Psalm 56, this is the word of the Lord. To the choir master, according to the dove on far off Terrapins, a Mictam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me all day long, and 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? 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 and they have waited for my life. For their crime 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. 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? 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 for I that I may walk before God in the light of life. God bless his word and our consideration of it this morning you may be seated. Now many of you know that if I said, what is the first question to the Westminster Catechism, what it is, we've talked about it several times. But are you aware of what the first question to the Heidelberg Catechism is? It was another catechism that was developed expressing the Reformed faith. It's part of what's called the Three Forms of Unity that the Dutch Reformed tradition holds to, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgian Confession, and the Synod of Dort. And the Heidelberg Catechism's first question is this, what is your only comfort in life and in death? What is your only comfort in life and in death? And the answer given to that question is this, that I am not my own, but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ. That question kind of sets the tone for what this message is about. In Psalm 56, there is a definite theme running through it, and it's one that comes from an individual who knows to whom he belongs and in whom he can put his trust. Psalm 56 is another Psalm of David, and one that, once again, is written about a time when he is on the run. He's on the run from his enemies, and he is feeling attacked, he's feeling oppressed, and he has feelings, definitely, of being afraid. Various levels and expressions of fear seem actually to be pretty common in the Psalms. We certainly have come across such expressions a number of times in our walk through the Psalms, and definitely in these last two Psalms. Few of us will likely experience what David experiences. Few of us likely experience the same cause for fear that David has. Few of us have someone or some group of people that hate us so much that they're out to kill us. They're planning and plotting and pursuing us in order to put us to death. Few of us have or will experience on that level. But there are those in the world that do. There's those in the world that are experiencing such a thing. It is probably something that we ought to spend a little more time on speaking about at Wellsprings, about the trials of Christians around the world that have such dire situations and it'll help us have perspective on some things as we live in a land that yeah there seems to be a rise of persecution and so we do have potentiality of some experience here but we're not anything like what has been experienced around the globe. I just did a quick check on some things like open doors just to kind of lay out Some of the persecution that has gone on most recently, they record that 260 million Christians are living in places where they experience high levels of persecution. Of course, number one on that list for many years has been North Korea. But there's other countries now, a good number of them, they're starting to move. I guess the number of countries that qualify as high level persecution is increasing, they reported. This last year, 2,983 Christians were killed for their faith. These are the 2020 reports, maybe during this year. I'm not sure if it was a full year. 9,488 churches and other Christian buildings were attacked. 3,711 believers were detained without trial. They were arrested, sentenced, or imprisoned. This shows that there's believers out there that face things like this psalm, like David did, and this speaks very directly to their situation. Believers that have felt and feel fear, like what is here in Psalm 56 and was expressed in Psalm 55 that we did last week. But we need to realize that though we don't face aggressive, life-threatening action like this in America, at least on this extent, there is, as I mentioned in recent months, have been somewhat of a rise in targeted persecution of churches, often under the cloak of the pandemic that is reported to be going on. And as you know, certain pastors have come to the forefront in the news of local governmental action against him like a John MacArthur who obviously is a higher profile pastor and so we hear about him and we're so thankful for his willingness to stand for what is right there at Grace Community Church and definitely the decisions being made by their local authorities are targeted decisions for them. We need to realize though that they're not the only church under such aggressive persecution on a local level, and certainly not even the only church in California. And I'm not going to list them all, but I just heard of a, I think it was more northern part of California, I'm not exactly sure where it was, but it's a Baptist church that is fighting their fight. And they're now under a situation where every week until they quit meeting, they are fined $50,000. Would you keep meeting? How would you deal with the situation? That's persecution on American style. You know, typically, at least of late, you know, for some time, Americans don't just come in with military and armored cars. They just kind of squeeze you financially and regulatory, you know, regulation and so forth, and just make it slower and slower, a squeeze move on you. But it's persecution. And we probably shouldn't. dismiss the fact that even in America, especially with the chaotic activities that are going on in some cities, that there wouldn't be more aggressive physical action against groups such as Christians who may determine to keep meeting and others determine that they ought not to. Yeah, here in the United States it's rather interesting where we can have written in our founding document, the document