Psalm 59, this is the word of the Lord. To the choir master, according to Do Not Destroy, a miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him. Deliver me from my enemies, O my God. Protect me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men. For behold, they lie in wait for my life. Fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord. For no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me and see you, Lord God of hosts, our God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations. Spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah. Each evening they come back howling like dogs and prowling about the city. There they are, bellowing with their mouths, with swords in their lips, for who they think will hear us. But you, O Lord, laugh at them. You hold all the nations in derision. O my strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. My God, in his steadfast love, will meet me. God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. Kill them, lest my people forget, or kill them not, lest my people forget. Make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride for the cursing and lies that they utter. Consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more. that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah. Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill. But I will sing of your strength. I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to you. For you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. May God bless His word as we consider it this morning. You may be seated. Okay, Psalm 59, that's where we are as we progress through the Psalms. Here, the second half of book two of the Psalms, that book that covers, I think it's 42 to 72. And we come to Psalm 59, and it's a Psalm that is much like Psalm 58 and some that are, that immediately precede it. that we've looked at here in just the last few weeks. And some of the similarities include things like the title. In the title we see that it's another psalm that is according to Do Not Destroy. And we've looked at that. Both 58 and 57 have that in their title. It's an expression that we've kind of explored what could be the meaning of that and we've looked at the various range of possible meanings there. Some have said it's the title of a familiar tune that this was to be sung to. Other psalms I mean other ideas have included emphasizing that it is the very expression that David used in 1st Samuel 26 when he is able to sneak into the camp where Saul is sleeping and his spear is stuck in the ground right by his head. And one of those that went with him, Abishai, says, let me take that spear and just run him through. I won't miss. It'll be one shot. We're done. You're out of here. I mean, God has obviously given you Saul right into your hand. And David said at that point, these very words, do not destroy. Do not destroy him for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless. And so some have said these are Psalms that David wrote into the title here, those words to remind the individuals that these are connected to times. I was in trial and trouble and tribulation and persecution of Saul, but I didn't lay a hand on him. And so those are some of the ideas on that part of the title. So this shares with Psalm 58 and 57 that preceded those same words. And so maybe it's a Psalm to remind us even that David restrained himself and did not act in personal vengeance against Saul. And we can model that as well as to model what he does say in the psalm itself, which we're going to look at carefully here. Secondly, we see that it is a miktam. This is what has been in part of the titles of the previous three other psalms before this. This is the fourth of a series of five psalms that have Mictam in its title. The last psalm going to be Psalm 60 in this set. Again, it is one term we've looked at, but the meanings vary. They vary from as far as what people think is meant by a miktam. In your study Bibles, they likely will have something like it's probably a liturgical or a musical term. That's because they don't know. It's literal meaning seems to be engraving. And some have speculated that these are Psalms that were actually engraved on the walls of caves that David hid in. But again, we just don't know for sure about that. But there's a set of five miktams all together, and this is the fourth of the five. It is a psalm that comes out of a definitive, a very definite event in David's life, like some of the psalms that most recently have we've looked at Psalm 57 was based on David being trapped in a cave and being kind of closed in on by Saul there and here he's going to be entrapped in his own home and be encircled by men sent by Saul and in a another situation that seemingly was hopeless and that becomes the basis for this psalm. So we have some similarities in some of the other psalms that we've gone through most recently. But one other similarity I'd like to point out with it and the psalm that will be the next time we look at this, Psalm 60, is that some have considered Psalm 59 and Psalm 60 as kind of bookends of David's life. bookends of David's life, or at least a good portion of his life. What we're gonna see here soon is that in Psalm 59, it's based on an event that's fairly early in David's life. It's shortly after he has killed Goliath and he's coming to the palace of Saul. And then Psalm 60, which is the last of those five miktams, is based on an event much, much later in David's life. It's after he has