Psalm 108

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Okay, I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it. I don't know if I should, but I'm going to say it. Good evening everyone. It is Wednesday, October the second, twenty twenty four. It is currently six eighteen pm Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I have been avoiding using the word good, and the only reason I'm using the word good now is because this is my attempt to try to move forward. I we're not completely done with the thing that's been haunting me over I don't know how long. Now, it seems like a few weeks. This thing that's been haunting me. I feel like I feel like I'm in a a pit and I cannot get myself out. So I'm just going, in a sense, almost try to convince myself, Hey, everything is good, everything is wonderful, everything is great. No, you didn't come up with any answers. Nobody else has any answers.

1:13 It's all confusing and discombobulated and confounding and depressing. And discouraging, and you want to just give up and you want to just become an alcoholic. Okay, okay, stop stop stop stop stop stop stop. No, everything is wonderful, everything is good, and we're just going to move forward. But I'm to me, I'm being serious. Yes, I have been trying to figure out a lot of this about how Christians even understand the concept of sin and do we continue to sin? Can we keep the law? Can we not keep the law? Do we have a new this? So we have not new this? And are we free? Are we not free? All just all of that. I'm not going to go back through all the things we've been talking about. You can just go listen to the last probably week or two of broadcast and you'll get a pretty good idea of what it's been going on. But I I just know I can't keep like what do I do? I mean, I could turn on the microphone right now and do some more work on the subject, but I really have reaching an impasse. I'm reaching like I don't know what to do anymore. So I was sitting here going, Okay, let's see what do I do?

2:20 What do I do? What do I do? Do? I just not worry about recording tonight do I just like forget it. I could go listen to the MLB playoffs, I could listen to music. Maybe I could read a novel. Maybe maybe maybe I could just you know, I could find something else to do. But but I, you know what, I just kept like debating with myself. So, you know what, this is what I decided. I grabbed the sermons two point oh app I went to the Discover tab. I hit new sermons, and the first one I saw was a sermon on some one oh eight. A sermon on some one oh eight, and I'm like, okay, right at that moment, nothing was nothing was coming to mind about some went ow eight. I couldn't really recall exactly, okay, what is some one owaight? Like nothing, And I'm like, that's okay, I don't know anything. Let's just stop. So I downloaded the sermon, started playing it just a little bit to kind of get an idea of where he was going. He mentioned a couple of things about some one o eight. I immediately stopped started doing a little bit of work, putting a little bit of work, putting together some notes, and I'm like, you know what, here's what I'll do. I'll kind of just use the audio and then we'll just do some preliminary work and some one O eight. Does this turn into anything bigger? I don't know, but at least it gives me. And I hate to say this, this really is more to help me crawl out of this pit. Then maybe it's even

3:50 for you. This is more for me, right, Like I just I just don't know what to do. So maybe someone awight will give me something from it. Now as a result, now, this is very important. This is a hermeneutical lesson, right, So before we even start taking the passage apart, this is very important whenever you're studying the Bible. Whenever you're studying any passage of scripture, whether a historical narrative, a psalm which would be poetry, whether it's an epistle, whatever the genre of literature it is. Wherever you are in the Bible, it is very easy to allow your emotions and your circumstances to greatly impact what you read. Right, if you're feeling something, if you're going through something, and you read a certain passage of scripture, you just may immediately kind of start reading your emotions and reading your circumstances into the passage, almost as if well, that's the passage I needed. That passage was speaking to me. But in reality, it's not that the passage is speaking to you.

4:57 You have read into the passage circumstances, your situation and your emotions. Let me if that doesn't make any sense, let me try it this way. Maybe this will work. So many times you will listen to a well, depending if you're a music fan. If you're a music fan, you understand this, or if you don't listen to music anymore. Remember back when you were a teenager and you listen to music depending on what you were going through. You had some crush on a girl or some crush on a guy, and you you were heartbroken, or you felt misunderstood, or you felt no one understood your teenage angst, whatever the emotions were, and you would listen to a song.

5:38 You'd be like, that song speaks to me, that song captures my emotion. But the reality is that songwriter may have written it about something has nothing to do with you. You're actually misapplying the lyrics completely, but you find some comfort in it. Well, it's one thing to do that with a song, right It's one thing to do with that with a song, that you're reading your circumstances into the song and you're maybe completely misrepresenting the lyrics, and maybe you're understanding them in a way that the songwriter would look at you like you're out of your mind. It's a song, so in some ways you would feel that you have that freedom to do so. But when it comes to the Bible, we don't have that freedom to do so. We may be going through something, we may be frustrated, we may be irritated, we may be discouraged, we may be depressed. It doesn't mean I can just go to any passage of scripture and go, oh, God, God was giving that. That's the scripture I needed today.

6:34 It spoke to my heart. Whoa whoa, whoa whoa. When that passage was originally written, it wasn't to speak to your heart about your circumstance. In most cases, it's written about a specific situation in a specific time. So I'm just the only reason I'm saying that is based off my own frustration, my own irritation. I could take a psalm and go, oh, this is speaking to me, Well, is that what it's really about? So I have to be aware that I'm coming to this Psalm with a lot of just baggage. All right, I'm bringing a lot of luggage to this, so I don't want to read into it something that it's not there. I think that's just a basic hermeneutical lesson. When you're really emotional, you're really bothered, you're really frustrated, you're really guilty, whatever you may be feeling, it's easy to run to the Bible and you're just imposing it onto the text. We have to set ourself aside when we come to this text.

