Psalm 60, I plan to obviously preach this on Sunday, and I'm glad I didn't,
because I don't think I would have preached it as well as I would preach it tonight.
I needed a little bit more time to meditate and think about what this psalm contained.
But if you look at Psalm 60 in verse number 3, it says,
Thou hast shewed thy people hard things.
The title for the sermon tonight is Hard Things.
Why would God show His people hard things?
Does God show us hard things? Does He put us in hard places?
And when it's hard, it's hard to understand, it's hard to comprehend.
Why, God, why would you show me these hard things?
Why would you put me through this hard time?
And I was just thinking about this story, and the reason I'm glad I didn't preach it on Sunday
is because, well, actually, let's start there in verse number 1.
It says, O God, this is the psalm of David,
O God, thou hast castest us off.
Whoa, pretty strange way to start the psalm.
Thou hast castest us off. Thou hast scattered us.
Thou hast been displeased.
O turn thyself to us again.
You know, David is feeling like the Lord's presence is far from him,
far from his armies.
You'll soon see that it's actually in a time of war,
and he's thinking the Lord is not with him.
You know, he's going through these hard times.
You know, the Lord has shown him these hard things,
and he just feels like, Lord, you must be displeased.
Lord, why have you turned against us?
Why have you turned against me as your king,
and against your people here?
And the reason I had a hard time
sort of wrapping my head around this for Sunday
is when you look at the introduction of this psalm,
and I'm sure your Bible has this introduction,
it says to the chief musician upon Shushan,
Edith, Mitchum of David, to teach.
To teach what?
When he strove with Aram, Nahiraim,
and with Naram, Zobah.
Now Aram is to do with Aramiums,
but Aram-Zobah, you'll soon see Aram-Zobah
comes up in this chapter that we're going to review.
It gives us a timeline of these enemies that he's striving against.
It says when Joab returned,
so Joab was one of the mighty men,
one of the chief men of David,
one of these strong warriors,
when Joab returned and smote of Edom
in the valley of salt 12,000.
So you can see this also has to do with a battle
that took place in the valley of salt
where 12,000 were slain of the enemy.
It gives us this timeframe as to when this psalm was written.
And you can see at the very beginning,
David's like, Lord, where are you?
Why have you cast us away?
Why are you putting us through these hard things,
these hard times?
And so what I want to show you is where this story takes place.
So keep your finger there in Psalm 60,
and come with me to 2 Samuel chapter 8, please.
2 Samuel chapter 8, verse number 13.
2 Samuel chapter 8 and verse number 13.
I want to give you a moment to turn there.
2 Samuel chapter 8, verse number 13.
It says,
And David got him a name
when he returned from smiting of the Syrians,
in the valley of salt being 18,000 men.
So hold on, the psalm said 12,000 men.
Well, you can see here,
there's no contradiction.
What we see in the psalm is that Joab
and his armies defeated 12,000,
but the war at large, there were 18,000 destroyed
between the Syrians here and the nation of Israel,
and this battle took place in the valley of salt.
And you can see, of course, here, Israel had victory.
And so, you know, my first thought was,
I could see that this is coming from 2 Samuel chapter 8,
and if you read 2 Samuel chapter 8,
and we are going to look at this very briefly,
but it's a chapter of victory.
It's a chapter where David is constantly at war
with this enemy and that enemy and that enemy.
Victory after victory after victory.
The Lord is delivering the enemies
in the hands of David over and over and over again.
And you're like, well, surely David must be having a great time here.
I mean, he's been victorious.
He's in the power of the Lord.
The Lord is guiding him and directing him.
And again, when you read 2 Samuel chapter 8,
it may just seem like, wow, man,
David must be having the time of his life.
And again, that's what you kind of get
when you read the history books of the Bible.
You get this sort of impression.
You know, when you have all these battles take place
in literally one chapter,
which is going on for months and months, of course.
But then when you read the Psalm,
you actually see the heart of the man.
You know, you think he's having this great time,
these spiritual highs.
And then you read the Psalm and he's like,
Lord, you've deserted us. You've left us.
Lord, where are you?
You see, sometimes it may appear on the outward
that someone's having great victories,
great time in the Lord,
and they might very well be.
They may very well be accomplishing great things for God.
They may be walking with the Lord
and they're seeing great accomplishments.
They're seeing themselves doing great things
for the kingdom of God.
Maybe they're winning souls week after week after week.
But that same individual may be going
for a very hard time just personally.
You know, the challenge and the service of the Lord
might be wearing him down again and again.
And this is what I see happening in David's life.
Even though he's having victories,
seemingly doing so well,
actually in his heart, you can see the Psalm,
the heart of man, he's not doing that well.
