How to Go From Desperation to Praise: Psalm 59:1-17

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways. Hey, everybody, thanks for tuning in for another

great episode of The Bible Guys.

Great episode. Yeah, way set the bar. Yeah, this is

gonna be it should be great. It should be the

bar every time, because it wouldn't be that interesting, and

Arrol Nation went welcome to another mediocre episode of the

barverage average hum episode of The Bible Guys. I was

in the car, Yes, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, we plan

to mail it in today.

I was in the car with one of our staff

members who's only like a young twenties, and I said,

you know, speaking of mediocrity, I said, I said, oh,

that's like an e Or And he goes, e Or,

who's e Or? And then me and Wesley of course

us is older than him, right, And in Wes he

just starts laughing and he goes, you don't know who

ere is? And he says, he goes he's the donkey

and he goes, oh yeah, yeah, he goes from the

lion king, and all of a sudd we're laughing, and it.

Was He's like there's like from Shrek.

Right, He's like, there's like a sixty year difference between

Winnied the Pooh and this, and he goes, oh, we

need the Pooh. He goes, but who's there? He had

no idea who it was.

Wow, this shows how old we are, buddy, getting so old? Yes,

and you're quite a bit older than me, so yes,

gotta hurt worse.

What is it, April? What are you?

May? What? May tenth?

May tenth? So I'm one month in six days older

than you.

But it's got to feel I mean, you wear it,

you wear it pretty heavily.

It feels like a massive gap. Okay, right, so let's

jump right into this. Desiree has a segment for us

called would you rather? I love these?

Oh? These are fun.

Yeah, there's a lot of them from jump into a

quick Okay, I'll do the first one. Would you rather

always have to hop like a kangaroo or wadle like

a penguin? O? It depends on if you're gonna build

my knees to be as strong as a kangaroo's. Because

I can cover some ground with my current knees, I

don't think I could hop forever like a kangaroo.

And kangaroos can cover some ground.

Right, So if I had the knees of a kangaroo,

I might say kangaroo. But if they're Chris are Bonnies,

I'm going with the water.

Yeah. I think the older people get the more they

waddle anyway, So that's a good one.

All right, Well we'll choose wattle. I hate to say that,

that's terrible.

Would you rather have a talking dog that constantly criticizes

your choices or a cat that tries to outsmart you

at every turn?

That's a no brainer. I mean it's a cat every time?

Yeah? Yeah, how big is the cat?

Right?

Right?

It doesn't say, but.

I really feel like it's the cats that criticize your

every decision. Quite, oh they do. They're so judgmental.

Yes, but for a dog to verbalize that, nobody wants

to be around criticism, right on? Right? Okay, So the

next one is would you rather live in live in

a world? Live in a world where everyone constantly speaks

in movie quotes. Oh, that's funny that I just did that.

I kind of do, that's true, Or.

In a world where everyone communicates solely through interpretive dance.

Oh, I don't even think twice about it. I movie quotes,

movie quotes. I'm gonna I'm gonna go on record and saying.

We lost you. Interpretive dance.

Oh my gosh, there has never been, never, never been.

And I'm I'm an arts major. I graduated a music degree. Yeah,

there's never been a time when I thought, you know what,

this needs an interpretive dance. When people come and say, hey,

we're gonna do an interpretive dance, I'm like, really right. So, yeah,

there's movie quotes all day long, because that's what I

already lived with with you anyways, it's movie quotes all

the time.

I'm obviously gonna choose movie quotes as well, because that's

just your every day life. I'm not a I'm not

like a man. I love interpretive dance. It needs this

or man, that was life changing. But I very much

enjoy interpretive dance most of the time. Yeah, okay, so

I think it's I think it's but by the way,

I think it's hard to actually have a dance that

communicates the song or the video that you're in, you

know what I mean. Like to do interpretive dance, well,

it actually takes effort because most of the dances that

I would see as interpretive dance really aren't that interpretive?

Does it makes sense?

Yes?

Yeah so, but I enjoy them still.

Yeah, okay, good for you.

Yeah, good for me?

All right. Would you rather have to wear a full

pirate outfit every day or a full medieval night suit

complete with the helmet and sword wherever you go?

Well, that's a no brainer. It would definitely be the

Pirate outfit, even though the night Midie even Night's outfit

was way cooler, totally cool, totally cool that it's just

impractical too heavy and hot, hot and nasty and yeah.

Inside that I think Captain Jack Sparrow made the Pirate

outfit cool.

Yes he did, Yeah, he did for sure.

Okay.

Last one? Would you rather have your day narrated by

a hyperactive sports commentator or a mellow jazz DJ who

always plays smooth or soothing background music to your daily routine?

Oh? The jazz DJ?

Why?