7:34 I'm not seeing this text is going to there's going to be something in this text that I would be tempted to do that, but because I haven't got into the text that much. I mean, I've written some notes, I've done a little bit of work, but I haven't. I just know that I have to be a weary of that because right now, or another thing I could do. This is what preachers do. When a preacher is really preoccupied with a certain topic or a certain subject, he's really bothered by something, maybe he's really irritated by something, he can have a tendency to find a way to get that into the text, even it has nothing to do with the text. If the pastor for some reason has just ticked off about the young people listening to rock and roll and the young people in the church listening to secular music, he could be preaching on Genesis one to one, and next thing you know, he's going on a full blown rant about the evils of rock music, and you're like, what does that got to do with the text. So pastors can do it. Pastors can impose things on the text based off their feelings, based off their circumstances. We all can do that, and we all have to be aware of that. We have to let the text say what the text says that and not impose our circumstance, our emotion, our feelings upon the text.

8:52 That is like a basic hermeneutical rule. And we all have to be weary. Pastors have to be weary of that. Church members have to be weary of that. Anyone who deals with the scriptures. All right, I come to the text on this Wednesday, October second, twenty twenty four, and yeah, I've got all of my emotions, all my irritation, all my frustration over everything I've been talking about on the podcast for what like two weeks. I could go back and look how long it's how long it's been my time perspective, my perception of time may be off right now, my perspective of how long it's been, it may feel longer than it's been. But I could bring that all to this text. And the reason it would be easy to do that is because I'm trying to pull myself up out of the pit. So I may be like something in some wee O W eight, give me something to get me out of my you know, ready to throw up my hands and quit and just walk away.

9:47 What can I find? But see, that's the wrong thing to do. The thing to do is I'm going to study the Bible and I'm going to let someone Await say whatever someone Await has to say based on what was going on? Can I find a parallel? If I can, I got to make sure I'm being fair to the text. So does that make sense? All right? So I've got my notes, I've got this sermon that I was like the newest sermon on Sermon's two point oh app I don't know about fifteen thirty minutes ago, forty minutes ago. I don't know how long it's been. And well, we're gonna start with the audio, but we're not the key. This is not a full blown sermon review. This is going to be He'll say some things, and now I may go to my notes, we may come back to it, and we're just gonna work through it in kind of like real time. So I don't know where this is going, but I know this, no matter where it goes, it's got to take me further. It's taking me at least some distance away from all of this just convoluted, confused chaos that we've been dealing with.

10:53 And so even if I only get five steps away, that's five steps away. Now I got get five steps away. But stay true to Psalm one o eight? All right, do you think we can do that? All right, We're gonna look to see if I. If I can do it, I may fail, but that'll be a good lesson for you. All right, So here we go. Would let's go to Psalm one hundred and eight. Psalm one hundred and eight will be our text this evening.

11:34 When I read it, some of the words should sound familiar, for the the same words as Psalm fifty seven Versus seven through eleven and Psalm sixty five through twelve. Psalm fifty seven. David wrote it while he was in the cave hiding from Saul, and in Psalm he's praying for an upcoming. Battle that he would have to face. What is interesting is that when you look at various commentaries on the Psalms, when you get to some one oh.

12:17 Eight, they simply skip it. Because, in Calvin's words, it would have been superfluous for him to have. Written what he's already written. A good majority of commentaries do that, where they just simply skip it because it's repeating what was said in Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty Spurgeon takes another approach, acknowledging that it's often ignored in commentaries, and he graciously says he's not going to. He's not going to. Detegrate those that did that, but he himself would not do that, for he said, it's not repeating because the Holy Spirit lacked words. There must be some purpose and it's our intention to figure that out.

13:11 Okay, now, this is good. This gives me something. I'm already happy, I'm already like yay. This gives me at least an opportunity to forget all this other stuff and consider this. And so let's do a little bit of work. Here in the Foundation Study Bible, on page nine hundred and ninety five, it it has Psalm one eight here, and the note is title a song because the title is a song or psalm of David. Okay, so this is a song or psalm of David. This is what the note says. The psalm is actually a medley of two other Psalms of David. Verses one through five or Psalm fifty seven to one through eleven, and verse verses six through thirteen are Psalms sixty five through twelve. So this is a medley where you take two other songs and it's kind of a mashup and you bring them together.

14:12 You got this song, So let me go through this again. The palm is actually a medley of two other psalms of David. Verses one through five of Psalm oneh eight are from Psalm fifty seven to one through eleven, and verses six through thirteen of Psalm one O eight are from Psalm sixty five through twelve. David is the author of both of these psalms, and Psalm one O eight is attributed to him as well, even though the arrangement may have been someone else's, So that don't go into any explanation to why David decided to bring these two together under one palm. I agree with Spurgeon here, right, I would disagree with Calvin or any of the other commentaries, like, we'll just skip it. We've already covered this. We've already covered this when we covered Psalm fifty seven and when we covered Psalm sixty. So there's no point. Let's just skip it and move on, all right, everyone, let's go to some one oh nine. Spurgeon is like, wha wa, wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute. If we believe all scripture is given by inspiration of God, right, if we believe all scripture is inspired by God, well, then there's a reason, David, combine these two, these two psalms Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty or elements are parts of Psalm fifty seven and parts of Psalm sixty, and combine them and Psalm one. Oh wait, there has to be some reason. Now, maybe we will not know the reason, and it may be one of those you know,

15:44 mysteries that we can never unravel. But it's somewhat kind of fascinating to go, I wonder, I wonder what was going on here. So I'm going to read a little bit of things I've put together and what we're going to consider some things before we go back and here what he does here, so Psalm one O eight is a combination of two earlier psalms, Psalm fifty seven seven through eleven and Psalm sixty five through twelve. They refused together to form a hymn of praise and a prayer for deliverance. So right there kind of gives you an idea that in a sense, this is p one o wait is a praise and a prayer. That's the way they just stated. We'll have to see if that holds to be true. But they're saying there's really two parts.