You know, he's struggling.
Now, if we keep going there in 2 Samuel 8,
look at verse number 14.
And he put in garrisons in Edom.
Remember, it was the Edomites that got defeated there.
Well, sorry, Assyrians.
But this took place in Edom here.
Verse number 14.
And he put garrisons in Edom.
For out all Edom put in garrisons.
And all day of Edom, look at this,
became David's servants.
And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went.
So you can see here,
not only are the Assyrians being defeated,
but now the Edomites are being subdued
under the power of David.
All right.
Verse 13 there, victory.
Verse 14, victory.
Let's get the context.
Come with me to the same chapter there.
Verse number 1.
I just want to show you.
It's a great chapter actually.
Look at verse number 1.
And after this, it came to pass
that David smote the Philistines.
Okay, the Assyrians, the Edomites, the Philistines.
I start keeping track of how many battles he's having here.
This is not one battle.
And this is just one thing after another thing
after another thing starts with the Philistines.
Of course, one of the main enemies of the Israelites.
And it says, and subdued them.
And David took Methheg-amah out of the land of the Philistines.
And he smote Moab.
There's another one.
Okay, let's keep going.
Moab and measured them with a line casting them down to the ground.
Even with two lines measured here to put to death
and with one full line to keep alive.
And so the Moabites became David's servants and brought gifts.
Okay, so the Moabites get defeated
and now they're bringing their taxes and their gifts to the kingdom of David.
Verse number three.
David smote also Hadad-e-Zahr, the son of Rehob.
Look at this. King of Zobah.
That should remind you of the psalm.
Where they referred to, I just wanted to get an introduction.
It says when he strove with Aram-ne-Harem and with Aram-zobah.
Okay, Aram-zobah.
And now we have, verse number three,
David smote also Hadad-e-Zahr, the son of Rehob, the king of Zobahr.
So you can see how the psalm is taking place with these battles time and time again.
Enemy after enemy after enemy.
It says, and he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.
So this is also important to the psalm, we'll understand this later.
David's trying to win back the borders.
Because not only is he just defeating enemies,
but some of those enemies have taken power or control over land that belongs to Israel.
And so as King David's going to battle, he's winning back the land.
He's regaining the borders, right?
He's reclaiming that land.
And so the idea of those borders will come into play later on in the psalm.
And then it says in verse number, let's drop down to verse number five.
And when the Syrians of Damascus came to Soka, Hadad-e-Zahr, king of Zobah,
David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
Verse number nine, drop down to verse number nine.
Now, this king's really smart here.
When Toi, king of Hamath, heard that David had smitten all the hosts of Hadad-e-Zahr,
so this king Toi, he's like, oh man, David's winning all these battles.
He's going against these guys, the Philistines, he's defeating them.
He's going against the Syrians, he's defeating them.
He's going against the Moabites, he's defeating them.
He's like, man, I think I'm just going to make peace with David.
Like he's the smart one here, right?
He's seeing how things are going.
He's not like, I'm going to take him on.
You know, I better go fight now.
He says, I'm going to make peace with David.
What does it say? It says here in verse number 10.
Then Toi sent Joram, his son, and to king David to salute him, like an ambassador, right?
And to bless him because he had fought against Hadad-e-Zahr and smitten him,
for Hadad-e-Zahr had wars with Toi and Joram brought with him vessels of silver
and vessels of gold and vessels of brass.
So they're really trying to make peace, right?
They're like, yeah, we love you, David.
Here's a lot of gifts, right?
And then David takes these gifts, these precious gifts.
In verse number 11, it says,
Which also king David did dedicate unto the Lord,
with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which he had subdued.
So all the gold and silver that he's claiming in these victories
and these peace offerings, et cetera,
he's just dedicating it all to the Lord.
Again, you read chapter 8, right?
You're just like, hold on.
Psalm 60 doesn't seem to gel, seemingly, right?
I mean, he's winning battles, he's getting wealthy,
he's subduing his enemies,
people are just coming and making peace with him now
and offering great, precious gifts
and he's dedicating it to the Lord.
He realises, well, without the Lord, I would not have these victories.
You say, surely David's not having a hard time in life.
And that's the thing that I was struggling to reconcile a little bit on Saturday
when I was preparing this sermon for Sunday
and I'm glad the Lord's given me some light here in the last few days.
And again, it's something more to do with something personal that I'm just going through.
Turn to verse number 15.
Look at this, it says,
And David reigned over all Israel.
So he gets all the land back, okay?
And David executed judgments and justice unto all his people.
It's amazing, you know, he praises the Lord, he dedicates it to the Lord
and now he's reigning mightily in Israel.
He's had this great victory.
Again, seemingly, man, David can do no wrong, you think.
