say is what I have witnessed in those moments that change a person's life.

It is incredible the difference between those who have been walking with the Lord and those who have been treating their faith lightly.

Those who have been walking with the Lord can find incredible, indescribable peace in those moments.

Comfort in those moments.

I can think in mind situations, moments that I know people have walked through, and it has been heartbreaking and grueling, and yet the Lord met them there as they sought him.

Knowing their God is a God who comes to meet them.

David cries, but his cry turns to proclaiming.

He proclaims, look at verse 9.

O my strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me.

God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Can you imagine?

In this moment where his life is being threatened, these are the truths that he proclaims.

With such confidence.

A moment where his enemies seem to be in control.

He cannot even go to his home without risking his life.

And yet he says these words with such confidence.

Words that declare who God is.

As David describes his enemies in verse 7, we see how arrogant they are.

Each evening, he says, they come back howling like dogs and prowling about the city.

They are the there they are, bellowing with their mouths, with swords in their lips, for who they think will hear us.

It's poetry as David describes these enemies.

We see that they are men who are arrogant, thinking and saying what they want, thinking and saying whatever they want, and thinking that no one will hold them to account, that they do not acknowledge or recognize that they are men under authority.

Last week we saw similar in Psalm 58.

And as David looks and sees what is happening, sees their arrogance, he is not bothered by them because he knows God.

But you, O Lord, laugh at them.

You hold all the nations in derision.

So often, people around us, people act as though they are in control of their lives.

As though they can do and say what they want.

But the reality is the creator God will hold all people to account.

He is a God who is not panicked by the actions of any person.

He is not ever shocked at what is happening or caught by surprise.

David knows this.

And this image is not just an image of God mocking them for the sake of it.

No, it's an image of God's control and authority, his rule over all.

Think about it, maybe this story might help.

My my friends, they have four boys.

They're quite boisterous boys.

I got to see them grow up.

Three of them I was there for the birth, not in the labor ward, that would be weird.

But got to see them.

And I used to go around and play with these boys and we'd play sports and all kinds, and they'd like to wrestle sometimes.

And sometimes I'd just hold them there.

We're having fun, it's fine.

And they'd just swing away, try and get me, try and get me, but they can't.

They can do whatever they want, but they're not moving.

If I want to put them on the floor, they're still laughing.

They're on the floor, they're fine.

If I want to put them on the floor, I can.

I'm a grown man.

They can't do anything.

They might come with all the energy, all the passion they have, but really they are helpless.

This is a poor illustration of the sort of picture David is painting here.

Because before the creator God, the one who speaks and life happens, the one who sustains every single thing, the one who enables our planet to keep rotating, the one who holds all power, all authority before him.

Who are these men?

These men who are created by him, acting as though they have all authority and control, as though they have such power.

It is pathetic.

David sees these men and he knows they do not compare to God.

They hold no threat.

How could God ever even be slightly concerned?

He gives them life.

And David's confidence is in God and it is unwavering.

Because unlike these men, David knows where his strength is.

O my strength, I will watch for you.

For you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me.

God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

This is a man who was physically strong.

The people would sing about how many people he killed.

Like he was a warrior.

And he's saying, No, you are my strength.

There is no question what is going to happen here.

For David, do you notice how his cry has turned into certainty?

That he knows God will meet him, not because of who he is, not because of what he's done, but because of God's steadfast love.

If you are here and you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, why would you delay going before him when things are tough, when things are rubbish?

Why would you delay in those moments when life sucks?

Because he loves you.

And his love is not determined by you, but by him.

It's through David's cry, his confidence is built.

Through his cry that he is able to proclaim what God will do.

And we need to be a people who proclaim the truth.

In light of who we are in him, it's so easy for us to allow the lies around us to control us, to be our focus.

It's so easy for us to allow the fears that we are being told to overwhelm us.

David has full confidence in God because of his relationship toward him.

We need to know God is a God who has steadfast love toward his people.

We need to know God is a God who is our fortress to all who trust in Jesus Christ.

We need to know God is a God who has overcome all this world could throw at him.

When you are facing those moments that you that leave you just fearful, filled with anxiety, you need to remember the truth.

To be controlled by the situation you are in or by the emotions you feel will leave you despairing.

If that is what controls you.

That's not what David is focused on.

It could have been so easy, couldn't it?

Your very life is in the balance.

Men want to kill you, literally kill you.

But he is not allowing that to capture his every thought.

No.

He doesn't allow that to be the case.

He proclaims who God is, and he does so with confidence.

And his prayer becomes emboldened.

Consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth.

It's a request for God to bring judgment on those who do evil.

That God would make an example of these men.

But notice the call is so that people would know his rule.

The call is that people would see and know that it is God who rules.

As you look throughout the history of Israel, what we find time and time again is the people reject God's rule.

They reject him.

Saul at this point, as king, has rejected God.

David was the man whom God had chosen to replace Saul as king.

And yet David knows that though there is a day coming when he is going to be king of Israel, it is the Lord God who rules his people.

David is merely pointing us toward the true king.

The one who has all authority in heaven and on earth.

The one who is going to bring his complete rule, and all will see on that day, all will know him to be the true king.

In that moment, David is crying out for God to bring his rule, sorry.

And is that not what we're called to do?

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus Himself calls us to do this.

That we would be a people who pray for God's rule.

That many might see and know it is He who rules.

And it is He who we need to recognize.

Brother, sister in Christ, we are ambassadors of the King.

We are children of the Creator God.

Part of what it is to live our lives for him in this broken world is to pray, is to seek for him to bring order to chaos, to bring healing from pain, to bring restoration from brokenness, to bring life from death.

As people of the King, we should long to see his rule.

We should delight when we see him breaking into our world more and more, knowing he is the one who answers such prayers.