16:31 He takes two parts of two different psalms, brings them together so you get both elements. If one part's of praise and the other parts of prayer, then has come together to be a praise and a prayer. All right, Well, we'll see if that holds true in any in any way, shape or form. In this Psalm some one ow eight, David expresses his confidence in God's mercy and power, praising him for a steadfast love. He also seeks God's intervention and victory over his enemies, trusting that God will lead his people to triumph. This psalm highlights both personal trust in God and a broader appeal for the deliverance of the nation. Okay, so there may be a personal aspect to this, there may be a national aspect to this.

17:13 Now immediately from a hermeneutical perspective. And wait a minute, if there's a national aspect for this, if this has anything to do with Israel, I need to be That's a word of caution. I can't just run in and just start grabbing things, pull them out and say, well, I can expect I can pray for these same things and God will do this for me. Okay, remember when when we talked about this before and studying prayer. When we study prayer, especially if we consider the sovereignty of God, and we went through a lot of this. But when we study prayer, a lot of times we like to go to the Old Testament to see how people prayed and say, somehow we can pray for the same thing then expect God to do the same things they were praying on the basis of covenant promises God had made to Israel, where God promised them specific promises about defeating their enemies and preserving them and blessing them materially, and so they were praying consistently with what God had promised.

18:08 So that's a little different with us, and we've talked about that. So immediately from a hermoneutical standpoint, I'm like, well, if he's this has anything to do with Israel, then I got to be very careful how I apply that to myself. But I started thinking, all right, if someone ate at won o eight is a combination, right, So again, if if someone await is a medley or putting together a fusion of two other psalms, Verses one through five of someone aw eight is Psalm fifty seven, seven through eleven, and verses six through thirteen of someone Awight is taken from Psalm sixty five through twelve. If that is accurate, then the question I had was, well, wait a minute, does the historical context of Psalm fifty seven and six play significance in how we interpret Psalm one oh eight?

19:06 If David takes these psalms that he had written before or sections of them brings them together. Does the historical context of Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty come into play and our interpretation of Psal oneh eight. So I did a little bit of work, and according to at least some the historical context of Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty significantly informs the interpretation of Psalm oneh eight. Since some one O eight is a composite of these two earlier psalms, understanding the situations that prompted them provides deeper insight into the message. So it's typically understood. We need at least a basic historical understanding. Now he mentioned it briefly there. He mentioned it briefly. But I'm gonna we're gonna do a little bit more work on it, and we'll see if he comes back on this and he does anything with it. All right, So let's consider the historical context of Psalm fifty seven. He's go to Psalm fifty seven, seven through eleven, where we read these words.

20:14 This is a Psalm of David, all right. Now, even the title of Psalm fifty seven is when he fled from Saul in the cave. Okay, So Psalm fifty seven verse seven. My heart is fixed, Oh God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. Awake, Awake up my glory. Awake, psaltry and harp. I myself will awake early. I will praise THEE, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens.

20:59 Let thy glory be above all the earth. Right, there's Psalm fifty seven, seven through eleven. Right, Oh, there's a lot there we could work on. We could start taking it apart, but let's just gather the historical significance of what's going on, all right. Psalm fifty seven was written by David during a time when he was fleeing from Saul and hiding in a cave. We read about this and First Samuel twenty four, So it seems Psalm fifty seven the historical context is first Samuel twenty four. That's what most seem to agree with. And we get an idea of what's going on immediately, right, Psalm our first Samuel twenty four. So Psalm fifty seven the historical context is first Samuel twenty four, and it came to pass, And it came to pass when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told to him saying, behold, David is in the wilderness of Ngetti. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all of Israel and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. All right, so Saul is going after David. He's not going after David to have a good chat. He's going after David ultimately to kill him. Right, So David is hiding, and then there's a whole thing

22:32 that occurs here. Let's see if this summary gives us any greater detail. But just so that you know, some one oh eight borrows from Psalm fifty seven. The context of Psalm fifty seven is for Samuel twenty four. For Samuel twenty four is the story of Saul taking all of these men to go after David, and David is hiding in the cave that Saul happens to go into, and Saul goes into the cave to use the rest. I think that's the probably the nicest way to say it all right. Now, here we go. The psalm reflects David's confidence in God despite the danger he faced. Verses seven through eleven expresses David's steadfast trust in God's deliverance and his determination to praise God regardless of his dire circumstances. Now, let's go back to Psalm fifty seven. Psalm fifty seven.

23:34 My heart is fixed, Oh God, my heart is fixed? All right? Now, my heart is fixed. Let's just do a little work on this. Let's do a little work on this. What does it mean my heart is fixed? Let's go to the Blue Letter Bible. App We'll do just a little bit of work here. All right, I'm gonna go to the Old Testament Book of Psalms, chapter fifty seven. I'm going to go to verse seven. My heart is fixed, all right. The word fixed here is this Hebrew. Word Strong's nine. Con coun coon and it is excuse two hundred and nineteen times. Uh. It's see, there's a I mean, there's a lot here. There's a lot going on here. To define it. The outline of biblical usage to be firm, to be stable, to be established, to be set up, be established, be fixed, to be firmly established, to be established, to be stable, to be secure, to be enduring, to be fixed, to be securely determined, to be direct, directed, aright, to be fixed, a right to be steadfast, to be prepared, to be ready, to establish, to fix, to make up, to direct, to be established. It's this idea that that my heart is established, my heart is fixed, My heart is stable, my heart is completely It's not being bounced around.