Surely he must be walking every day with the Lord,
surely he must be close to the Lord,
surely he must be just having spiritual highs after spiritual highs.
Then why does he start with Psalm 60 so depressed, so cast down?
Why is he saying the Lord has left them?
Come back with me to Psalm 60.
And verse number 1, let's read it again.
You see, one thing that I started to realize, because I wanted to preach, right?
I wanted to preach on Sunday.
And it bothers me when I can't preach, because that's why I'm here.
Like even when I'm sick, I want to preach,
but when you've got COVID or whatever, you don't want to affect the church.
And I couldn't do it anyway.
You know, on Saturday, I'm looking at this,
I couldn't make sense of what this Psalm was about, to be honest with you.
I was trying to, partly, I think I needed a few more days with the Lord.
Partly, I was just too sick and tired, okay?
But it started to gel with me as I was going through, you know,
I was feeling so sick, and then I couldn't preach,
and I just felt so cast down.
And I'm like, hold on, I just had a great week, did I not, in Western Australia.
I just had like an amazing spiritual victory on the other side of Australia,
with brothers here at New Life Baptist Church,
brothers in Blessed Hope Baptist Church,
and brothers in Melbourne, and new brethren that we met in Western Australia.
And having these, I just had a great time,
and I think if you speak to any people that went there,
they would say, that was a great time.
But I'm so cast down, like literally days later.
I'm sick, and I want to preach, Lord.
I want to serve you.
And physically and mentally, Lord, I'm struggling.
Why? I said, why, Lord?
Didn't I just do something good for you, Lord?
I didn't do it for myself.
I did not want to go on a plane and sit there for five hours,
and lose sleep, and get exhausted.
I don't want to do that in my flesh, Lord.
I did that for you, and I come back, and you let me get sick,
and now I can't preach.
And I started to meditate, and I realized, hold on,
even though when you read the Bible sometimes,
it just goes over your head, right?
Oh yeah, they won this battle.
It's just a matter of facts, right?
You just read the Bible.
They won against these people.
But then you forget, what is a battle?
You're going out there.
You're risking your life.
You could very well lose.
Do you think all the soldiers of Israel,
they all lived in every battle?
Do you think only the enemies died in that battle?
Don't you think soldiers of Israel also died in that battle?
Even though it was a victory in the end?
Don't you think even many of David's own men
that he cares about, he saw them lose their lives in victories like this?
Don't you think these battles were long, and bloody, and violent?
I mean, I'd rather be shot in the head by a bullet
than being pierced by a sword,
or shot by an arrow where you're dying slowly and painfully.
You'd rather just be the bullet and that's it, the end of your life,
rather than the pain of going through that process of death.
And so you read these victories after victory,
but then you forget sometimes the hardship of the battle.
Like, who wins in war, really?
I mean, it's not something we want to really experience or go through.
You think David just wants to go through fight wars?
Alright, maybe he's ready for the Philistines,
he's defeated them before,
and then you've got the next enemy turns around,
then you've got the next one comes,
and the next one comes,
the next problem, the next battle, the next loss of life,
and then you're wondering,
Lord, why are you letting me go through this?
Isn't that enough?
Haven't I served you enough?
Haven't we done enough, Lord?
To show ourselves to love you and to serve you
and desire your blessings, Lord?
Isn't that enough?
Shouldn't we have peace now, but then it's just another one,
and another one, and another one.
And then it finally made sense
that even when you're having spiritual victories,
as men, as human beings, we're frail.
It's hard, isn't it?
It's hard to serve the Lord.
I mean, if it was easy, we'd all be doing it.
It's hard to serve the Lord,
and that's really what David is going through
when he expresses Psalm 60.
Look at verse number 2.
Psalm 60, verse number 2.
Sorry, one second.
He says,
There has made the earth to tremble.
There has broken it.
To heal the breaches thereof,
for it shaketh.
Now remember, these are poetic words.
Now that we understand the context of this Psalm,
we understand what's happening.
When it says thou has made the earth to tremble,
what's it talking about?
Is it just an earthquake?
It's talking about war.
This is like a world war for David, right?
Enemy after enemy.
Neighbours after enemies.
And it's like when it's a time of battle,
things are trembling.
Lord, you've made this to come past.
He says,
Heal the breaches thereof, for it shaketh.
Heal the breaches.
Breaches are walls, or borders of separation.
Remember we saw in 2 Samuel,
that David's trying to get back to those borders.
He's trying to rebuild those borders of separation.
He says,
Lord, the breaches are broken.
The earth is trembling.
It's war and battle.
You know,
and, you know,
bloodshed.
And the voices of horses.
And the voices of violence
and of pain and death and suffering.
