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Showing posts with label Our fears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our fears. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

What Are We Afraid Of

 Fear in the Midst of Trials

Book of Psalms 56

We must remember we live in a cursed world because of sin.

We must remember sin is everything that goes against the Word of God.

The greatest sin of all is to not believe in the work that the Lord Jesus Christ has completed for our salvation.

When do we have the most fear? When we are in the midst of our daily trials.

Things that devastate us can come to us at any moment. 

The death of a loved one.

A terrible sickness, such as cancer or a heart attack.

Today it seems like half the world is trying scam us out of the things we have no one really cares as they say they do.

A car wreck can set us backwards financially and I could go on because there are so many problems that come upon us, just unexpectedly.

In the Book of Job we see these words: Job 14:1  Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

This still describes our world today. This still describes humanity today but even worse.

Most of our hardships are the result of trouble finding us.

Many of our hardships are of our own making.

We know the Job was the most upright man on earth in his day and all his children died in one day because of a tornado like wind.

Robbers came and stole many of his animals.

Lightning killed the rest of his animals.

Job got up one morning as usual and was a rich man, at the end of that day Job was heartbroken and a poor man and he had done nothing to cause all these things to happen.

But it is still a fact that many of our problems come from our own actions.

We are still our own worst enemy.

David did this very thing.

When David was on the run from King Saul, who was trying to kill him.

David was innocent of any wrongdoing toward Saul but this did not stop Saul from trying to kill him.

David had gone to the Philistine city of Gath to seek refuge from Saul.

David thought that Saul would never look for him there.

The Philistines were Israel's sworn enemy.

Saul had declared David to be his enemy.

David hoped that the King of Gath would help him because they were both the enemies of King Saul.

Keep in mind that David had been the one to kill Goliath and Goliath had family members who still lived in Gath.

Goliath had four brothers and many family members there.

David was even carrying the sword of Goliath.

We can only imagine his thought process at this time.

The truth is that David's logic was flawed. He went to the world when he should have gone to Jehovah.

After all he was a man after God's own heart.

It is certain that we all make mistakes that can cause us harm!

The advisors of King Achish were convinced that David was still a threat to the Philistines so suddenly David was in grave danger.

We know from previous lessons that David put on a show of being crazy and it saved his life.

1Sa 21:10  And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 

1Sa 21:11  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? 

1Sa 21:12  And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 

1Sa 21:13  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. 

Unwise decisions will most always get us into trouble!

If we are close to God, then we will find it easier to go to Him when trouble comes to us!

*****Psa 56:1  To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath. Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.

Psa 56:2  Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. 

We know that trouble is usually accompanied by more trouble and we know we need help, but we forget that we are a child of God and we think the world can solve our problems, when the world is the cause of most of our problems.

This world is a wicked and evil place, and has no intention of solving anybody’s problems, but the rich who simply want more riches.

We should be crying out to the Lord and we should be crying out for His mercy even if we have to beg God for mercy, because we know God is merciful or we would not know anything about Him.

That phrase "would swallow me up" simply means that this world will walk all over us, trample on us, or crush us and we all know this is true because we live it every day and we see it getting worse, especially for the child of God, but we have a merciful God who will remove some of these things or He will go through them with us.

How did God describe Himself to Moses?

Exo_34:6  And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Deu_4:31  (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

God does not change, so He is the same God to all those who love Him today.

God will not allow our enemies to swallow us up or walk all over us, if we go to Him in prayer trusting in Him.

David was under daily attacks so much so, that he could not find rest.

David explained these things to the Most High God, Jehovah, and he realized he needed God more than ever and just as we all do.

*****Psa 56:3  What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 

Psa 56:4  In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. 

This is the only place in the Bible where we read that David might be afraid of any man.

The way this verse reads is "When the day comes that I feel fear stealing over me, by an act of will, I will put my trust in thee".

We must be more like David and never be afraid of what man can do to us! 

We already know that if we die today, we will wake up in Heaven and will be far better off.

In all danger, in all trouble, whatever happens, whatever we think is going to happen, we can always trust the Lord for the right outcome.

We cannot say we are Christians and then, not trust that God will always do the right thing for us.

This is the only way we will ever overcome our fears.

If we stay close enough to the Lord in our lifestyle and prayers, we will seldom fall into the traps of this world.

