PSALMS 56 WRESTLING WITH GOD

RECOGNIZE MY PROBLEMS V.1-2

I’M IN NEED OF YOUR GENTLENESS V.1

Be merciful unto me, O God:

We should never shun the groaning of our souls.
For groaning leads us to wrestle with God.
And wrestling leads to intimacy which unwraps the real us & reveals the real Him
This in all exercises us in worship

Wrestling is an intimate person to person activity.

The sighing & sobbing of our spirit in wrestling with God’s Spirit is life at it’s best

We’re crying for tender compassion & that God would take our side & stand up for us— I’m getting kicked around, stomped on every day.

I’M IRRATIONALLY GOBBLED UP

for man would swallow me up

We literally feel people are panting after us – like wild beasts after their prey

We plead that God would the tables on them & make their savage brutality backfire

Bring about something unprecedented & exceptional
Do a thing that’s supernatural & remarkable
Let the earth opens its mouth & swallows them & all that belongs to them
so that they go down alive into Sheol
Show everyone that these individuals have treated You Lord with contempt
in treating us so raunchy

Numbers 16:30

I’M INCESSANTLY GROUND ON

he fighting daily oppresses me

Constant harassment is wearing.
There’s a tormenting agony from these daily oppressors
This refers to an experience of continual hounding & badgering.
It’s as if they spy on our every move & it is an exasperating plague.

The media claims that there are those who want to watch our every move.
They want to insert micro homing trackers under our skin.
They want to launch a squadron of drones with face recognition videos to stalk
and monitor each step we take.

I’M INCREDIBLY GULPED DOWN V.2

BY CONSISTENT OPPOSITION

Mine enemies would daily swallow me up:

God’s plan is to liberate us. Satans plan is to swallow us up & make us his robots.

BY COUNTLESS OPPOSITION

for they be many that fight against me,

The hordes of demonic oppressors are like swarming locusts gnawing at everything
of value & worth. They nibble, they chomp, they lancinate us to a raw nothing.

REVEAL YOUR POSITION V.3-4

THE ONE IN CONTROL

O thou most High

This is a rather unusual name for God. It is the term Marom—God the lofty or the exalted One. When our enemies are exalting themselves; We ask God to exalt Himself.
We’re surrounded by self-aggrandized little people. They exalt themselves above us. They look down on us as if, in their lofty view we’re nothing but miserable wretches.
So we cry to our great God who alone is lifted up & lofty beyond any words.

THE ONLY CONFIDENCE V.3

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

To trust when there is no cause for fear is faith;
To rely on God in face of real fear & danger is real faith
This is trusting in the LORD with all our heart;
This is refusing to lean on our own understanding.
The word for understanding in this proverb is good logic.
We always feel we can lean on good logic. But no. God’s logic is not our logic.
These are times that are brewing where nothing makes sense.

So, in all our ways we acknowledge God our most high & He will direct our paths.
He’ll show us each step to take & each word to speak.

THE OBJECT OF COMMENDATION V.4

In God I will praise His Word, in God I have put my trust;

Walking by faith in each Word of God makes us comfortable & confident
Nothing encourages us like praising God’s Word. Nothing emboldens us
in our conflicts & sufferings as lifting Our Lord’s words to the highest place
in our thoughts. Adoring God’s Word is quieting to our soul. This is the great
work of faith & trust in God’s faithfulness. His promises to us are more than
all the visible things on earth, or sensible objects in the world;
The beauty of His words make us forsake all earthly pleasures, possessions,
and empty hopes of this scene.

THE ONE WHO GIVES COURAGE

I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

Faith in God drives out the fear of others.
Faith in God rids us from the fears of our circumstances & surroundings.

When we get really afraid we come to you in trust.
We’re proud to praise God; fearless now,
We trust in God. What can mere mortals do?

REALIZE MY PERPLEXITY V.5-7

THEY TWIST WHAT I SAY V.5

Every day they wrest my words:all their thoughts are against me for evil.

This horridness of snarling garrulous dogs twisting our expressions is so unsavory.
There’s this inner emotional tangle of feelings.
There’s the flood of others angry blithering babble against us & it is chafing.

THEY TRACK WHERE I GO V.6

They gather themselves together, they hide themselves,
they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

It’s Satan & his demonic pantheons who lay traps for us. The demons use their useful
Idiots, in our human associations, to lie in wait to ambush us by surprise.

We should never listen to the berating breath of fools. We should not fear what
flesh can do to us. We need to listen to God. We know His righteousness inside by
Jesus & His Word is in our hearts. We never have to fear the reproach of others.
We don’t have to fear their reviling.

