Thursday
Evening Bible Study
June
8, 2017
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Target 3300 words
Video = 75 wpm
The English word psalm comes
from a Greek word that means “a poem sung to musical accompaniment”, or in
particular, “stringed instruments”.
The Hebrew name is tehillim,
which means “praises.”
The book of Psalms is the hymnbook
of God’s people.
It’s also the “Him” book as well.
It’s all about Jesus.
The writer of Hebrews quotes from
Psalm 40:8 when he writes,
(Hebrews 10:7 NKJV) Then I
said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the
volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”
The author was talking about Jesus.
We’re going to see a lot of Jesus
in the Psalms.
Soul Music
Music touches the soul. It’s
“soulish” in nature. It touches the emotions.
We’re going to find every kind of
emotion possible expressed in the Psalms.
For every sigh there is a Psalm.
For most of us, this is what makes
the Psalms so wonderful. We can identify. We can relate.
If we were honest, even darkest
most depressing Psalms describe the very things we go through day by day.
It is my prayer that as we continue
on this journey through the Psalms, we won’t just look at these songs
academically, with our mind, but that we may also grow as worshippers.
Psalm 142 – Prison Break
: A Contemplation Of David. A Prayer When He Was in the Cave.
When He Was in the Cave
You could say that David was a “cave-man”.
He spent more than a little time living in caves.
Though David was a little more complicated than the Caveman in the Geico commercials.
When David first began to be hassled by King Saul, he fled to a cave.
(1 Samuel 22:1–2
NKJV) —1 David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of
Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they
went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in
debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became
captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.
Notice the type of people characterized by cave-living:
Distress, debt, discontented.
A little later, David was still on the run from Saul.
(1 Samuel 24:1–3
NKJV) —1 Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the
Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the
Wilderness of En Gedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went
to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 So he came
to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in
to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the
cave.)
This was one of those times David had an opportunity to kill King Saul, but
he wouldn’t do it.
The cave was a place where hatred and murder were cultivated, but David
didn’t give in.
Caves were difficult times for David.
God was in the process of molding David’s character.
:1 I cry out to the Lord with
my voice; With my voice to the Lord
I make my supplication.
:2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble.
:2 I pour out my complaint before Him
complaint – siyach –
meditation, complaint, musing
Lesson
Talk it out
Our Psalm introduction fellow has regularly reminded us:
“And when you can’t praise, cry out to God, in honesty. Yell at Him if you have to. But just keep talking, and keep listening. Let the conversation go on.”
This is one of those psalms.
God already knows the trouble I’m in.
(Psalm 139:2–3 NLT)
—2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even
when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know
everything I do.
Prayer is not about informing God on what’s happening down
here.
Pouring out our complaints isn’t the same as complaining, like when the
people ran out of water in the wilderness…
(Exodus 17:2–3 NLT)
—2 So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to
drink!” they demanded. “Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against
me? And why are you testing the Lord?”
3 But
tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us
out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with
thirst?”
Complaining about God displays a lack of trust.
It says I don’t think He knows what He’s doing.
Pouring out our complaint before God is about letting God
know what I’m struggling with, but coming to Him for help, not to gripe.
:3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then You knew my path. In the
way in which I walk They have secretly set a snare for me.
:4 Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who
acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.
:4 No one cares for my soul
Lesson
Alone
This is what the cave feels like.
This is what prison feels like
You might feel like nobody cares about you, and whether that’s actually
true or not, you still feel that way.
Elijah felt like this when he was running from Jezebel and hid in a cave.
(1 Kings 19:10
NKJV) So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of
Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your
prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
Of course Elijah wasn’t alone, and God reminded him there
were 5,000 others like him.
At the end of his life, Paul experienced some of this. Writing to Timothy from prison he says,
(2 Timothy 4:9–18
NKJV) —9 Be diligent to come to me quickly; 10 for Demas has forsaken me, having
loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for
Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is
useful to me for ministry. 12 And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.
Some had left Paul for bad reasons, like Demas being too
much in love with this present world.
Others weren’t with Paul because he had sent them
somewhere.
13 Bring the
cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas when you come—and the books, especially
the parchments.
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him
according to his works. 15 You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words. 16 At my first
defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against
them. 17 But the Lord
stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully
through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered
out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me
for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!
Even though Paul felt abandoned at the moment, he knew
that the Lord was with him and would deliver him one way or the other.
:5 I cried out to You, O Lord:
I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.
