Psalm 83 Pt 1

0:01 All right, if you have your Bible, you can open up to the Book of Psalms. I'll tell you which one in a minute. This last week, I found myself in the car more than I typically am, and so I picked a number of sermons to listen to. And as I was picking sermons to listen to, I came across one that said the Coming Middle East War. And when I saw that title, I was like, okay, well, we're kind of doing a series on eschatology. Maybe I could hear something here and then kind of bring it over and do something additional in our series on eschatology. So I'm like, okay, the Coming Middle East War. I wonder which perspective they're going to go? All right, we'll see. And then I noticed that it was the Coming Middle East War.

0:44 But what was that? The first part of the title was Psalm eighty three, the Coming Middle East War. And immediately I was like, wait, what, Okay, I think I know Psalm eighty three. Where is this going? Right? So I was like, okay, I don't know, I don't know. So I started I'm like I started listening and I'm like this, this is interesting because the way the Psalm is written it clearly seems to be using language speaking of something that had, like for them, from the author's perspective, had already happened or was happening at the time, kind of a past present kind of concept, right, not a future. So I'm like, why how is he going to get to a future war or coming war? He's he saying a coming war from the perspective of the psalmist or like where is he going? So I decided to review for the podcast part one because it's an eleven part series. So I reviewed part one, and I'm like, what in the world is going on here? Like I was just so confused because it turned into discussions about everything like you know, rock music and the length of women's skirts and like what is happening? And so I mean was so confused. It just there was so much other stuff thrown into it that I was really just confused by what was going on.

2:07 So I think I did a second review of part two. There was like two hours of review, and I never really understood what their perspective was on SAW eighty three. I didn't. I couldn't even I couldn't even summarize their thesis or anything, like I was just frustrated. So then I'm like, Okay, well, I know we're working on eschatology, and I know that we've been doing a little bit of work in Proverbs, so let's let me see what I can do on SAW eighty three. So I just started working and started working, and I got note I don't even know how many pages of notes, and I'm like, okay, so this is what we're going to do. We're going to try to go to SAW eighty three. We're gonna we're gonna we're not even going to entertain really the thesis or the hypotheses that this somehow has to something to do with the future war. We will we will at least mention it briefly, all right, because I just I still don't know what was going on. But we'll try to figure out exactly what we can get from SSAW eighty three and what we can learn from it by taking it apart and actually studying the chapter in an in depth way.

3:13 So there's no way we're going to finish it this hour. I doubt we'll even finish it the next hour. I don't even know how many times it may take. So I know this will kind of interrupt everything else. But you know, once I hear something on a chapter, I almost find it a challenge that, well, then how would I approach said chapter. So let's see what we can do, and let's see if we can work on it. Let's go to Psaw eighty three. You'll notice that there are eighteen verses. So let's read Psaw eighty three. I'm gonna read from the new King James. You'll see the name of certain Well, there'll be a few things you may see different, and we'll deal with that as we approach it. Right, But Psalm eighty three, let's start in verse one. We read these words, do not keep silent, Oh God, do not hold your peace, and do not be still, Oh God, for behold your enemies make a tumult now. Please note does not say your enemies are going to right. It says your enemies doing it now. Right. It's a very present, tense kind of idea. And those who hate you have lifted up their head seemingly kind of a past present situation. Right. They have taken crafty counsel against your people and consulted together against your sheltered ones. They have said, come, let us cut them off from being a nation.

4:42 That the name of Israel may be remembered no more. Again, speaking as if something is currently underway, has happened, is happening not? I don't even know how this has anything to do with a coming war. Okay verse five. For they have consulted together with one consent, they form a confederacy against you, the Tints of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagwrights. I think the King James refers to the Hagwrights as the hagarens. Okay, there you go a gabal emmon Amelek Felistia with the inhabitants of tire Assyria also has joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot Sila verse nine deal with them, as with Midian, as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the brook of Kishon, who perished at Indoor, who became a refuse on the earth. I think the King James says, dung there all right, make their nobles like Oreb and like zeb Yes, all their princes, like Zeba and Zalmuna, who said, let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a possession. The King James doesn't say pastures of God.

5:59 They says Houses of God, right verse thirteen. Oh, My God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chef before the wind, as the fire burns the woods, as the flames set the mountains on fire. So pursue them with your tempest and frighten them with your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O Lord, Let them be confounded and dismayed forever. Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that you, whose name alone is the Lord, are the most high over all the earth. Right, pretty simple, pretty straightforward. You will notice that there is a mention of a lot of different groups, is there not, Like, Hey, here's all these groups that are coming together, and then I want you to deal with this group. Are these groups like you've dealt with these groups in the past.

