Psalms

Here we are today, continuing our series through the book of Psalms. We will be in

chapter seven. Let’s begin with the introduction.

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a

Benjaminite.

What we will be reading going through today is a song that was sang to the Lord

from the lips of David himself. And you may be asking this question, “What in the

world is a Shiggaion?” Well that’s the question that many biblical scholars still

have today. The concrete English equivalent still eludes us to this day. However,

the following is our best estimation of what this word means.

A Shiggaion is a song or a poem that bursts forth from deep emotion. And so we

can imagine these words of David here being sung out, maybe not with every note

being sung with perfect pitch, or keeping to a certain rhythm or cadence. It most

certainly wasn’t sung quietly. Other words that scholars have associated with this

word Shiggaion is irregular or ecstatic. And so, this psalm is not a song written as a

lullaby to calm or make comfortable the ears that it fell upon. It was one written

as a desperate plea to God who hears our cries. Last week I mentioned that God

hears us.

Psalm 7:1-2

O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,

2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,

rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

Again, we see David using very vivid pictures to describe the ferocity and hostility

of those who are after him. It’s not just people posting mean things about him on

Facebook or stealing Amazon packages off his front porch. No, when he talksabout his pursuers being like lions seeking to tear his soul apart, he is speaking of

people who seek his complete destruction. And it’s not this picture of a clean cut

that is quick and painless. It’s a picture of tearing. His enemies not only seek his

destruction, but they also want him to suffer as if he wasn’t already suffering

enough.

And David lifts his voice to God, “O Lord my God.”

When I was a freshman in college, I had a roommate from Paraguay. His name was

Rubén Eugenio Agüero Quinteros. One day I was singing a worship song by Chris

Tomlin called, “Our God.” “Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are

higher than any other.” And he asks, “What do you mean when you say “Our

God?”

So, Ruben grew up Catholic, but also had some Islamic influences. A lot of his

friends back in Paraguay were either Muslim or Catholic. So, he knew enough to

know that the Christian faith holds to monotheism. And the question was well

deserving to be asked. “What do you mean, “Our God?” And he goes on, “Does

that imply there are other Gods?”

To be completely honest, I didn’t really know how to answer this back when I was

18. I just said, “Of course it doesn’t mean there are other gods. It’s just a way of

saying in a poetic way that God is greater than any idols we put before him.”

Today, my answer has changed. You see, the word God, is translated from the

word Elohim. What many Christians do today is they confuse the word God, for

God’s name. Here’s what I want you all to understand. The word God is not a

name, but a job description. The God of the Bible, the God we worship is Yahweh.

There are many Elohim in the Bible that are not Yahweh. That may come as a

surprise to some of you. Psalm 82 (I can’t wait to get to Psalm 82).

Psalm 82:1

God has taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:This word “gods” is translated from the Hebrew word, “Elohim”. And it is

distinguished from Yahweh, the God of Israel.

And so, when we read about the Israelites turning to other gods and fashioning

idols, they aren’t just metaphorically worshiping some vague thing that may or

may not exist.

What is idol worship according to the Apostle Paul? I mentioned this in our Acts

sermon series. It’s the worship of demons.

1 Corinthians 10:20

“No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.”

So, when we see instances in the Bible of pagans sacrificing to Baal, Baal is not just

some arbitrary being made up in the imaginations of men. They are sacrificing to a

demon that masquerades himself as a god. The Ancient Egyptian gods, Ra, Osiris,

Horus, Anubis (you’ve heard of some of these before), and the ancient

Mesopotamian gods that the Babylonians worshiped; Marduk, Asherah and Enlil

just to name a few are not some crazy imaginings of a primitive people.

For some reason, when we look at previous civilizations, we think, “they’re just

ignorant.” “They didn’t know any better.” “But now in the scientific and post

enlightenment age, we’re far more intelligent than those people.” I hate to break

it to you. We’re not. Now, they may have been ignorant as to the actual beings

they were worshiping, but what they worshiped were not mere pieces of wood

and stone.

“What do you mean, ‘Our God’ or ‘my God?’”

There is no one like Him. The first commandment of the Ten Commandments tells

us that we should have no other gods before Him. Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no

other gods before me.” You shall have no other “Elohim” before me. So, when we

say we worship one God, we are saying that we worship the One True God of

which no other gods (Elohim) can compare. There’s no one like Him and there’s no

one above Him.And so now I hope we can understand the depth and gravity of these words that

David begins this song with when he says, “O Lord my God.” It is You in whom I

place my trust, not the gods of my enemies, nor the gods of the surrounding

nations. You are the one I am calling out to.

Psalm 7:3-5

O Lord my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

4 if I have repaid my friend with evil

or plundered my enemy without cause,

5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,

and let him trample my life to the ground

and lay my glory in the dust.

The text doesn’t explicitly tell us what happened, but what we can say is that

David has been falsely accused of something. Do you remember the story of how

David spared Saul’s life in the cave? How David had the perfect opportunity to

take Saul’s life if he wanted to? Instead of harming King Saul, David cut a piece of

Saul’s robe. Once Saul left the cave, David followed him out and said, “Why do you

listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’? 10 Behold,

this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the

cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you.” (1 Samuel 24:9-10).

What we see here is that David is no stranger to being falsely accused of different

things. In 1st Samuel it was quite obvious that David was accused of wanting to

make an attempt to take Saul’s life. Whatever event that Psalm 7 is referencing,

the due penalty for this accusation or accusations was enough to make David

anxious.