Because jazz DJs are cool? Okay, all right, I don't

want some guy screaming and then he reached for the

milk and always.

Please pol ceial.

I know, I don't want that. That feels really stressful

and that it was pop tarts up, ladies and gentlemen.

That's funny.

He's walking into the bathroom. I think I heard the

door every bock.

That's so funny. Yeah, so I'm gonna have to go

with you there. You sold me, you had me, You

had me at stressful.

Can you imagine so where we're Detroit Lions fans, can

you imagine having Dan Dickerson just losing his mind?

Right?

Right? Right? It Dickerson?

Is he the Lions guy?

Is Hee the Tigers guy?

I do not know the names, the DJ or the

commentation I think. Okay, anyways, I remember I remember Mark Champion,

Mark Champions, old Lions guy. So who, by the way,

went to our church for a long time.

That's fine, the.

Church that was a part of Okay, So there you go.

I think that those are great questions. And I wonder

who agreed with us and who disagreed.

Yes, well we got it sorted out. We got the

right answers. So it doesn't matter if the listeners agree

or disagree, right, because we're always we got him right

in our own world. Yeah that's right.

Okay, Well we're we're bouncing back and forth, and we're

gonna be going back to Psalm fifty nine because we're

talking about David in the Book of First Samuel. But

we're doing this series chronologically, yes, and chronological excuse me,

not just chronological, but we're also the series itself as

hitting the milestones of the Old Testament or the highlights,

and the psalms are a big part of the Old Testament.

Yeah, well, David is writing the psalms while these things

are happening, right, and so that's all it's doing is

it's kind of peppering into and we know when Psalm

fifty nine was written, because what happened was David gets

promoted after killing the Philistine. Saul is flip flopping back

and forth and supporting him or not, but wants to

support him. Jonathan is his buddy. Then David goes and goes, hey,

didn't you say that whoever kills the giant gets to

marry your daughter? And Saul goes, well, yeah, but how

about this, bring me one hundred four skins of the

Philistines and warriors and then you can. So David goes

and gets his buddies, and what Saul thinks is going

to happen is David's going to get killed the Bible

literally says he thinks he's going to die in this battle,

and instead David goes and gets a bunch of his

mighty men and they go out and they kill two

hundred guys and bring two hundred back to Saul. So

now Saul's kind of obligated. He lets David mary his

daughter Michael. So then this is a great romance. It's

all this wonderful thing. But then Saul is just spiraling

out of control, and at one point Jonathan saves David's life.

But then finally Saul in chapter nineteen, is it Yeah.

Chapter nineteen, Saul sends a bunch of soldiers to watch

David's house and he's gonna have David assassinated. And Michael realizes, Hey,

there's some hit men here at the house and you've

got to get out, and so he escapes out the window.

She helps him escape out the window, and then she

fakes in his bed that he's there. They come into

kill him, and of course he's not there. So it's

in that context that David writes Psalm fifty nine. And

the way we know that is, have you ever noticed

before the psalms that there's always these little notes yeah,

that say who wrote it and whatever. So the little

note before the song starts is and this is written

by David. It says for the choir director, a psalm

of David regarding the time Saw sent soldiers to watch

David's house in order to kill him, to be sung

to the tune do not Destroy. So so the way

we know that this song was written at this moment

was because David said I wrote it then, right, and

even tells him what tune to sing it to.

Yeah, okay, and you know that song do not Destroy?

Yeah, maybe that was it. Ye.

Yeah, So we don't know if the tune do not

Destroy because we don't know what that song is.

It could have been to like the tuna we are

the Champions or something, do not Destroy?

Oh my friend?

Right, yeah, here you go. Anyways, here's the song. I

think it's cool. God gives us the lyrics to this song.

That cool, and it says, rescue me from my enemies.

Oh God, protect me from those who've come to destroy me.

Rescue me from these criminals. Save me from these murderers.

They have set an ambush for me. Fierce enemies are

out there waiting. Lord, though I have not sinned or

offended them. I've done nothing wrong, yet they prepare to

attack me. Wake up, see what's happening, and help me, o, Lord,

God of Heaven's armies, the God of Israel, wake up

and punish those who hostile nations show no mercy to

the wickeds. And it's an interlude, isn't that Cela? Isn't

that usually where.

It says, Yeah?

They come out at night, snartling like vicious dogs as

they prowl the streets. Listen to the filth that comes

from their mouths, Their words cut like swords. After all,

who can hear us? They sneer? But Lord, you laugh

at them, You scoff at all the hostile nations. You

are my strength, and I wait for you to rescue me.

For you, oh God, or my fortress, in his unfailing love.