This is all getting to David.
And as a poet,
he's expressing this in his language.
And that's why he says in verse number 3,
Thou hast shewed thy people
hard things.
Thou hast made us to drink
the wine of astonishment.
Lord, this is hard.
Go into battle again.
And again.
This is hard, Lord.
Isn't one enough?
We've won. Okay, we lost life,
but we've won.
We've won for you, Lord.
We've done what you've asked.
Lord, now you're going to get us to go through another trial?
Another hardship?
Another enemy?
Another problem?
Now you know why David's like,
Lord, why have you left us?
Seemingly.
That's what he's expressing.
What he's feeling in the heart.
Maybe you're feeling that way tonight.
I don't know.
I mean, we're not necessarily going to battle in that sense,
but we serve the Lord.
We go to church.
Many of you come three times a week
to the house of the Lord.
We're almost six years old as a church.
That's three times every week for six years,
time and time and time again.
And guess what?
You have new problems
in the sixth year of our church
compared to the first year of our church that you had.
New problems this year.
New problems this month.
New challenges.
You say, but Lord, I'm doing what I'm required to do,
aren't I?
Aren't I serving you faithfully?
I mean, this is hard, Lord,
to go through trials and difficulties.
Haven't I done enough?
So in verse number three,
the Lord has made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
Astonishment means greatly surprised.
Lord, I just,
you know,
why, Lord?
You know, why?
Why not a struggle?
Like I said,
I was just thinking, hold on, Lord,
Lord, I went to WA, right?
I went there.
I didn't want to.
In my flesh, I'd rather be home.
I don't want to sit on that plane.
I'd rather be asleep.
I mean, I can go soul winning just here.
I don't have to go to WA.
I'd go soul winning.
Do I?
And that's why I know it's of the Lord,
when it's something that I don't want to do.
There's a lot of things that I don't want to do,
brethren, that I just do anyway,
because I know the Lord wants it to be done.
But, you know, it was great.
Don't get me wrong.
It was a great time.
And if I got any WA listeners,
great fellowship, great blessing.
Don't get me wrong.
Like David, I'm sure,
when the victories were won,
they were rejoicing, you know?
Victory, yes!
Reclaim some land.
We've done something great for the Lord.
So the last thing I expect
when I come back here,
just to get refreshed and recharged
and spend time with my family
a little bit because I've missed them,
the last thing I expect is for God to say,
God, I'm here for you.
You know, here you go.
And you can pass it on to your family as well.
And so you can all be struggling
for the next couple of days.
You say, what's the devil passed?
Look, I don't know.
Look, even if it's a devil,
the devil can only operate within the measure
that God allows the devil to operate.
It's up to what the Lord allows
at the end of the day.
Sometimes I think we give the devil
too much credit on things.
I'm a bit cast down about that
because I was just trying to serve you.
Is this my reward?
Is this the next thing
that you've got for me?
And look, from my perspective,
I mean, like, okay,
from us looking at David's life
and then looking at me
and going, oh, I passed.
Obviously what I'm going through is insignificant
compared to what King David was going through.
I'm not trying to say, comparing apples
with apples here.
The Bible can take the applications
and apply it to our own lives.
And you can take this application here
and apply it to your life
and your struggles
and your problems.
We all have different things
that we're going through.
A different journey
that God is putting us through.
And you might ask yourself the question,
why, Lord, why another struggle?
And it can cast you down.
It may feel like, Lord, where are you, though?
Why have you left us?
I don't understand.
And that's why it's like,
it's the wine of astonishment.
I'm surprised, even.
How? How can it be?
But then you look at verse number 4
and there's a change in attitude.
Just like a lot of these psalms,
you'll notice he changes
as he grows and contemplates
and thinks of the Lord.
He gets himself encouraged
with these words in verse number 4.
He says,
You know what? I fear you, Lord.
So you've given me a banner.
I'll talk about that in a moment.
That it may be displayed
because of the truth, Selah.
He goes, you know what?
I'm of the truth.
I'm doing what is right
and honest.
And so, Lord, because I fear you,
you've given this banner of me.
The banner is basically, in the Bible,
a war flag, as it were.
Sometimes, maybe you've seen this
in TV shows or movies
or something where you might have an army
marching down and they've got these flags,
these big flags.
And they're for a reason.
They're there to encourage the soldiers.
It's also to give them a point of reference.
So, if they see the banner
in the middle of the war,
the fog of war,
and they know where their banner is,
they remind themselves where they're fighting from.
It also reminds them
if the banner is still up,
the flag is still up, it reminds them,
hey, we've not lost yet. We're still in the battle here.
If they see the banner
moving forward, progressing,
hey, we're winning.
We're making some achievement here.
