Psalm 56
Trust That Casts Out Fear
Just a short excerpt from the fifty-sixth psalm. Let’s begin by looking at Verse 4 first.
Verse 4, “In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?”
Have you ever asked yourself that question. The answer is “a lot.” People can do terrible things. And no matter what evil thing you can think of there is someone who has done it. People can slander, slay, slaughter and steal. But when David answered the question he said,” Nothing, without God’s permission.” What can flesh do to me?” In order for your enemy to get to you he has to get through God first. And that ain’t going to happen. David rested in that promise.
When he made this bold statement he was not sitting in a royal coach pulled by six white horses, surrounded by soldiers with razor sharp swords. Nor was he sitting on a golden throne in Jerusalem. He was alone in the wilderness surround by Philistine enemies. David knew what it was to stand alone.
Notice the superscription given to the psalm: “ A Michtam of David when the Philistines had seized him in Gath.” The word Michtam is found in six different Psalm and as no scholars are sure of its meaning. I will leave it there. The point is that David was in a very precarious situation. He was fleeing from king Saul who had a death warrant out on him and having no place to go for refuge he fled to the kingdom of Gath a Philistine city. where Achish was king.
“[He] rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.” (1 Samuel 21.20)
Achish was the enemy of King Saul, so he felt half safe there. safe there. But he also knew that Goliath whom he killed was a Philistine and trusting the enemy of your enemy is a slippery slope, but it was the necessity of trusting any port in a storm.
Verses 1-3, “Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day, For there are many who fight against me, O Most High. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”
Notice the persistence of his enemies. “Fighting all day he oppresses me,” “My enemies would hound me all day.”
One of the strategies of the enemy of your soul is to wear you down, so that you will quit, capitulate, surrender.
Verse 8, “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?”
“You number my wanderings.” Kings had secretaries who kept records of everything that happened each day. In Esther 2:21-23 we read of how an assignation plot to kill the king Xerxes if Persia, Mordecai overheard the plot told Queen Esther who told the king and the King’s life was spared. While the plot was recorded by the king’s recording secretary Mordecai was not rewarded for saving the king’s life, Providentially and not coincidentally king Xerxes could not sleep on night and so he had his recording secretary read to him and update him what was happening in his kingdom. Providentially and not accidentally he decided to read of how Mordecai had saved his life and was not rewarded for it. When he learned about it he like Daniel was made second in command. In like manner God knows our every step, our every going in and coming put. He knows everything you did this week, and he knows everything that you will be doing next week. “ You number my wanderings.” The New Living Translation puts it, “ “You keep track of all my sorrows.”
Verse 8 -b, “Put my tears into your bottle.”
Most of us come into this world with tears in our eyes. Tears are a part of Life. Doctors tell us that it is good for babies to cry at birth because it open up their lungs and helps them to begin breathing on their own. As children get older tears continue to flow as they fall down and skin their knees. There are usually plenty more years between people getting married, and people are buried.
Verse 8 tells us that God puts our tears in a bottle. That means that knows our deepest emotions. The God who knows the sparrow that falls to the ground knows our every fallen tear. We are not robots to God.
Verse 8-c goes on and says, “Are they not in a Your book?”
God is a divine accountant. He who knows the stars by name knows your name, your every tear, but you every word. This a very co forting thought as it tells us that neither is God a robot, aloof from us, unmindful of or deepest emotions. The reason the psalmist uses the imagery of God storing our tears in a bottle is that he wants us to reassure us that God does not forget our prayers after we cry unto him. They are never wasted, never go unnoticed. Now God does not have a literal bottle where he stores our tears but not one of them falls to the ground but that he sees them. The Father saw every tear Jesus shed in Gethsemane. He saw his tears when he wept at the grave of Lazarus. He saw those tears that no one else saw when you cried out to him for help in the darkest night. God knows our pain. He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Each genuine tear of sorrow, of joy, of hope is a pearl of great price to him. Not one falls in vain and are stored in his memory.
Verse 9, “When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me.”
Because the Psalmist knows that God knows his every thought, his every tear, that his life is an open book to his all-seeing eyes. Therefore, he says in “My enemies will retreat, they will not triumph over me.” “This I know, because God is for me.”
David has no confidence in his power, But he is very confident in God’s Power.
Verses 10-11, “In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
“What can man do to me?” If God knows my fears, and God is greater than all my fears and all my enemies. I have nothing to fear. I will cast all m y cares upon him for he cares for me, not just for the whole world but for me.
Twice the Psalmist says that he will Praise God’s Word. Why? Because nothing gives the Christian more confidence in a crazy mixed-up world than promises and prophecies of God. Man will never remove fear from the earth. The Evening news is enough to make you lose all hope in humanity. But God promises peace to all those who trust in him,
Hebrews says, 13:6 says, “So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Because God has kept his feet from stumbling back into sin, delivered him from the threats of his enemies. He will offer up thanksgiving to him.
Verse 12-13, “Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living?” That I may walk before God who is the light of my life.
Respectfully Submitted
Dr. Robert Bryant