Sunday
Morning Bible Study
November 30, 2003
Psalm 56 From Fear to Faith
A little boy was afraid of the dark. One night his mother told him to go
out to the back porch and bring her the broom. The little boy turned to his
mother and said, “Mama, I don’t want to go out there. It’s dark.” The mother
smiled reassuringly at her son. “You don’t have to be afraid of the dark,” she
explained. “Jesus is out there. He’ll look after you and protect you.” The
little boy looked at his mother real hard and asked, “Are you sure he’s out
there?” “Yes, I’m sure. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you
when you need him,” she said. The little boy thought about that for a minute
and then went to the back door and cracked it a little. Peering out into the
darkness, he called, “Jesus? If you’re out there, would you please hand me the
broom?”
We all have fears. Every single one of us.
After he had sinned, Adam was afraid of what God would think …
(Gen 3:10
KJV) And he said, I heard thy voice in
the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Man has been afraid ever since.
Some of us have some pretty good reasons to be afraid. Perhaps we’re facing an illness, loss of a
job, or a broken relationship.
Others of us face more subtle things like the fear that we don’t look
attractive, the fear that we’re not good enough, or the fear that we’re going
to fail again.
Illustration
During World War II, a military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily. When he praised Patton highly for his courage
and bravery, the general replied, “Sir, I am not a brave man—the truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot
or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn’t so scared that I had sweat
in the palms of my hands.” Years later,
when Patton’s autobiography was published, it contained this significant
statement by the general: “I learned
very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears.”
To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim
Jonath-elem-rechokim –yownath ‘elem r@choqiym –
“the silent dove of far-off places”; possibly the name of a melody. Trivia Note: This is the longest word
in the Bible.
when the Philistines took him in Gath.
David had been running from Saul, running for his life. Prior to going to Gath,
David had hid for while with the priests in Nob. It
was there that he was given some bread and the sword of Goliath, who came from Gath.
As David rode into town with Goliath’s sword, I wonder what he was thinking… Perhaps
he was thinking that this was the last place that Saul would ever come to look
for him. I wonder what he thought the
Philistines would think?
(1 Sam 21:10-15 KJV) And
David arose, and fled that day for fear
of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. {11} And the servants
of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king
of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul
hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? {12} And David laid up
these words in his heart, and was sore
afraid of Achish the king of Gath. {13} And he changed
his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and
scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his
beard. {14} Then said Achish
unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought
him to me? {15} Have I need of mad men, that ye have
brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come
into my house?
Lesson
Silliness from fear
We all have fears and we do some pretty silly stuff because of our fears.
Adam was afraid and sewed fig leaves.
I’m not much of a horticulturist, but I’m told that fig leaves are about
the scratchiest, most uncomfortable thing he could have chosen.
Sometimes we’ve been hurt by people.
I know some of you have experienced some pretty devastating things in
relationships. If we’re not careful, we can allow our fears to cause us to do
some pretty strange things – like going to Gath.
Sometimes our past can sort of haunt us and make us respond out of fear.
Illustration
An American is in London for
the first time. He’s in a taxi on his way to an appointment for which he is
afraid he may be late, given the slow speed at which the driver is proceeding.
In order to ask the driver about their progress, he leans forward and taps the
older gentleman on the shoulder. The driver simultaneously emits a blood
curdling scream and jumps straight up in the air, yanking the wheel to one
side. The cab veers sharply, jumps the curb, demolishing a beautiful old cast
iron lamppost and comes to a stop mere inches from a shop window. The startled
but uninjured passenger asks, “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to frighten
you. I just wanted to ask a question.” “Not your fault, guv’nor,”
said the driver in a Cockney lilt, “I’m bright new to this taxi drivin’ I yam, an’ I’m not used to ‘avin’
comp’ny owin’ to my
previous trade.” “I see,” said the passenger. “And what did you do previously?”
The driver said, “Why for the past 25 years I was the best hearse driver in London,
sir.”
Some have suggested that going to Gath
was a mistake. I’m not sure I disagree.
:1-7 Trust in fearful times
:2 for they be many that fight against me
David has lots of enemies right now and not many friends. His father-in-law, King Saul is after
him. And now that he’s in Gath,
he’s found out the Philistines aren’t exactly in love with him either.