May encourage them in that fight
as they see that banner.
Because it's something that's lifted up high.
And so, David, in the same way,
saying, you know, the Lord has put this banner over me
because I fear him.
I can see that even though the battle
is struggle after struggle,
I can see this banner, you know,
moving ahead of me, encouraging me.
The Lord has shown me that we've not lost the fight.
The Lord has shown me that he hasn't left me.
He hasn't deserted me.
He is the one that's encouraging me
in this battle.
That's why it says in verse number 5,
that thy beloved may be delivered
save with thy right hand
and hear me.
Because, Lord, you're the one that has to deliver me.
You're the one that has to save me
and hear me.
He's speaking to the Lord.
And, uh,
you know, if I can just be honest,
as honest as I can be,
like, you know,
and I'm not trying to be some hero.
I am not, brethren. I am not some hero.
I promise you this.
I can only give you my experiences,
you know, that I go through.
Sometimes the Lord allows me to go for an experience
around the time that I'm preaching something that's relevant to that.
And, uh,
again, just back to last week, right?
Preached on Sunday, two sermons.
Two sermons is usually enough.
Like, enough of me opening my mouth.
It's exhausting.
Like, on one day, right?
Usually enough.
And then, obviously, having, you know,
going to Perth on that same night.
And then, on Monday, going to Solween.
A couple of salvations on a Monday.
Praise God for that.
By Tuesday, I'm kind of thinking,
I've had enough.
You know, like, you know, preaching on Sunday,
Solweening on Monday. Tuesday's the day
the event really kicks off in Bridgetown.
I'm like, I've kind of had enough now.
Because, like, you know, when I'm Solweening,
I don't have someone that can preach with me.
I usually have a silent partner
that I'm trying to train
and to encourage in the Lord.
So, I'm doing most of the speaking.
And then, uh, again, the marathon
starts on Tuesday.
So, preaching, got Solweening on the morning,
got Solweening in the afternoon.
But, you know, by the afternoon, I'm like,
I'm thinking, you know what, I'm done.
Like, I kind of just want to go into my bedroom
and just hide.
Like, it's kind of like, I know it's not the same
as David, I understand, but it's like,
it's kind of like battle after battle
after battle, and the last thing I want to do
is battle again.
Anyway, I mean, obviously,
people are getting saved, and praise God.
Like, here's the thing, like,
even when you don't want to do it,
it's like that banner David speaks about.
You just know the Lord is moving.
You know the Lord is working.
You know the Lord is, uh,
the kingdom is moving forward
for Christ's name's sake.
You know, and you see the excitement
of the brethren, and you know the Lord
is working in the hearts of people.
And you just go, I've got to,
you've just got to keep going then.
And then we get a perf on the Wednesday,
and then you go, you go Solweening again,
and then you go in the morning,
and then you're like, you know what,
tonight I'm not even going to sleep
because I'm catching a plane to Sydney at midnight.
I'm going to land at 6 AM in Sydney
on Thursday.
I'm not going to sleep properly.
And then I'm preaching at Blessed Hope on Thursday night.
And I'm thinking to myself,
I've just, I've done too much.
Maybe that's partly why my body broke down.
I don't know.
But it's like, honestly,
you get to a point where you're like,
Lord, it's enough.
And you say, well, what keeps you going?
Is it just, well, number one,
you've got to kind of keep your word.
That's part of it.
But number two is when you just see the Lord.
You know it's the Lord's work.
You know it's the Lord's will.
And you know, you go to Sydney on a Thursday
and even though I'm tired,
but I've not seen those brethren for a week now
and they come to church for midweek services.
Not many churches even have midweek services.
We're smaller churches
and we have midweek services.
And so for those that turn up
and those that still travel some distance,
you've got a family that travels from Wollongong
an hour and a half, you know,
just to be there for a Thursday night service.
You know, again, it's like
it's the battle of the Lord
and you're like, you know what, we're moving forward.
We're pushing on.
So we fight again.
We fight again.
And we fight again.
And we just keep going.
Verse number six, please.
God has spoken in his holiness.
I will rejoice.
I will divide Shechem
and meet out the valley of Sukkoth.
So he says, you know,
God has spoken in his holiness.
I will rejoice.
You know, we have the advantage
of having the whole word of God
in 66 books of the Bible.
You know, when God speaks
and God promises,
this is what gets us moving forward.
This helps us rejoice in the Lord.
When David says here, I will divide Shechem,
Shechem already belongs to Israel, but again,
it's been overtaken by foreign power.
So he says, look, I'm going to have victory in this area.
Okay.
And, you know, it's good
when you start to get exhausted
and you start to wonder, Lord, are you even in this battle?