David was going to be the next King of Israel and he needed to learn on God's training ground.

God's training ground can be tough most of the time.

God will fulfill every promise He makes to us.

We can be secure in God's plans for our life! There are no human beings who can overrule God's purpose for our life!

*****Psa 56:5  Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. 

Psa 56:6  They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

To me this sounds just like our own government today. 

In verse five we see one of the things that happens so much today.

Evil people take our Constitution and twist the words that we have had for many years into another meaning that was never intended by its writers.

In fact, people are listening just to see if we say something that can be twisted into some other meaning, things we never intended to say.

They will use these twisted meanings to plot against us.

This happened to David.

This happens to good politicians today.

These things happen to us.

If you are a Christian, people will try to twist your words to have an evil meaning because this is what they do to the Word of God every day.

These are what can be called a verbal ambush.

Our news sources do this all day long so that we cannot get the real truth but only someone's twisted version of their political views.

It should be alright to have a different point of view from someone else without it causing a war between them.

No matter our circumstances, we can trust the Lord to help us if we love Him and trust Him.

When we cry out to the Lord, He will hear us!

We must understand that no one makes us sin! No one can be the cause of our sin but us!

We have a sin nature that cannot be overcome without the help of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God went to great lengths in order to rescue us from our sin nature!

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 

Rom 8:32  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? 

Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 

It is true that fear is one of the most powerful emotions we face today, but it should not be that way.

What are we afraid of?

Fear can cause us to act differently than we normally act.

Many just run off and hide when they should just go to the Lord.

God is certainly greater than any force upon this earth.

The way to defeat fear is by faith in the promises of the Word of God!

Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

No one can escape the "judgment" of God especially those who try to use sin to defeat Him.

*****Psa 56:7  Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God. 

The problem with most sinners is that they think they can escape the wrath of God.

They do not believe in Hell and they do not think the Bible is a Divine book.

Isa 28:14  Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 

Isa 28:15  Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 

Again I can only think of the America of today when I read those words "for we have made lies our refuge and under falsehood have we hid ourselves".

We have the lies of our own government.

We have the lies of Meta and Google and other tech suppliers.

We have the lies of our financial services.

We have the lies of our News Sources.

Isa 28:18  And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. 

David was bold enough to ask God to deal with His enemies.

We can be sure that all the enemies of God will see His wrath at a time of His choosing, but sometimes we need God to do something sooner and He promises us His help on a daily basis, after all we have Heavens Angels with us at all times.

Psa 55:23  But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee. 

Another thing David did was to ask God to keep a record of all these things.

We should know that God keeps a record of all our doings!

Psa 139:2  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 

David certainly did not realize that so many things of his life would be placed in the Bible for us all to read.

I am sure there are many things that he would rather not be made so public.

*****Psa 56:8  Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? 

Psa 56:9  When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

We can be sure that the Lord will not allow His enemies to get by with their evil deeds. His enemies are also our enemies!

There is no one upon the face of this earth that can escape the "judgment" of God!

We can be sure that the Lord is angry at those who cause harm to God's people, but it is a righteous anger.

God does see our pain!

We might ask ourselves, why would God display the life of David before us?

We are not very old before we learn that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.

Mat_5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Human life is described as a form of wandering and tears.

Life is represented is a scene of unending struggle. 

Life can be more than just wandering and tears!

We know that that are some pleasures in this life, such as a good marriage, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

The knowledge of God and our Savior makes this life a whole lot better and there are no words to describe our future life for eternity.

The same Bible that tells us of the sorrows of this life also tell us of the wonderful things that are going to happen after this life is over.

The Bible does speak of these problems David had in his life, but the Bible also keeps a very accurate record of all those things and I believe that it is true that God puts our tears in a bottle.

These things are told to us to show that our God is a caring God. He cares about us and what we are going through.

God may have placed the life of David in the Bible for us to see, but God keeps complete records of each and every one of us with Him at all times.

God knows what we are going through!

We may not understand why bad things happen to us, but the Lord promises to open our eyes to the truth once we get to Heaven and we will understand the reasons why.

Some of these things are a test of our faith and our patience.

Those who reject the Lord but have their own gods believe that we are supposed to suffer.

We must realize that even today, none of us have suffered as our Savior did to provide our means for salvation.