become king that that psalm takes place. And we'll look at that more closely. And so next time that I'm able to present for you a message here. Well, let's get a little background, better background on Psalm 59. The title tells us that it's a miktam of David when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him. And that's the situation that he is in. And we'll see that this Psalm 59, within it in the terminology, and you probably could even pick it out from what we read through here, is very descriptive of the situation of this trial that he's under and really the evil and vicious character of those that are there around his house. And this story occurs in 1 Samuel 19. in 1st Samuel 19. So why don't you turn back there and let me give you a little running start going up to 1st Samuel 19 so that you see it in context of David's life. Just a few chapters before that in chapter 17 is the event of David killing Goliath, okay? And we're all pretty familiar with that story. And then as you go into In chapter 18, you'll read about how David and Jonathan, Saul's son, come into a very close and covenantal relationship and that Saul then actually takes David from his home and brings him right into the palace. He actually places him in authority over other men who will be sent to war. David does take these men to war and he is very, very successful in that. In fact, in verse 7 of 1 Samuel 18 is the time that he returns from a victorious battle with probably the Philistines and the women are singing, Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. Well, that kind of response to the people then sets Saul on edge. He becomes quite jealous of David and actually quite angry towards David. And from that point on, he will have moments of rage and will seek to kill David a number of times. If you look at verse 10 and 11, for example, of 1 Samuel 18, This is after the women have sung and Saul's very angry. It says, the next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre. As he did day by day, Saul had his spear in his hand and Saul hurled the spear for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David evaded him twice. Okay and so this is actually the second time in the scriptures that they speak of the Lord sending a harmful or some translations will say a tormenting spirit upon Saul. David had been employed by Saul actually because of that spirit and he would play and soothe Saul. But sometimes Saul would become so angry that his anger would overcome the soothing aspect of David's playing. And as we saw here, he would actually try to pin David to the wall with his spear. Later in 1 Samuel 18, David is given a wife. a daughter of Saul. Some pronounce it Michael, looking at the Hebrew pronunciation, Mikael seems to be the emphasis on the second syllable. So he's given Mikael as a wife, the daughter of Saul. Saul actually hopes that it will be an avenue by which David stumbles and is entrapped. But Michael actually loved David very much and that will play into what happens in 1 Samuel 19. Saul is continually jealous towards David because of his success over the Philistines. and becomes more and more angry. And that brings us now to 1 Samuel 19, and where we will read about this event. Saul is getting more and more angry, and his desire to kill David has reached such a level that he even tells Jonathan, who is his own son, who is in such close relationship with David, that I am going to kill David. Well, that I mean when you're starting to tell people who you know are on David's side you're going to do it that that's quite the thing. Well Jonathan warns David and he actually appeases his father enough in talking with him about it that he kind of pulls back from that point of anger there but if we continue on in verse 8 you see that David here once again has had great success against the Philistines and this of course doesn't sit well with Saul and his angers roused again and we read in verse 9 the very first part of verse 9 that for the third time it says that the Lord sent a harmful spirit. A harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul. There in the first part of verse 9. So let's pick up there and read the story of what happened. So then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand and David was playing the liar and Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear. We've had that. But he eluded Saul so that he struck the spear into the wall and David fled and escaped that night. Continuing on, Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him. These aren't people that say, I've got a message from the king type of thing. They're there to find out something to give back to the king. And even if possible, as it says there, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, if you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. So Michal let David down through the window and he fled away and escaped. Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, he is sick. Then Saul sent the messengers to see David saying, bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him. And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed and with a pillow of goat's hair at its head. Saul said to Michael, why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go so that he has escaped? And Michael answered, Saul, he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you? Now, David fled and escaped and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived in Naioth. Okay, and so that is the event that is the basis for this song. And really it's from that point on that David now flees from place to place with Saul in pursuit. And what we read in Psalm 57 about being in a cave, that's going to happen after this. These Psalms are not written in chronological order. Okay, so that's why I think this psalm and the next psalm are kind of put together as possible bookends of David's life to kind of close off this whole section. But be that as it may, this is quite early in David's life and now the pursuit of Saul is taking place. So let's turn back now to Psalm 59 with that image in our head. This psalm is actually structured into four sections, actually two major sections that have two subsections that very much parallel each other. The first and third part, which would be the first parts of each major section, they are prayers of deliverance from David. And then the second and fourth part are expressions from the psalmist about his confidence and hope in God that he will be his fortress, will be his protection. Here we read in the first two verses, 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. Obviously, having looked back in 1 Samuel, we know what he's talking about when he's saying, save me from bloodthirsty men. He's talking about those who are right outside his home that are now trying to basically entrap him in his palace. You know, a man's home is his castle, right? Right there in his own home for the purpose of taking him, if possible, actually physically taking him to Saul and say, here, kill him. And that's what he's up against. But Joe, when we read these type of prayers and we understand the setting that they are in, we don't want to keep them as something that's so distant from us. I mean, few of us are in situations where in our homes we have individuals creeping around on the outside and hiding behind rocks and trees waiting for us to make an appearance, right? But it's not that others in the world are not in similar situations. There are people who daily face, for their stand of righteousness and for their Christian faith, do face such trials and situations. and they may be actually praying this particular prayer or one like it because of what they face. But we got to realize that our Lord knew that we would face situations and we do regularly face situations in which we want and desire deliverance from evil. Deliverance from evil. For in the Lord's Prayer, or what's commonly called the Lord's Prayer, when the disciples asked, how should we pray, and he taught them a prayer to pray like, to model, we know it includes even those very words, and deliver us from evil. I mean, David right here is saying, deliver me from evil. And our Lord even taught us to pray that way. Now, I know that that expression, deliver me from evil, as we probably all learned it in time, people have said, well, more accurately is saying deliver me from the evil one as a reference to Satan, but that still doesn't bypass The fact that it is our cry of deliverance from evil because so many times, if not always, those that are acting to do evil to us for the reason that we're standing for righteousness are instruments of the devil himself. Sometimes even unwittingly so, just as Peter was before Christ when he, thinking he's doing well and doing right, saying you will never Die and Christ had to say get thee behind me Satan for he was speaking outside of God's will But the trial with evil in our life that we face can come on so many, many different levels. In fact, the closest level is our own flesh that we face. Our own flesh that we face each and every day becomes a evil that we cry out to God that we should be delivered from. I mean, Paul tells us that we are to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are to, on a regular basis, be up against that evil and it should be a part of our prayer that we would be able to put to death, put away from us the deeds of the flesh, which Paul details in Colossians 3.5 as being sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, passion, evil desires, covetousness, which he calls idolatry. So we should always start with ourselves. We should be looking at ourselves, our own heart and our own desires and be dealing with that. But obviously it doesn't stop there. There are many levels in which evil can come up against the believer. And I mentioned that some even actually are causing a trial and struggle in our life, possibly even a stumbling in our life when they think they're doing us good. There are those who don't have the intent of doing evil, but because they believe they know better, or it's just their nature to want to butt into people's lives and make things difficult, these can become, in a sense, trials and struggles for us. Especially if they cause us to be led astray from what God has put on our heart to do or cause us to lose our direction in terms of what God's calling and purpose is in our life. And again, Peter would be the example there of one who might do that. Deliver us from those who would encumber our walk in the Lord is a similar type prayer. Deliver us from those who would lead us down a wrong path of life. We face these type of enemies, maybe individuals you want to call enemies, but sometimes they're in your own family, sometimes they're even those who might consider you a friend or other acquaintances. who out of what they think is a good act is an encumbrance in your life. And hopefully you can work through that with the individuals, just as Jesus worked through that with Peter. But