For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations. Isaiah 51:8

THEY TAUNT WHAT YOU’LL DO V.7

Shall they escape by iniquity? in Your anger cast down the people, O God.

This prayer format is for personal vindication. In our cry for protection
we also plead for exoneration. Ultimately we want them to escape the consequences
of their iniquity. We prefer a real change of heart toward God & towards us.

RECORD MY PAIN V.8-9

MY WANDERING V.8

You tell my wanderings

All our frustrations. All our emotional ups & downs. All the grief, sorrow & lamenting
In all our movements God has sovereign GPS on all our gallivanting & meandering.
The metsker maps of Heaven have a tracking page for each of our days.

MY WEEPING

STORE MY EMOTIONS

IN YOUR BOTTLE

put my tears into Your bottle

All our tears are treasured. Every drop of sorrow has deep value.
Our sorrow is of such worth that each micro drip is stored in heavenly containers

IN YOUR BOOK

are they not in Your book?

God is aware of every hurt we experience. He is alert to each ache, every pain, every heartache & hardship we go through. He records them all with precision in divine journals. In all our afflictions He is afflicted.

Spurgeon noted: Those who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls.

They were stoned to death; they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith]; they were sawn asunder; they were slaughtered by the sword; [while they were alive] they had to go about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated (Heb. 11) & God records it all in His books.

STOP MY ENEMIES V.9

When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know;

It’s been noted that there are over 30 thousand promises in the Bible.
But how do we know that my enemies are defeated?

STABILIZE MY ENCOURAGEMENT

for God is for me.

We know because God is for us. Because, He placed all our sins on Jesus Christ.

As C. H. Spurgeon noted

He was “for us” before the worlds were made;
He was “for us,” or He would not have given his well-beloved son;
He was “for us” when he smote the Jesus & laid the full weight of His wrath on Him—
He was “for us,” though He was against Jesus;
He was “for us,” when we were ruined in the fall—He loved us notwithstanding all;
He was “for us,” when we were rebels against Him,
He was “for us,” when we with a high hand were bidding Him defiance;
He was “for us,” or he would not have brought us humbly to seek His face.
He is “for us” in many struggles; we have been summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; He is “for us” when we’re assailed by temptations from without & within—
How could we have remained unharmed to the present if he had not been “for us”?
He is “for us,” with all the infinity of His being;
He is “for us,” with all the omnipotence of His love;
He is “for us,” with all the infallibility of His wisdom;
He is “for us,” arrayed in all His divine attributes,
He is “for us,”—eternally & immutably “for us”;
He is “for us” when yon blue skies shall be rolled up like a worn out vesture;
He is “for us” throughout eternity.

And because he is “for us” the voice of prayer will always ensure his help.

“When we cry to You, then shall all our enemies be turned back.”

This is no uncertain hope, but a well grounded assurance—“this I know.”
I will direct my prayer unto You & will look up for the answer, assured that
it will come, and that our enemies will be defeated, “for God is for me.”

“The King of kings on our side! We’re safe with Him as our Protector!
How sure our cause pleaded by such an Advocate!
With God for us, nothing can be against us”
Manton

FILL ME WITH PRAISE FOR YOUR SCRIPTURE V.10

In God will I praise His word: in the LORD will I praise His word.

In the face of difficulties, distresses, & drastically destructive conditions.
We rely on the naked promises of God’s Word.
We praise His voice in His Word.
God’s Word is our ground of hope.
God’s Word is what comforts our soul.

No matter how contradicting circumstances get. Even when it looks impossible.
“Abraham against hope believed in hope” Rom. 4:18

We holdfast faith & take God by His Word;
Our faith grows by our dependence on the Word of God,
Our faith needs to develop even when things are getting crazier & uglier

“It’s Affliction that brings out graces that can’t be seen in a time of health.
It is the treading of the grapes that brings out the sweet juices of the vine;
so it’s affliction that draws forth submission, weaning us from the world,
And training us in a complete rest in God. Use afflictions while you have them.”

Robert Murray McCheyne

FILL ME WITH TRUST FOR YOUR SAFETY V.11

In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

As for God, His way is perfect; the Word of the Lord is tried;
He is a buckler to all them that trust in Him.

Ps. 18:30

Let everything be a confirmations that feeds & nourish faith

THE ADVENTURE OF FAITH

“At Your Word we will let down the net” Luke 5:5

THE WAITING OF FAITH

Our expectation is not answered, but we resolve to keep His promises in our heart

“He that believes doesn’t make haste.”