Almost the entire life of the Lord Jesus was filled with sorrow.

The Lord Jesus also shed tears, but He did not shed tears at His crucifixion! 

He shed tears for us!

The Lord Jesus Christ also sheds tears for those who do not believe Him!

As Christians, we must realize that we have enemies in this world and even enemies that we do not know about.

Our own government has placed us on the terrorist lists.

The white Christian has become the enemy because those true to the Lord will fight against abortion, will fight against the LBGTQ movement, and will fight against immorality of all kind.

The Lord is on our side.

The Lord sees our pain.

The key to success is faith in the truth of God!

The truth is when we suffer the Lord suffers with us.

God will never forget the suffering of His people!

Our tears surely are God's treasures.

Psa 126:5  They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 

Psa 126:6  He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 

We have so many things that we need to give God the praise for!

*****Psa 56:10  In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word. 

Some say, "just what is so important about the Bible"?

Let us first put it bluntly.

Pro 13:13  Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. 

Those that reject any part of the "Word of God" bring destruction upon themselves!

The unbeliever cannot escape his future tragedy unless they accept the Word of God as the truth of life!

The unbeliever cannot escape the truth of God by ignoring the Word of God or by despising the Word of God.

They will suffer throughout eternity for neglecting the Messiah who came to this earth to save them!

Pro 14:9  Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour. 

Those who choose to go their own way will end up in destruction!

Pro 14:12  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. 

What we see in this Psalm is that David's faith had conquered any fear that he had.

God gave us His Words so that we could know right from wrong!

As loving and merciful as God is, He will not tolerate disobedience!

The Word of God allows us to see the true meaning of righteousness and points to the fact that God will always be faithful to His Word!

When we give praise to the Word of God we are giving praise to Elohim the triune God.

When we give praise to the LORD we are praising "YAHWEH" (Jehovah) the great "I AM" of the Bible.

We know of many false gods and not a single one of them show the mercy and love that Jehovah shows to those who believe Him.

In this passage we see the government of Jehovah combined with the Elohim of our creation!

Only Elohim does whatever He wants to, anytime He wants to, and in any way that He wants to do it.

But it is only His mercy that brings His "grace" to those that believe Him!

We should be more like David here when he says in the attribute of the "Justice of God", I will praise His Word and in the attribute of the "Mercies of God" will I praise His Word.

It does not matter if we are suffering adversity or living in prosperity, whether we receive evil of good things at the hand of the Lord, we should praise Him because He is the Almighty Living God.

It is the Word of God that denotes the "Grace" and the "Goodness" of the covenant that God makes with us because of Jesus Christ!

*****Psa 56:11  In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. 

David knows his deliverance is forthcoming so he praises God in advance for this deliverance.

Since we know the promises of God, we should all do this!

Sometimes we forget to offer thanksgiving to our God. We take Him for granted.

It is our duty to offer thanksgiving to the Lord!

1Th 5:18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

It is our duty to pray with thanksgiving!

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

It is our duty to offer thanksgiving to God for our victory in Jesus.

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

It is our duty to thank God for His Word!

1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

As David was suffering in his misery and pleading with God for help, he was also praising God for the vows God has made to each believer.

The Lord has made certain promises to us about the things that cause us trouble.

Psa 50:14  Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: 

Psa 50:15  And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. 

*****Psa 56:12  Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee. 

When the Lord gives us victory then how can we not praise Him?

We must understand that because God is in control the things that happen to us then whatever comes to us must be included in the plan of God for us, and it will be good for us in the end.

This being true and it is, then we have no cause to fear the problems that come before us.

We must rest upon the promises of God and we must trust in God's timing.

We must offer sacrifices of praise to God consistently!

When we make vows to the Lord, we are creating debts that must be paid.

Many times when a serious problem comes before us, we will go to the Lord and make great promises to the Lord, if He will solve that issue before us, but when He has done what we ask Him to do, we forget to keep our promises which is the same as a vow.

David promised God that he would never forget.

David promised to be a vessel of praise especially in the worship services.

Since this thing happened to David while he was young, we can also see in the Book of Psalms and God used David to write so many of them.

We must never forget to give God the glory and the praise for the things we know He has done for us especially since God has delivered our soul from death.

