Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey there, and welcome to another Prayer through
Speaker 1: the Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I
Speaker 1: am Jamie, and today we get to talk about and
Speaker 1: pray through Psalm sixty six zero. And before we do,
Speaker 1: as always, let's get started with some prayer. I'm just
Speaker 1: definitely feeling a little bit scattered, and life circumstances for
Speaker 1: me have changed a little bit. I've actually been starting
Speaker 1: training for like a practitioner training that I'm going to
Speaker 1: be doing for kind of a career shift, and so
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff is going on that has my
Speaker 1: brain pretty much like not just swirling, but kind of mush.
Speaker 1: So I would love for us to just take some time.
Speaker 1: I am certain that you have your own things going on.
Speaker 1: This is spring, so this is kind of just a
Speaker 1: crazy time for everybody. If you have kids in school,
Speaker 1: it's kind of wild because you've got lots of end
Speaker 1: of year things happening. Sports are probably shifting and transitioning,
Speaker 1: and if you're not, Spring is just kind of a
Speaker 1: busy time. We've got, like, you know, a lot more
Speaker 1: stuff going on because the weather could be maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit better than it has been, and maybe you're
Speaker 1: starting to make summer plans. But whatever you're doing today,
Speaker 1: whatever is swirling around in your brain, My hope in
Speaker 1: my prayer is that we can take this moment and
Speaker 1: just regroup and kind of dedicate this time to God.
Speaker 1: And I haven't done confession in a long time, so
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a little time of confession for
Speaker 1: us also because I've been missing that too. Let's pray, Lord, God,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. For seasons, things would get kind
Speaker 1: of stale and we would probably end up just going
Speaker 1: through the motions. If we didn't have seasons to shake
Speaker 1: things up, if we didn't have weather changes, or if
Speaker 1: we didn't have activity changes and shifts, if our families
Speaker 1: never changed, if our kids never got older, if our
Speaker 1: friendships weren't fluid, if our church lives didn't shift and
Speaker 1: ebb and flow, and our prayer lives do the same.
Speaker 1: We just pray that instead of fighting against seasons, you
Speaker 1: would help us to really just go with the flow,
Speaker 1: that we would be able to ride the wave of
Speaker 1: the seasons we're in and do it with grace and
Speaker 1: with confidence, knowing that you are in them and that
Speaker 1: you are equipping us even as we go. That we
Speaker 1: don't have to worry that we won't be able to
Speaker 1: handle the things coming up or that we haven't done
Speaker 1: well the things that are in front of us, because
Speaker 1: we have you, and you can help us course correct,
Speaker 1: You can help us assess our schedules, all of the
Speaker 1: things that don't seem spiritual, like scheduling and work and
Speaker 1: decision making and all of the things that just seem
Speaker 1: very practical and methodical. When we invite you in to
Speaker 1: those things, when we invite you into our seasons, you
Speaker 1: are faithful to guide us and to direct us. And
Speaker 1: we just thank you for that, thank you for that relationship.
Speaker 1: As we come into your throne room, Lord, as we
Speaker 1: come to read your Holy Word and meditate on it,
Speaker 1: and as we come to meet with you, we just
Speaker 1: pray that you would help us to shed any baggage
Speaker 1: we're carrying, and that includes sinful thoughts, words, attitudes, actions
Speaker 1: that we've done or held, or are holding or are doing.
Speaker 1: And we just pray that at this moment, that just
Speaker 1: during this minute or so of silence, that your Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit would really search us, that your Holy Spirit would
Speaker 1: draw out things that aren't immediately visible to us that
Speaker 1: are sinful, and that as we wait and we just
Speaker 1: listen for you, that the things that come to mind
Speaker 1: easily would just be things that we could write down
Speaker 1: and set aside, and that the things that don't come
Speaker 1: to mind easily, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would dredge
Speaker 1: them up, and like that refining process of silver that
Speaker 1: you describe in scripture, that that dross would just precipitate
Speaker 1: out and rise to the top so it can be skimmed.