My God will stand with me. He will not, or

he will let me look down and triumph on all

my enemies. Don't kill them for my people soon forget

such lessons. Stagger them with your power and bring them

to their knees, Oh Lord, our shield, because of the

sinful things they say, because of the evil that is

on their lips, Let them be captured by their pride,

their curses, and their lies. Destroy them in your anger,

wipe them out completely. Then the whole world will know

that God reigns in Israel. And there's another interlude. My

enemies come out at night, snarling like vicious dogs as

they prowl the streets. They scavenge for food, but go

to sleep unsatisfied. But as for me, I will sing

about your power each morning. I'll sing the joy about

your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a

place of safety when I'm in distress. Owe my strength

to you. I sing praises for you. Oh God, are

my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love. Well,

there you go, there you go. I felt like there

was a long silence and I need to fill it

with something, Yeah, like.

A Cela Cela? Yeah? So yeah, is it Selah or Cela?

Sure?

Okay, got it? So so David then writes this song

and compares his enemies to dogs who are never satisfied.

They come out at night, they're vicious, they prowl the streets,

and they scavenge for food. And you know, I think

that sometimes we believe that our enemies are like this,

that By the way, that's not to say that people

don't have enemies that are like this. I think that

most of us probably don't have enemies that have people

that are out to get.

Us but have to kill us.

Yeah, but it feels that way. That's what I'm trying

to say. It feels like what David is saying, but

it's not true. But in this case, it's literally true

for David. Is That's what I'm trying to say, Right, So,

what can we learn from this Psalm Jeff, Other than

here's David who feels like he's the victim. He feels

like he's done nothing wrong, He's going to try to

praise God, and yet he's unjustly being hunted down and

running from his life.

Yeah. Well, I think you know, multiple times in the

New Testament, Paul and Peter both tell us that the

things written in the Old Testament are for our example.

And so when you read a passage like this and

you know that you know he's being hunted down by

his enemies and he feels forgotten, he goes to God.

And so this becomes a model prayer for us. I

think when we feel like we're in a situation where

we're being overwhelmed by the circumstances around us. Everybody's gunning

for us. You know, this might be a work thing,

or this might be a family issue that you've got

going on, you know, extended family, you're in laws or whatever,

you know, and you just feel like everybody's coming after you. This,

I think is a really appropriate kind of structure, and

there's a I would just pull this up, by the way.

First of all, he starts off with this cry of deliverance.

He's like, you know, rescue me from my enemies. That's reasonable.

God helped me, yes, right, I just I don't have

anywhere else to turn, which, by the way, that's not

a terrible place to be when you have nowhere else

to go, but God, right, and so verses one and two.

That's where he's at. And then he points out to

go these people are blood thirsty, right, they're murderers, they're

they're coming after me. And then he starts asking for

divine justice. So first it's God, I need help deliver me.

And then not only that, I want you to protect

me how much you go get them right, and and

there's a human element to that. It feels a little

weird because we know we're supposed to forgive. At the

same time, it's not inappropriate to desire justice. Right, I'm

not just saying protect me, stop them, bring justice against

the people that are doing these kind of things, because

if they'll do it to me, they'll do it to

other people too.

Right.

That that eliminates the problem, Yes, eliminate this problem. And

then he goes to God again. He reminds God, I

trust you, but then I think it's funny, and then

he ends it with praise. So those four elements I

think are reasonable to pray when you feel like you're

surrounded and you're you're being hunted down and that everything's

against you. You know, God, I'm trusting in you for deliverance. God.

Only you can bring justice. God, I need I need

only You are the one that I can trust. I

don't have any rest turn. I'm trusting you, and then

I'm going to praise you and then fill your life

with praise. I think that those things are important. But

I do have one verse or one spot that I

think is interesting that is always surprising to me. Verse four,

he goes, I've done nothing wrong, yet they prepare to

attack me. So he says to God, wake up, see

what's happening and help me. O Lord, God of Heaven's armies,

the God of Israel, wake up and punish those hostile nations.

Show no mercy to the wicked traders. It's almost like

he says, I feel like I'm in this alone. I

don't feel like you're paying attention to me.

Right You're silent, You're distant. It feels as if you

were sleeping.

Yeah, And sometimes when the world is burning down around us,

we feel like God's not paying attention.

Honestly, it's so relatable when you break it down like that,

you know, it's whenever have you ever been in a situation,

Oh my goodness, I've in situations like this so many

times in my life where I'm like, God is silent,

This is unfair. I'm just trying to be good. I

can name you three people right now in my life,

right now who are like, all I'm trying to do

is serve God, and it just seems like everything is

going against me. Circumstances around me, financially, my job, these circumstances,

this relationship, you know, whatever it is, and it's like,

I just want God to throw me a bone for

crying out loud. Right I'm serving him. It feels like

I'm in the one side of relationship. And so not

only does he pray that God, would you please help

the situation, help me, protect me, but then he says, no,

go further than that, demonstrate yourself in such a miraculous

way to where they would be completely eliminated. And I

think that that's what we pray as well. We say, God,

don't just spare me from the consequences of the situation

I found myself in. But God do way above, you know,

just like Ephesian says, right above that we can ask

or dream or imagine, and we have to be reminded

that God is not afraid of those kind of thoughts,

you know, you know, for us to accuse God of

being asleep, David in his heart knew that God wasn't.

