Psalm Chapter 13

shalom and welcome to via after israel a hebrew phrase which means you shall love israel we hope you'll stay with us for the next 30 minutes as our teacher dr baruch shares his expository teaching from the bible dr baruch is the senior lecturer at the zara avraham institute based in israel although all courses are taught in hebrew at the institute dr baruch is pleased to share this weekly address in english to find out more about our work in israel please visit us on the web at loveisreal.org that's one word love israel.org now here's baruch with today's lesson we know that our god is a faithful god but there are times when we do not sense his presence with us that is to say that we cannot discern his activity he seems distant he does not seem to be watching over us moving doing the things that we would expect for him to do for his faithful followers and this is exactly what king david is experiencing and we're going to learn an important lesson a biblical principle for how we should think and what we should do when god seems far away from us well with that said take out your bible and look with me to the book of psalms and now we're ready for psalm 13 the book of psalms and psalm 13. now we see here in the opening inscription what's in hebrew the first verse where it says to the chief music director the choir director the leader of the worship when this psalm is recited it says to the chief music director a psalm of david now this inscription is not highly informative other than to inform us that david once again is the author and let me emphasize that as we read this psalm david is going through a difficult time both spiritually and physically david is under attack from enemies and he fills alone he feels as though god has abandoned him he does not sense god's power god's presence god's blessing in his life and he's confused by that and he shares that very much in a transparent way but when david concludes this psalm we're going to see the principle that we need to base our life upon so look with me as we continue in verse 2 of the hebrew text where it says and there's going to be a phrase and it's an idiom that is going to repeat many times it is going to introduce many different sentences and in hebrew it's ad anna probably the best way to understand that in english and remember it is an idiom which means until when now there is a another hebrew idiom ad and normally what the sages of judaism tell us that admittae is a cry for the the messianic work of messiah to take place to establish the kingdom but perhaps here this similar but different hebrew expression ad ana has to do with god moving not necessarily to establish his kingdom not sending his messiah but simply sustaining his people in the midst of this present day reality that we are living in a fallen world and there are many who stand in opposition to the truth and the purposes of god and because of that we find ourself being attacked we find ourselves enemies that want to harm us and to hinder what we are doing for for god and this is what david is saying look again at this next verse he says unto when o lord will you forget me and the last word is nesach nesach is a word for ever and in this context it's probably would be best translated as how long oh lord will you forget me continually david sees and this tells us that this is not just a moment in time something that david's going through temporarily but this is something this word tells us that david feels as though he's been going through this for a long period of time not just a matter of days or weeks or a month or two but much longer than this that he feels alone that he's not experiencing god's provision god's insight god's illumination and he feels alone and here's the key david is feeling desperate desperate for god to manifest himself in his situation so he simply says how long o lord until when are you going to continuously forget me second part of this verse it begins again with that same expression odd ana until when and notice what he says here will you hide your face from me now again this is an another idiom when god hides his face it is a removal this is how david perceives it this is based upon what david is experiencing that god's presence is removed but normally when one beholds the face of god that is an idiom that that conveys blessing so david is saying here i feel alone i do not know your provision i'm not experiencing your activity in my life and there's an absence of blessing david is not experiencing a blessed life quite the contrary it is as though god has willfully concealed his faith meaning face meaning removed blessings will not bless david and does this mean that david necessarily is in disobedience quite the contrary many see this as a time and we don't know this for sure but when david is experiencing loneliness having fled from shaol that is saul now nothing in the text tells us other than david has a primary enemy and he also has secondary enemies we'll see this in a moment but nevertheless david phil's abandoned alone empty of god's provision and as though god has removed his blessings from david's life so he says until when how long will you conceal or hide your face idiom for blessings from me next verse again begins with that expression odd ana until when and here again this is full of idioms it literally says that i will place counsels in the plural in my soul now what does that mean well almost all the commentators see this as david taking counsel within himself meaning going over and over in his mind his situation why is he suffering this way why is he going through these things and why is he doing it alone he does not have