You know, I'm doing it for you, Lord,
but are you even here? Why?
Why aren't you here?
Why aren't you helping me along?
Just remind yourself, he says here,
God has spoken in his holiness.
I will rejoice.
Remind yourself of God's promises
that he has spoken to you.
The promises that you've read in his word,
that you've read in the Bible,
and rejoice in those promises.
Because they're true.
They're for you.
You know, to help you push you along
and, you know, just give you some examples
of some passages that mean a lot to me.
Sometimes when you go soul winning
and you get out there for a few hours
and you think, man,
that was unreceptive
or someone's had a go at you
and you feel a bit downcast
and it's been a tired period.
I love this passage, Psalm 55, 11
So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth
it shall not return unto me void
but it shall accomplish that which I please
and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sense it.
See, the Lord's
words
when they go out
it's not in vain.
When you go out
presenting God's word, it is not in vain.
Does that mean
someone's going to get saved
even when nobody was unreceptive?
No, no.
It could be that you go out
a day and, you know,
they've gone three sixteens out
and maybe it plays in their mind but they don't get saved
that can of course happen.
You go, then what was the profit of that?
The advantage is that you were obedient
to God's command.
That you did what he asked of you.
And look, it doesn't matter.
You go out and go soul winning
for one hour and you get ten people saved
or you go soul winning for one hour
and you get nobody saved.
Look, you are going to be rewarded
for doing what he's asked of you.
You're going to be rewarded.
There's no vanity, there's no emptiness
when you're serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another one, Romans 8.35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation
or distress or persecution
or famine or nakedness
or peril or sword?
Boy, what's going to separate you from the love of Christ?
Nothing.
No amount of tribulations or difficulties
or suffering you might be going through
What about 1 John 5.4
For whatsoever is born of God
over cometh the world.
And this is the victory
that over cometh the world
even our faith.
Who is he that over cometh the world?
But he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God.
We're looking at David.
How David had victory
in Israel.
He had victory in the land of Palestine.
He had victory
He had victory in the land of Palestine.
The land of Canaan.
Okay.
But you know what, you've been given victory
over this whole world.
Simply by your faith on Jesus Christ.
And now you're one of God's people.
Okay, not right now.
I mean, you are right now, but
you're going to rule over this whole earth
when Christ comes back.
That's pretty powerful.
You're a very important person
in the eyes of the Lord.
You've overcome the world
simply by your faith on Christ
believing that he is the Son of God
believing that he's come to be your Savior.
Look at verse number 7.
He says, Gilead is mine
and Manasseh is mine.
These are all places in Israel.
Ephraim also is a strength of mine head.
Judah is my Lord giver.
So it starts with the land
that God has given him as
the king, or he'll soon be the
king of all the land.
If you know the story of David, it took a little while for him to become the king
over all of Israel.
But David's just thinking about
how God has already given him land.
He's already given him victory
in these places, to be the ruler.
And so when he says in what he's talking about
what he's saying in verse number 7 is
he's encouraging himself first
with what God has already given him.
With what God has already done in his life.
Then he starts looking at the enemies.
Okay?
Instead of starting with looking at the enemies
and the problems and confronting that
which is verse number 8
he first starts with verse number 7
and says, hold on.
I need to think about what God has already given me.
That's why we sang before Count Your Blessings.
Name them one by one.
By looking at his blessings first.
And by looking at his blessings
by looking at how God has come through ready for him.
Now he's got the faith
now he has the encouragement
to go forth and go, you know what?
If God's given me this already
then God can give me victory over my enemies.
And so if you're feeling a little downcast
you're feeling like the Lord is far
why are you allowing me to go through some
new struggle, new problem?
Why are you making me go through some hard things, Lord?
Well, start by reminding yourself
of what God's already done for you.
The great things, the blessings.
The answered prayers that he's already given you.
Start there.
And then you'll be in a better place
mentally and spiritually to tackle
that new struggle that God has given you.
Your courage will grow
just like David does here in verse number 8.
Moab is my wash pot.
Now he's describing the enemies.
Moab is my wash pot. What's a wash pot?
A wash pot is a pot
that you would wash
your dirty clothes.
It's your washing machine.
He goes,
Moab is my washing machine.
Moab is my dishwasher.
I'm going to throw all my junk
and Moab you're going to clean it for me.
That's how he thinks of Moab right now.
Then he says about Edom
over Edom
will I cast out
my shoe?
He goes, you know, Edom is kind of like
just this pebble in my shoe.
This annoying pebble. Have you ever had that?
This annoying little rock in your shoe
and you're kind of walking around. It's bouncing around in there.
Eventually you take off your shoe
and the pebble comes out.
He goes, that's what Edom's like.