Speaker 1: Not for us to wallow in self pity or self
Speaker 1: deprecation or hopelessness, but so we could be free, so
Speaker 1: we could walk out of here lighter than we came in,
Speaker 1: because that is a gift, a gift because of the
Speaker 1: blood of Jesus, because of his death and resurrection, we
Speaker 1: are able to shed those things and instead take on
Speaker 1: a cloak of righteousness. And likewise, you tell us that
Speaker 1: all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. I
Speaker 1: pray that you would help convict us about things that
Speaker 1: we're doing that look good on the surface, but that
Speaker 1: aren't coming from a place of service to you, of
Speaker 1: love for you, and love for our fellow brothers and
Speaker 1: sisters in Christ and brothers and sisters in the world.
Speaker 1: Help us to identify the things that are masquerading as good,
Speaker 1: because those can be the things that are the hardest
Speaker 1: to see. Expose lies of the enemy, expose deception, and
Speaker 1: expose the things that are that are evil masquerading as light.
Speaker 1: Speak to us, Lord, Thank you Lord for meeting with us,
Speaker 1: for gently convicting us of the things that need to
Speaker 1: be convicted. We just pray that you would help us
Speaker 1: to deal with those things not in a spirit of despair,
Speaker 1: but that you would help us to see them as
Speaker 1: things that we can walk out of. We just pray
Speaker 1: that this time meditating on Psalm sixty would change us,
Speaker 1: that it would transform us, That your word would literally
Speaker 1: just wash our souls clean, that your word would stick
Speaker 1: with us, That your Holy Spirit would do exactly what
Speaker 1: Jesus said and just bring to mind the words that
Speaker 1: come straight from you throughout our week. That it wouldn't
Speaker 1: just be a one time thing that we would ruminate
Speaker 1: on these words and these lessons, and that as situations
Speaker 1: come up in our lives, that you would just bring
Speaker 1: them to mind and help us to learn from them
Speaker 1: and just to walk in them in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: let's look at this. This is Psalm sixty and the
Speaker 1: title is lament over defeat in battle and prayer for help.
Speaker 1: The subtitle is for the choir director, according to Shushan Edith,
Speaker 1: and that literally means and so what we've found. If
Speaker 1: you've joined us before, you know that, according to blank,
Speaker 1: usually means it's like according to the tune of a
Speaker 1: different song. So it means according to literally the Lily
Speaker 1: of Testimony. So maybe that's a song that was known
Speaker 1: and these words were used and overlaid with that melody.
Speaker 1: A mik tom of David. We've talked about mick tom before.
Speaker 1: A mik tom is either an epigrammatic poem or an
Speaker 1: atonement psalm, so we're not sure which it is, but
Speaker 1: it is of David, and it says to teach when
Speaker 1: he struggled with Aram Nahareim and with aarm Zobah and
Speaker 1: joe Ab returned and smoked twelve thousand of edom in
Speaker 1: the valley of Salt. So I looked this up because
Speaker 1: all of these names are crazy to me. But what
Speaker 1: I found is that these places when he struggled Aram
Speaker 1: Nahareim literally means Aram of the two rivers, and it
Speaker 1: was likely between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and then
Speaker 1: aram Zoba is north of Israel, So yeah, so he
Speaker 1: struggled with Aram between the Tigers and Euphrates. He struggled
Speaker 1: with aram Zoba in the north. And then Joe aberturned
Speaker 1: and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt,
Speaker 1: which was to the south. So basically, he's not just
Speaker 1: fighting a war with one group. It's not just the
Speaker 1: Philistines or the whoever's right. He's surrounded and he talks
Speaker 1: about this in some of the other psalms, but this
Speaker 1: is the first one where it's really like fleshed out
Speaker 1: for me. Sometimes he's like in a cave and he's
Speaker 1: surrounded by enemies, but this is, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: like modern day Israel is literally surrounded on every no
Speaker 1: matter where you go, whatever direction you travel, you've got
Speaker 1: people that want to kill you. And so you've got
Speaker 1: David here, same thing he's got all around. He's got enemies.