:6 Attend to my cry, For I am brought very low; Deliver me from my
persecutors, For they are stronger than I.
:7 Bring my soul out of prison, That I may praise Your name; The righteous
shall surround me, For You shall deal bountifully with me.”
:7 Bring my soul out of prison
soul – nephesh – soul,
self, life, emotion, passion
Your body or circumstances may be in prison, but your soul doesn’t have to
be.
Your body may be sick or in pain, but your soul can find peace with God.
Your body may be in a financial hardship, but your soul doesn’t have to be
trapped in the same way.
Lesson
Prison break
Based on a true story, the movie “The Great Escape” is about WWII Allied
prisoners of war and their attempts at escaping German prison camps.
It’s a parable about getting out of the prisons we make
for our souls.
David gets out of his soul-prison by crying out to and trusting in God.
Hebrews 11 is a list of “who’s who” among those who trusted in God.
It’s also a list of men and women who endured great difficulties because
they trusted God.
God brought their “soul” out of prison.
(Hebrews 11:32–40
NKJV) —32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of
Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and
the prophets: 33
who
through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out
of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the
armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were
tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better
resurrection. 36
Still
others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and
imprisonment. 37
They
were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword.
They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted,
tormented—38 of whom the
world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens
and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did
not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not
be made perfect apart from us.
These Old Testament saints didn’t “receive the promise” of
knowing Jesus because He hadn’t been born yet.
Yet they made it through great difficulties because they
had “faith”, they trusted God.
Sometimes we’re afraid to trust God because we’ve had others let us down
before.
God’s best for us comes by way of trusting Him.
Psalm 143 – Overwhelmed
: A Psalm of David.
This psalm was written in a time of distress, some thinking written when he
was fleeing from his son Absalom.
David had a life that was filled with troubles – just like some of us.
:1 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
Give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, And in
Your righteousness.
:2 Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no one
living is righteous.
:2 in Your sight no one living is righteous
Apart from God’s help, we are all sinners.
Paul wrote,
(Romans 3:10–11 NKJV)
—10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is
none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.
(Romans 3:23 NKJV) for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This is why God would send His Son Jesus, to die and pay for our sins.
(John 3:16 NLT) “For this is
how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
:3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the
ground; He has made me dwell in darkness, Like those who have long been dead.
:3 made me dwell in darkness
Just like the last psalm, David may be hinting at some of the times he has
spent hiding in caves, places where people are buried.
On one of our Israel trips, we visited a Beth She’arim, a “necropolis”, a
burial ground made up of a network of caves.
Let me take you into one of these caves that date to the 3rd
century AD.
:4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is
distressed.
:5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the
work of Your hands.
:6 I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a
thirsty land. Selah
:4 my spirit is overwhelmed within me
overwhelmed – ‘ataph – to
turn aside; to be feeble; (Hithpael) to faint, faint away
Lesson
Rx for depression
David shares several things he did when he was feeling overwhelmed.
1. Remember
He looks back to “days of old” (vs. 5).
It reminds me of what Jesus told the church in Ephesus to do because they
had left their first love.
(Revelation 2:4–5
NKJV) —4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left
your first love. 5
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first
works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its
place—unless you repent.
Jesus told them to remember where they’ve fallen from, where they’ve come
from.
David remembers the “old days”, the days when things were better. That’s not always a bad thing to do when
you’re trying to get out of a funk.
Perhaps David thought about how God helped him fight Goliath.
Jeremiah in dealing with his grief over Jerusalem’s destruction writes,
(Lamentations
3:21–23 NKJV) —21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. 22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His
compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
2. Meditate
meditate – hagah
– to moan, muse, mutter, meditate
He meditates on what God has done (“all Your works” v.5)
David could be thinking about things that God has done for others in the
past.
Throughout the Psalms we’ve seen song after song reminding the Jews of
their rich history of how God has delivered them, whether it’s their
deliverance from slavery in Egypt, or God’s help when they conquered the
Promised Land.
It’s one reason why you and I ought to be reading through the whole Bible
on a regular basis.
In our through-the-Bible reading schedule we’ve been reading about the
prophet Elisha, an amazing man.
In 2Kings 8, Elisha’s servant Gehazi is with the King of
Israel.
(2
Kings 8:4–5 NKJV) —4 Then the king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God,
saying, “Tell me, please, all the great things Elisha has done.” 5 Now it
happened, as he was telling the king how he had restored the dead to life, that
there was the woman whose son he had restored to life, appealing to the king
for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is
the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”
It’s good for us to meditate on what God has done in the
past for others.