*****Psa 56:13  For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? 

When we have genuine faith, we can certainly thank God even before He acts.

We can consider something done although it has not been done yet.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

For instance we know we are saved and the Lord has already built us a home in glory but He has not placed us in it yet.

We know the rapture is a true event, but it just has not taken place yet.

We know we are saved; we do not have to ask to be saved again.

We know we have been delivered; we do not have to ask God to be delivered again.

We know we are a child of God and we know that God puts His children first, we do not have to ask for the favors of the redeemed, they are already ours.

We are in the family of God.

As far as those vows are concerned, we should never make a promise that we cannot keep or we do not intend to keep.

Ecc 5:4  When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 

Ecc 5:5  Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 

Ecc 5:6  Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? 

God is faithful to us, even when we act foolishly or make unwise decisions.

When we walk in the wisdom of the Word of God which was given to us by God the Holy Spirit, we can avoid these mistakes that our flesh makes.

Even when we fail to follow the Lord, He is still faithful to us and He still keeps His promises to help us.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

When that path to escape comes, we need to take it simply because God provided it!

2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. 

God can only be God, He cannot be something He is not like we humans do.

It is simply not in His character and the more we learn about Him from the Book we call the Bible, which is actually the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the better we will know Him.

Joh_14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Amen

Wednesday, July 3, 2024

The Sweet Psalmist of Israel

 Seek the Lord

Book of Psalms Chapter 34

In Psalms 34 we have another psalm of David. We know that David wrote more of the Psalms than any other writer, keeping in mind that all Scripture is given to us by the Holy Spirit.

This psalm is another psalm that David wrote while he was fleeing from King Saul who was trying to kill David because Jehovah had selected David to be the next King of Israel.

We should understand that when the word "bless" is spoken in reference to the Lord's blessing to His people, it means the bestowing His loving kindness, His grace, His favor, and His mercy.

When the word "bless" is spoken in respect to our blessing the Lord, then it is much different.

We should ask ourselves how we can bless the God of all creation.

We must understand that all blessings are in the Lord Jesus Christ!

When Jesus Christ is not in your heart you cannot be a true blessing to anyone!

Jesus Christ is our blessedness!

We have nothing worthwhile to offer anyone if we cannot offer them an opportunity to meet Jesus Christ!

It is not enough to see the hand of Jesus Christ as He touches our lives with His mercy and His "grace", but Jesus Christ must be seen as that blessing sent from God!

Psa 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; 

Psa 31:8  And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room. 

David was a man of war all his days even though his heart belonged to Jehovah.

With his reputation it was hard for David to be a witness for the truth about Jehovah.

This is one of the reasons David was not allowed to build the first Temple and his son Solomon had to build it.

The one thing David had that most of us do not have was a talent to sing and make and play instruments of music and write songs.

The Lord Jesus Christ is certainly worthy of our praise just as Jehovah was in the time of David.

I believe David understood these things which is why he could write so many of the Psalms.

Let us begin:

Psa 34:1  A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

If you know the story of David then you have read of the day, he had foolishly showed himself mad in consequence of what he had heard the servants of Abimelech say. 

We will notice that Achish and Abimelech are one and the same king of the Philistines.

We should also note that this place called Gath was the home of Goliath and the family of Goliath and David was foolish to ask for help in this place.

When David realized this, he began to act like he had gone mad and Achish sent him away unharmed rather than kill him.

1Sa 21:13  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. 

1Sa 21:14  Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? 

1Sa 21:15  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? 

It was not this king of the Philistines that David needed it was Jehovah God whom David needed.

God had already done many important things for David therefore David declared that he would bless the name of the Lord all his days.

We are a blessing to the Lord when we worship Him with all our heart.

We cannot leave the Lord out of our lives and expect to have joy in this corrupt world.

I can tell you from the experience of missing the worship services I have missed these past few weeks, that there is only misery out in this world and joy comes only by the Lord Jesus Christ.

*****Psa 34:2  My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 

To be honest, how many of us understood about our soul until we met Jesus?

David began to realize that is praise and worship of the Lord would be noticed by those around him.

When David pick up his harp and began to praise and worship Jehovah there were many ears that heard his singing.

Just as we can find comfort in these same Psalms today, those that traveled with David could find comfort in his singing.

