Introduction

The computer's swallowed grandma, Yes' honestly' its true. She pressed 'control' and 'enter' And disappeared from view. Its devoured her completely The thought just makes me squirm. Maybe she's caught a virus Or been eaten by a worm. I've searched through the recycle bin And files of every kind. I've even used the Internet But nothing did I find. In desperation I asked Jeeves My searches to refine. The reply from him was negative Not a thing was found 'online'. So, if inside your 'In Box' My Grandma you should see. Please 'Scan', 'Copy' and 'Paste' her In an e-mail back to me.

The title of our Psalm goes like this, "To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave."

Now there are a couple of words which escape our comprehension

Altaschith

And Michtam

Lets see just what these words mean

First, Altaschith

Spurgeon says, "DESTROY NOT"

He also says, "So glad a song as this becomes ere it closes, should be in the keeping of the most skilled of all the temple minstrels."

Second, Michtam, This word occurs in the titles of six psalms (16,56-60), all of which are ascribed to David. The marginal reading of your Authorized Version is "a golden psalm," while in the Geneva version it is described as "a certain tune." From the position which it occupies in the title we may infer that michtam is a term applied to these psalms to denote their musical character, but beyond this everything is obscure.

We have to remember that David came upon King Saul in a cave. He could have killed Saul, but as David said, Saul was God’s anointed and David would not kill him. However, David cut off the corner of Saul’s robe and took his sword. Later, David repented and apologized to Saul.

It appears that David wrote this Psalm after that event.

And so, lets look at the Psalm and see what is good for our faith and life.

Psalm 51:1

Body

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.

Some say that the repetition, be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me is indicative of great distress.

Such distress that David cries out for mercy as one who is drowning cries out help, help

Tommy Smothers tells of the time he fell into the vat of chocolate. And his brother, little Dicky Smothers, asks, "Tommy, what did you do when you fell into the vat of chocolate?" Tommy replies, "well, I yelled, FIRE!" To which his brother answers and says, "Why did you yell fire, there was no fire? And Tommy answers, "Because nobody would come if he yelled, CHOCOLATE!"

A little off the subject, but, we cry out when we need help, HELP, FIRE, CHOCOLATE!

And so, David cries out to God, Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!"

Come speedily to my defense

David cries for mercy because he has placed his faith and trust in the Lord

The expression, "And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge," we see a common idea, a chick taking refuge beneath the wing of the mother hen.

In Luke 13:34, Jesus uses the same idea, the same metaphor

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

Except that David is confessing his faith in God’s protection

That David’s God was a Jesus, wanting to shelter the chick under His wing

In this first verse of Psalm 57, we have, in the last clause, a word that is in italics in the King James and New King James Bibles

That means that word is not there in the original Hebrew

And so, rightly that last part of this verse should read, "And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until calamities have passed by."

Now I am not a Hebrew scholar, but it seems to me that leaving the italicized word, these, out gives the impression of an even greater expression of faith

Until all the calamities of life have passed.

Calamities:

War

Pestilence

Privations

Sin

Death

The curse of a broken law

There is a refuge from these calamities

In God

Specially in the mercy of God

There is flying to that refuge

By faith; My soul trusteth in thee; Under the shadow of Thy wing

By prayer

Here is continuance both in faith and prayer

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.

Now, lets go on to the next verse

Prayer

I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.

Prayer to the performing God

Unlike idols of gold or wood that can do nothing themselves, David’s God is quick and powerful

He performs all his promises, all my salvation, all my preservation, all needed between here and heaven

Here he reveals his omnipotence, his grace, his faithfulness, his immutability; and we are bound to show our faith, patience, joy, and gratitude.

I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.

Now, moving on to the 3^rd verse

The saints comfort in adversity  

He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

We cannot doubt that in this third verse, David is given the prophetic word

He will send from heaven and save

Jesus Christ was sent to seek and to save that which was lost

God sent forth His mercy, His love, in the person of the divine Son

God has sent forth His truth

Both the written word

And the living Word

But, back to David himself, Listen to the words of faith, He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

Notice, He shall or He will, not He might, but its a sure thing God will send and save

God shall send

God will save me

God will reprimand those who oppress God’s people

And God shall send forth His mercy, that is loving kindness, that is agape love, God will do the very best for me regardless of the cost to Himself

Every Christian could, given the faith, say as much as David

He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

We are already saved

No matter what comes into our life, we can be sure God is in command

God will cause the situation to ease

Or He will grant us the grace to grown because of the situation

Or He will take us out of the situation

He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

Lets move on to verse 4 

The lions

My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men Who are set on fire, Whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.

Listen to this, my soul is among lions

Sounds very much like Daniel

Daniel spent the night in the presence of lions

In our case, Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:8 concerning the devil himself

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

In Scripture the lion symbolizes fierce unrestrained savagery

Picture Daniel sitting among starving lions

Picture the angel of the Lord holding the lions at bay

David characterizes his troubles as lions which would like to devour him

But, read the next verse

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Where did this come from?

From a full and confident heart

Just imagine the scene in Daniel 6:19-22 as the king discovered that Daniel lived after a night with the lions

Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions. {20} And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?" {21} Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever! {22} "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you."

David is able to sing God’s praise for the very same reason

The next verse is a continuation of the thoughts in verse 4

The pit they have dug

They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They have dug a pit before me; Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah

The pit the adversaries have dug will be their trap

"Judge not, that you be not judged. {2} "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

What has this got to do with our Psalm

God has ordained that we will always receive more of what we give

The good

And the not so good

Those who preach that God wants you rich and healthy have one thing right.

Give a little and get a lot

But, not necessarily in the coin of the realm

And not necessarily as soon as we would like

We cannot force God’s hand, but we can be assured of the eventual outcome of our actions

My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men Who are set on fire, Whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.

They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They have dug a pit before me; Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

And on to the verse 7 to verse 11

God is worthy of our praise

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. {8} Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. {9} I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. {10} For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds. {11} Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

No matter the circumstances, my heart is steadfast

Because my heart is steadfast I will sing and give praise

God is the God of music

To use any musical instrument is praise

We all use our voices as musical instruments

And we sing praises

The lute praises

The harp praises

The piano praises

The organ praises

The autoharp praises

The voice praises

One young man has decided that all kinds of music is God’s creation

So that all kinds of music is praise

Like so many things in this world, the god of this world, Satan, has perverted, art, sex, money

And so Satan has perverted music

But, we do not have to be stuck in the 19^th century in our church music

The old hymns are beautiful, filled with sound doctrine and witness

But, the newer music is pure praise and love

How can anyone go wrong singing Scripture

Our songs, old and new are praise

Just think of the songs we sang this morning

He Has made me Glad

This Is the Day

Bless His Holy Name

How Great Thou Art

My Tribute

To God Be the Glory

And I Will Sing of the Mercies

These are not the songs David sang, but if he had, how would he have sounded?

He would have sung with great gusto

He would have put his heart and soul into the songs

I remember the talking movie, the Jazz singer, about Al Jolson’s life. At one point in the movie, Al Jolson is singing a Jewish chant in the synagogue and one man makes a snide remark and the response from Jolson’s friend is, "This is a man singing to his God."

Just look at verses 9 - 11 again

I will praise You, O Lord

I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. {10} For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds. {11} Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Lets read Psalms 33:1

Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful.

Just look at the last verse of Psalm 52

I will praise You forever, Because You have done it; And in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.

Or Psalm 106:1

Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 147:1

Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

Looking back at our Psalm 57 passage, where is David going to praise the Lord?

Among the nations

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens

Let Your glory be above all the earth

And so, let us sing unto the Lord God of our Salvation