Knowing he is a God who is not absent but is still moving, still working in power and with authority.

Do not doubt God's capabilities to act.

We may be waiting for his return, but let us be careful not to neglect pursuing his purposes now.

To not neglect how he wishes to use us now for his name and his glory in our day.

In this Psalm, David's eyes have been fixed upon God Himself as He cries to God, as He proclaims the truth of who God is.

And this is what leads him to worship.

He worships in the midst of such a situation.

That is what he does.

And that seems strange.

Maybe you're more holy than me, but I don't think I'll go to there.

I'd go to worship, that that would be my natural response.

Maybe praying, crying out, I get that.

But not worshiping, not singing.

And yet, this is where we find him.

Because what we find is those against David have not gone away.

He repeats the same phrase as verse 6.

Look at verse 14.

Each evening they come back, howling like dogs, and prowling about the city.

But notice how his description has changed.

As he goes on, he continues to describe them, but completely different.

Before he described their arrogance, but no longer are they going around arrogantly boasting, acting as though they are in control.

No.

Verse 615, sorry.

They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill.

This growling in Israel's mind would have reminded them of the whining, of the moaning in the desert, in the wilderness when the people rejected God.

It is the same sense that we are getting here, that this picture is of their demise.

That as David has proclaimed, before the Lord they are nothing.

He laughs, he is not troubled by them.

Before the Lord they can do nothing, and their arrogant, boastful words are transformed into whining.

And what happens is that as David sees with eyes of faith, his faith is emboldened.

Because if his God is not worried or concerned by these men, why should he be?

Because his God is a God who rules and reigns.

None are able to stand before him.

But David stands and worships because his salvation is in God.

God is the one who sustains him, who gives him strength.

God is the one who protects him and is his fortress.

What else can he do but sing?

But I will sing of your strength.

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning, for you have been to me a fortress, a refuge in the day of my distress.

O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

In the face of his enemies, David is unshaken and defiantly singing.

That is remarkable.

It is an utter contrast that those who have sought to kill him, as they whine, David sings.

He truly triumphs over his enemies.

Because the remarkable truth of those who know God, who find their refuge in him, there is no fear in this world.

There is no fear that can shake us when our eyes are fixed, when our faith is firm in Christ Jesus?

What can anyone do to you when the creator of the world stands behind you, the creator of all?

What can anyone do when the one who gives and sustains all life is with you?

What can anyone say when your heavenly father gazes upon you and declares you to be righteous because of his son?

When he calls you children?

Brother, sister, I'm not saying nothing will happen to you because of your faith in Jesus Christ.

Suffering will come, persecution will happen if you are living for him.

But what I am saying is that as his people, if we are people who would consistently seek him, if we are people who would consistently cry out to him, if we are people who would consistently speak the truth in the face of the lies around us, then we will not fear, we will not worry what is to come.

In this place, in that space, the Lord will meet us in our need.

That we will be able to cry out with David, for you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.

He is a God who comes to meet us.

This is the call throughout this Psalm.

Have you noticed that?

Verse 4, awake, come to meet me.

Verse 9, I will watch for you.

Verse 10, my God in his steadfast love will meet me.

Verse 16, you have been to me a fortress and a refuge.

Verse 17, you, O God, are my fortress.

The God who shows me steadfast love.

You need to see this.

Do you see?

David's cry turns to expectation.

His expectation turns into experiencing God.

When we doubt God's love for us, when we doubt God is for us, we need to look to Jesus, who came to meet us in our brokenness, in our need, who did not just meet us there, but entered in to face our human experience, to face the temptations of this world, to face the grueling suffering upon that cross, to defeat sin and death once and for all.

That in him we do not have to fear.

Not only that, but he leaves us not alone to our own devices, but has given us his spirit, the spirit of the living God to dwell in us, to be our helper.

That when the day of trouble comes, when that moment in which you find yourself despairing, he will help you.

He will sustain you.

Do not ever believe God has left you to your own devices, to just struggle through.

He has not, he is with you in the depths of those moments.

Suffering will come in our life.

Suffering will come to you, and God is able to move and act in power in those moments.

He can bring healing, he can bring restoration.

But for us, we need to know that our salvation is far greater than being rescued from the brokenness we face in a situation.

The brokenness we experience.

When we gaze upon our Savior, we see He did not save us for a better life now, he saved us for a completely better world.

Free from brokenness, free from pain, free from the sinful desires we experience, free from the feelings of emptiness that we feel and experience.

Where else should we run but into the loving arms of our God?

Who is enough for us?

In your darkest day, brother or sister, Christ is for you.

Who can be against you?

To run this race, to make it to the end, keeping the faith, is only possible because of him.

It is possible because he will be our strength.

He will be your fortress.

And he will continually show his love toward us, and we will sing in sweet assurance of our salvation in Christ Jesus.

I will sing of your strength.

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been to me a fortress, a refuge in the day of my distress.

Oh my strength.

I will sing praises to you, for you, oh God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

Amen.

Let me pray.

Loving Father, I thank you for your grace, for your mercy towards us.

Thank you that you are God who knows and sees all.

You are God who knows our situation.

You know each person here.

I do not know them all.

I do not know all that is happening in their life or all that has happened, but you do.

And I thank you that you invite us to come, to come to you to find comfort, to find assurance, to find all we need in Christ Jesus.

So I pray, would you help us to see you more clearly?

Would you help us to know that there is nothing for us to fear, that you are for us, you are with us, and in you we will make it to the end.

And one day we will stand before you, fully restored, fully made perfect, no longer feeling the brokenness of this world, no longer feeling and experiencing pain, but delighting and rejoicing.

Help us to see, I pray.

In your beautiful name I pray.

Amen.