Speaker 1: They literally surround him. So that is where he's coming from,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like he's got some struggles going on
Speaker 1: that don't look like they're going so well. And then
Speaker 1: Joe averturned and smote twelve thousand of etam in the
Speaker 1: Valley of Salt. The Valley of Salt sounds like there's
Speaker 1: a victory that happened there, and I think it's really interesting.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is related in any way,
Speaker 1: but when I think of the Valley of Salt, so
Speaker 1: I actually live near Salt Lake City, so I'm familiar
Speaker 1: with salt and barrenness, you know. And we lived in
Speaker 1: Las Vegas a few years ago, many years ago, and
Speaker 1: we went to Death Valley, which was not too far
Speaker 1: from there, and there was literally salt flats. It was barren,
Speaker 1: and it was one of the you know, Death Valleys,
Speaker 1: like one of the hottest places on the face of
Speaker 1: the earth at certain times of the year. And there's
Speaker 1: this valley of salt there and it is you can
Speaker 1: see it. It looks like snow sometimes because it's kind
Speaker 1: of white. But the very cool thing is with this
Speaker 1: reminds me of they're having the victory in the Valley
Speaker 1: of Salt. One of the years that we lived there,
Speaker 1: my neighbor said, you have to come out to Death
Speaker 1: Valley with us this weekend. She knew kind of the
Speaker 1: area more than I did, and I thought, okay, whatever
Speaker 1: we'll go. And we went out and they had like
Speaker 1: this one hundred year bloom. It was a desert bloom
Speaker 1: because of the rain that had come, because of the
Speaker 1: climate that year. I don't know what it was. But
Speaker 1: every once in a while you get this incredible, like
Speaker 1: robust blooming in the salt flats and you look around
Speaker 1: and they're these like I don't know if they're crocuses
Speaker 1: or what the flowers are they. I remember these little
Speaker 1: purple ones. They're just there everywhere, all these different flowers.
Speaker 1: And the crazy thing is, if you were to go
Speaker 1: there any time of year other than that, you would
Speaker 1: think this was a barren waste land where nothing could grow.
Speaker 1: And so this is what I see in this you know,
Speaker 1: even this introduction is David is surrounded by enemies and
Speaker 1: then he has this victory here in the valley of salt,
Speaker 1: and to me it seems like symbolic the valley of
Speaker 1: barrenness is where this victory happens. So anyway, we can
Speaker 1: all relate right to having situations where it feels like
Speaker 1: everything around us is going wrong, and then maybe just
Speaker 1: in the midst of that barrenness comes victory from God.
Speaker 1: It blooms out, and it doesn't mean that when it
Speaker 1: looks barren and it looks like defeat, that there's not
Speaker 1: a victory there. In fact, if you were to look
Speaker 1: at it like the desert bloom any other time of
Speaker 1: the year, you would see barrenness. But in God's season,
Speaker 1: in the exact season that he means it to come,
Speaker 1: there will be that victory. And it's there those seeds
Speaker 1: or bulbs or whatever it is. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: not a horticulturist, but those seeds and bulbs of stored
Speaker 1: up life are existing, dormant, but they're there, and that
Speaker 1: is the victory, and it will be exposed in its time,
Speaker 1: but it's already there. So let's actually get into the psalm.
Speaker 1: Though this is important again, I want to disclaim that
Speaker 1: I am not a theologian, so I really hope that
Speaker 1: I'm kind of interpreting thing these things correctly with history.
Speaker 1: I would love it if you guys ever catch me
Speaker 1: with an incorrect don't ever trust what I say, because
Speaker 1: I do my best research, but I'm not a theologian
Speaker 1: or historian. If I come up with stuff that is
Speaker 1: not accurate, I would love you to email me at
Speaker 1: pray at Praying Christianwomen dot Com and just let me
Speaker 1: know so I can issue a correction because I do
Speaker 1: hold God's word very dearly and I don't want to misspeak,
Speaker 1: and if I do, I really want to be caught.
Speaker 1: That's one of my prayers is that if I ever
Speaker 1: say something wrong that might mislead someone, that God would
Speaker 1: just allow me to be made right and corrected. So
Speaker 1: all right, let's read Chapter sixty Psalm sixty. Oh God,
Speaker 1: you have rejected us, you have broken us, you have
Speaker 1: been angry. Oh restore us. You have made the landquake,
Speaker 1: you have split it open, heal its breeches for it totters.
