In God We Trust.

The open mouths of sinners when they rage against us should open our mouths in prayer.  --Charles Spurgeon

One sure sign of getting old is when you start telling the same stories over and over again.  Most often, the stories we tell come from the same occasion or memory, they have the same outcome, and teach the same lesson.  It is not very often that we can recall one specific incident and draw a completely different lesson or conclusion.

David was a man with wild stories to tell his children and grandchildren.  One story that he must have retold countless times was of the time he fled the house of Saul and tried to seek asylum in Gath.  We read about it in 1 Samuel 21.  Actually it was the basis of Psalm 34, and I wrote about it on July 1 of this year in a blog post titled Desperado.  David may have written that Psalm as a lesson to the 400 desperate men of Israel who gathered with him at the cave of Adullam.

This incident was also the basis of Psalm 56, which we will study today.  The superscription refers to the same incident, but it focuses on a totally different feeling.  Let me remind you of the back-story.  David was running from Saul.  He stopped at the home of the priest of Nod, and asked for bread and a sword.  The priest gave him the only sword in the house, the sword that belonged to Goliath, whom David had killed.  David then crosses the border into the land of the Philistines, hoping that Saul would not pursue him there.  He tries to take refuge in Gath, but Achish the king hears about it and apparently (according to the superscription of Psalm 56) takes him under arrest.

Let's review.  Who do we know that was from Gath?  Oh, that's right, it was Goliath, the champion of the Philistine army whom David had defeated.  And what did David bring with him?  Oh, just the sword that belonged to Goliath.  Word had traveled to Philistia that after David slew Goliath, the people in Israel started singing, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten-thousands."  He was heir apparent to the throne in Jerusalem.  Now he just randomly shows up in Goliath's home town, armed with Goliath's sword.  Yet he tells Achish that he comes in peace.  Why would David think this was a good idea?

Under house arrest by the king of Gath, David feared for his life, at worst, and for lifetime imprisonment, at best.  This fear was the basis for the prayer he recorded in Psalm 56, and we know that his fear was real.

One other thing I would like to mention about the pre-amble to this Psalm.  You all know very well that I am not a Hebrew scholar, and I do not pretend to be.  However, this gives me cause for pause.  There is a compound word in the superscription to this Psalm.  That word is transliterated Jonathelemrechokim.  It is a combination of the Hebrew word for dove or pigeon (yona), the Hebrew word for silent (elem), and the Hebrew word for remote or far off (rahoq).  In Hebrew culture, the dove was a symbol of mourning, and the pigeon was used as a sacrifice.  Perhaps David felt like a small bird, mourning the fact that he might be killed as he sat silent in a far off land.  Of course, my interpretation could be way off, since smarter men than me have given a different meaning based on their own translations and experience.  For example, the translators of the New King James Version of the Bible say this Psalm was "Set to 'The Silent Dove In Distant Lands'." It would seem, then, that this Psalm was to be sung to the tune of a popular folk song in the region.  On the other hand, the translators of the English Standard Version say this Psalm was written "according to The Dove on Far-Off Terebinths," referencing the Oaks of Mamre, referencing Genesis 18:1 when Abraham left his home to travel toward the Promised Land, and God promised him a son. (The Hebrew word elonei meaning Oaks or Terebinth trees is very similar to the Hebrew word for silent.)

In any event, the theme of this Psalm is faith in the midst of fear.  Maybe you have had an overriding sense of fear that you could not overcome on your own.  You may not have been imprisoned or feared for your life, but the lesson is the same: faith overcomes fear because God is greater than the men who threaten you.

When I am afraid, do I respond with Fear or Faith?

A.  Plea for Mercy

Let's read the beginning of David's prayer.

Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.  When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.  In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me?  --Psalm 56:1-4

David calls out to God in his distress.  The first words out of his mouth are for mercy and grace, for favor or pity.  One commentator put it this way: "Instead of building up gradually to his complaint, the psalmist pours out his heart immediately."  Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything b prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Prayer is powerful.  Charles Spurgeon wrote, "It is a sure sign of grace when a man can trust in his God; for the natural man, when he is afraid, falls back on some human trust, or thinks that he will be able to laugh at the occasion of fear."