25:07 It is stable. It is fixed. And what is it fixed on? Ps? I'm fifty seven to seven. My heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise. It seems to me the text is at least indicating or implying that what David is saying is, Lord, Hey, there's men coming after me. I'm in a cave. Somebody wants to kill me. Everything is uncertain, Everything is unstable, Everything is confusing. I don't know what to do. There is no certainty. But my heart is stable, established, fixed, stands focused on you. That seems to be the idea. My heart is fixed. Oh God, my heart is fixed.

25:49 I will sing and give praise. The idea is that inside David, David has committed his heart, his emotion, his mind, his focus to be on God, even though everything around him is confusing, confounding, maybe discouraging, maybe depressing, maybe overwhelming. Maybe it could probably produce anxiety, worry. But He's like, my heart is fixed on you, Oh God. That seems to be the basic idea, And I'm going to sing and give praise. Now. I'm singing and giving praise not because my circumstances are wonderful, not even because my circumstances may get great, but because the idea is well, God, God deserves that praise. Awake up my glory, awake, sultry and harm, I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee among the nations, for thy mercy is great under the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, Oh God, above all the heavens. Let that glory be above all the earth. I'm going to praise you. I'm going to exalt you irregardless of circumstance. I can't speak for you.

27:07 That's very convicting because in my mind I'm like, if I'm going to praise you, God, if I'm going to exalt you, i am praising and exalting you because I'm acknowledging your superiority, your greatness, your omnipotence, your omniscience, your omnipresence. I'm acknowledging all that you are, all of your attributes, all of your glory. So in my mind I would be like, wait a minute, why am I praising you for all these attributes When all of this is happening. You could remove Saul and one point two seconds, I wouldn't be running for my life and I wouldn't be hiding in a cave. This is the great contrast and scripture.

27:50 It's while these men of the Bible acknowledge God's power and God's absolute authority and sovereignty, while they praised him for that and acknowledge that, at the same time, they were living amidst circumstances that would call into question the very God whom they are praising, because their circumstances would be like, well, wait a minute, if God is all powerful, if God is all knowing, none of these circumstances should be happening. But they still acknowledge God and his greatness in spite of the circumstances. We've talked about this before and in a study of another Psalm. Remember we spend a good portion of the summer of twenty twenty four talking about it that in time and time again, the Christian life is where we believe in a God in whom we cannot see. Well, we live in the midst of circumstances that scream there is no God, that God is not doing anything. Yet we still believe in that God.

28:43 We believe in a God in whom we cannot see, in the midst of circumstances that scream that there is no God and we shouldn't even believe in him. David is like my heart is fixed. Nothing else seems established, nothing else is fixed, Everything is in total chaos. Now he's now David. To be fair, he has some promises from God that you know, maybe we don't have those exact promises, but we've got we at least know how things are ultimately going to be. So there's the context now in someone O wait, let's go to someone, O wait, Oh God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and give praise even with my glory awake psaltry and harp, I myself will awake early. I will praise thee o Lord among the people. I will sing praises unto thee among the nations, for thy mercy is great above the heavens, and that truth that reaches untrough the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth that thy, that thy beloved may be delivered.

29:49 Save with thy right hand and answer me. Now there's a there's there's almost identical, I think, other than verse six, I think is a little different. But but my heart is fixed is the same. It's not repeated, but the same concept is there, right, the same concept is there. My heart is fixed, my heart is stabled. It's it's not being bounced around, it's not being tossed around, even though the circumstances should do that. So there's the historical context of Psalm fifty seven. It's found in first Samuel twenty four. If I remember the text we looked at yes on Samuel twenty four. Saul is coming after David.

30:38 Saul goes into a cave. David is hiding there, and well, and then all the things that transpire, but the main thing is David is under threat. He's under threat of death. He's running for his life. Now, well, how does all of that bear on some went Awight. Well, we just read how it's quoted ins Some went Await about praise in the midst of trials. The use of this passage in Some one oh eight highlights the idea of praising God even during adversity, just as David praise God while hiding from Saul, Someone Awight begins by emphasizing praise as an act of faith even when facing uncertain, uncertainty or challenging times. So some one Await is probably using it in the same way. I don't know in Someone ow eight.

31:22 We will will have to see if we get a historical context for Some one o eight. Haven't thought about looking that up right now, But it's the same concept. Hey, in the midst of whatever the trial may be, whatever the uncertainty may be, we need to fix our heart on God. Now, I know from a logical perspective, From a human perspective, it seems ridiculous, right, Well, you're going to fix and praise the God who not only is allowing the situation, depending on your theology, he has decreed the situation and at the very least he's done nothing to fix the situation. Well, why am I going to praise God who either decreed the situation, because the idea is I'm praising God irregardless, I'm not. My praise for God has nothing to do with the circumstance, has nothing to do with the situation. I'm praising God because God deserves praise no matter of the circumstance. But I understand from a human perspective, it seems ridiculous. Hey, I'm going to praise the very God who did not stop this from happening, maybe even decreed it to happening. But at the very least, he's not done anything, He's not intervened.

32:33 So it makes no sense. But that's the that's the confusing part of faith, right. We're putting our faith into God in whom we cannot see, even though the circumstances we can see says there is no God, that God is not doing anything, that God has abandoned you. It's useless. And I can understand that being very confusing. Steadfastness in heart, So it's some one O eight. Using Psalm fifty seven gives us the idea of praising God in the midst of trials. Next, it gives us the idea of steadfastness of heart. David says, my heart is steadfast. Now the King James says, my heart is fixed. I'm gonna read it from a different translation. Give me one second. I'm gonna go to some one O eight in a different translation.