Remember those who were with David were those who were the outcasts of society.

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. 

There is nothing in this world that we owe our allegiance to other than our Savior!

Psa 5:11  But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. 

Psa 5:12  For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

It is far easier to lead someone to the Lord if you are joyful in your salvation.

It is easy to bless the Lord when everything is going our way.

We can also be a blessing to the Lord when we explain to Him all our troubles and have faith that He will solve those issues for us.

Faith is the key to our relationship with our Heavenly Father!

David was on the run from a government who was trying to kill him, but he knew that he must be a blessing to the Lord during those times also.

No matter what we are going through, it is not time to quit on God!

We do this if we have moved away from the Lord because we will have quenched the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

1Th 5:15  See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 

1Th 5:16  Rejoice evermore. 

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing. 

1Th 5:18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 

1Th 5:19  Quench not the Spirit.

Even on a difficult day we are never alone if we are a "Born Again" child of God!

Eph 5:20  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 

We are never to feel hopeless because we are never hopeless if we belong to Jesus Christ!

We are to be an encouragement to those around us at all times because we all need encouragement from time to time.

A joyful believer is a powerful tool in the hands of God!

A believer who is going through terrible things is also a powerful tool if they still show faith in the Living God.

*****Psa 34:3  O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. 

We may not be able to lead everyone we meet to the Lord so that they can be saved, but we can surely invite them to our place of worship so they will see others who worship the Lord and are a blessing to Him.

When we "magnify" the Lord we proclaim His greatness.

There are times we are to be alone when we bless the Lord and there is nothing wrong with this.

The Lord tells us to get in our closet so we can meet face to face with Him.

The truth is that God's praises just sound best when those praises are in concert with others!

We should understand that David was no longer welcome to worship in the Tabernacle.

If David wanted to worship in concert with others, then he would have to be the example in the Cave at Adullam with many who did not know the Lord but there were probably some that did.

When David picked up his harp and bellowed out these Psalms that we have today, there were many others in that cave with him who could relate to his sorrows and learn the truth of Jehovah.

Most of these men were outlaws for one reason or another.

We must understand that the Lord wants us to gather in His name and worship Him in a congregation.

Heb_10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Those who do not see the "Day of the Lord" approaching are not concerned with our world today but those who do know that now is not the time to give up on the Lord should gather more often and not less often.

David was burdened down with all his fears because he had not given those fears to the Lord, but when he did, David found his Deliverer.

The same Deliverer we have today.

*****Psa 34:4  I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 

Just what is fear?

The Bible says that there is only one creature that was made that had no fear.

Job 41:33  Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.

This verse is speaking of the Leviathan.

All others are afraid of something in this world from time to time.

David admits to his fears.

Our fears come from a conscious sense that we are sinners.

We should understand that David had already faced a lion and defeated it.

David had already faced a bear and defeated it.

David had already faced Goliath and defeated him.

David had done these things before the age of twenty.

At this time David was fleeing for life from an unstable king and a government trying to destroy him because it did not want David to be king.

This sounds familiar to what we are seeing today in our own nation and our own government.

We would not think of David as a man full of fears, yet he professed he had more than one fear to the Lord.

If we belong to the Lord there is nothing in this world that we should fear!

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 

If we have these fears then we certainly need to talk to the Lord.

*****Psa 34:5  They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. 

Psa 34:6  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 

The very first thing we must do, is to take our eyes off the fears of this world and look to Jesus.

The Lord Jesus said: Joh_8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

David began to realize that he was not in a hopeless situation when he put his faith in Jehovah.

Eyes that were darkened with doom did suddenly sparkle with new courage, hope, and joy.

It is called seeing the Light of Jesus.

Those in that cave with David could also see these things in David. 

Our life and our actions are our greatest witness to the life of a Christian.

David had never known the shame of defeat and he would not feel that shame as long as he depended upon God.

Today, when we depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ to lead us, He will always lead us to victory.

The Lord Jesus will never lead us to a defeated life.

1Co_15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are only two things that can happen when we call upon the Lord in our fears.

1) He will just remove that obstacle in our path.

2) He will go with us every step of the way. We never have to face our fears alone!

David wanted those with him to know that there was no mistake to who deserved the credit for our victories.

We do not have it in us to be victorious over the things of this world!