:3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
David was a man who was afraid, but he was also a man learning to trust God
in the middle of his fears. We know he also prayed at this time as well. This was the times when he wrote Psalm 34:
(Psa 34:4 KJV) I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me
from all my fears.
You don’t have to stay stuck in fear.
You can move towards Faith.
:4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have
put my trust;
Lesson
Trust His Word
David is praising God for His Word because He is counting on God's Word.
Mathew Henry: “He resolves to make God’s promises the matter of his
praises”
We saw this in Psalm 60, how later on in his life,
David was facing a season of “defeat”.
(Psa 60:1 KJV) O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast
scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
Yet somehow, perhaps through a prophet, God sent word to David:
(Psa 60:6-10 KJV) God hath spoken in his holiness; I will
rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. {7} Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim
also is the strength of mine head; Judah
is my lawgiver; {8} Moab
is my washpot; over Edom
will I cast out my shoe: Philistia,
triumph thou because of me.
God speaks about how He loves His people and how He will
have victory over His enemies.
David trusted in what God spoke, and went on to write,
{9} Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
{10} Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which
didst not go out with our armies?
As we saw in 1Chronicles 18, David went on to win
incredible victories over each enemy.
But the victories came because David trusted God’s Word and obeyed it.
How does trusting God’s Word affect me?
Am I learning to live what I read?
Are you reading every day? Ask
God to speak to you as you read. Expect
to hear at least one thing from Him each day.
Like …
This morning I was reading about the fall of the ancient city of Tyre. God said it would happen because they enjoyed
the fact that Jerusalem was
destroyed (Eze. 26:2). Could that apply to my life? I wonder how often I’m interested or even
glad to hear that some person is going through tough times? Could I be in the place of Tyre?
:5 Every day they wrest my words: all their
thoughts are against me for evil.
David felt as if he was continually being misunderstood.
WORDS WOMEN USE (written by a woman)
FINE - This is the word we use at the end of any argument that we feel we
are right about but need to shut you up.
NEVER use fine to describe how a woman looks. This will cause you to have one of those
arguments.
FIVE MINUTES - This is half an hour.
It is equivalent to the five minutes that your football game is going to
last before you take out the trash, so I feel that it's an even trade.
NOTHING - This means something and you should be on your toes. "Nothing" is usually used to
describe the feeling a woman has of wanting to turn you inside out, upside
down, and backwards. "Nothing"
usually signifies an argument that will last "Five Minutes" and end
with the word "Fine".
GO AHEAD (with raised eyebrows) - This is a dare. One that will result in a woman getting upset
over "Nothing" and will end with the word "Fine".
GO AHEAD (normal eyebrows) - This means "I give up" or "do
what you want because I don't care."
You will get a raised eyebrow "Go Ahead" in just a few
minutes, followed by "Nothing" and "Fine" and she will talk
to you in about "Five Minutes" when she cools off.
LOUD SIGH - This is not actually a word, but is still often a verbal
statement very misunderstood by men. A
"Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot at that moment and
wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over
"Nothing".
SOFT SIGH - Again, not a word, but a verbal statement. "Soft Sighs" are one of the few
things that some men actually understand.
She is content. Your best bet is
to not move or breathe and she will stay content.
Be careful that you aren’t the one guilty of twisting a person’s words.
:8-13 Trust and Praise
:8 …put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they
not in thy book?
David knew that God kept track of him.
bottle – Archaeologists have found small terra-cotta bottles in
Egyptian tombs. Tear bottles were also
fairly common in Roman times, around the time of Christ. Mourners would fill small glass bottles or
cups with tears and place them in the tomb as a symbol of respect. Sometimes women were even paid to cry into
these vessels, as they walked along the mourning procession. The more anguish
and tears produced, the more important and valued the deceased person was
perceived to be.
Some have suggested that whenever a person shed tears on any occasion, they
would run and get their bottle and capture the tears in the bottle. It was
something valuable, reminding the person of the emotional times in life.
Others have suggested that when the woman washed Jesus’ feet with her
tears, she might have used one of these tear bottles (Luke 7:37-38).
Lesson
God knows
One of the keys to move from fear to faith is knowing
that God knows.
God remembers the times that we’ve been hurt and the people who’ve hurt us:
The Amalekites attacked the children of Israel
as they came through the wilderness, preying on the weak who struggled to keep
up with the larger group.