counsel from god he is alone empty and confused spiritually therefore he's simply going over and over in his mind what's why is this happening what am i going through what's the purpose of this so he says how long until when and the idea here am i forced to simply go through this handle this on my own and what is he experiencing well notice this next word yagon yagon probably one of the most frequent ways that it's translated is with the word sorrow but this also is a word that not only speaks about sorrow but a sorrow that wears someone down in other words david feels as though he's at a breaking point and notice what it says we read it in hebrew yagon this sorrow intense sorrow bill vavi yomam which means this intense sorrow is in my heart and the next word means each and every day there's no change sorrow from sorrow to sorrow to sorrow it fills his heart and remember biblically a heart is is what we think with as a man thinketh with his heart so david is saying i can't stop thinking about the sorrow that fills my life day in and day out and again we need to remember that key word netzach which means not just day in and day out out for a short period of time but this is something that david has experienced for a long and extended period of time now david we know that he is the lord's anointed god has given him an awesome position of leadership and responsibility and now david having done we see no issue of there's sin in some way in his life that he's being called to repent from and that's the problem the text doesn't say that it's not an issue of david in disobedience but rather david is suffering and perhaps for righteousness it's because david has said yes to god i will be used by you i am committed to your purposes i'm going to stand for your truth and i'm going to do your will and it's because of that that david is having this this unleashing of sorrow suffering despair emptiness and feeling totally alone or abandoned from god now this is a very intense and short but a very intense psalm look on to verse 4 in the hebrew text word says ha beta now this is a word to look upon something but we have a couple different words in hebrew we have the word lerot which means to see the word list the hell to look upon and la bit is a word which means to gaze upon something and usually that word implies more intensely it's to look with scrutinizing looking with an expectation to discern something so david is making this prayer and he's saying god i want you to look intensely upon my life i want you to know my situation so it implies here that david is saying examine me god and move in response to my situation now it's in the imperative and when we make an imperative which is the the grammatical destiny designation for a command but when it's in regard to god it is a request with with great sincerity and seriousness so he says look and i wrote down as i was doing research and studying other of the rabbinical commentators it says here how to understand this tit bo nen bei matsavi which means to pay close attention to my situation that's what david's requesting urgently from god so he says look and then he says aneni now this is a word and i'm amazed i believe the new american standard and the king james says hear but it's not the word here it is a word for a response so david is saying look upon my life my situation examine me thoroughly and then respond answer my situation he wants a response from god now we learned something very important in this this verse we are all in need of god's activity in our life we need god to move to help and to respond to our situation that is the best thing that we can hope for what we should be looking towards a response from god and that's what david is saying respond answer this request that i'm making he says oh lord my god and i would underscore underline and what's interesting this this nuance that i'm going to be speaking about is seen with just one letter in the hebrew text and that letter shows a a it's a possessive pronoun what does that mean simply the word in english my david is affirming that the lord meaning that lord god of israel is his god he says o lord my god now why is that so important well it's important because this extended period of sorrow trouble anxiety pressure attacks and we're coming to this from the enemy despite all of this and david feeling alone and abandoned absent of god's provision absent of his blessing nevertheless that has not changed and here's the key david's covenantal commitment to god see david is not saying you are my god if you do one two and 3. if you respond in this fashion no david is not even telling god how to respond he simply wants god's activity in his life that's what he's longing for to experience to perceive to see the effects of god's moving in his life so he simply says look intensely at my life pay strong attention to what's going on and god respond he doesn't tell him how to respond but just move be part of my life and he's basing that upon his covenantal commitment where he says o lord my god david's allegiance david's commitment to the god of israel is not based upon god's response what god's going to do god's blessing it's based upon who god is so he says look and respond o lord my god and then he says something else look at the next part of this verse the subject is my eyes the eyes of david and that next word this is a word for illumination what he's saying here when he cries out what he's crying out for is illumination david wants to understand what he's going through what's happening and he wants to understand it based upon god's illumination in other words david is saying give to me your perspective i want to