that Dusty referenced here at the very first, it says, that we, now you gotta remember the Constitution didn't give us these rights. When it says that you have the right to the free exercise of religion and you have the right to the peaceable assembling of yourselves together, those weren't rights that that Constitution gave you. Those were rights that the Constitution recognized you have. And as our founding fathers stated in the Declaration of Independence, that governments are established to secure the rights that you have. And so those were particular rights that our founding fathers determined needed to be stated to tell themselves or those who serve in government what their duty was, and that was to secure those rights for you. that you could freely exercise religion. Exercise is an active, you know, it's a participative, active act. I've got to increase my vocabulary a little bit. But yeah, it's activeness. It's not just go hide in a closet. It's exercising. your religion. And yeah, those rights that are identified as the duty of the government to protect and secure for you are actually under attack by that very government. So to various degrees, we too can at least in principle identify with assault upon our lives at various times. We may not be personally experiencing it for ourselves here at Wellsprings. It's not absent in our land. Yes, this psalm, though it's David being pursued and his life being threatened by those who are his enemies, still in principle speaks to all of us as believers today. It can in principle speak to us, for there's times that we can face such things, and there's always times that come into our life when we face something that causes fear, that brings fear in such a way that it gets its grip on us and takes hold of us. And for at least a time, it controls us. And David is going to and did experience that. And so it's a psalm like this one that, and Psalm 55, that can, by looking at it and seeing how David worked through it, can be a psalm that can bolster our faith and prepare us for future times when a situation rises up that puts us in a state of fear. For what did David say? Just look at verse three for a moment. He said, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. He came to a point where he realized there is an active move on my part that needs to take place when I am afraid. I actively put my trust in you. That phrase, that expression is repeated a number of times, a little bit different, but a number of times in this Psalm. It's like the refrain of this Psalm is, in God I trust. You know, that's like the model of America. In God we trust. You see it on your currency, right? But do we? Well, as Americans, probably not. But as an American, do you? as a Christian in America, do you? This psalm has that refrain, in God I trust. Those words, counting this one I just read, are three times stated here. It seems to be the theme of this. And I think it's because of that theme is why this psalm is placed immediately after Psalm 55. You know, historically, and we do have indication of the incident that this psalm is based on, historically, Psalm 56 happened well before Psalm 55. And yet, here it's placed afterwards because it's thematically placed, we might say. And it's perfectly placed there because look at Psalm 55 for a moment just to capture again that situation. There David was so terror stricken that he was in deep anguish and desperate. In verses 4 and 5 we looked at that situation in Psalm 55 where he said, my heart is in anguish within me the terrors of death have fallen upon me, fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me." I mean he really let us know I'm in the pits like you wouldn't believe and I feel like I'm just gonna be buried here. And David though persisted through that to where By the end of the psalm, his tone had changed. And in fact, verse 17 of Psalm 55 was very key to that, where he said, evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan and ye, God hears my voice. He spoke of the engagement in prayer. that he would enter into and we so often worry and don't really pray. We keep churning the problem but we don't really release it to God in prayer and that's what he did and that helped him get his refocus upon God to where at the end of Psalm 55, look at those final words. but I will trust in you. That's what Psalm 55 ended with. Went from that position of great anguish and horror and just I'm dead, I'm done type of a position to I will trust in you. And so Psalm 56 follows that being the echo of that theme. I put my trust in God. We see that in verse 3, I put my trust in you. And in verse 4 he says it again, in God I trust. And in verse 11 he will say it even a third time, in God I trust. That's the message, that's the theme, that's the title of the message I'm bringing to you this morning. So let's take a little closer look at this psalm now. We've got the theme of it. What is it about? From the title, we can learn a few things. It says it's to the choir master. When you see those words, what that actually means, I'm coming to find out, is that this is a particular psalm written to be sung in public worship. All these are psalms, but if it says to the choir master, it's saying this goes in that book that you choose for the whole congregation to sing together. So this was a public worship song. Then the next words, as they appear in the ESV, are according to the dove on far off terabinths. Anybody know what the terabinths are? I didn't know, I had to look it up. It's apparently a tree in the Mediterranean region. And when you look at what other Bibles say for that title, I don't know why that's chosen there, but it's one of the two typical renderings that go there. If anybody has a King James Version, you probably will not want to be the one to volunteer to read what it says. But it is one big word that says something like this. Jonathalem Rechochim. Jonathalem Rechochim. That helps us out a whole lot. But apparently that is a compound word of three