33:29 Letna go to p one O eight some one eight. Here we go, Oh God, my heart is steadfast? Right? Steadfast? Is the word all right? Steadfast or fixed? Well? The theme of a steadfast heart reappears in Some one O eight, signaling unwavering trust in God's ability to deliver despite whatever trials may exist. The historic backdrop Psalm fifty seven adds weight to this trust, as David maintained his praise during life threatening circumstances. I think I don't know if it's so much having faith that God can deliver.

34:12 I think it's just the idea that my heart is steadfast because I it's focused on God. God is not moved by circumstances. God is not moved by my confusion or my not understanding. God remains the only thing that remains stable. The only thing that remains unmovable and immovable is God. Everything around us. Now, you would think the immovable God, immutable God, would then fix our circumstances where they would be more stable. But clearly he doesn't. I mean, that's just reality. The idea is my heart is steadfast and fixed. I'm not going to say so much on him being able to deliver because there's no guarantee, at least for us, that he will deliver. Now, David may have had assurance, but we don't have that. We have assurance that God will one day wipe away all of our tears, will be no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death and glorification. But in this life you have no guarantee of deliverance, and I think it would be foolish to think otherwise. Right, But okay, now, what about the historical context of Psalm sixty.

35:20 Let's go to Psalm sixty. I'm gonna use use this bible, Psalm sixty, Psalm sixty five through twelve. Psalm sixty five through twelve. All right, are you ready Psalm sixty verse. Five, that thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand. And hear me God hath spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice, I will divide Chechem and meet out the valley of Sukoff Gilead is mine, Manassa is mine. Ephriam also is the strength of mine head. Judah is my lawgiver, Moab is my wash pot over eat them until I cast out my shoe felictia triumph Thou because of me? How far do they want me to go?

36:10 All the way down to twelve? Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into eat them? Wilt thou will not thou owe God which had us cast us off? And thou o God, which didest not go out with our armies. Give help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly, for he is, for it is that shall tread down our enemies. Now, the first part the Psalm fifty the Psalm fifty seven part Psalm fifty seven, seven to eleven. That's very personal. Now it's got a clear historical application to David's situation. But that one's much more easier to apply. Right, Hey, fix our heart on God, no matter our circumstances, praise, no matter our circumstances. We believe in a God in whom we cannot see, even though circumstances cause that to call that into question. Yet we're going to fix our heart and trust in God.

37:11 There's application here. This one becomes a little bit more discombobulated. Here, this one is a little bit more difficult, all right. Psalm sixty five through twelve some six sixty was written after David had faced a significant military defeat, possibly during his campaign against Edom or other nations, all right, in the trans Jordan. And we can see Second Samuel chapter eight and First Chronicles chapter eighteen. So whatever the case may be, David has defeated a military defeat. He's been defeated, all right. The psalm reflects a period of national distress when Israel had suffered losses, but also anticipates eventual victory through God's intervention. Versus is five through twelve are a plea for God's help and battle, calling on him to restore his people and lead them to victory. Now they have been defeated. Now the hope here in Psalm sixty five through twelve, go through. Let's go through this again, that thou beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand, and hear me. God has spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice, I will divide Shuchem meet out the Valley of Succoth. It names all of these nations. Now, the idea is, they've been defeated, but they're still trusting in God.

38:35 Now what is the basis of their ability to trust God for the defeating of these enemies and their victory. It's the covenant promises God made. Now, some people would want to take this and say, see, I can believe God's going to defeat all of my enemies, but there is no guarantee that in our life that that's going to happen. But we do know that ultimately we have a covenant promise that all of evil will be destroyed, Satan will be cast into the Lake of fire, Death will be gone, Sin will be gone, Satan will be gone, and there will be a new heaven, a new earth. There will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more death. I can trust that there is coming a time that no matter how much I am defeated now, no matter how much I am defeated in a practical sense, ultimate victory is coming, not necessarily in this life, but in glorification. I think that that makes some sense. Now, well, how does this fit with Now I'm gonna go to p one O eight gonna go to Psalm one O eight all right, Verses one through basically five in a sense, is from Psalm fifty seven, starting a verse six, that my beloved may be delivered. Save with thy right hand and answer me. God has spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice. I will divide Shechem meet out the valley of Sukkoth. Gilead is mine, Manassa is mine. Iphriem also

40:12 is the strength of mind head. Judah is my lawgiver, Moab is my washpot over eat them? Will I cast out my shoe over felictia? Will I triumph? Who will bring me into the strong city, who will lead me into edom? Will not thou owe God who has cast us off? Will not thou owe God to go forth with our host? Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. Through God. We shall do valiantly, for He is for it. For He it is that shall tread down our enemies. This is a complete demonstrating confidence that, Hey, God, even though we've been defeated, even though we've been humiliated, even though we've suffered defeat, we trust in your your promises. This is the idea that we can trust in God's promises even though we can's state it this way. We believe in a God in whom we cannot see right, and we fix our heart on that God, even though all the circumstances around us call into question everything about that God. And at the same time we trust in God's promises, even though everything around us is like all those promises? Where are they now? Oh?