Victory can only come if we cry out to the Lord and place our faith in Him!

It is only by the faithfulness and the power of the Almighty God that we can have victory and live in victory throughout eternity.

We are all poor unless we know the riches of a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

All those in that cave with David could relate to the things David was singing about.

What is the truth?

*****Psa 34:7  The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 

All throughout the Old Testament we read about the "Angel of the Lord". In fact, fifty-six times we can see this exact phrase.

This angel of the Lord is that being who appears as Jehovah's representative in His dealing with mankind until the time of Jesus Christ.

What was the job of this angel? He protects all those who have a reverent fear of Jehovah God.

He is like an army encamping around each believer.

He was in fact the Captain of the angelic host.

Jos 5:13  And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 

Jos 5:14  And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 

Jos 5:15  And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

This Captain of the LORD's host can be no other than the Lord Jesus Christ because no angel will allow us to worship them but Lucifer and this is not Lucifer. There is not one thing holy about Lucifer!

We know that the omnipotent Son of God can immediately and single-handedly overcome all our enemies.

The truth is that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ does supernaturally protect all those who have that reverent fear of Him.

There is an angel near us at all times!

The Lord is always willing and able to help us!

Psa 9:10  And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. 

*****Psa 34:8  O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 

What is the first step to a blessing from God? Simply trust in Him.

There is no other way of really knowing how good, Good is!

It is like the Word of God. We are not to sample part of the Word of God and just keep the part we like.

We cannot just sample God's goodness!

In reality we are to take every action necessary to receive all that God promises to all those who trust Him.

To trust the Lord is to accept all of Him. 

To reject any part of the Lord is to accept none of Him.

When we study the Word of God, we will see that God is truly good!

To trust is to run to the Lord for the protection that can come from nowhere else.

What is the next step to a blessing from God?

*****Psa 34:9  O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. 

We must have a reverent fear of God but we must also have a godly fear. 

After all He is all powerful and it is only, He who can supply our wants.

We must have a sense of gratitude for what the Lord has already done for us.

When we accept the salvation gift from the Lord, we must know that we are just getting started in a life that is close to God.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Php_3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

There is nothing in our past life that is worth clinging too.

We have seen in this lesson that these words of David, applied to David and all of Israel, but they also apply to every Christian today.

Salvation and life eternal are the greatest gifts that the Lord can offer to us, but these thing are just the beginning of the blessings that the Lord promises to all those who trust Him.

Faith is still the key to our life long relationship with our Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ!

*****Psa 34:10  The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. 

The mother and father of that cub did provide all things necessary for the early life of that lion cub.

Those cubs will reach a point when those parents will quit providing for that cub and they will have to provide for themselves and many days they will go hungry until they become proficient to provide for themselves.

Even the strongest lion will suffer and want for a time and maybe many times.

This is true for all the animal world, but this is not true for all of us who seek to get closer to the Lord.

This is a powerful statement. “they that seek the Lord shall not want for any good thing."

1) God does not provide bad things. Those come from Satan.

2) Those that seek the Lord shall not want for any good thing. Those good things that the Lord has approved as good for us.

When we see the word Lord in all capital letters we know this is YAHWEH, Jehovah the absolute God of all creation.

Exo 3:13  And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 

Exo 3:14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. 

Exo 3:15  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 

As David found the right place in the cave of Adullam, he would sing these Psalms with all his heart and all those near to him would listen for they were as near death as was David.

Just as they found the words of these Psalms to be comforting, so can we here today.

If we truly wish to taste the goodness of the Lord ourselves then we must trust Him including all the words He has given to us.

It is the atoning blood of Jesus Christ that will keep us from seeing the wrath of this powerful, Almighty God.

It is this same Lord who will carry us through the storms of this life we live today.

We must also understand that we have greater needs than food, shelter, and clothing.

Only the Lord knows our needs and our deepest needs are spiritual.

When we have the gift of salvation provided for us by the Lord Jesus Christ, we also have a relationship with God the Father and when we have God, we have all we need.

2Co_3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

David became the most beloved King of Israel and David's rag tag bunch of outlaws became a mighty army because of the sweet Psalmist of Israel.

2Sa_23:1  Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

It will remain the same for the Church today if we continue to seek the Lord Jesus Christ!

Amen