significant words put together. And why they leave it in that form in the King James, I don't know either. But there are three words that mean dove, silence, and distant or strangers. And so the other rendering that you might find in your New King James or NASB, I think is a better rendering of what this says. It says, the silent dove in a distant land or in a strange land. And why would that be there? Well, there's two major ideas. I think the first one is a little far-fetched. It says, well, that was the name of a popular tune at the time to which this song would be sung. Can you imagine? Let's sing the song to the tune, The Silent Dove in the Distant Land. And everybody know what that is. Maybe that's true. I don't know. I think it's more likely that this is an expression about the psalm and who is writing it. You remember in Psalm 55, David said this when he was speaking about all the overwhelming things in his life, and he thought it's just too much. We read like in verses four and five. Well, in verse six he says, and I say, oh, that I had wings like a dove, and I would fly away and be at rest. I think the dove is David, the silent dove, and the distant land that he's flown to is Philistia. Yeah, the dove is David. You see, the dove was a symbol of innocence and gentleness. And David wasn't out to battle Saul at all, yet Saul kept characterizing it like that and was after David. And David was innocent. He was the innocent, gentle dove. And he fled from Saul, and as we see in a moment here, he fled to the Philistines, which would be a strange land. Prior to that information, it says it's a Mictam of David. We've had a few words like that, we've had another word like that in the Psalms, the miscal, and we pointed out that miscal seems to indicate, to bring to our attention that this is a particularly instructive psalm. Mictam is one of those words I listened to somebody explain about 12 to 14 things people think it means. So I'm not going to tell you what it means. I don't know. Other than if I look it up in the Strongs, it means an engraving-like poetry. So maybe it just is saying a poem of David. But there are, I think, about six psalms that are labeled a mictam. And this one starts the series of five of them. So for some reason they have that title and they tied five of them together here. The other one, there may be more, but I think that's what I found to be in here. The other one is like Psalm 16 is the other one that is called that. So we'll just leave it at that. We're not gonna try to gain any great thing out of that word. Let's move on to the historical setting. It's when the Philistines seized him in Gath. when the Philistines seized him in Gath and that tells us what this psalm setting is all about and where it came from and it's an event that we've actually looked at before because we had an earlier psalm based on that. And so we're not going to go back and read it all. I will hit some highlights here so you at least have that setting. I think it's quite beneficial, especially if the psalm told us this in the title. It's what it's based on. At least we should come at it with that background. you know the story of Saul and David and how Saul eventually pushed God to the point that God took his spirit from him and allowed a tormenting spirit to come in his life and Saul was a tormented individual of which he found some comfort at times when David played his harp but even then it wouldn't calm Saul always. And Saul worked up such a jealousy towards David that he went after him and after his life. And that caused David to have to flee. And so we read about that first fleeing. And after a time, David comes back and checks in with Jonathan and like, you know, where's your father at? And Jonathan checks in with his father and runs a little test and finds out his wrath is still pretty well kindled against David and he lets David know about that and so David flees again because Saul is certainly after his life and we read about how he went to the city of Nob. That was one of the initial places on his second flight that he went to and there there was a priest called Ahimelech. And he innocently helps David out because David is hungry and David is weaponless. So he gives him the showbread as food and he gives him Goliath's sword that happened to be stored there with the priests as his weapon. That was the incident that was all the background of Psalm 52, where at that time Doeg the Edomite observed what Ahimelech did and in time went back and heard Saul talking about, I'm going to help anybody that will help me find David, has any information, you can get land, you can get power, you can get authority, and Doeg says, I'll capitalize on that. Ahimelech, he met with him, Ahimelech helped him, and Doeg ends up putting to death all the priests and inhabitants of Nob because of that. But David went on to flee, you know, from the previous teachings, and he ends up in Ziph, and the Ziphites turn against him. That was in Judah, his own people. That's what Psalm 54 was based on. So 52 was on Doeg and Ahimelech, 54 was on the Ziphites in Judah. And so we have that greater setting there, and we've read about those. But in between David's stop in Nob and his eventual flight to Ziph, he went to Gath. David went to Gath, the hometown of Goliath, the land of the Philistines. And it's in this place to which David fled, and it's told about in 1 Samuel 21, 10 through the end of the chapter, that this Psalm 56 is referring to. And it's at this time when he fled to Philistia and he went to the city of Gath that they, obviously, they just took hold of him. He's going to run over here, we're going to grab him. And we did refer back to that story because Psalm 34 is based on that incident. It even says in its title, Psalm 34, when David changed his behavior before Abimelech, he's not a Himalack, Abimelech, the ruler of the Philistines, so that Abimelech drove him out and he went away. And you remember that changed behavior, right? The changed behavior, you recall, was