41:24 You believe in a new heaven and a new earth with no more sin and no more death and no more suffering. But all around you and in you is sin and defeat and destruction and death and pain and misery and hurricanes and failure and humiliation and scandal. Well, I still trust in those promises. That's seemingly to be the idea from Psalm one eight. Now they this is how one source does it. Someone Away brings in the idea of national crisis in divine intervention. The incorporation of Psalm sixty into Someone eight carries the theme of seeking God's intervention in a time of national crisis, and Psalm sixty David acknowledge that human effort alone are insufficient without God's help. God give us eight against the foe, for human help is worthless. Psalms sixty, verse eleven. This plea for divine assistance and acknowledgment of human frailty continues in some one OW eight, suggesting that both personal and national deliverance depends on God's power. Now, the only thing I would say here is they saw and Psalm sixty and Psalm sixty, And in some one O eight. This primarily has a historical significance to Israel. You guys have been defeated, but God still that your defeat does not negate his covenant promises. Now, if we're going to apply it to ourselves, then you take the two parts of this. The personal idea is Lord, everything around me is in chaos. I got people trying to kill me, I got all of

42:55 this going on. I don't know what's going on, but my heart is fixed on you. I'm going to trust you and praise you irregardless of circumstances. So we believe in a God in whom we cannot see while we live in the midst of circumstances that says there is no God, and we trust in God's promises his promises, even though everything around us calls into question God's promises. It's the same concept. But both are here, the personal, but in this case the national. But it's about God's about God. Our heart being fixed on God in the midst of circumstances, and this is trusting in God's promises even though we are not seeing those promises it being fulfilled as of yet. So in the midst of life, where there's failure and all these things, my heart is fixed upon God in spite of all the circumstances, and I trust in God's promise of ultimate deliverance, of ultimate salvation, no more pain, no more suffering death, even though right now you could say you're trusting in a God who made those promises, even though right now you're not seeing any of those promises come to pass. That's the whole struggle of the Christian life. God's sovereignty is also seen in Psalm sixty. It contains a reference to God's dominion over specific regions such as Shechem, Gilead, Moab, and Edom.

44:22 By using this same section as some one O eight, the message reaffirms God's control over Israel's enemies and the lands they inhabit. This reinforces the idea that God's promises concerning the land and Israel's enemies remain secure despite temporary setbacks. The idea is God's promises are secure no matter what we experience, no matter what we see. So when we take Psalm fifty seven and we take Psalm sixty, and we bring it to Psalm one eight, then we have the combination of praise and petition blending together. It blends the personal praise of Psalm fifty seven with the national plea of deliverance in Psalm sixty. Understanding the historical context of both sections highlights how highlights the balance between David's individual trust in God during personal danger and his role as a national leader seeking God's help for Israel and military and political struggles. The dual focus enhances are understanding that personal faith and national concerns are entwined and David's relationship with God. Well, I would say it differently that it brings praise and it brings petition. My praise as I praise God irregardless of circumstances, and I fix my heart on God because He's immutable and unchangeable. Right, my petition to God is simply based on what promises He has given me. Now I cannot take the promises he's given Israel. But I can take promises that he's given

45:53 to me, and I know the ultimate promise, the ultimate promise is grave, Satan death. Sin will all be done away with. There'll be a new heaven and a new earth. There'll be no more pain and no more suffering and no more death. I can petition for that day because I know in the meantime I may not be able to experience that. So you have to base your prayer on the actual promises we have. And I think, yeah, we get into a whole discussion there. Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty arose out of moments of crisis, whether personal or national. So Psalm one O eight reflects a mature faith that at the same time acknowledges present difficulties and trust in God's eventual deliverance. That's the thing. The Christian life is one that admits the current situation. We don't deny it, we don't pretend it's not real. We acknowledge reality. Christianity must acknowledge reality. So many times Christianity pretend we've been talking about that. I don't want to get back into it because this is supposed to get me out of it. But that's my whole frustration with Christianity when it comes to the reality of sin. We want to deny the reality that we're in a perpetual state of sin. We want to pretend that we can do this and do this. We want to pretend that we're set free when clearly we're not. Well. It's the same thing Christianity. These psalms are like, hey, no, acknowledge reality, acknowledged suffering, acknowledge defeat, acknowledge pain, acknowledge worry, anxiety, acknowledge doubt.

47:30 It's very important. I think we have to see that all right, that someone away reflects a mature faith that at the very same time can acknowledge present difficulties and trust in God's eventual deliverance. The historical backdrop emphasizes that trusting God in the face of adversity is not just theoretical, but has been proven in David's life. The point is we have to have a faith. If it's mature, it doesn't deny reality, It accepts reality. It doesn't try to create a fraudulent reality, a false reality where we try to pretend. A mature faith is the one that says we still sin, we always sin, Hey, hey, there's pain, there's suffering in life, there's death. A mature faith accepts all of these realities. A mature faith has the ability to say, look if I look at the world, and I look at everything going on around me and in me and through me, and I could question the existence of God. A mature faith can acknowledge that a young, immature faith will be like, oh no, no, no, no, no, God is this, and God is that, and God and just try to and try to pretend. But sooner or later, look, sooner or later, you can keep dodging and ducking, and you can be weaving back and forth, and you can be missing all the punches of reality while you're young.

48:49 Sooner or later you're gonna get punched into faith by faith by reality, over and over and over. Reality is just gonna keep punching you and punching you. And at some point you're gonna be like, either Chris is just a lie, or you got to go, wait a minute, I've got to understand Christianity and the face of this reality. The historical context of Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty provide important background for interpreting Psalm one oh eight David's personal experience of God's deliverance and is plead for Divine intervention on behalf of the nation. Reflects the enduring themes of reliance on God and both individual and collective crises.

49:33 Understanding these backgrounds enriches the meaning of Psalm one eight Personal. National, But the main thing is personal focusing on God. And then the national part is more than I'm trusting in the promises of God. The personal part is about focusing and having my heart fixed and steadfast in God. Even though nothing around me is steadfast. I can find that fixed stability in God. And then the second part of someone Await is about trusting in God's promises even though everything around you says, wait a minute, you're gonna trust in the God. You're gonna trust in God's promises when you just got defeated, when there's pain, suffering, death and destruction.