This annoying little pebble. I'm going to cast you out of my shoe.
Then he says Philistah
or these are the Philistines
triumph thou because of me.
Now that might be a little bit difficult to understand
come with me quickly to Psalm 108.
Come with me to Psalm 108
verse number 9
because it says something very similar
here in Psalm 108
verse number 9.
Psalm 108 verse number 9
it says Moab is my wash pot
it's the same thing. Over Edom will I cast
out my shoe?
Over Philistah will I triumph?
Will I triumph?
So he's saying look I'm going to beat
the Philistines.
I'm going to triumph over them.
Alright?
Now come back with me to Psalm 60
so it just gives us the idea. He's going to triumph over them.
So when he says in verse number 8
Philistah
triumph thou
because of me.
He's telling them you're going to triumph as well.
So if I triumph over you
you are also going to triumph.
What he's saying to them is basically this
you know the Philistines
you're going to be in a better position as a nation
by being submissive
to my power and authority
than over some other foreign power.
You know over the Syrians or over the
you know whatever other power
and other nations that are trying to claim
influence and land
he's telling the Philistines
look by me
defeating you, by me I'm going to triumph over you
you will triumph as a nation.
So it's better for you
that you're defeated by my hands.
Verse number 9
He says who will bring me
into the strong city?
Strong city of course is
you know the
fortresses
the main areas of
of the barracks
wherever they're fighting from
he's asking
who's going to bring me there?
Who's going to bring me to those points
where the battle is going to be the hardest?
Who will lead me into Edom?
And then he comes to that
realisation
Will not thou, O God
which has cast us off?
See, God didn't really
cast them off.
He goes, who's going to let us have victory here?
The same God that
you Lord, that has cast us off.
Like
the same one
that's allowed me to go for this struggle
whatever your struggle is
is the same one
that's going to lead you into victory.
It's the same one that's going to help you
fight the battle
that God has allowed to be put before you.
He goes, and thou
O God
which didst not go out with our armies
it's you Lord
the one that I thought wasn't watching over us
the one that I thought
had forgotten about us
the God that
you just seem so far away
because I'm going through struggle after struggle
after struggle, but the only one that's going to
bring me in victory
is you Lord.
You see brethren, this is where
humility is required.
It's tempting sometimes I think.
I don't
naturally do this.
You know, I don't think it's in my nature too much
because I really appreciate your Lord
and I realise my struggles
are insignificant
really.
You know, but people get
angry at God, you know.
I hear stories, I hear people talk to me
pastor, I'm angry at God.
And I guess
when you think of David's
first few words of this psalm
he can almost seem like he's angry at God.
He's like, God you've cast us off.
Why aren't you here?
You know
when Job went through his
self
Job suffered so much.
You know, when Job suffered so much
and lost everything that he had
he never spoke against
the Lord.
He was asked to by his wife and his friends
to basically
get angry at the Lord and he refused.
The Bible says he was a man of
integrity.
It's easy to blame God.
Say, God why?
Haven't I done
enough for you Lord? Haven't I served you?
Haven't I gone to battle enough for you
Lord? Haven't I suffered
enough Lord and you've brought another one
another one, another one
another one.
Sometimes it seems like
there's no end.
And
there will be periods of peace.
It's like David. There's periods of war
periods of peace. Your life will be like that.
But the truth is
this is life. We live in a sinful
we live in a sinful flesh.
We live in a sin-cursed world.
We know that the
Bible ensures that this
world will get worse and worse
till the coming of Christ.
We need to be
understanding maybe
and we work on
being prepared, but we need to be
understanding minds that
struggling is a part of life.
Problems and difficulties
and trials are a part of life.
And the only one
that's going to give you victory is the Lord.
So the last one you want to
blame is the Lord.
Right?
I mean how do you have a victory?
I mean people, you like
who doesn't like victory?
Like I like it when my soccer team wins.
And that's like meaningless.
Like people
I like if you're playing a game
with me about whatever, chess or checkers
or whatever. Who doesn't like to win?
Everyone likes to win.
Right? Everyone.
But how do you win
unless there's a struggle to win?
Right?
How do you claim victory
unless there was a problem to
face to begin with?
Unless there was a competitor
at the beginning.
So the Lord allows us
to go for struggles.
To refine us, to teach us
to guide us
even to chastise us
to correct us when we need it.
And we all need it. Who doesn't need correction?
You know who's prideful enough
to say, Pastor I need no correction
from the Lord? Who's prideful enough to say that?
You who
repented of all your sins to get saved.
No such
thing.
Salvation was on Christ alone.
And his work.
But the Lord,
we need struggles. We need them
because it's not just Christians
even the world.
The world goes through struggles.
This is life. And young people
you need to learn this is life.