when David decided he would play the madman. He would portray himself as insane and he slobbered down his beard and he began clawing at the gate of the room he was in or whatever. And Bimlech's like, you know, I've got enough madmen in my court. Says a lot of what he thought of his own people. You know, I don't need another one. He didn't care it was David at that point. He didn't want craziness around him. And God providentially used that situation for David to escape. That situation must have made enough of an impression on David that he wrote a second psalm about it. But it's got a different tone to it a little bit here. For this psalm expresses his trust that he came to have in God. And I think that's what David had to learn in this situation. that you gotta trust me when you are in a most fearful situation because when David fled from Saul, he fled in a panic. Now there's two ways fear can be handled. When you are fearful and you become alert, you step back and you make a reasonable assessment of your fear and if it's time to go, it's time to go. But David was horror and terror stricken. And he fled in this from a panic. He let the fear drive him. And when you're driven by fear, you don't always make good decisions. In fact, you usually don't. You don't make reasonable decisions. You make decisions out of that fear. And looking back, they are often very foolish. what you've done because you've been driven by fear. And David made a foolish decision. In a sense, it's like he jumped from, as the saying goes, from the frying pan into the fire. The things were heating up between him and Saul and the whole situation. And where does he run? to Philistia? I mean, that's where you should go when you are under an assault from one. You go there carrying the sword of their hero that you slayed years ago and go and make yourself evident in the very city that Goliath was from. Now he made a foolish decision out of a panicked state. And unfortunately we do that very same thing. He was not trusting God at all. He was running blindly. he ran to Gath and the Philistines obviously seized him and they dragged him before their ruler. And he was at least physically now in the hands of the arch enemies of the Israelites. Maybe he thought, somehow, they would think, well, Saul's head of Israel, he's our enemy. David is Saul's enemy, so maybe we could be on the same side. Well, I don't think they would forget their history that quickly and of what David had done. And so here's David, the mighty, brave, courageous man who in his youth had faced their fearless, you know, he had fearlessly faced their great giant. And he was given the victory and at that time he said he came in the strength of God. He had fully trusted the Lord as a youth in that situation and he probably never thought he would ever be in a situation where he would stoop to such self-deprecating, humiliating act such as feigning insanity. in order to get out of a hard situation. I think God made him come to that point. Made him come to that point where he had to stoop to the lowest levels of humility to be rescued. God had a lesson to teach him about fear and whether you act in with fearing control of you or you act in faith and trusting God in a fearful situation. And he allowed David to fall into this great self-humiliating act before his very enemies. I think David learned a lesson. And I think if we look at the greater context around the statement, in God I trust, or I put my trust in you, we see that. For in verse three it says, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. And then it goes on to say, in God, whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid." And then again in verse 11, almost a repeat of the same thing here, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. You know, it's important that we don't think that David is kind of falling into the practice of just a repetition of a mantra here. In God I trust, I will not be afraid. In God I trust, I will not be afraid. I mean if I say it enough times, I can make it a reality in my life. No, he is not doing that. He's not falling into some mantra that if I say it, it'll be true. No, what he first recognizes that he had a state of fear, when I am afraid, and he's made a conscious decision of what he needs to do about that, having learned his lesson of what it means to behave out of fear-controlled life. And he says, when I am afraid, I put my trust in the Lord. And when I put my trust in the Lord, I will not be afraid. These are two aspects that are like two sides of a coin. They are entangled with one another. The I will not be afraid is a consequence of what precedes it. He trusts, his trust that is put in God. It is his trust that removes the fear. And what God, which God does he trust in? I think it's very important the way he expresses it. He says it's in God whose word I praise. It's the God of scripture. It's not something he's made up in his mind. It's not a higher power that is, you know, he holds to, to get him through trials. It is the personal God of scripture. of the Word that he praises. He praises God's Word. He praises with God's Word, and it's that God that he puts his trust in, the very God of Scripture. In the New Testament, John in his first epistle tells us that perfect love casteth out fear. Okay, how does that tie here where he says, I put my trust in God and I will not be afraid? Well, I think they're very closely associated. They're very much expressing the same thing. You know, what is that perfect love that John is speaking about that casts out fear? Well, I think it's your love of God. your full committed love of God. You remember Jesus when he was asked by the individual who said, Master, what is the greatest commandment? What is the greatest of the commandments? And Jesus answered, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. That is perfect love. Your full being in love with God and you will trust what you love. You will trust what you love. The perfect love is the love that we're