50:22 That's the idea. Now there's the historical context. There's the historical context of someone Await. Now we're at fifty minutes. Let's see what he does with it. All right, let's listen to a little bit more of this. One of the things he notes is the order of how this Psalm unfolds, begins with praise that. Leads to prayer or pleading or if you. Will, a request versus Psalm fifty seven begins with the pleading and ends with exultation spurge, and spends quite a bit of time talking about how sometimes in our lives we will start with praise and it ends in pleading, and sometimes we start with pleading that ends in praise, and maybe that's something that the Lord is teaching us there, But where it's situated in the Psalter seems to be intensional.

51:25 Another commentator by the name of James Hamilton, who's written an excellent set of commentaries on the Psalms, he says this, and. I'm not quoting him verbatim. But he says something to the effect of Psalm fifty seven and Psalm. Sixty was the historical praying versus. Psalm one eight is the new David that has fulfilled all the patterns of praise and conquest. In other words, Psalm one eight, we should see it as Jesus himself praying. You remember David.

52:07 Whoa We should see someone eight as the new David, as Jesus himself praying. Wow, okay, I would be you can work that on your own. I've gotta, I got. I'm not so sure about that. Okay. I know everyone loves to find Jesus everywhere, but oh, that may preach good, but I'm not so sure. Let's see if he offers any explanation here. That saw himself as a prophet. David saw himself as a type of Christ. The New Testament confirms that David was a type of Christ, and that David was a prophet. And so I agree we should read this as the very prayers of Christ himself.

53:00 So let us hear this word of God. So ione to ate a song a psalm of David. My heart is steadfast, Oh God, I will sing and make melody with all my being. Awake, oharp and liar, I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, Oh God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth, that your beloved ones may be delivered.

53:44 Give salvation by your right. Hand, and answer me. God has promised in his holiness. With exultation, I will divide up. Shechem a portion of the valley of Sukkath. Theuriad is mine, Manassa is mine, Ephraem is my helmet, Judah is my scepter, Moab is my wash basin upon Eaedom, I cast my shoe over Philicia. I shout in triumph. Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to eat them? Have you not rejected us?

54:24 O God, you do not go out? Oh God, with our armies, Oh grant us help against the foe, For vain is the salvation of man. With God we shall do valiantly. It is he who will tread down our foes. Okay, now I did a little work. I immediately obviously went to Ai, because you know, it's the quickest way to get something. Ay, I said this. Reading Psalm one eight as a prayer of Christ is a philologically rich approach that aligns with traditional Christian interpretation, where many seen as having deeper messionic significance. The psalms often express the emotion, struggles, and hopes of David the Psalmist, who is frequently viewed as a type or foreshadowing of Christ through the lent.

55:12 This lens someone o Wait can be understood as both David's prayer and a prophetic anticipation of Christ's own life and ministry. So they're saying you could you could read it as a prophetic anticipation of what Christ did. In other words, we could take someone oh eight and say, Okay, this is David's prayer. So it's not so much that we hear it as the prayer of Jesus, but we see it as anticipating what Jesus did. Then we would go through some one o eight and see how Jesus fulfilled all of this. I do have a question, though, all right, I'm gonna ask. Is Psalm one eight ever quoted in the New Testament and applied to Jesus. All Right, we're gonna see here. We're gonna do a little work here, all right, Nestina, this is where I already have my problems. Okay, here we go. Someone Owait is not directly quoted or explicitly applied to Jesus in the New Testament. However, many psalms, including those like someone Await, are considered to have messionic implications by Christian interpreters. Even if they're not specifically cited in the New Testament. Now you see my problem with that Hermaeutically, Hey, hey, I got a commentary here that says we should see this as a prayer of Jesus. Okay, I don't care what the commentary says. Do I have anything in the New Testament that says, hey, someone O

56:43 wait is quoted in the New Testament and is applied to Jesus. If that never happens, then then are then we're just on a hermeneutical subjective, do what you want kind of thing. All right? Now, some would AI trust offering me some reasons why some one O eight maybe still be seen as relevant to Jesus. Typological application. Now here we go, we're going to get to typology. I don't like the typological or topological application of scripture. I cannot stand it because you just go along to, well, this is a type of this, this is a type of this, and you just subjectively declare it based on you what. I don't know, you woke up one day and felt that way. Though Some one O eight is not directly quoted in the New Testament, it can be understood through typology. David as the Psalmist is often viewed as the type of Christ. In this sense, many of David's psalms are interpreted to reflect the life, ministry, and work of Jesus. Well, if David is a type of Christ, well, then David commit adultery and have someone's husband killed. Well, no, that part does it? Well, then, so you just subjectively picked the part that you go. Well, that's if there's something in the New Testament where it likens David to Christ or Christ to David, then take that part. But you can't just artificially just take whatever you want. I don't I'm not a fan of this, all right. Someone Await expresses themes like praise, trust in God, and a plea for deliverance, all of which are characteristic of christ

58:14 relationship with the Father during his ministry. It says indirect thematic parallels. Although someone Owaight is not directly cited, it's themes resonate with New Testament teachings about Jesus. No, no, no, no, no, no no no. I'm I don't know if he's going to go that direction. I am not a fan of that. I am not a fan of that in any way, shape or form, not I'm not. Immediately my brain was like, wait a minute. I don't think the New Testament ever cites someone await, So I know, now, maybe we could go to Psalm fifty seven. Maybe we could do some work there. So I don't know, let's see where he goes.

58:55 This is God's word. You'll notice verse says one through four begin with this praise, with this exaltation that is typical of the psawmist. The heart of the king is steadfast. My heart is steadfast, Oh God. That is the. King's heart is unshakable, It is firm, and it is immovable. The whole being of the king is immutable from his devotion to God. Let that sink in for a moment.