6:59 Right, So we kind of get a basic idea of the Psalm. Now again, I'm still perplexed on how you create an eleven part series on the coming Middle East War from Psalm eighty three. I'm even more more perplexed than after two messages in the series on the coming Middle East War that they never mention the coming Middle East War. They talk about what's going on now? It's like it was the most bizarre thing. So but again, I could I could review that and spend the next month reviewing all of those messages. But at some point it just begins to fall apart. So it's easy, though, to criticize, right, It's always easy to go, I don't know what that sermon is doing. I don't know what It's easy to criticize. Whenever I criticize a sermon. What I prefer to do then is to then say, Okay, let's take the same passage and see what we can do with it. Right, So let's see what we can do with Psalm eighty three When we just read that, does anything jump you? Like?

8:00 Where would you put like the key verse or the key concept? Would what would jump out at you when we just read that. I know if you haven't read Psalm eighty three in a long time, I know that was just reading it once. It's not probably going to be easy to do. But did any specific thing jump out at you? Okay? Now, yes, yeah, they yeah to me. To me, what jumps out at me is obviously verse one. This is samist kind of crying out to God, do not keep silent? Oh God, do not hold your peace and do not be still, O God? All right, that jumps out at me obviously verse sixteen, Hey fill their faces with shame that they may that there's a reason he's asking for these things, and obviously that they may know that you, whose name alone is the Lord, are the most tie over all the earth. That may be like the main lesson here, right, the main lesson may not be a that may be the main lesson. Well, let's go through this and see what we can find, all right.

9:18 I think it's fair to say that psaw maybe three is a prayer. Would everyone agree with that it's a prayer for deliverance? I think that would be fair to say, and victory over Israel's enemies. So what we need to do is try to create an outline, right, because if we're going to deal with the chapter, we need to create an outline. On the podcast, I gave a like a because after reviewing that for two hours, Somewhere in the middle of my review, I was like, well, we look, the person who did the series didn't even bother to outline the chapter or any of those typical things you should do, right, So I'm like, Okay, let's come up with an outline. So I came up with an outline like Live on the Air. But after that, I've started thinking and thinking about it. So I've kind of started reworking in outline. I took my previous outline and then changed it up using the basic Well I thought I was going to use their basic scripture breakdown, but then classify them differently, and then even that began to fall apart. So we'll work through this together and see what you come up with. All right, how would you what would be your first part of your outline? Which verses would you include in your first part of your outline? You don't have to give me what you would call it, but what verses would you include in the first part of your outline? If you were to break this chapter down, what verses would you include? Okay, I'll put verse one on your own? Okay, all right, that's interesting. Some what some sources did. They put verse

10:52 one and two together and called it an introduction, But I disagree with that. Now, I don't necessarily agree with that. I do think making verse one by itself makes the most sense. If you put verse one by yourself, what do you call it? The request. Okay, what else? Anybody else? Okay, all right, there's a lot of words, okay, anybody else? I put down the plea because there seems to be like a plea here, right. He's pleading with God, right, right?

11:35 And what is he pleading for? He's crying. Really, there's kind of two parts to the plea, right, he crying out for God not to be silent and for God not to be inactive. Now, I'm not going to start trying to prech each part of this. We'll work through it. But I think that's a fair way to do Verse one, right, verse one, we'll call that the plea. Now, what's the second part of your outline? What versus would you include in the second part of your outline? Okay? Someone said two through eight? Okay, all right, all right, so he goes to two through eight, all right, I disagree.

12:15 Okay, no, no, no, no, okay, because here's here's what happens. If you look at verse six, okay, because verse six there's listing. It's a list right, that to me is very different than two through through five. Right, So I put two through five, and this is what I refer to it the reason for the play. Well, yeah, but I understand that, but I would not include the list. There. I separated the list, and i'll'll explain why. I understand punctuation whise it may not make sense, but uh no, okay, all right, well, here here's how I did. Here's what I did.

13:01 So I went two through five the reason for the plea, and I said the samis and verses two through five lists the detailed reasons for his plea. He's correct, we know what he's pleading for, for God not to be signed, for God to be not to be inactive. But then he starts listing the reasons. Right, look in verse two, for behold, your enemies make a tumult. There's there's a reason. And those who hate you have lifted up their head. Next, they have taken crafty counsel against your people. They have consulted together. They have said, come, let us cut them off from being a nation. For they have consulted together with one consent, they have formed a confederacy against you. Right, those are all reasons, right, Hey, these are all the reasons for his plea.