Speaker 1: You have major people experience hardship. You've given us wine
Speaker 1: to drink that makes us stagger. You have given us
Speaker 1: a banner to those who fear you, that it may
Speaker 1: be displayed because of the truth Selah, that your beloved
Speaker 1: may be delivered. Save us with your right hand and
Speaker 1: answer us. So this is kind of like what David
Speaker 1: loves to do. He gives this just heartfelt lament of God.
Speaker 1: You have rejected us. We are not seeing victory. You
Speaker 1: have literally broken us. You've been angry, You've made us
Speaker 1: experience hardship. I mean, he's not just saying we are
Speaker 1: experiencing hardship, which is evil on the world. He's saying
Speaker 1: you have made that happen and attributing God's hand to
Speaker 1: even lowering their senses as if they were drunk, to
Speaker 1: make them stagger and not be effective. I'm guessing at warfare.
Speaker 1: But in verse four it shifts and he says, you
Speaker 1: have given a banner to those who fear you, that
Speaker 1: it may be displayed because of the truth. So a
Speaker 1: banner in these military terms is usually displayed as like ownership,
Speaker 1: like whose you are. When they see the banner or
Speaker 1: the flag or whatever it is, it's telling whose army
Speaker 1: you're in, what king are you fighting for? And he's saying,
Speaker 1: you have given a banner to those who fear you,
Speaker 1: So if we fear him, if he fears God, then
Speaker 1: he's under God's authority. And it's almost like David is
Speaker 1: complaining about being under God's thumb and his lordship when
Speaker 1: God does these bad things, And yet he's saying, I
Speaker 1: still fear you. I know this stuff is happening, I
Speaker 1: know you're on the throne. I'm still waving your banner,
Speaker 1: and yet you have given us this banner, that it
Speaker 1: may be displayed because of the truth that your beloved
Speaker 1: may be delivered. Save with your right hand and answer us.
Speaker 1: So it's like almost accepting that if God can bring
Speaker 1: this punishment, he can also bring the victory. And I
Speaker 1: trust you and I'm here for it. That's how I
Speaker 1: read it. And it's not always easy. And I love
Speaker 1: that David writes in the midst of his difficulty, because
Speaker 1: it's he's claiming that lordship no matter what comes, whether
Speaker 1: it's victory or defeat, He's the Lord's Verse six, God
Speaker 1: has spoken in his holiness, I will exult, I will
Speaker 1: portion out Shechem and measure out the valley of Sucketh.
Speaker 1: Gilead is mine, and Vanessa is mine. Ephraim also is
Speaker 1: the helmet of my head. Judah is my Moab, is
Speaker 1: my washbowl? Over eat them? I shall throw my shoe
Speaker 1: shout loud, Oh Philistia, because of me, who will bring
Speaker 1: me into the besieged city? This is David talking again.
Speaker 1: I think who will lead me to eat them? Have
Speaker 1: not you, yourself, oh God, rejected us? And will you
Speaker 1: not go forth with our armies? Oh God, Oh give
Speaker 1: us help against the adversary for deliverance by man is
Speaker 1: in vain. Through God, we shall do valiantly, and it
Speaker 1: is he who will tread down our adversaries. So again,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's almost like he's sort of trying
Speaker 1: to manipulate God by saying, oh, you know, Lord, have
Speaker 1: you you know? Haven't you rejected us? Will you not
Speaker 1: go forth with your people and display your greatness. It's
Speaker 1: almost like he's kind of trying to use human persuasion
Speaker 1: to persuade God to come with him. But again, he
Speaker 1: just gives this very kind of permission for us as
Speaker 1: humans who live in the confines of time and space
Speaker 1: where we're not experiencing that victory at this moment. We're shielded,
Speaker 1: we're we're cloaked, we don't have vision to see the
Speaker 1: big picture. And so he's expressing his humanity. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, deliverance by man is in vain, and
Speaker 1: I think what he's saying is, if you have forsaken us,
Speaker 1: then we have no hope. I have a lot of armies,
Speaker 1: I have a lot of military skill and prowess, and
Speaker 1: yet without you I will not do valiantly. It reminds
Speaker 1: me of Moses and This is in Exodus thirty three,
Speaker 1: when thirty three to three and the Golden Calf incident happened,
Speaker 1: where Moses went up onto the mountain to hear from God.