Life is struggle.
Okay? Your parents try to raise you
and give you, they work hard
and they provide for you.
Try to make your life a little bit easy while you're young.
To enjoy life while you're young.
And you might think
hey this is what the world is like.
No, no. You'll see.
You'll see when you step out into the world
that it's not easy.
You'll see when you start paying for your first bill
that working, you start working those hours
okay I worked this many hours to pay that
my mobile phone bill
wasn't worth it.
Okay well when you start working out how much it costs to
put food on the table and it costs to pay rent
or pay a mortgage
your insurances
oh now my kids need braces
and things that you don't even expect.
I just had insurance come up for my car
in the van in this house
oh how many thousands Lord?
But this is life.
And now you can choose.
Just like anything. God does not force you.
You're going to go through struggle.
You're going to go through struggles.
You either say Lord
you blame him
you get angry at him
why am I going through this?
Or I'll take care of this on my own.
I've got it. That's all the world thinks.
I've got it.
Or you be like David and say
like he says in verse number 10
will not thou or God which has cast us off
and thou or God which did not go out with our armies
Lord aren't you the one that's going to help me through this?
Aren't you going to be the one that guides me?
This is the advantage of being saved.
You know you might stand out from the world
you might feel different
and who cares?
You've got the Lord by your side.
It's a hard life.
I don't know how people do life without God.
Can you understand that?
For those of you that got saved late in life
how did you get through life without God?
Probably don't even understand how.
I can't understand.
It's the Lord that gives us victory
it's the Lord that leads us and guides us.
You know young people I say choose God.
Choose God to be your help.
You know in every battle
in every struggle you go through.
Look at verse number 11.
David says
give us help from trouble
for vain is the help of man.
Vain.
I'll run to my friends
they can help me.
I'll run to the doctors
they'll help me.
I'll run to the educated whoever
with the diploma and whatever
piece of paper
they've got on their wall
I'll run to them because they've got the answers for my struggle.
David says give us help from trouble
speaking to the Lord for vain is the help of man.
Look at verse number 12.
Through God we shall do valiantly
for he it is
that shall tread down our enemies.
He goes you know what
yeah I am the instrument here
David as a soldier
as the king
I am the instrument that God is going to use
to have victory for Israel
but it's God that will tread down our enemies.
It's God that's going to destroy
these people that have risen up
against our nation.
It's God that's going to bring
low these struggles.
It's the law that's going to give me victory.
Not man.
What can man do?
And I'm a man what can I do?
I'll pray for you.
You say to me pastor I've got to struggle.
My help is vain.
But what I can do
is take your struggle
if you're struggling to talk to God.
I'll talk to God for you.
I'll take your struggle and say Lord
sister so and so
brother so and so
he's going through a hardship.
I'm nothing.
There you go Lord because
we can't do without you Lord.
Help us.
Help us through the struggles. Help us through the difficulties.
Through God we shall do valiantly.
With courage.
With strong determination
and courage.
So you see the heart of David
again in the Psalm
you see the heart of David
what do we see? A weak man?
A broken man?
A lonely man?
But
if you see him on the battlefield
is like
what do people say when they go to victory?
When they go to fight?
I don't know.
Who's watched TV?
Charge!
Press forward!
David's
barking instructions.
David's going in there with his sword.
OK?
Riding on his horse.
Whoa! Look at him go!
Look at him do valiantly for the Lord!
That's what it looks like on the outside.
But he didn't realize on the inside
he was struggling the whole time.
Because you've got to remember
it's the Lord's victory.
It's the Lord's work.
You can only accomplish great things
through the Lord.
Our flesh is weaker.
We struggle.
And look, you know, there are
Christians and they're doing so well
for God, and you're like
I wish I could be more like that. Forget it.
You don't know what they're going through.
You know, one thing I learned
going to church for a long time
the people that seem the
happiest and doing so well
for the Lord, and you just think
man, they've got no problems at all.
They've got it all together.
And then you sit one on one with them
and talk to them.
And they speak of their great love for God
which you know they have.
But then you realize why they're like that
on the outward.
Why are they strong on the outward?
And talk to them one on one.
They share with you
their struggles.
And their hurt.
And their loneliness.
And their problems.
And yet they're able to say
you know what, but the Lord guided me
through all of those.
They just love the Lord.
That's why they're on fire for God.
Because they've seen the Lord
come through time and time and time again.
And again you think
man, that'd be nice to be like that.
Yeah, but in order for you to grow and develop
and mature and become
valiant for the Lord
you have to go through the struggles.
You have to.
And sometimes you've had enough.
Like David. And like me.
You have enough sometimes.
It's the Lord that has to help us.
Alright brother, let's pray.