13:54 You could literally just list them off abc D like you could make number two and then list the subpoints all the subpoints are right there for you. You could group together verse part of verse three and part of verse five, because it's the same idea of consulting together because it even repeats it in verse five, and then forming a confederacy. But you get the basic concepts all there. You could list those out. So I went with two through five the reasons for the police. So what do you think I did with verse six through eight? I put the enemies identified. Here's the list of the enemies, right, they form a confederacy against you? And who are they?

14:35 Number one? Eat them number two, Ishmaelites number three, mo ab number four, Hagarins are the Hagwrights. Number are next gaball Amon ammlek Felictia with the inhabitants of tire Assyria also joined with them. And they have helped the children of Lot, which is who are the children of Lot? Okay? Right? The Mobikes right now, typically we refer to as the Moabikes. Right, So we have a group of them. They're all listed to me. That makes it simple. So number one the plea verse one, Number two the reasons for the plea Verses two through five. Next the enemy's identified six through eight. Now what would you do next? I didn't know what to call the next section? What would you do with the next section?

15:33 Or the charge? Okay, that's pretty good, all right? Okay, the charge? Okay? Anybody else got a different idea? What versus would you place in what you're referring to as the charge? Okay? Okay, So it's going all the way nine through fifteen? Okay, okay, wow, y'all go far. Okay, I put it nine through twelve. All right, Here's what I didn't know what to call this, so I called it the past and present, the past and present because the Samists asked God to do in the present as he has done in the past. Right, deal with them? Look verse nine, deal with them? Who's to them?

16:30 All the enemies listed in verses six through eight, Right, deal with them? Next three words, as with midian Now he dealt with the Midianites there. I think that's a reference to Judges, where God intervenes and deals with the Midianites. So he wants God in the present to deal with the current enemies as he had done with enemies in the past. He goes on with what else does he says with Cicera as with Jabin, almost all of these situations are things that happen in the Book of Judges. I think every I could be wrong, but I think almost all of them occur in the Book of Judges. So he's saying, God, in the present, deal with these people as you have dealt with those people in the past. He's like, very he's very specific. Hey, God, you remember how you dealt with the Midianites. I need you to deal with these people as you dealt with the Midianites, or as you dealt with them, as you dealt with them. Bring your past action into our present situation. So I refer to that as the past and the present. There may be a more clever name for it, but what I typically try to do is just capture what's there, right. What's there is God is saying, do something now like you did in the past. And he's very specific. He doesn't just say generally right, He's very specific for each one, which I think is somewhat interesting. And it's assumed, obviously that the readers will do what now immediately,

18:03 No, oh, the readers would know, well, I know what God did. I know what God did, and I can understand he wants God to do that in the present, and and not only that, he's address he's crediting God with those past actions, and he wants God's past actions to become a present reality. So that's where the past and present, past and present comes in. So number one the plea verse one, number two, the reason for the plea Verses two through five. The enemy is identified in verses six to eight, the past and present nine through twelve. And what do you do with the rest? How far do we break this down?

18:52 Well, we could possibly get there, there's a lot. The next section could be very hard. Right, we have thirteen through eighteen. I don't know if we can group all of that together personally, right, I don't. I think it's going to have to be broken down into separate parts. How many separate parts would be the issue. So if you were to go let's say you were just to go thirteen, let's go thirteen through fifteen, thirteen through fifteen, or thirteen through sixteen? A all right, what would you call this section? Okay? I think this is a clear petition for God to do what defeat destroy the enemy? So I just put petition for defeat. I mean yeah, I mean, oh my God, make them like the tumbleweeder, the whirling dust. Okay, like the chaff before the wind, as the fire burns the woods, as the flame sets the mountains on fire. So pursue them with your tempest, frighten them with your storm. I mean that's all pretty strong stuff, right, Okay, So I just called this petition for defeat. You could, I mean, I mean, obviously it's there, so you definitely could. Yeah, I mean

20:26 yeah, I mean it's easier sometimes to group things together. But the same concept, there's no question, shows up in sixteen A. The same concept shows up a little bit in seventeen. Yeah, I mean it's definitely there, so you could. Yeah, a lot of it's there, so you could. I mean, there's no I mean, I don't care about specific rules for outlining. You could argue you could go from thirteen to seventeen and then then the next part you're gonna have to back up and include maybe a little bit of sixteen and eighteen in it. All right, So however you want to work that out, but I believe that that's the petition for defeat, all right, So we could go thirteen seventeen if you would like.