When we are thrown into a fearful situation, prayer is a gift.  It confesses our own inability to overcome the situation while attributing that power to God alone.  It professes faith that God is able to both graciously deal with the problem and mercifully soothe our fears.  Our trust is in God alone.

The motto "In God We Trust" was brought to America by theologian and hymn-writer Isaac Watts, an English Congregationalist pastor who wrote it in his Psalter, which was revised and printed in America in 1785.  Before that, in 1748 Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Militia marched under a banner with a coronet and a plume of feathers with the motto "In God We Trust."  Franklin spent time in Europe in his younger years, and may have been familiar with Watts and his Psalter; or, as historian Thomas Kidd wrote, this official motto may have been traced to Psalm 56:11.  The motto officially became a political theme during the Civil War, and was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956.

The prayers of a nation become more fervent in times of war or pestilence.  Franklin's militia fought for American independence with their trust in God.  Union war officers professed their trust in God when it appeared the nation was being torn in two.  I remember on September 11, 2001 there was a great surge of people returning to places of worship for prayer after the first foreign attack on American soil since Pearl Harbors.  On whom did they trust?  Their prayers turned to God.  We need to pray for grace and mercy for our nation today, because most people have turned their back on Him, and mock Christians for our faith.

B. Plan for mockery

David goes on to tell God about his troubles, but he knows that God knows our troubles.

All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.  They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life.  For their crimes will they escape?  In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!  You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle.  Are they not in Your book?  Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call.  This I know, that God is for me.  --Psalm 56:5-9

People will mock you; they will persecute you; they will spread malicious gossip and lies about you; they will tear down your reputation and even take your life.  What are we to do?  "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord."  We can pray for their redemption, but while they are hurting us we can weep and share our sorrows with God.  

18th and early 19th century theologian and amateur historian Adam Clarke wrote of this passage, "Here is an allusion to a very ancient custom, which we know long obtained among the Greeks and Romans, of putting the tears which were shed for the death of any person into small phials, called lacrymatories or urnae lacrymales and offering them on the tomb of the deceased. Some of these were of glass, some of pottery, and some of agate, sardonyx, etc. A small one in my own collection is of hard baked clay.”  Whether this was what David referenced or not, we know that God knows our hearts and hears our cries.

The Apostle Paul refers to the tenet that "God is for me" in Romans 8:31-34, where he adds another thought: "If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?  Who can bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn?"  He is our Rock, our Comforter, a very present help in times of trouble.

When I am confronted, remember God's word

A.  In God I trust

In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me?  --Psalm 56:10-11

In other psalms, David relied on his memory of God's deliverance in prior times of trouble. Here, he relies on God's written word to give comfort and counsel.  Don't you think Moses and the Isrealites were afraid when the Red Sea was before them and Pharaoh's army was behind?  Yet God intervened and saved them.  Weren't Joshua and the fledgling Israeli army afraid when they came up against the fortified city of Jericho? But God went before them and the fortified walls fell.

The Bible shows that God has a pretty good track record when His people cry out to Him.  It is good for us to remember this: my obstacle may look overwhelming, but God!  God is able to deliver.  He is worthy of our trust, and our praise.

B.  To God I give praise

I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to You.  For You have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.  --Psalm 56: 12-13

David referred to the sacrifice he would offer for the deliverance he knew God would bring. He was a long distance from God’s altar so the sacrifice could not yet be made; but in David’s heart it was already done, as was the anticipated rescue.  Alexander Maclaren wrote, "David referred to the sacrifice he would offer for the deliverance he knew God would bring. He was a long distance from God’s altar so the sacrifice could not yet be made; but in David’s heart it was already done, as was the anticipated rescue."

David said that God is the light of life.  Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)  Was David foreshadowing the coming of Jesus?  Jesus was definitely identifying Himself as God.  He is the light of the world.  We should walk in the light, as He is in the light.  We give praise to Him, as we place our trust in Him.  He gives grace and mercy, and is with us even when we are in a fearful situation.