see things understand things from your vantage point now this affirms something that what david is going through there's a purpose a divine purpose god has a plan god has a reason for david in this situation and let's make it personal we all go through difficult times sometimes those difficulties are short a few hours a few days a week month but other times they are extended far beyond a few months maybe a year a couple years or even longer a person can have a strong desire for something wanting a spouse wanting a child and that might be something that they have wanted for decades and they come to the conclusion i'm not going to probably get married i'm not going to have a child of my own i've moved past that time i'm not going to achieve this dream i'm not going to accomplish this objective and then in times like that instead of giving up we need to as always seek god to give us illumination his perspective there's a reason for it now if we're blessed we'll learn that reason but sometimes we won't learn that on this side of heaven but nevertheless god is still god he's the lord and he's got a purpose for it so david says nevertheless and this is a wise prayer to make god give me your perspective he says my eyes illuminate why lest i sleep the death now it's interesting because we see here and this is important for other purposes other theological studies but we need to see that biblically there is a connection between sleep and literal death and the reason for that is and i've mentioned this before but but it's so difficult for some people to see this biblical truth and that is this frequently in the scriptures the bible likens death literally death to sleep and it's not in any way speaking about a false doctrine of soul sleep nowhere in the scripture do we see that in fact every time a dead person is is referenced in the scripture they speak they have awareness so when we look for example of of samuel having died and saul speaking whether this is a a false representative of samuel or not there is communication we see as well in in the book of luke we see that conversation between abraham and the rich man that there's speaking there's communication in no way is this a parable it's seen as a narrative so we don't see anything in the scripture speaking about someone dying and being in a state of comatose and not knowing anything and just sleeping we don't see that so here when it says i sleep the death meaning this david is saying something he's saying death what the scripture affirms over and over is like sleep in the sense of this you lay down to sleep there's an expectation that you'll rise up the next day and in that same way when sleep is likened to death in the scripture it's to encourage the reader that that death is not the end we should expect to rise up we should expect a resurrection which means a kingdom the kingdom of god will be established so what david is saying is this he says i have no doubt whatsoever about a kingdom reality but his prayer is not for the kingdom his prayers for this world david wants god to move god to respond god to give him illumination understanding his perspective so that david can live fruitfully can live obediently can live victoriously in this age he doesn't want to die and simply have a kingdom hope but he wants to be useful now and that's what he's saying if you don't respond if you don't move i'm going to die and that's going to end my my ministry in this world now sometimes that's god's will god wants to move us on that we have ended our our call here but david is saying this is not his his belief concerning his predicament at this time let's move on he says lest my enemy should say i have finished him i have brought him many david to his end so david in this verse tells us he's had a very desperate and difficult position in his life if god does not move if david doesn't have illumination if he doesn't know how to respond by god responding to him he is going to die and he says in light of that that is going to cause my enemy to to remark that i have brought david i have completed him i finished him up he says and my enemies so when we look here we have the word oyvi which is my enemy and then here we have the word sarai which would be a synonym for enemy maybe opponents those who are antagonistic towards david he says my opponents that they should be made to rejoice meaning it's all about them finishing me that's what they want they don't want me alive they don't want me taking the stand they don't want me doing these things and if i die if they are victorious in their objective to bring me to my end it is going to cause my opponents to rejoice because i will be and the idea here is moved it's a word for collapsing it's a word that that speaks about a change in location and when we put it in a different form it's just that to be made to collapse not being able to withstand the the attacks of the enemy and as i said this tells us david has opposition he has enemies and he is at a critical time in his life so what does he do well now let's move and in the hebrew text it's the last verse verse six and i would say it's the most important verse this is where the wisdom the the principle is found notice what what david says [Music] and this first word it's literally one letter in the biblical language it's the hebrew letter vav and mostly it's translated i and it's a conjunction so and but but oftentimes we need to understand it with the english word but in modern hebrew we would probably translate it with the word aval meaning but in contrast to what is david going to do in light of this well he's not going to change he's going to do what he always does and this