it can go beyond that, obviously, as well. because of our love for God and our desire to walk in obedience to Him and His Word that's naturally going to put you at odds with the world and those who operate according to the philosophies of the world and according to the Prince of Darkness and this world's philosophy that's going to bring contention between you and them. And that causes us to have enemies quite often in other places and even in places of authority, places of authority in our lives, be it in our workplace or be it in the social or civil sphere. For often individuals who get into those places are of the world and not of God. You know, the whole education system is really, you know, the world's education system is an enemy of believers. Much of the news media is an enemy of righteousness. The entertainment media is an enemy of the things of God. These are various enemies that can not only influence others who could impact us, but can be an influence upon our lives that we need to pray that we be delivered from. And it can work, as I said, into the governing powers as well. Many a Christian has faced the enemy at their door who was the messenger of the authority of Saul, the civil sphere in this case being symbolic of that, to come and do harm to those who would walk in accordance to his word. So we need to regularly pray for deliverance from evil, evil that could potentially come as well as the evil we may be very much aware of. You know, we don't have to see the actual individuals doing the evil outside our door to pray for deliverance from evil. For it comes in many, many forms and often is being planned and plotted even without our awareness. So deliver us from evil, that should be a regular prayer of our life. You know, this includes not only escape from a pending danger right outside our door, like David is desiring here in the psalm, but it could include concepts and actions that just daily are around us. And so we're praying to be kept safe from dangers that we may not even be aware of. Continuing on in verses 3 and 4, it says, Here, David is recognizing his plight. You know, these men, they're right out there waiting for his life. And these men of Saul are lying in wait for him just outside his door. But why? Why are they there? What has he done that would deserve this type of response and treatment? He very forthrightly says it is not for any transgression or sin of his own life. It's not for any fault that they have come to kill him. Now, when David says this, he's not saying, hey, I am the perfect man that has no wrong in my life. That's not the point here. He's not making some type of pompous statement. He's saying, I've looked at myself and in my situation with these individuals, I have not wronged them. that they would come and be doing this act towards me. They're not justified in their act towards me because it warrants that response based on how I have treated or offended or transgressed against them. You know, when we face trials from others who assault us in some way, often verbally, you know, or accusatorily of some kind towards us, we should take a moment to look at ourselves and consider, is there something within me or that I have done that has triggered this in them that I should not have done? Is there a way in which I have inappropriately offended them? Have I sinned or transgressed against them? And if so, on any level, the first response of ours would be to seek that reconciliation with the other individual, to seek that forgiveness, that restitution and restoration with them. Now, a lot of times, the actions are not justified towards us based on having done an actual wrong, whether intentional or unintentional. We've sought to live a right life and to live peaceably before all men, but they're offended, and they're offended because of the way we are living, because of the righteousness we are exhibiting by our lives. then it is not a fault of our own. We don't need to seek that forgiveness from them for having offended them for doing that which is right and that which is good in the sight of God. In that case, it's your duty actually just to stand, to stand for the right, to stand for the righteousness and be persecuted for it. to receive the persecution for doing right. Peter talks about this in that same passage that is so noted for your duty to give a defense for the hope that is within you. You go to 1 Peter 3 and read the greater context of that. In 1 Peter 3, if we start at verse 13, There it says, if I can find 13. Now, who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ, the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, Those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame, for it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." Obviously, it is. It's better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil, for if you're doing evil, then that should be the recompense you receive. But we have recognized there that you will suffer and you can suffer for actually doing what is right and what is good. And according to this psalm and other places in scripture, under that condition of suffering, we have the right to call upon God to vindicate us, to both protect us and to vindicate us. And that's where David goes in his psalm. And so we'll go back to Psalm 59 now and continue on. He has laid out the condition Now as we continue on at verse 4 where I left off, he says, Awake! Come to meet me and see me. This is being spoken to