to have for God and we're to have of Him. That love is to encompass our whole being and to truly love God is to put your trust in Him. And if you do not trust in God, then you're not expressing love for Him. If you do not trust in God, then you do not express or maybe have love for him. Again, these two aspects go hand in hand, and one brings the other, and the other brings the one. But like David, we too often, because of circumstances, around us that come upon us and we can fall subject to fear and then we get engrossed with the fear and what we end up doing is we lose sight of our love for God. We lose sight of our love that we are to have toward God and when we lose sight of that love we fail to trust. We fail to trust in Him. And we need to have a reminder. We need to be reminded who God is and who we are in God and in relationship to Him. And when those reminders come back, our love for God increases. We love Him all the more when we remind ourselves of who He is and who He is to us and who we are to Him. And gaining that love again, we can exercise our trust in Him. And we can come to trust Him because of who He is and because of who we are. And as we trust Him, we will love Him even more. And as we love Him more, our trust will drive deeper. It will be a deeper and more confident trust in Him. David actually goes through that reasoning in this psalm. He reasoned concerning his situation. That reasoning brought him back to his love for God and who God is and who he is in God. And that brought his trust that accompanies that love. Let's see how this begins again. It starts out, deliver me from my enemies, oh my God. Protect me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men. I'm reading the wrong psalm, but it sure sounds like it. Be gracious to me, O God. For man tramples on me all day long, and 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? What can flesh do to me? It's as if David gets his thoughts under control as he reasons through this process of his situation and realizing, I'm in fear. What do I do? Well, I put my trust in God, the God of scripture. And if I put my trust in God, I don't need to be afraid. And he asked that question. What can flesh do with me? It's like he says, you know, wait a minute, what am I really dealing with here? I've got God and then there's man. God, man. What a comparison. I've got God. I've got to realize that. I'll put my trust in God and what can man do? You know, he says it again in verses 10 and 11. I'm going to keep reading Psalm 59 if the breeze keeps blowing my pages. Verses 10 and 11, 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? Now when you hear that question, if I were to just pose it here and say, what can man do? The natural thing that would probably come out of your mouth is nothing. That's the first thought I have. I think that's what we're kind of taught, that man can do nothing. And in the ultimate, that's true, but in the moment, it is not. It's not true that man can do nothing, okay? It's not really true. I mean, David has already acknowledged that he feels trampled, he's feeling oppressed, he's been attacked. In verses five and on, he will go on to say that they injure his cause Some say twist his words. He knows their thoughts are continually out there to do him harm. They stir up strife against him. They're watching and waiting for his life. In other words, they are planning to kill him if possible. Yeah. David knows that the answer to that question is not really they can do nothing because people can do things. We've talked about it already. I mean, they can persecute. They can prosecute. They can punish you. They can pummel you. And I could keep doing P alliterations. They can put you to death. Yeah, people, flesh, mankind can do something. So what does David mean? Because when we read that, what can flesh do to me? Or what can man do to me? It's actually a rhetorical question that brings hope. But yet we know the realities, and David has actually acknowledged some of those. I think there's three things that are the aspects to the response we are to have to that statement, what can man do to me? And I think the first is this, and it is nothing. Man can do nothing that is outside of God's will for my life. What can men do to me? Nothing that is outside of the will of God. And we could go through a number of supportive stories and incidences in the Bible, like Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Or Job and the torment that he fell under at the very hand of Satan, yet we know that Satan couldn't touch him unless God gave permission. Jesus himself stood before Pilate. And Pilate asserted at one time when Jesus would not respond and said, don't you know basically your destiny is in my hands? I could release you or I could crucify you. And how did Jesus respond? Jesus' response was, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Jesus knew his hand was in God's hand and it wasn't a hand that would just open to anybody being able to touch his life. He understood his place in the Father, the protection that he provides for his children and the purposes for which God would allow challenges and trials in our life. And so when we hear that question, what can men do to me? That's the first aspect to think about. Nothing outside of God's will. Nothing outside of God's will can they do in your life. But there's more. What can man do to me? Man can only touch the flesh. He cannot touch the soul. That's the second aspect of that question and what it should bring about as an answer in our life. Man can only touch the flesh. He cannot touch the soul. All these things that David fears only touch him in the here and now. So the second thing that he realizes when he asks that question, which is worded, what can flesh do to me, and what can man do to me, emphasizing in this world, it's that there is an ultimacy about me, and it is my soul, and he cannot touch it. Remember, when God breathed into Adam the breath of life, Adam became a living soul. That's