21:08 Right now, what do we have? What what would be a last part here. Yeah, the desire, what is the ultimate desire here? What is the what is the desired outcome? The sawmist puts forth his desired outcome, and it's mentioned a couple of times, right verse sixteen fill their faces with shame that NIV had NIV put sixteen sow that fill their faces, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Now, to me, that's very important, right, because you can look at that and that's a that's a that's a cry for it's a plea for God to get involved, because they have all of these individuals trying to do all of these things to them.

22:00 He lists the enemies he specifically and what he wants God to do, and then he very much goes into he wants them defeated and destroyed. But when he begins to lay out his reasons that that's that's a very noble reason in some ways, right, that they may seek your name, O Lord. Right, that's it's not so vindictive, is it right? Let them be confounded and dismayed, Yes, let them be put to shame and perish. But then notice verse eighteen that we have that again, that they may know that you, whose name alone is the Lord are the most high over all the earth. Right, he kind of just desired. He kind of expresses his reasons for asking God to do this, and his reasons really, I guess you could kind of summarize them twofold right, that they may see God and that they may know what that he is the most high overall the earth. They may know his sovereignty, they may know his power, they may know his control. So in some ways that's kind of the main lesson did you have something? Well, it does, but until you get to that, then he's like, hey, that they may seek you. So obviously he uses strong language. Yeah, but I think he's kind of referring

23:34 to them maybe as a nation. As a nation, I want them destroying, as an organized confederacy, I want them wiped out. But clearly he seems to want them still alive that they may do what Like, if you just take that language, it does sound like he wants them all dead, But then it turns around and says he wants them to seek God and know. Well, you can't seek and know if you're dead, So it sounds like more that that lay language is very strong, you may even say hyperbolic to express what I mean it's it's poetry, right, I mean it's a song. Well probably yeah, oh yeah, maybe some of them aren't not Felistia, not Felistia or yeah yeah, well we're gonna have to go into all these groups of people. Yeah so yeah, so okay, but it was a good it was a good point. No no, no, that's hey. That's what we're supposed to do is question and come up with our hypothesis and then we can challenge it. So but I think the I think the ultimate thing is is now, just from my standpoint, when you stand back, I think you really kind of have two concepts that jump out at me in the song, right, is you have this the whole concept of him pleading with God, right, there's a whole lesson in all of that.

25:04 And then you have his basic motivation for wanting his enemies defeated. I think those are the two major lessons in it right now. Even we may find more, but that's the t Clearly. I don't see anything about a coming Middle East war or anything like that, Like I don't. I don't even know all the things that that sermon went into. It was insane. I was just baffled and confused but in some ways I think we could be agreed that if you were just doing your daily reading, I don't know how much time you would probably even stop and consider SSAW maighty three for being honest, right, every being honest. Like if you had to read three chapters that day and Saw eighty three was one, I doubt you would probably even stop to go back and do much with it. So that all that presents to me whenever I see that there's a high probability I probably wouldn't spend much time in this chapter. That usually to me is a slap in the face to say, well, then we need to stop and do what spend time in that chapter. Because according to us, we believe all scripture is given by as version of God in is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction of wretchedness, that the Man of God maybe thoroughly furnished into every good work. Right. Well, then if that's the case, then we have to put that belief into practice by saying, well, then let's do something with SAW eighty three. So I don't think that the outlining there really isn't that difficult. Really, I don't think. I mean, we may have a little disagreement, and I know that when I outline, I don't really care about the punctuation. I'm trying to group it together so that I can do what what's my whole goal for an outline. We talk

26:38 about it all the time. It's not interpretive, it's observational. What I want to do is get the what's here on paper, so I have a basic map of what's there, right, And the basic map of what's there is clearly we see the plea right. I think everyone can agree. Clearly, we can see that he lists the reasons for his plea yes, clearly. We can see that he identifies the enemies clearly. I think we can see that he's wanting God to do in the present what he had done in the past. Clearly, we can see his petition for defeat. And then that last part is a little you know, we definitely see, at least in part that we see his reason, his desire for all of these requests.

27:21 So I think if we can at least accomplish that, then the outline. The outline may not fit some perfect academics standard, but it accomplishes a Bible study standard, which is what I observe the text. So if I give someone that outline, what could they immediately see what's in the text? Right? When you're done with your outline, what do you want to be able to see? Is if I look at my outline, I know what's in the text, not that I'm interpreting it, but that I am observing it, right, observation before interpretation, Right, So I think that gives us a pretty good observation of what's going on, so that I think that's at least somewhat so. In summary, I think we could say Saw eighty three is a plea for God to intervene on behalf of Israel against their enemies.