God. You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations. Spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. So he begins his now turning from just laying out his condition and what he needs to be delivered from to his call to God to act. And he begins with that word awake. He shouts awake as if the Lord is sleeping, but he is not. Sometimes we may feel that way because we want God to act now and he hasn't, and then we begin thinking that God doesn't even realize what's going on there in front of us and in our lives, but he does. He neither sleeps nor slumbers. If you go to Psalm 44, Verse 23, you have here the plight that the psalmist has is quite similar, and he expresses similar words. Awake, why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself, do not reject us forever. And it's a mode of expression. It's not the reality that God is sleeping. The psalmist knows that God is not sleeping. It's a feeling because of the intensity of the situation and the endurance of it. It's like, God, are you going to act? We need to be remembered that our comfort and our faith is not to be established in our feelings of the moment. It's not wrong to express these type of things. It's letting God know your heart, but even as the psalmist will do here, there'll be eventually a turning to the fact that God is the God of all and God will not God will respond and protect his own. He is not asleep on the job. If you go to Psalm 121, that assurance of the fact that he doesn't sleep is expressed there. In Psalm 121, in the first four verses, it says, I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. That's the reality. God is ever awake. God is ever knowing. He is omnipresent. He is everywhere present and knowledgeable of all that is going on. And He is especially active in the lives of those within His covenant and those that are in that relationship with Him. And so the expression here is more of just the natural man shouting out under his situation of, you know, I need you to act God, wake up, join me, look around, see what's going on here. And he goes on to follow up with expressions of titles to God, Lord God of hosts and God of Israel. And these are some of the highest acknowledgments of who God is given in scripture. Jameson Fawcett Brown, in speaking of this collection of names, says, these names of God are so many pleas for obtaining divine help. Lord, which is all four capital letters there put together is the name Yahweh or Jehovah. And it's the most profound and far-reaching of the divine names they write. God or Elohim implies his deity and his being the creator. The epitaph of Host, which is Sabaoth, it implies the boundless resources which he has at command for his people's good. then this glorious God is the God of Israel. He has the people of his covenant under his special protection. That's what's being expressed by those words, you Lord of Hosts, our God of Israel. He's saying, God, you're the covenant-making, you're the covenant-keeping God, you're the almighty one who's made heaven and earth, and you've got at your disposal legions upon legions of the hosts of the armies of the angels, 10,000 times 10,000, beyond what could even be here on earth, plus they're from heaven. You've got that at your disposal. You're the very God of Israel to whom you have entered into that covenant relationship to preserve and to protect. David's acknowledging that special relationship that exists there between him and his nation and God. That's the God that he's calling upon. That's the God he's saying, rouse yourself to punish all the nations, spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. And at that point, we reach the first Selah. The word Selah says this is the climax, climatic point. It's the point of climax and dramatic pause. And so in the singing, they would come to this articulation of the great titles of God and to rouse himself to come and punish all who would plot the treacherous evil against them. And then it would pause. a dramatic pause before moving on. Here we begin seeing that this lament psalm, of which those are part of the elements here, lamenting his situation, has also within it a good measure of imprecation. In fact, if you look up what are the imprecatory psalms, we looked at the imprecatory psalms recently because of a recent psalm that was in that category. This one falls in there as well. It includes calls of prayer upon God to actually act to the destruction of His enemies. Well, having laid out his plight and his call for deliverance, the psalmist moves now into the second section of this psalm, in which he expresses his confident hope. Again, he begins with, what is the picture before me, in verses six and seven. Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. There they are, bellowing with their mouths, with swords in their lips, for who they think will hear us. We can easily see that David's describing his surroundings of his house, and he's speaking of these men as like howling dogs prowling around, looking to whatever they could devour. Later, he'll say they're looking for a meal, and they just prowl around the city looking for a meal and howling because they're not getting their fill. These people are behaving as dogs and they are spouting lies. That's the sword in their lips. They are saying things, they are belching is the word there. These things are out of their mouth and stabbing and cutting with their words like a sword. It's because they have no consciousness of God that he has any view of them and hearing them. Who will hear us, they think. Who will hear us? Well, David immediately goes into who does hear them. And that is the God of heaven and earth. Look at verse eight now. But you, O Lord, laugh at them. He's heard them. And he laughs at them. You hold all the nations in derision, he says. And when you hear those words, where does your mind go in the scriptures? God laughing and holding someone in derision? Psalm 2. Yeah, it's right at the beginning. One is close. Two is it. Immediately, your mind probably, my mind does, and I think you think like I do sometimes. Anyway, it goes to Psalm 2. Look at these words in verses 1 through 4. Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision. There's that same expression of how the Lord responds to those who are plotting to do ill to the one or the ones that God has clearly established to do good. Christ's Psalm 2 is referencing messianically the Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, is going to be set on the hill in Zion. But God has all the powers of earth under His providential control. They're not outside of that. They squirm and try and throw Him off to do what they can, but God laughs at all their efforts, at all the might and powerful rulers and nations of this earth who try to act outside of His counsel. And now here David says, you know, I've got a few silly men outside my house who think you can't even hear them as they declare these blasphemous things and plot to do evil against your very own child here. And if you have the nations and the rulers of the earth that you can just laugh at God, then certainly you can hold these in derision and laugh at them as well. So we ought to gain comfort and encouragement from these words because no power on earth, no power on earth, be it your neighbor or be it your local government or some state or national authority or somebody planning and plotting to destroy you because of your stand and articulation for the truths of God, God is laughing. at their efforts and he will hold them in derision. And if they do not follow what there is to follow, then he will destroy them. Continuing on in Psalm 2, just to capture the full picture, Jumping down to verse six, it says, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage. This is what our Lord has received now that he is enthroned. And in time will be that the nations are his inheritance and the ends of the earth, your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. This is the articulation to those who are in places of power on earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled, and blessed are all who take refuge in him. And that's what David's going to be doing in this psalm, is he's going to be seeking refuge in the Lord. And those who are against the Lord are under this very condemnation. The king here is Jesus Christ. He's enthroned in Zion. The nations of the earth have been given as his inheritance in his time. They will kiss the sun or perish. And that's the God that David is bringing up in his prayers. He's making aware of his need and in whom he is seeking refuge. Look at verses nine and 10. Oh my strength, I will watch for you. For you, oh God, are my fortress. My God in his steadfast love will meet me. God will let me look in triumph. on my enemies. That point, we come to the third section of this psalm. And once again, it's a prayer for deliverance, but here the imprecation of the psalm highly increases. Though it's interesting, he begins with, kill them not. Okay, he will eventually say, consume them until they don't exist. But he doesn't want them just annihilated in the moment. That's interesting here. Verses 11 through 13, kill them not, lest my people forget. Make them totter or wander by your power and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, consume them in wrath. Consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. What we have here is David saying to God, don't just snuff them out. He's actually praying, make them suffer. Okay, make them suffer and continue to suffer, make them wander aimlessly, entrap them in their own words, bring them down a little by a little, but do consume them, but make it a suffering punishment upon their lives. They've been boastful and proud, humiliate them. In time, begin consuming them in your wrath until they are gone. But David believes if it's this way, then his own people will remember that God is the God of our Jacob and is the God to the uttermost ends of the earth. He says, do unto them in this way such that my people will learn. And sometimes as God deals with His enemies in time and we see them waning and waning and suffering and fighting and they get vicious because they're going down and they do more treacherous things, but ultimately are defeated, it will bring glory to God. So here, David, now we come to the Selah, which is another dramatic pause, for he said, we want all Jacob to know that God rules to the ends of the earth. And the song pauses dramatically before it moves forward. Verses 14 and 15, he's now part two totally of his psalm and it's going to repeat many of the things that he's prayed for. Each evening they come back howling like dogs and prowling about the city. They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill. Obviously, those who are out to do evil, when they can't accomplish it, they get more frustrated in what they are doing. He basically brings up this imagery of the reality that he's facing, and it's a real danger that he is up against. But also, what is even more real, And he