is wisdom and advice for us he says but i in your grace i have trusted nothing's going to change him this is where david is saying i have confidence because i've made a right decision i've done the right thing i have put my trust in the grace of god and again god's grace yes it saves but god's grace has an anointing a power a purpose to bring about the will of god and i believe that david is convinced here that this is not his end his end has not come meaning he does not feel that he has completed god's purposes and therefore he says i have trusted in your grace and therefore he says my heart will rejoice in your salvation now again we saw this last week and we're seeing it this week there is a connection between grace and salvation how should we understand salvation in this case victory so through the grace of god it produces for a kingdom reality salvation that i'll enter into the kingdom of god that i'll have that eternal relationship with him but it also brings about a fulfillment of the will of god the purposes of god in my life so he says i find joy i will rejoice my my heart will rejoice in accomplishing your will that's what salvation is about and notice salvation how it leads one notice the end of of this this psalm ashira which is i will sing and everyone agrees this is a a word of worship i will sing unto the lord worship this situation this sorrow these sense of being abandoned by god and seeing the enemy overcoming david that's his situation doesn't stop david from what worshipping god and that is an important principle stand firm in the grace of god expect god to renew re-establish and position us and provide for us so that we can accomplish his purpose and in the midst of that waiting for that what do we do we worship god the enemy only has victory over you if he can get you to stop worshiping god it doesn't matter what goes on in your life no matter how bad perhaps and this isn't the case here with david but there are times when i fail i mess up i let god down and what does god want me to do at times like this worship him because god is worthy it is proper to worship him even in the midst of my failures god is still god he's still worthy of worship so don't let the enemy get you to say well god doesn't want to hear my worship i'm not in a spiritual situation where i can worship god that is false all you need to do confess sin and turn to god looking and receiving his grace and worship him that's what is a requirement to worship so he says i will sing to the lord for and this is a statement of faith for he and his word gamal gamal is a recopence it is a action that god has done and it's saying there david is saying for god has acted unto me now maybe not in this situation but he has in the past meaning he has brought me into a covenant relationship and because i'm in this and hear this if it's the new covenant through the blood of messiah it is an eternal covenant and here's a good news the good news is god maintains that covenant it is his responsibility read the book of jeremiah chapter 31 what jeremiah teaches about the new covenant it is an eternal covenant that god maintains and it's god's faithfulness and that's what david is saying here god you have been faithful you've established this covenant i'm with you i will worship you i will praise you i will sing to you because of what you have already done that you have acknowledged me you have redeemed me you have purchased me i belong to you that's what we need to remember that we are god's purchased possession and what did he pay the very blood of his only begotten son to redeem me and place me in a kingdom covenant an eternal covenant and as messiah says in the book of john no one no one can pluck us take us from the hand of god and that gives us assurance let me close with this i do not know why it is so hard for people to accept this assurance this eternal security what is in a person's mind that causes them to say you know what god yes he's made in a covenant with me yes he's given me eternal redemption yes he's given me eternal life but you know what i'm not so sure something might happen that that causes god to just let go god says he will never leave us nor forsake us and here's the message and perhaps one of the reasons why people have such poor theology in regard to this is this reason because they do not understand the covenant that god made with israel they have been wrongly taught that god has let go of israel cast them aside replaced them and therefore if you believe that you're going to have poor theology about the new covenant as well here's the conclusion in spite of what you may be going through and in spite of how long you may be going through it worship god rest in his grace allow that grace to work out god's will in your life praise him worship him and you're going to experience his salvation and when i say salvation here i'm speaking about victory in this world and victory in the kingdom of god being with him forever and ever i'll close with that shalom from israel well we hope you will benefit from today's message and share it with others please plan to join us each week at this time and on this channel for our broadcast of love israel.org again to find out more about us please visit our website love israel.org there you will find articles in numerous other lectures by baruch these teachings are in video form may download them or watch them in streaming video until next week may the lord bless you in our messiah yeshua that is jesus as you walk with him shalom from israel

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Length: 35min 43sec (2143 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 26 2020