Psalm 56

This is a psalm of David.

Title says:  A Silent Dove in distant lands.

David is not in Israel, he is running away for life and in this run, he ends up in a city called Gath.

Gath is the one of the five cities of philistines. ( the other 4 are Gaza,Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron).

So for David, this is distant land, not only a distant land but this is land of enemy. because Gath is the city of goliath whom David has defeated.

So the servants of the king of the land looked at David and immeadiately recognized him and reported to king.

And David started acting out like mad man with his saliva running out of his mouth to escape.

Such was the pathetic situation of David and after this escape he writes this psalm (psalm 56) and he titles it as a silent dove in distant lands.

In this psalm goes. In verse 4, verse 10. 

David sings a situation and then sings this chorus.

4 In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?

10 In God (I will praise His word),

     In the Lord (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

In God, (I will praise His Word)

In God I have put my trust.

This verse is actually In God, In God I have put my trust.  But David brings out this I will praise His Word.

This is what called Faith brings worth Praise. For a person who truly trusts, for that person sings of the Gods Promise even before they say we trust.

And After David says I have put my trust , then he says I will not fear, what can flesh or what can man do to me?

We are more worried, what people will think about me, than what God thinks about us.

Some people are worried if I say i am christian... what will my coworkers think.

Some youngsters may be worried what will my friends think ...If i dont do like what they do.

Some people are worried about their dress....what will they say about my dress.

Most of the times We are always in engaged  in what people think. But rarely we consider hey what God thinks o

What will people 

Every fear goes away when we truly trust God.

Praise comes before your Faith Statement.

Fear goes  when truly believe in God.

In the stanza of the song, In Verse 2, there are many who fight against me.

But ends up with chorus in verse 4, In God...

again in the stanza , he sings all the day they twist my words, ...

but ends up with chorus in verse 10, In God..

This is not just a song for that moment in Davids life, but this is his song throughout his life.

Whatever situation he faced he was quick to come to that chorus..

Whatever the stanzas in your life may be. be quick to come to this chorus always.

The chorus is :

In God I will praise His Word,

In God I have put my trust.

Psalm 55

The Key verse in this psalm is Verse 22.

Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

every burden carries a lot of weight.
how much weight can a person carry.
Can you carry 20 pounds bag. How long a person can carry a 20 pounds bag.
Every weight you carry have to get down at some point and have rest.

The physical weight you carry might just hurt the body.
But the weight of burdens of the heart are more heavier than physical weight.
It brings down a person.How strong physically a person may be, but when a burden is there in heart, that strong person will be down.

David is an example for that , look at verses 4-6

What is this big burden that David had?
you may think, What is new he always had enemies.
V12 - 14
Not an enemy.

Companion - shared joyful and tough times.
acquaintance - A familiar friend - who often visits him.
He is a man of my equal. He is a peer
Took counsel together
Worshiped together.

This man who went to Church with him shared with him, familiar to him. has betrayed David.
Similar to how judas betrayed Son of David.

To understand this let turn to
2 Samuel 17: 1 - 3

Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while heis weary and weak, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king. 3 Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace.” 4 And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.


V 23:
Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father’s tomb.


See the burden that David had , his own friend is counselling against him.
and with this heavy heart and he turned to God.

He has seen the burden and realized that it too heavy for me to carry and finally he says in verse 22, cast the burden, cast you weight on the Lord. He can give us the Sabbath rest.
It is by Faith that we can be at rest.

What is the burden that we have today?
Every burden has great weight. As long as you carry it by yourself it can bring you down. but by Faith when we give it to Lord. that anxiety will go and you will be at rest.

Psalm 54

V 1,2 - Prayer to God to save.
             Save me Lord by YOUR Name and YOUR Strength.

V 3 -  Describes the Wickedness.
             Ziphites are descendants of Judah, but David refers to them as Strangers.
A brother does not care for other brother or not kind to the other is a stranger.
It could be in a family or could be in a Church.


V 5 - Description of Gods judgement.
         
V 6, 7 - A statement of Faith.
Even before David has seen the victory, he makes a statement of faith .
A great example of prayer that ends in Confession of Faith.




1 Samuel 23:19 -20

In this scripture, the Ziphites went to Saul to tell the hiding place of David.
And they took the responsibility of handling David to Saul.

from Verse 24
David escaped from Ziph and came to Maon. And when Saul came to Maon,
they were on opposite sides of the mountain.
Sauls forces are closing in on David and his men,
Then the Lord intervenes and raises philistines to attack Israel.
So David got saved.

24 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. 25 Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.

26 Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” 28 Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth.[b] 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.[c]

Questions that believers should ask

Questions that believer should ask?

It is easy to ask.
If I follow God, will I be blessed?
If I believe Jesus, will I be healed?
If I believe Jesus, will my problems go away?

These are questions before becoming a believer.
But once you become a believer, you are Child of God. and the questions that comes out of your mouth should reveal who you are.


1) Exodus 32: 9- 12: Gods Honor.  Question of Gods Honor.
Question:  Why Should Gods Name be dishonored?

 Exodus 4:
             V 1: What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you?

In our past life, we might have asked questions about me, myself, my attitudes, my abilities, my talents, my fame.

But in the new covenant life, the question is is God honored in my life?

Do we say any statement in the public that will dishonor our parents, or our children. We always behave in such a way that our parents will not be dishonored.

World always watches Christians, and will say oh they are Christians,

"Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you." Psalms 86:11

God honors those who honor Him.
1 Samuel 2: 30
30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now theLord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.

Do you want your famaily, generation to have good life. The important thing is honor God.

 Also like Moses, when we think of Gods Name being honored we will pray for the people and nation.

2) Romans 8:31  - Faith in God. Question of Faith.
Question:  If God is for us, who can be against us? 

When we get into situations or problems, Who will come to our min first.
for example, you need urgently some 1000 dollars. First thing that comes to your mind is friends or relatives.

Any trouble - most of the time, first thought is if my friend helps me, this problem will go away.

but see Paul, If God is for us, who can be against us.


          1 Samuel 17:26 - Faith in God. 
          Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the            living God?

3) Romans 4: v3  - Rooted in Word  Question about the Word.

Who if we ask christians, what does CNN say, hundreds will come and say all the details. but what does the Scripture say today, very few can tell.

Question: What does the Scripture say?


                    1 Kings 22:7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of                             the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”
           Isaiah 30:3 - Egypt consultation.
           Romans 10: v8
                                    8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”[d] that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:

4) Seperation: 2 Corinthians 6:14 - question of consecration.
Question: what fellowship can light have with darkness?


Genesis 39:9 How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?
Prodigal son says I have sinned against God.  before converting.
but Joseph say after conversion - How Can I sin?

Paul says 
      1 Corinthians 6:15
                 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I         then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute?              Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
      
 2 Corinthians 6:14  
 what fellowship can light have with darkness?

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?


My cousin started a business with unbeliever. but that guy started keeping idols and he could not object.
My own testimony of business.


5) Romans 10:14 -15 - Mission question.

How Can they call on Him in whom they have not believed.


14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? 

Do we have burden for people to be saved.
Paul had great burden for Jews - Romans 9: 1,2.
 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen[a] according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.