will make known is the God who's over this and the God who protects him, which he moves into in verse 16. His response to the growling and prowling dogs is, but I will sing of your strength. He won't get caught up in what appears to be the great strength of his enemy, but I will sing of your strength. I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning, for you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress. Remember, blessed is the one that seeks refuge in God, the God who shows me steadfast love. So here we have a psalm, a song, a poetic writing that is over such a distressful situation, but in many ways has a beauty to it, as he has this poetic contrast of the situation of the greatness of God. From verse 14, he speaks of the evil enemy lurking around him, ready to devour him. And here he says what? Each evening, they come back howling like dogs. He's got to pass through the night. He's got to pass through the darkness, just as we do very often in our trials, need to pass through a deep darkness. But there's a time of mourning, and the expectation is, and this is the great poetic contrast in verse 16, I will sing of your strength, I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. God will bring his children through the trials and into the morning light in which they will be singing of the great protection and deliverance that God has been for them and the great refuge, the fortress in which they have hidden. In verse 17, it's a refrain of the praises that David has been singing and To God, O my strength, I will sing praises to you. For you, O God, are my fortress. He's been brought through the darkness and into the light. He's been kept safe there. The God who shows me steadfast love. So David had some literal enemies, right? He had some literal enemies that were literally prowling and howling around his home. They were there to destroy him. They were there to devour him. Well, we have an adversary as well, an enemy who goes about seeking whom he may destroy as well. Peter doesn't liken him to a dog as David has of his enemies here, but to a roaring lion. He says that like a roaring lion, he seeks someone to devour. And that is our enemy, the devil. In 1 Peter chapter five, you would read those words. Maybe I'll just read it out of here. If you were to go there and look at verses six and seven, you would see the association with the devil. The psalm, in fact, we're gonna read verses six through nine, so you might wanna follow along in 1 Peter 5. It begins there, chapter five, verse six, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. We read there exactly what David did in Psalm 59. He submitted himself to the strength and protection of God. He humbled himself there. He didn't try to act out of his own might. He had no chance and they would not have bought God the glory. He didn't forget God. He moved in the wisdom of God and humbly submitted himself to the mighty hand of God, acknowledging him in his distress. And David did as Peter advises here, and we need to be advised as well. We need to cast all our anxieties upon the God who cares for us. Continuing on that in verse 8, it says be sober minded be watchful Okay, you're not to develop a unreality about life. You're not to make a fantasy of Way things really are when they're not be sober minded. Yes, you live in a dangerous world and those that hate the Lord and will Act out on you be watchful. Don't just walk around say no God will protect me and walk across the street without looking both ways No, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. We saw that in David's psalm. He acknowledged, there is danger around me. There are those who are prowling around me wanting to devour me. He was saying that in this physical sense, we need to realize it in the spiritual sense. Be sober minded and watchful for your own soul and the trials that could come on a spiritual battle. And then in verse nine, resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brothers throughout the world. Peter says, and David did in his psalm, stand firm in your faith. David went to his hope, the solid rock of God on which he would stand. Stand firm in your faith and in that standing is how you resist the devil. You call upon the Lord, you rest in His providence, you hide yourself in Him as your fortress, and you praise Him for His might and power, for His dominion over all things. That's how you stand firm, and that's how you resist the devil. And what's the result? It is the lifting up of the believer out of the trial but also glorifying God. We'll close with these final words and what Peter wrote in verse 10. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who's called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. to Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your word and its instruction and its encouragement to us. Lord God, help us to ever model what David did here in Psalm 59 and what Peter admonishes us in his epistle. That as we go through this life, that we would be sober-minded and watchful for the things that could come upon us as an enemy who has planned and plotted to cause us to stumble and to fall. And Lord, help us to stand firm in how David did by seeking your face, by realizing our hope is in you, by resting in the truths of your word and in the might of your power. Father, cause us to be overcomers in this world that in time the evil will fall and the good and you our God will be glorified. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.