And yes, he sees himself as innocent. But he goes further than that. He says, if I

have done this, if I have indeed wronged anyone or have done anything deserving

of punishment, let my enemies prevail or as verse five puts it, “let him trample my

life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.”These are not the words of someone who is guilty. No one would make that

statement to God if they truly believed they were guilty. To bring a curse upon

oneself if in fact found guilty, not only resulting in death, but to leave a legacy of

shame and dishonor in the halls of history for eternity. But that’s not the legacy

we have of David do we? We know him as a “man after God’s own heart.”

Psalm 7:6a

Arise, O Lord,

Does David think God is sleeping? We may at first look at this and think, “well

that’s silly.” I’ll make the point real quick that this is not what David is saying. He

doesn’t think God is asleep. But…many in the world today, even Christians think

this. And may take on the form of these following questions. “Why does God, who

is all good allow evil to exist in the world?” “Why doesn’t God do anything about

the evil we see?” “Why does God allow people to suffer?” In effect, we have many

people thinking that God is somewhat asleep, or dozing or unbothered by all the

injustice happening in the world. That’s what the enemy wants you to think,

because the fact of the matter is, is that God sees us, He hears us and He loves us.

1 Peter 3:12

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

God is not indifferent. His affections are for the righteous and is against those who

do evil. Friends, God may not bring about justice when we want Him to, but His

timing is always perfect. Justice is coming. God is not asleep. And He isn’t just

merely awake either, but He is present. Hope and strength for the righteous.

Terror and despair for the unrighteous.

Psalm 7:6

Arise, O Lord, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.Psalm 7:7-10

Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;

over it return on high.

8 The Lord judges the peoples;

judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

and may you establish the righteous—

you who test the minds and hearts,

O righteous God!

10 My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

David is making it clear that he is not just bringing his case before an earthly judge

to preside over his case, but he is appealing to the Judge of the entire universe.

And he is confident that God’s justice will prevail. Here I am God, you know every

part of me even my inmost being which is hidden from the eyes of men. Search

me and if I am guilty, let me suffer the consequences. If I am innocent, vindicate

me. Be my shield and let truth win the day.

Psalm 7:11-13

God is a righteous judge,

and a God who feels indignation every day.

12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

Wow, take a look at verse 11 again. “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels

indignation every day.” So, God is angry and disgusted every single day? “Well, I

thought God, was all loving and compassionate and merciful and good. So, which

is it Mark? Is He all of these things or angry all the time?” The answer to that

question is “all of the above.”Do we serve an indifferent God? The text suggests otherwise. We have a God that

is busy at the grindstone, building up his armory sharpening sword and arrow

preparing to bring justice upon the earth and vengeance against the unrighteous.

The time of accounting will come. The wicked will fall under condemnation and

the righteous will be vindicated. In God’s mercy, any man can turn away from evil

and receive his mercy. But those who continue down the path of wickedness will

not escape his wrath.

Psalm 7:14-16

Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

and is pregnant with mischief

and gives birth to lies.

15 He makes a pit, digging it out,

and falls into the hole that he has made.

16 His mischief returns upon his own head,

and on his own skull his violence descends.

I love the imagery this passage gives us. The wicked man conceives evil and is

pregnant with mischief. That is, evil is always in the thoughts of those who are

wicked. They carry it with them wherever they go. When they rise in the morning

and lay their head down at night, that’s what they think about. And what does it

birth? Lies. Lies have done more harm to humanity than any weapon fashioned

throughout all of history. It is THE weapon of the enemy.

But the plotting of evil and all the effort of the wicked are futile. Those who give

themselves to their wicked ways fall into their own traps. They are creating the

very instruments that will lead to their own demise. And if this is never a reality

they experience here on earth, they will certainly know it when their eyes open to

eternity.

The lesson here is that the pursuit of evil and it’s resulting consequences will be

altogether different from what was intended or anticipated. And we know, either

by experience or intellectually.

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to

stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. –

”Psalm 7:17

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

And after all of this, what does David do? He worships. He gives thanks to God and

he sings God’s praises. Even in the midst of his distress, David recalls God’s

righteousness and this brings him great hope and great joy. And he sings out to

God, remember this is a Shiggaion so it didn’t probably sound all that pretty. But it

was from the depths of his soul. The strength of his distress was overcome by the

resolve of his hope in God.

Do you have the joy of the Lord? Do you really? What the Bible teaches us and

shows us is that the amount of joy we have in God is proportionate to the amount

of trust we have in Him. And some of you may say well, I don’t really experience

this joy if I’m to be honest. My question to you then would be, well how much do

you trust God? I trust Himn completely? Oh really?

You see the joy we have in God can only come from fully trusting God. And fully

trusting God is letting go entirely the things that only God can take care of. And

this is what we end up doing. We say we’ve given everything up to God, but do

we? Or do we hold on?

There’s a hymn that I used to lead and the words go like this.

“What a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

all because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer!”

All of us in here desire peace. Some of us have it. Many of us don’t. So, what is

holding us back from taking hold of the promise God gives to us. We can find

peace in Him, and not only peace, but joy. No matter what you’re going through,

no matter the trial, let go and let God. And no amount of money or possessions or

anything this world could ever offer could give us what only God can give, and

that’s His peace and His joy.

Philippians 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be

known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but

in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be

made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.