59:37 I see that's whoa his His entire devotion is immutable, unchangeable. Well, obviously David's devotion to God was very changeable. Okay, Right, Denny have some ups and downs. I think Keerry's just saying, hey, look, my heart is fixed on you at the It's steadfast in you in the midst of this situation. Don't you know if we can say that that was a truism of all of his life. I think in the historical setting. My heart is immutable in steadfastness to God. Who would dare utter such words as that?

1:00:22 There's no alteration in terms of my praise for God. That's what the King is saying. He goes on to make it more clear. He will sing and make melody, he says, with all my being or all my glory some translations, all of who I am will give singing and make melody with all of who I am. That there's not a portion of my soul that is not singing and making melody to God.

1:01:08 Okay, does anyone know the hermeneutical issue we're running into here? Okay, we're gonna have to stop. Do you know the issue? He is reading poetry as these exact statements of fact. David is singing. This is lyrics. This is poetry where you speak and very almost exaggerated tones. I don't think you can say. Okay, all of David's being was immutably fixed to God, and all of his being he's basically saying David was perfect, and that's ridiculous. We know he wasn't perfect. We know his life. Once again, we have to face reality. David was a sinful, flawed man with ups and downs. But in this historical situation.

1:01:56 He's quoting from Psalm fifty seven, when Saul was coming after him, when he was when he was dealing with that. In that moment, he's saying, Lord, Lord, I'm gonna fix my my, my, I'm gonna my heart's gonna be fixed on you. I'm gonna sing and get praised with even with my glory awake, p sultry and harm, I myself will awake early. He is saying, like, hey, in the midst of this situation, I'm going to praise you. And he may have meitt it in that situation, but this is just expressing emotion. There are times you probably said, Lord, I will praise you with my whole heart. I will worship you, and state it in such a dogmatic way. I think he's just expressing his emotion in that moment.

1:02:37 He's making a dogmatic claim that basically David was perfect. He was in mutable devotion to God. He with his entire being. There was not any part of him that was any like. That's that's not what you do with poetry. That's not how we interpret Remember, we have to interpret things based off the literary genre in which we find. This is poetry this is a song. All right. I'll let him just speak for a little bit more and then we'll stop. So thinking. Think of this audacious statement for a mere man to make.

1:03:18 My heart is immutable towards God, and with all of who I am, every fiber of my being, I will sing and make melody. With all of who I am. Goes on to say, awake, oh, harp and liar, I will awake the dong. So the wholeness of the singing, and in this praising of God and this commitment of a steadfast heart, when. Does it begin. It's the totality of the kings life.

1:04:01 When I wake up, I will praise the Lord, and I will do it with all of who I am, and I will do it in such a way that I cannot be altered, I cannot be taken off. Of course, I am going to praise God with every square inch of my being. Okay, now, immediately, even even AI just immediately fights back on this right. Uh, does David mean immutable? No, David is not claiming his heart is immutable in the sense of being unchangeable or incapable of being altered. The term steadfast reverse refers more to a determined determination or resolve than than to a state of immutability. David expressing that his heart is firmly committed to praising God regardless of circumstances.

1:04:49 His steadfast heart and indicates firm resolved confidence. David is expressing a conscious decision to remain committed to God in praise and worship. All right, So there, it's not immutability. And and I'm gonna say when interpreting Psalms, don't we have to take into account that it is that it is poetry and that comes with different rules of interpretation.

1:05:40 All right, I'm gonna I'm gonna see here says yes, when interpreting the Psalms, it is essential to recognize that they were primarily poetry, and this affects the way we interpret their language imagery and me and meaning. Poetry, including biblical poetry, uses a range of literary techniques such as metaphor parallelism, hyperbally high perbole, and symbolism that often operates differently from prose or didatic didactic text. Therefore, interpreting Psalms involves considering certain characteristics of poetry figurative language, a parallelism, emotional and spiritual expression, imagery, symbolism, hyperbole, and exaggeration. Like much poetry, the Psalms often use hyperbole an exaggeration for emotional effect. For example, Psalms six six, David says, I am weary with my mourning. Every night I flood my bed with tears. This is likely an expression of extreme sorrow rather than a literal statement about physical flooding his bed, So we have immediately this is just a unbelievable David. Hey, everyone, look at David's heart. David's heart is immutable and he's praising God with every ounce of his being. Like there's no there's no a thing flawed, and David, give me a break. David is a man like we are. The point is David is like, Hey, in the midst of

1:07:12 this situation, I'm gonna fix my heart in you and praise you in spite of my circumstances. The circumstances are unstable, but I'm gonna fix my heart on you because God, You're immutable, not me, but I'm gonna fix it. I need stability somewhere. It's in you, and I'm going to trust your promises even though in the in the current situation we've experienced defeat. Well, there's a little work on someone oh eight. There's a little bit of work we did. We did, we barely scratched the surface. But once again, you just see where you listen to a sermon and I mean we're right out the gate and he just makes a completely not true statement. If there's any part of us that's immutable, ladies and gentlemen, we're taking on attributes of God. O. That's that's the most ridiculous. Oh man. Okay, all right, well there we go. It was starting off really good. I should have just not listened to any more of the sermon. All right, we'll stop right there.

1:08:20 Thanks for listening. Hopefully this was a little break for me, a little break for you. We've got a little bit more understanding of Psalm one O eight and now it borrowed from Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty. We understand the historical context of Psalm fifty seven and Psalm sixty. We understand the two parts to this, and well you can do that, you can do some more work, or if you have more questions on Psalm one oh eight, by all means, you can let me know. And well we'll just see if we decide to do any more work on this. In the meantime, thank you for listening. Everyone. Have a great day, great evening, great night. God bless