(Exo 17:14 KJV) And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for
a memorial in a book, and rehearse
it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
God would not forget what Amalek
had done to His people until He had wiped them out.
The entity in the last days known as “Babylon”
will be guilty of killing God’s people.
(Rev 16:19 KJV) And the great city was divided into three
parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God,
to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
When the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, and people of Tyre
laughed and had a good time at Jerusalem’s
destruction, God remembered (Eze. 25-26).
There are some things that God doesn’t remember.
(Isa 43:25 KJV) I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
(Jer 31:34 KJV) …for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more.
Yet for David, he is counting on the fact that God knows what He’s going
through.
:9 this I know; for God is for me.
Lesson
God is for me
(Rom 8:31-32 KJV) What
shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
{32} He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things?
Even in Gath, David knew that
God was on his side.
Ezekiel found out that even though God was bringing Jerusalem
through a time of judgment and cleansing, He was still on their side, still
dealing with their enemies (Eze. 26:2).
David wrote,
Ps 124:1-3 (NLT) If the LORD had not been on our side—let Israel
now say—if the LORD had not been on our side when people rose up against us,
they would have swallowed us alive because of their burning anger against us.
For us, it’s even clearer through what Jesus has done on the cross.
(Rom 5:8 KJV) But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God demonstrated His love for us while we were sinners, in
Gath.
:13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death
For David, the sense here is that since God has delivered David before, he
trusts that God will deliver him again.
God has delivered us from death through the sacrifice of His only Son.
:12 …I will render praises unto thee.
praises – towdah – confession, praise, thanksgiving;
thank-offering
Lesson
Thanksgiving
When God has done a work in us, it’s only right that we learn to say
“thanks”. I think this is part of the progression from fear to faith.
The Seagull
Imagine this scene: you are on the Florida
coast. The sun is setting like a gigantic orange ball. It’s the cool evening on
a vacant, isolated stretch of beach. The water is lapping at the shore, the
breeze is blowing slightly. There are one or two joggers and a couple of
fisherman. Most people have gone home for the day.
You look up and you see an old man with curved shoulders, bushy eyebrows,
and bony features hobbling down the beach carrying a bucket. He carries the
bucket up to the pier, a dock that goes out into the water. He stands on the
dock and you notice he is looking up into the sky and all of a sudden you see a
mass of dancing dots. You soon recognize that they are seagulls. They are
coming out of nowhere. The man takes out of his bucket handfuls of shrimp and
begins to throw them on the dock. The seagulls come and land all around him.
Some land on his shoulders, some land on his hat, and they eat the shrimp. Long
after the shrimp are gone his feathered friends linger. The
old man and the birds.
What is going on here? Why is this man feeding seagulls? What could compel
him to do this—as he does week after week?
The man in that scene was Eddie Rickenbacker, during World War I a famous
flying ace, shooting down 22 enemy planes. In World War II, his plane “The
Flying Fortress,” went down in 1942 in the Pacific, and no one thought he would
be rescued. Perhaps you have read or heard how he and his eight passengers
escaped death by climbing into two rafts for twenty-four days. They fought
thirst, the sun, and sharks. Some of the sharks were nine feet long. The boats
were only eight feet long. But what nearly killed them was starvation. Their
rations were gone within eight days and they didn’t have anything left.
Rickenbacker wrote that even on those rafts, every day they would have a
daily afternoon devotional and prayer time. One day after the devotional, Rickenbacker
leaned back and put his hat over his eyes and tried to get some sleep. Within a
few moments he felt something on his head. He knew in an instant it was a
seagull which had perched on his raft. But he knew that they were hundreds of
miles out to sea. Where did this seagull come from? He was also certain that if
he didn’t get that seagull he would die. Soon all the others on the two boats
noticed the seagull. No one spoke, no one moved. Rickenbacker quickly grabbed
the seagull and with thanksgiving, they ate the flesh of the bird. They used
the intestines for fish bait and survived.
Rickenbacker never forgot that visitor who came from a foreign place. That sacrificial guest. Every week, he went out on the pier
with a bucket of shrimp and said thank you, thank you, thank you.
Edited from More Hot Illustrations
for Youth Talks by Wayne Rice
Jesus gave His life for us. Learn to
express your thanks to Him.