THE OBSTINACY & RESOLUTION OF FAITH.

We resolve to die holding the horns of the altar; we won’t be put off;

The woman of Canaan came & cried to Jesus, saying, “Have mercy on me,
O Lord, You Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”

Mt. 15:22

she cried & she cried more & more, she turned discouragements into arguments

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him Job 13:15

“Afflictions are but the shadows of God’s wings.”

George Macdonald

THE RESIGNATION OF FAITH:

Seek first the kingdom of God & His righteousness, (not our righteousness)
and all these things shall be added to you.

We Set our hearts on the highest interest. Christ’s Righteousness

THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH.

Don’t worry Phil. 4:6, ‘Be careful for nothing;’
But cast your care on him, for he cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7

We prove our trust in God by constant prayer

Trust in the Lord at all times; pour out your hearts before Him Ps. 62:8

REHEARSE MY PROMISES V.12-13

I’M COMMITTED TO YOU

Thy vows are upon me, O God:

We’re committed to God. He’s won our hearts.

I’M CONSUMED WITH YOU

I will render praises unto thee.

We’re devoted to praise Him, thank Him & adore Him in worship no matter what

YOU DELIVER ME FROM FAILURE V.13

For thou hast delivered my soul from death:

God has broken the force & power of all our enemies,
God makes the wrath of man turn to His praise

Ps. 76:11

Even the pagan mariners made their vows to God when the Lord delivered
them from the storm
Jonah 1:16.

When all things go to ruin, when everything looks collapsed,
We don’t degenerate & warped away from God,
We don’t wrench & distort ourselves out of God’s arms,
We bind ourselves to Him again,
We renew our commitments

Josiah enter into a covenant with God, & caused the people to stand to oath,’

2 Chron. 34

His yoke is easy & His burden is light

That word “delivered” is literally “plucked.”
We’ve been snatched away from surrounding danger.
We’re being grabbed out of treachery

We’re plucked out of the flames into the land of the living

Alexander Maclaren wrote:

“The really living are all who live in Jesus & real light of life is the sunshine that streams on those who live in Christ.”

The way out of fear, despair & loneliness is basking in God’s sunshine,
We deepen our life by looking into the face of Jesus Christ.

“Oh, when we are journeying through the murky night & the dark woods of affliction & sorrow, it is something to find here & there a flower broken, or a leafy stem bent down with the tread of His foot & the brush of His hand as He passed & to remember that the path He trod He has sanctified & thus to find lingering fragrance & hidden strength in the remembrance of Him as “in all points tempted like as we are,”
He is bearing grief for us, bearing grief with us, bearing grief like us.”

• Alexander MacLaren

YOU DELIVER ME FROM FALLING

wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling,

When David came down to Goliath,
Goliath said: Come to me & I will give your flesh to the vultures & to the beasts of the field.

David was as good as dead. This was a moment of truth.
David had just infuriated a giant of a man & if God deliver David’s feet from falling everything was over.
Jesus came to the Giants of Satan, the giants of sin & the giants of death
Our Savior’s feet never slipped an inch. The giants have been slain.

YOU DELIVER ME TO FUNCTIONALITY

that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

God is the source of life
God is the preserver of life
All things are dependent on God for life.

The lives of all are in the sovereign hand of God

Job cried:

Remember, I beg You, that

You have made me as the clay & will You bring me into dust again?
You have clothed my skin & flesh & will You bring me to nothing?
If You visit me my spirit is preserved

God has determined the number of our years
God has determined the number of our months & days,
God has fixed the bounds of our life,

There is no man or devil that has power over life but God

God’s power & goodness is the source of our constant preservation.
God preserve our lives.
We are weak, feeble & all creation is foolishly careless.
God continues His amazing faithfulness in the various seasons of the world.

He must preserve the animal creation,
He nourishes, feeds & clothes the human species, all plant life is preserve by Him
He delivers from the snares, the arrows & the multiple means of death.
He constantly governs the winds & the waves, and all the endless elements.

He watches over every individual person every moment.
He strengthen every nerve & guide every motion of every body
He monitors all the motions, affections & decisions of the mind.

He must guide every step we take & determine every circumstance of life.

“Providence is wonderfully intricate.
We want to see through Providence, But we never will, our eyes aren’t good enough.
We want to see what good that affliction is to us; but we won’t, we must believe it.
We want to see how it can bring good to our soul; we may be enabled; but we can’t see it now; we must believe it. We mustHonor God by trusting Him.

Charles Spurgeon