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Wednesday, 5/18: Deacons' Meeting, Old First Church, 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, 5/22: Business Meeting
From Pastor Burt:
Psalm 59 is in today's schedule of the M'Cheyne daily Bible reading that we follow at WellSpring Church. In the beginning of this Psalm, David expresses urgency to God that he would be delivered, protected, and saved from his enemies (v. 1-3). Later in the Psalm, David describes God's wisdom in allowing evil to flourish for a time (v. 11). Finally he worships and praises God, even though the deliverance has not yet been granted (v. 16-17). This Psalm makes a wonderful midweek connection to the emphasis of the sermon passage this last week (Luke 10:17-24) and the focus on the "Three Degrees of Joy."
Here are some applications from James M. Boice (Psalms, An Expositional Commentary, Volume 2, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996) 487-493.
1. "God is omniscient. He sees and knows all things. But this does not stop David from calling God's attention to the danger he is facing. ... Are you in danger? Tell God about it. Are you discouraged? It is not wrong to call it to God's attention. If you lack wisdom, he has promised to supply it. David's reminding God of his dangerous situation reminds us of the aged saint who, when people were threatening him, told God, 'God, your property is in danger.' He knew that he belonged to God and that God saw his problem, loved him, and was able to take care of him."
2. Speaking of the enemies who surround him David says, But do not kill them, O Lord our shield, or my people will forget (V. 11). "This says something important about evil and God's willingness to let evildoers survive for a time. For some this is an offense, even a reason for disbelieving in God: 'If there is a God, why would he permit such things to happen?' Here is the answer. God allows evil to flourish for a time to that we might learn from it. We can see that evil is short-lived. We can learn that sin carries the seeds of its own destruction in itself. We can know that judgment does come upon the wicked in the end. If God did not permit evil, we would never learn any of this and would not grow by it.
3. O my strength, I sing praise to you; you God are my fortress, my loving God (V. 17) "What has brought him a point of vigorous jubilation? The answer is in the slight variation...between verse 9 and 17. In verse 9 he is waiting on God, watching for his eventual deliverance. It is because he has been waiting and because God has provided encouragement, though not the expected deliverance, that David can sing... Do you lack joy? Is it hard for you to sing God's praises? If so, it is probably because you are not watching for God, are not looking to him. [See Habakkuk 2:1] Habakkuk...was waiting on his watchtower to see what God would say to him. Nothing changed outwardly for him, either. He was as much in danger and as much perplexed at the end of his prophecy as at the beginning. But Habakkuk was changed as a result of waiting upon God, and for that reason his short book ends with what we can only regard as singing.
Those are the words of one who has learned to wait on God and to trust him completely. They are words any Christian should be able to say. Alexander Maclaren says, 'Trust God as what he is, and trust him because of what he is, and see to it that your faith lays hold on the living God himself and on nothing besides.' If you do that, regardless of the circumstances that surround you...you will end up singing."
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