28:11 The Psawmist describes the enemies, their plans, their actions, He appeals to God for action and defeat of the enemies, and concludes with the declaration of God's supreme authority over all the nations. I think that's a pretty basic idea of what's there. So we could say that's it, We're done. I think we have a pretty good idea of Saw eighty three, right, But is there anything else we can do? Well, let's do a little bit of work here, all right, let's if you uh, I think in probably all the King James New King James. I don't know about the NIV is you probably have saw eighty three and then there's something right underneath it a psalm of asp Now, I believe in part three of the series that I was reviewing, they refer to this as a psalm of David, which is perplexing behind all comprehension, right because it says it's a psalm of Asaf.

29:07 What do we know about Asaf? Okay, well, well, he definitely is. The authorship of Psalm eighty three is traditionally attributed to Asaf, who was one of the chief musicians and singers during the time of King David. Asaf, according to at least one source, was a Levite figure in leading worship in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. Asaph is credited with composing several psalms, including Psalm eighty three, which is well, we'll talk about this in a minute. Okay, we'll talk about the classification in a minute. So if we just stop right there, what could we possibly gather from that? If Asaf is what what was he? Again? Chief musician?

30:00 I'm a King David? He was also what a Levite? Get that down? And a key figure in leading worship in the tabernacle. If we take that information, just that information alone. There's there's more I want to share, but just that information alone. What does that impact how we perceive Psaw eighty three? Does that impact your view of Saw eighty three in any way, shape or form, in any way, shape or form. If it doesn't, that's okay. You can just say no, it doesn't impact your view. Okay, all right, well I've already I already stated that worship. Okay, you're kind of going in the direction. I'm thinking, I don't know, maybe you're not going in the direction, but it feels like you're going in the same direction. If he's a Levite and he's leading worship and he composes this psalm, then there's a high probability this was designed for what purpose? For public worship? Right? So this would be and I don't necessarily like the word, but we'll use it. This was a This was not a i'll use this word, I'll change the word. This was not so much personal as we'll call it congregational or corporate, right,

31:33 This was a This was him possibly bringing to light the emotions and feelings of the people and then corporately they could then express said emotion to God in worship. Right. In other words, this may not be the salmest simply expressing his emotion. He may be trying to capture the emotion of the people to God. Right that, Hey, this is how we feel more than this is how I feel. Now, the personal ones are I'm not saying are more spiritual, are less spiritual than the congregational ones or the corporate ones, but they have different kind of purposes. Right that this may have been written obviously there's something going on that is impacting whom Israel as a nation, right, I mean, I think the text makes that very clear. Right, So I think that that's important. So we have the outline, we have the author. Next, we have the type of psalm. The type of psalm. Now let me go back here and let's let me do this all right. The Book of Psalms contains a variety of psalms that can be categorized into different types based on their theme, struck sure or purpose. Here are

33:04 some of the main types of the psalms found in the Book of Psalms. Does anyone know the types of psalms? Does anybody know the types how many different types? Does anybody know where? They're almost all poetry? Okay, all right, you dowing? Okay, well then this is very important, all right, So let's go through some of them first. We'll call the praise psalms or heymns praise psalms or hymns. These psalms focus on praising and glorifying God for his attributes, deeds and character. They often include expressions of adoration, thanksgiving, and exaltation. Right, I think everybody kind of got an idea of those kinds of psalms. I mean, we could look up examples for each one, all right, but I think you understand those, right, So do you mere state that again, a praise psalm or a hem it is a psalm that focuses on praising, glorifying, glorifying God for his attribute, deed and character. They often include expressions of adoration, thanksgiving, and ex altation. Now just remember typically when we say that you may have fine elements of that in many psalms, But for the psalm to be classified as this type, that would describe basically the overall psalm. Does that make sense? All right? The overall psalm would be characterized by praising God.

34:22 Glorifying God, and you're glorifying him for his attributes, his deeds, and his character. They include expressions of adoration, thanksgiving, and ex altation. Psalm eighty three doesn't necessarily fit that category, can we agree? All right? So some one hundred someone fifty Psalm eight would be examples, yes, but some one hundred someone fifty would be good examples. All right. Here's another type. So those are the praise psalms or the hymns. How about thanksgiving psalms? These psalms give thanks to God for his goodness, faithfulness, and provision. They often include recounting of past experiences of deliverance or answered prayers. You see a little bit of that in some one hundred as well.