Asleep, but he just felt alone.

He felt alone, and so God isn't afraid. It's not

as if God said, how dare you accuse me of

being asleep?

Well, under the inspirational Holy Spirit, God chose to include

this in Bible. That's right with that accusation.

Right, which means.

Like God's not afraid of our emotions. He's not afraid

of our anger, and in the instant moment of our response,

God is still saying, Hey, I'm on your side, David, right,

and God protected him, and the Bible says the Lord

is with David.

Yeah. And there are people who've come to you and

come to me in the past, and they say, I

can't even walk into a church, I can't even approach

God because I've yelled at God, I've blasphemed God, I've

I've blamed God, and I don't even know how to

approach him because I've written him off and he'll never

receive me from this point on, as to which I

would say, those are serious things, but God's always going

to receive you. God's always going to love you. God's

always going to forgive you regardless.

Yeah, you know, I think of my mom had a

particularly bad thing happened to her. She was a Christian

at the time, and she just spiraled. She couldn't find

her way out of this horrible nightmare. It's a nightmarish moment.

And so one night she was so depressed and she

couldn't figure out how to end this. She's mad at God.

You're not paying attention to me, you don't care about me.

And so she decided she couldn't end her own life.

She just didn't. She said she didn't have the courage

for that. But so she decided she was going to

go curse God and die. So at like two o'clock

in the morning, she goes into our bathroom, locks herself

in the bathroom. Nobody knows that this is going on,

and she's just trying to think of every horrible thing

to tell God. Right, she just everything in my mom's faith.

If you knew my mom, it's just incredible. But in

that moment, this was a really horrible event in her life,

and so she decided to do everything she could think

to do to make God kill her. And then she

fell asleep, like five o'clock in the morning, about six thirty,

the phone rings, maybe back in the day, the phone

hanging on the wall. Yeah, phone rings. My mom hurries

out to answer it because she didn't want the family

to wake up. So it's about seven in the morning,

I guess, and one of her friends calls and she says, Sue,

are you okay? And my mom goes why, She said,

God woke me up at two o'clock in the morning,

I've been praying for you until now.

Those a great moment R.

And so my mom told her what had happened and

all these things, and the lady said, you know that

happened to me too, same situation, and it just stinks,

doesn't it. It's terrible, but I can't tell you. You

may never get over it, but you can get through it.

God'll take you with it. And that's why God woke

me up this morning to pray for you. Right. So

at the moment my mom was praying while he's wake

up God, you're not paying attention. You don't care about me.

In that very moment where she's trying to figure out

how to get God to kill her, God woke up

another friend to go to battle for her in prayer, right,

And so God was awake. He's paying attention. And then

David knew that. So when you find yourself in these

situations and you're just overrun by your enemies, you feel

like there's no hope for you, and you feel like

God's not paying attention to you, he cries for deliverance.

That's reasonable, that's what you do. You start off, God,

I need you to help me. And then it's okay

to ask for justice. God. I need your divine intervention

and justice. Stop these people from doing this thing. Bring justice.

Express the fact that you trust him. You have nowhere

else to turn. You trust God. That's what he does

in that moment. And then he ends it with praise

and confidence. Right, and I think that you know, surround yourself,

turn on some worship music. Is spend time where you're

the song of your heart shifts from your circumstances to

the fact that He's in control. He's the way maker,

he's the one who can work miracles. He's the one

that can deliver you. And so the reason why God

gives us these psalms is because they're like models for us.

And so when you read it at first, you just

read a lot of words. But if you can start

to dig in and say, what's the pattern to how

he's communicating, and then you adapt that pattern to your circumstances,

it's a really great way to learn how to pray.

That's great. Yeah, awesome, Well, hey that is our time.

So that was a great psalm And wow, wow, just

what a.

Great story about that's powerful.

It's powerful.

Well, what's amazing now is in the years. Since God

doesn't waste your hurt, right, he never does so in

the years since, my mom's been able to help so

many other women in the same situation. That's right, because

God used somebody to help her, and so in the

same way God helps you, he'll use you to help others. Yeah,

so he's not going to waste the circumstance you're in

right now.

And he tells us that too.

Yep, that's right, that's right.

Awesome. Well, hey, that's our time, so we will see

you next time on the Bible, guys,