3. Muse
muse – siyach
– to put forth, mediate, muse, ponder, sing
The word has a very similar in meaning to “meditate”.
David muses on the “work of Your hands”, perhaps talking about God’s
creation.
(Psalm 19:1 NKJV) The
heavens declare the glory of God; And the
firmament shows His handiwork.
(Psalm 8:3–4 NKJV)
—3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and
the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son
of man that You visit him?
Sometimes we need to be reminded about just how big God is in creating this
universe.
He’s not just the Creator, He’s YOUR God.
4. Pray
David stretches out his hands in prayer to God. (v.6)
(Philippians 4:6–7
NKJV) —6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the
peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.
If you precede your prayer time with remembering, meditating, and musing,
perhaps it might be a little easier to receive God’s peace in your time of
trouble.
David is now going to share the content of his prayer time with us. I’m going to pick out seven of his
requests. You could make a point that he
asks for nine things, but some of them overlap.
:7 Answer me speedily, O Lord;
My spirit fails! Do not hide Your face from me, Lest I be like those who go
down into the pit.
:7 Answer me speedily
(Psalm 143:7 NLT) Come
quickly, Lord, and answer me, for
my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die.
Petition #1
Hear me
David is asking God to listen to his prayer.
There is something that can block God from “hearing” our prayers.
(Psalm 66:18 NKJV) If I regard
iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
I need to deal with my sin, to confess it before God.
:7 Do not hide Your face
Petition #2
God’s face
It reminds me of Aaron’s blessing:
(Numbers 6:24–26
NKJV) —24 “The Lord bless you
and keep you; 25
The
Lord make His face shine upon
you, And be
gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His
countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
We don’t want God turning His face away from us, but looking to us with
mercy and compassion.
God’s “face” speaks of His presence.
In both Hebrew and Greek, sometimes the phrase “before” is actually a
translation of “face”, to be “before” someone is to be in front of their “face”,
in their presence.
We want to be in God’s presence.
:8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I
trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul
to You.
:8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness
Petition #3
Mercy
lovingkindness – checed –
goodness, kindness, faithfulness
This is God’s mercy.
Sometimes it’s hard to hear the things we need to hear.
When Moses went to free the people from Egypt, things were so hard for the
people that they had a hard time hearing the things that Moses was saying.
(Exodus
6:9 NLT) So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had
become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.
David wants to receive God’s mercy.
He doesn’t want to miss whatever God would say.
:8 Cause me to know the way
Petition #4
Direction
David wants to know what God’s will is for him.
Sometimes we get consumed by wanting to make sure that God knows what OUR
will is.
God would rather that we know what His will is.
Jesus prayed,
(Luke
22:42 NKJV) saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me;
nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
:9 Deliver me, O Lord, from
my enemies; In You I take shelter.
:9 Deliver me, O Lord
Petition #5
Deliverance
David wants God to take care of his enemies and the situation.
He will ask in verse 12 for God to “cut off” his enemies and destroy them.
This is probably the thing driving David’s problem in the first place.
But notice all the other things he’s prayed first.
I tend to pray for deliverance first, and then neglect all the other
things.
:10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is
good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
:10 Teach me to do Your will
Petition #6
Obedience
David isn’t just asking God to show him what His will is, He wants God to
teach him how to do it.
(James 1:19–25 NLT)
—19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be
quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger
does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil
in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for
it has the power to save your souls. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.
Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and
don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see
yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you
look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it
says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
The blessings of God’s will don’t come by knowing God’s will, but in doing
it.
:11 Revive me, O Lord, for
Your name’s sake! For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
:12 In Your mercy cut off my enemies, And destroy all those who afflict my
soul; For I am Your servant.
:11 Revive me, O Lord
Revive – chayah – (Piel)
to preserve alive, let live; to give life; refresh
Petition #7
Refresh
We often think of “revival” as being some sort of hyped up church service.
In our passage, David has felt like he’s living in a cave, in a
necropolis.
That’s what it’s like to feel overwhelmed, isn’t it?
David asks God to give him new life.
Psalm 85 talks about a different kind of revival, one characterized by:
(Psalm 85:10 NKJV) Mercy and
truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.
Mercy and peace are qualities we long for.
Truth and righteousness are a little harder.
Yet real refreshing requires that we see all four come
into play in our lives.
I need to learn the truth about myself and the situations.
I need to walk in the ways of righteousness.
Then I receive mercy and peace.