35:06 Okay, all right, someone sixteen Psalm thirty. So thanksgiving psalm ps maybe three a thanksgiving psalm? No it is not? Okay? All right? Everybody got that? All right? There is what's known as a wisdom psalm or wisdom psalms. These psalms focus on imparting wisdom and moral teaching through poetry and metaphor. They often contrast the righteous and the wicked and emphasize the value of seeking God's guidance, what would be a great example of that someone? Or Psalm one nineteen, right, that's called a wisdom psalm. So far, so good. Next a royal psalm or royal psalms. These psalms celebrate or pray for the key or ruler over Israel and emphasize the divine authority given to the monarch. They often express confidence in God's protection and blessing upon the king. We see a little bit of this in Psalm two, maybe Psalm twenty, maybe Psalm seventy two. Those are royal psalms. So what do we got so far? Number one? The praise psalms are the hymns.

36:24 That's number one. My notes are in a different order, so my numbering is off if on paper, because I changed it up a little bit. But those are praise psalms. We'll call number one. Number two, we'll call the thanksgiving psalms. Number three we'll call the wisdom psalms. Next the royal psalms. Okay, we have a couple more. Well, I'm gonna skip all the way down to the last one, the penitential psalms. The penitential psalms, these psalms focus on confession, of sin, repentance, and seeking forgiveness from God. They express deep remorse and a desire for restoration of relationship with God. And you know why there's penitential psalms because God's people still sin. I know that's a shock to some people, but it's still true. And we find that. Obviously, the most famous one is Psalm fifty one. We have Psalm thirty two, and I believe Psalm one thirty.

37:22 Right, so we have two types, two types that are left. What are the two types that are left? The imprecatory psalms. These psalms contain prayers for God's judgment and punishment upon the enemies of the upon the enemies of the psalmist or the enemies of God. They express strong emotions of anger, frustration, and a desire for justice. Now, you may be tempted to say Psalm maybe three is an imprecatory psalm, but it's not always listed as an imprecatory psalm. In fact, I don't think it's. Maybe in some list it's there, but in many lists, Palm eighty three is not listed as an imprecatory all right, It may have elements of it, right, It does have a little bit of the imprecatory concepts. Kind of there.

38:13 I think we can agree to that, right, But it's typically labeled what do you think is label So that means there's another category. So let's go through the categories again. Number one praysms, next Thanksgiving, next wisdom, next royal, next penitential, then imprecatory, and then that leads one more. What can be left? What could be left? Let me go back to that description I quoted to you that information about Aceph. Right, are you ready? Aceph is credited with composing several psalms, including Psalm eighty three, which is classified as a psalm of Nope. It starts with an L no. Oh, come on, It's a pretty common word within theology.

39:09 A psalm of lament. Oh, I didn't hear you? Okay? The psalm reflects. The psalm reflects on the enemies of Israel and calls upon God to intervene on behalf of the people against their adversaries. Lament psalms are described like this. These psalms express sorrow, grief, or distress and cry out to God for help and deliverance. They often include elements. Here are some of the elements in a lament, a petition, a complaint, and a plea for God's intervention. Right, so there's a slight difference and precatory or lament. There's a slight difference. There are there gonna be similarities, oh absolutely, in fact, just so that you understand, sometimes these elements can be found in one song, like one may have a number of these elements. Right. But the reason we say it's a this song is a certain type is you go with the overall what the overall feel for the entire song? Right? How would you classify the overall feel, not just the individual parts. Sal eighty three has a little bit of the imprecatory parts a little bit there, but it also has the kind of the lament part, right, it has some other things going on as well, So we refer to this as a lament, all right. Psalm eighty three is often classified as a communal lament, a communal lament. Why would it be classified as a communal lament? We think because of who it's written by, that this

40:45 could have possibly been what for the congregation. That's why I stress that, right, because when you get so this may be a communal lament, it's not an individual lament, right, because an individual lament would be more about Hey word, I feel this because of me. The ssamist doesn't really speak of just an individual term. He speaks of what is happening to the nation. Correct, So I think that's fair. It's a communal lament. Communal lament psalms or prayers offered by a community of people, such as the nation of Israel, rather than just an individual. These psalms typically express a collective cry for help, deliverance, or justice on behalf of the entire community.

41:28 And Psalm maybe three, the samist calls on God to act against the enemies of Israel who are threatening the nation. The psalm describes the various nations conspiring against Israel and ask God to intervene on behalf of his people. The intensity of the pla for God's protection and justice aligns with the characteristics of a lament psalm, especially on the one that reflects a communal concern. All right, does that make sense? All right? Now, I think I have a little bit of time to do this. Maybe we can at least finish this. When we think of a lament psalm, right, what all the psalms, the different types, So that we understand this. All the different types of Psalms really teach us different lessons, right, And I kind of hinted at that when I mentioned the penitential song, Right, what is the lesson the penitential Psalms teach us was one of the major lessons we still sin.