who he is. he was, who he is, and who you are. It is the soul. It is your soul that this body is a tabernacle for, for your time on this earth, that is you. And it's the ultimate. And it is that which is of greatest concern. Again, Jesus addressed this when he spoke to his disciples at a time when he said, you know, I'm telling you some things that you need to be bold about, and we're talking about it here among ourselves, and you need to say it out loud out there, and people are going to persecute you. You are going to be targets of others, but there's something you need to remember. Now listen to his words. He says, so this is in Matthew chapter 10 beginning verse 26. So have no fear of them for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light and what you hear whispered proclaim on the housetops he says do it don't have fear verse 28 and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul Yeah, if there's fear in your life, and there should be certain fear in your life, it's of God. It's of God because He deals with your body and your soul. And you should have awe, respect, and a type of trembling before Him. Man can only touch your body. He cannot touch your soul. And that's the real you, because that is what will see and face eternity in one sense or another. It's your soul that goes to the eternal state in hell or in heaven, in the torment forever or in the blessed hope and comfort of God. and it's all based on whom you fear and trust. Whom you fear and trust. So that's the second aspect, but there's a third. There's a third aspect to this question, what can men do to me that I believe arose in David's mind and needs to arise in ours? And this third aspect to this answer, is something that David is going to bring forth in the course of reasoning here. It'll come out in verse 9, but let's work towards that. Look at verse 7, Psalm 56, verse 7. As he speaks about, in verses 5 and 6, he's talked about so many things they have done. And then he says, for their crime, these things that they're doing to me, for their crime will they escape? And he says, in wrath, cast down the peoples, O God. This is the inserted imprecatory prayer that we saw so much of in the previous psalm. There's a whole section of imprecation in which David basically said these words, but in a little more detail of swallow them up alive to hell. That's what he said in Psalm 55. And he's kind of saying the same thing here in a little more concise and gentler way. Cast them down, but where do you think he's asking God to cast them? And so he's realizing who God is and his authority in this whole situation. And then in verse eight, he begins this transition toward the third aspect that he's touching on here. That's a part of our question, the response to what can men do? Look at verse eight. You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Sounds like a little strange wording here to us. We may not readily know what is being said here, but there's a sentiment here that David, he's just expressed, let's put it, he's just expressed what God's position is towards his enemies, and now he's talking about his position before God and God's position to him. And this is his transition to that viewpoint. You have kept count of my tossing. That refers to the fact that God knows everything. God is aware of all David's wanderings, all David's struggles, all David's back and forthness. He knows these things. And that is a comfort to us that God knows. We don't have to hope God knows what's going on in our life. And then this very strange statement, put my tears in your bottle. But this is actually a very deep statement of comfort and sentiment and feeling, all right? It expresses the desire for God to bring close to him the depth of the trials that he has faced and for God to actually cherish this. because he cherishes David. Now the picture here, it's not really of the same type of situation, but I think this will capture it for you. The depth of sentiment here, it's analogous, I think, though not based on a trial and struggle in someone's life and tears, but it's analogous, the depth of sentiment and cherishing. And mothers know this, okay? Mothers know this situation, especially first-time mothers whose child has reached the point or in the growth of their hair that they've got to cut it for the first time. Now, all you mothers remember that, especially of your first child. And it was like, you don't want to just fall on the floor. I mean, if you just cut their hair the first time and let it fall on the floor and swept it away and put it away, don't talk to me, okay? Because every mother, in the general sense, there's probably some who can go past the feeling, but every mother takes that first lock and cuts it off and puts it somewhere special. Right? Yes. And knows where it is. And at least for a time, they know where it is and it reminds them of that child. And it makes the feelings for their very first child are there and it's treasured. And that's the picture here. David has shed not his hair, he shed his tears. And he wants God to gather those in a special place that he can look upon it and say, I cherish David and I understand his tears and I'm for him. I love him. That's the picture. Lord, don't let my tears just spill aimlessly on the ground and be swept away, but capture them and keep them where you will be remembered of me. and my trials and you'll come to my side and you will help me. All that's captured in that and in the expression about his record of them in the book. You know, in Matthew 10, we read a few verses of where Jesus spoke to his disciples about being bold and not to fear man who can only touch your body, but to fear God who can touch body and soul. He went on to express this sentiment that David does here. He went on to express that to his own disciples, to give them hope and strength to their faith. because he went on to tell them, here's how much God cares for you. In a sense, but not the same analogy, he said, your tears will be captured in a bottle and God will see them and hold them. Listen to how Jesus said it to his disciples. You're familiar with these words, but now think of it in this context. He went on to say in Matthew 10, he went on to say, are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father? but even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are more valuable than many sparrows. Yet God cares for you. And you can hear where David is headed in his reasoning here towards this third aspect that God truly cares for him. God is on his side. And he says it this way in verse 9. Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. I'll come in too. What can man do to me? God is for me." When you hear those words, you have an automatic response if you've read much in the Bible or so forth. It just says, what can man do to me? You want to say nothing, and ultimately it is a nothing. And when you hear the words, God is for me, you want to say, Who could be against me, right? That's how you want to respond to that. Who can be against me? And many theologians believe that those words right here was what Paul was pondering when he wrote that in Romans chapter 8. Look at Romans chapter 8 or listen to these words that Paul wrote. Again, very familiar to you, but just think about it in what David is saying here and in light of facing fears. In Romans chapter 8, verse 31, it says, What then shall we say to these things? 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 shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the love of God? you have that perfect love who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword that doesn't mean you're not touched he goes on to say as it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things Those things that are done in the flesh, which is all the farther man can touch, right? In all these things, we are more than conquerors. Through him who loved us, for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Yeah, what can man do to me? What can he do? If God is for me, it is God who is on my side. It is God who is for me. That's it. That's it. What can men do? David responds to this realization of these things in the most appropriate way. As he begins to draw this psalm to a close, And he expresses that once again in verses 10 and 11, in God, whose word I praise in the Lord, whose word I praise in God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can men do to me? Now you hear those answers. What can men do to me? He can do nothing outside of God's will, for I belong to God. You hear the second response. He can only touch my flesh, not my soul, because I belong to God. And he can't ever. He can never separate me, one iota, from God. I remain in his hand because I belong to God. And God I trust because it's God I love. So David responds with what we all should respond with in the final verses, with a heart of thanksgiving. He says, I must perform my vows to you, God. I will render thank offerings to you. We should be thankful. Even in the times of great fear, we need to be thankful because God is still there. And we can remember these things. that we have heard today about if God before us, what do we have in light of the terror or trial that we face? And he goes on to say, for you have delivered my soul from death. Yes, my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the light of life. There's plenty that can be said about those last few verses, but we'll be bringing it to a close here. I don't want to stray from really the theme that has been stated about what it means to trust in God and what it means to answer the question, what can man do? The overcoming of our fear in this world is to know the one in whom you put your trust. And really that last line brings us to that one. Here he says, that I may walk before God in the light of life. Many believe that's what Jesus was thinking on. That's what Jesus was thinking on when he, in John chapter eight, verse 12, said these words, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Yeah. Again, the Heidelberg Catechism, question number one. What is your only comfort in life and in death? It is this, that I am not my own, but I belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. Is he the object of your faith? Is he the one in whom you trust? Do you love him? that in all the trials that you would face in this world, you can respond with, David, when I fear, I will put my trust in God, in God whose word I praise. You've got to know that word to do that. And in God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. I pray that that is true for you. I pray you know who Jesus Christ is and that you have put your trust in him. If you, like I, have wavered at times when trials come and fall into fear, that you repent of that and renew that trust and that love. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word, and oh, it is such a challenge to our life, but it's also so encouraging that as we look in this world, the things that are going on, some very dramatic, even in our land, and some things even in our life that we face that we did not expect, and Father, these things can bring fear, can bring trial and terror, But Father, help us to realize that that's to alert us that we gotta trust all the more. And we gotta trust in you. And Father, as a congregation, and I pray that they, in their hearts, would express the same thing, that Lord, we love you and we trust you. May we do that and be in that state at all times. Father, it is so assuring to know that nothing can touch us that's not passed first through your loving hands. Father, we can only be touched in this world in the flesh, for you have preserved our soul into eternity. And in all that goes on, you're by our side. Through your Holy Spirit, in our life and through the Word in our heart. You are for us, you are with us, and you guide us. Thank you, Father. We love you and we express with David heartfelt thanksgiving offerings to you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.