42:25 I mean, that's a simple lesson, right, Hey, When I read the Psalms, I'm reading something written by God's people, right, and guess what they do. They confess their sins, meaning that they still sin. So in some ways there's a valuable lesson, right that. Hey, if whether you are a collective group or whether you are an individual, what is going to be true in the life of a collective group of Christians or an individual life of a Christian? Sin? So that we have to know how to deal with sin, right, It's like it's going to be it's I think typically our teaching in Christianity is don't sin, right, but we all know that's the most That's like telling someone don't when where everyone knows that they're going to. They're really a key lesson in discipleship needs to be not not just try not to sin, but it's a lesson that you are never going to stop. So, now, how do we process the reality that, whether in a group or whether in an individual, what is gonna be a permanent part of your life as a believer sin, It's just gonna be there.

43:34 It's gonna be so like whenever we talk about a type of psalm, there's lessons, all right. So if this is a lament if this is a lament song, we're gonna go with that basic assumption unless I had to change my mind at some point. But right now we're gonna call it a lament psalm. And it follows the basic structure of this. What are some lessons we can learn from a lament song? Let's try, at least in this hour with something practical. What are some lessons we think we can learn from a lament psalm? Okay, I think the number one lesson from a lament psalm, and I think this is also true of an imprecatory psalm, is that this teaches us the importance of honesty and vulnerability and our relationship with God. Lament psalms teach us the importance of being honest and vulnerable before God about our struggles, pains, and emotion. They show us that it's okay, to express our deepest feelings and fears to God. I mean, look what he does in verse one, do not keep silent, Oh God, do not hold your peace and do not be still, Oh God? What is that implying? Hey, feels like God has been one silent and inactive?

44:55 Hey God, could you do something? Do you think maybe it's time to show up? Are you looking around and seeing the situation? I mean when you start telling God and you start listening to God, what is going on? It's like, Hey, God, I don't know, it's almost like you're acting like this. God, clearly you've been on vacation. Let me explain what's going on? Does he not express everything that's going on? Hey, they're doing this, They're doing this, They're doing Hey, I don't know if you know this, they've made a confederacy. Do you mind waking up? Like in some ways it could almost seem disrespectful, but he's literally basically acting like, God, where have you been? Could you do something? And people would be like you're just showing a lack of faith.

45:39 No, it shows greater faith to be so vulnerable and honest with God with how you feel, versus putting on a fake robe of self righteousness and acting like you've got it all together when you see your circumstances. What's your I mean to me? I mean, I saw this someone who's a part of grace to you, Phil Johnson. He has I guess, an incurable form of cancer. Right, it's really bad. Right. So he put out a statement, you know, basically thinking God and you know, because he's still alive, and that kind of statement, And it was posted on the Christian Post. Guess what the first comment was underneath the post. Well, I'm so glad your God helped you outfhil because in the last twenty four hours, ten thousand children have died from cancer. So where is your God now?

46:37 Now that sounds like horrible and people would be offended by that, But that's an honest expression, right, that'sn't and it's perfectly okay to express that. Oh, great Phil gets saved or at least temporarily spared, But ten thousand children who never even see their first date, they'd die of cancer. So if God's gonna step in and help you, why didn't he help the other ten thousand? Not have to verify the number, but whether the number is accurate or not, what is the person trying to express what about? And there's a high probability people may want to go after that person to condemn that person, but you better be very careful because that person may have lost a child to cancer. So you better back off before you go after the person, right, meaning what what is that? Now? Some people would condemn the person. No, that is being what honest? It's okay to be honest about that. It's okay to be when you hear, well, praise God, my kid was spared. Well, what about the people who were like sometimes we'll see that there'll be a big storm and someone are like, well, thank you Lord that we were protecting. I'm like your neighbor two houses across lost everyone. Everyone died, So I'm so glad God took care of you. Do you think you deserved protection more than the person two blocks down the road? Like sometimes it's it's we don't think about how it comes across. Right now, It's okay if you want to express it, but you may want to think, well, you're expressing the good for you.

48:07 Someone else just got wiped off the face of the earth or suffering or dying. Right, Tell the people in Ukraine how wonderful life is, or in Gaza, how wonderful life is, or in Israel, like we can go to all different parts of the world, right, people starving, people dying, people being kidnapped, rape, children being molested. You know what, It's okay sometime to say, hey, Lord, where are you? Where have you been? Why have you been silent? Why have you been inactive? The Laments song teaches it's okay to do what to express said lament, and to express a lament is to do what to express the raw emotion.

48:52 Right, Yes, so I think that this shows us that it's okay to express our deepest feelings and fears to God. We should not be like we almost we almost condemn people who will do it. You know why we do so? I think we condemn people who do it because it makes us uncomfortable. Right, It's not about God, It's about how it makes you. It makes you uncomfort I don't like you saying that. I don't like you talking that way. What is it about you? If someone feels that way, guess what they should do. Scream it from the rooftops, right, Because if they don't scream it from the rooftops and they just keep it inside. Guess what it does. It builds, and it builds, and it festers and it grows, and the next thing you know, they're on TikTok making a deconstruction video saying that Christianity is a bunch of garbage and it's not true because they never could express what they were feeling. They should be able to express it. And if that makes you uncomfortable, you need to get over it. Not the person expressing the limit. I can tell you this, and the Psalms they express some very strong feelings. Right. I used to make a joke there was a Christian metal band in the nineties who they took a psalm and turned it into a song, right, and guess what. They got condemned and almost got banned from Christian radio because they were saying, it's so negative, it's so depressed, it seems so angry at

50:24 God. And they were like, it's literally from the book of Psalms. Now, how can you get banned from Christian radio from singing the Psalms? Well, one that seems to indicate that the people and Christian radio may not actually know their Bible. But it's gonna be happy and uplifting and positive. Well, life is not always happy and uplifting and positive, is it? Because sometimes you wake up and guess what. You find out that there's a confederacy of nations seeking to wipe you off the face of the earth, and you can't figure out why God hadn't done anything right. Like, if you happen to wake up on October the seventh and be live in Israel, you may have found out why have a thousand people just been killed and most of them at a music festival? Where was God? Correct? If you live in Kaza, you may be like, where is God? Now that bombs are dropping on our apartment complex? Are our hospitals? If you live in the Ukraine, where was God? Why is Russia invading our country and people are being killed? We can go on and on and on and on and on. We can go back to World War Two. If you're a Jew being rounded up and taken to a concentration camp, you may be thinking where is God? Right? In other words, human life almost demands the ability to lament to the creator. If there is a God, I think it's perfectly okay for his creation to go. Where are you agreed? Right?

52:02 Well, that's only the first lesson from a lament. But now we're after time, so we'll go through We'll go through these lessons one more time. But I think that that's very fair. I think it's fair. And if we don't, we don't allow for lament what happens we have to pretend, and pretend lasts for a while, right, and then sooner or later what happens too much reality and you can't pretend anymore, and then you become bitter, you become frustrated, and you're like, I'm done with God. Now that doesn't leave you necessary with any better answers, right, because just remember, with God or without God, what is still going to remain true? The pain, the suffering, the death, the horrible situation with or without God, that's still going to remain. Now, which one makes you feel better? I don't know. Some people say, well, at least believing in God makes me feel better. Some people say, not believing in no God makes me feel better. Since I gave up hope, I feel a whole lot better that kind of idea. But the point is you're still going to be left with the same situation, but the lament allows you to do what to speak, Here's what I like about in precatory psalms and lament psalms, they give you the freedom not to speak like church people because church people don't like in precatory psalms or lament psalms. Now they like in precatory psalms.

53:27 When they pray against Obama, then they're all foreign precatory psalms, right, Or if they pray against Biden, then they're all foreign precreatory psalms. But they're not foreign precreatory psalms, and many other situations are they. But in precatory psalms, lament psalms sadly are not the language of Christians. It's not the language of Christian radio, it's not the language of Christian publishing. And that, to me is a problem because you're told almost when you become a Christian, life is going to be wonderful. You now have supernatural power, you're basic never going to sin anymore, everyone's going to be perfect, and everything's going to be great. And that lasts for about what about five minutes, and so you either have to continue to pretend to be that which you're not and pretend or you have to come to face to face with the reality. And I think when you come to face to face with reality.

54:20 That's stronger faith. That's why I think the Book of Job is so powerful. Did Job give church language when he talked about his situation? He wanted to die, he wished he was never born. That doesn't sound like church language. Does it say that? In church? People start praying that got to pray for that person's salvation. They have no faith. I think Job had plenty of faith. Right. The greater faith is being honest in the situation, not faking the situation. And so a lament disamis here is what expressing strong lament? All right, let's pray, Lord, got we come before you this morning, Lord, as we began our work through Psalm eighty three, let us find valuable important lessons the Lord, help us just understand what exactly the main purpose of this psalm was and what we can learn from.

55:12 And we asked this in Jesus name, and God's people said