Speaker 1: He comes back down and the people are all making
Speaker 1: this golden calf and worshiping it because they just they
Speaker 1: need something to worship. And basically God tells Moses, I'm
Speaker 1: going to still send you to the Promised Land. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to go with you. You guys can go on,
Speaker 1: you can have the great land that I've prepared for you,
Speaker 1: but I'm not going to be there. And Moses basically says,
Speaker 1: we don't want the land if you're not coming with us.
Speaker 1: Your presence is what makes this people great. It's not
Speaker 1: the land. The land is just a bunch of dirt.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what I think of when I
Speaker 1: hear David saying this to God, won't you come with
Speaker 1: us because we can go and we can do our best.
Speaker 1: I mean, in his case, he's saying, you know, God
Speaker 1: is not going to If God doesn't go, then there
Speaker 1: will be no victory. But he's saying, through God, we
Speaker 1: shall do valiantly, and it is he who will tread
Speaker 1: down our adversaries. He's like, I don't we don't want
Speaker 1: to go if you're not going to be with us.
Speaker 1: So what I take away from this whole psalm is,
Speaker 1: no matter what, no matter whether our situation right now
Speaker 1: feels like we're being surrounded on all sides by enemies,
Speaker 1: whether it seems like there's barrenness and lack of victory.
Speaker 1: Maybe you feel like God isn't even really hearing you
Speaker 1: or speaking back to you. Maybe you're looking for wisdom
Speaker 1: or guidance or direction and there's just silence that just
Speaker 1: because things seem barren, just think back to that desert
Speaker 1: bloom and death valley and think that there are bulbs
Speaker 1: and seeds and maybe rhizomes. I don't know, I don't
Speaker 1: know what they're called. But there are life giving structures
Speaker 1: that are lying dormant under this cracked, salty, dead looking space.
Speaker 1: And in God's time it will bloom and it will grow.
Speaker 1: And just claim him as your banner, because he's the water.
Speaker 1: He's that water that creates the conditions in which you
Speaker 1: and your circumstances will flourish to their most perfect degree.
Speaker 1: And without him, I believe that barrenness is real. Even
Speaker 1: though there's potential. But without God, without that water, without
Speaker 1: that infusion of divine, there will be no bloom. So
Speaker 1: let's pray. Father, God, you are everything, and regardless of
Speaker 1: our circumstances, we can be joyful, we can be hopeful,
Speaker 1: we can be confident that there are bulbs and seeds
Speaker 1: under the desert, under the salt, under what looks permanently gone.
Speaker 1: But when the rains come we will see. In your time,
Speaker 1: we will see victory. But right now, even as we
Speaker 1: look on salt, crusted desert dirt, we acknowledge you as
Speaker 1: our Lord, as our banner. You are good, You are
Speaker 1: all powerful, and whatever comes, whatever you have for us,
Speaker 1: whether it's earthquake and defeat in the moment, or perceived
Speaker 1: defeat or perceived failure, whatever it is, we still call
Speaker 1: you Lord. And we wouldn't go into the Promised Land
Speaker 1: without you, because you are the reward, not our circumstance.
Speaker 1: I just pray for each person now, for the person
Speaker 1: right now who feels your silence, and who sees that crusted,
Speaker 1: salt dusted dirt that looks pointless and hopeless and bleak
Speaker 1: and desolate. I pray for hope. I pray for faith,
Speaker 1: I pray for people to surround them that will build
Speaker 1: them up, that will pray for them when they don't
Speaker 1: have the words. And I do pray that you would
Speaker 1: break through God in Jesus name, that you would give
Speaker 1: them a glimmer of hope and light, that you would
Speaker 1: bring the reins and show them that there is indeed
Speaker 1: life in Jesus' name. Amen. We'd like to take just
Speaker 1: a quick second to thank the team at Life Audio
Speaker 1: for their partnership with us on the podcast. If you
Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio dot com, you will find dozens of
Speaker 1: other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
Speaker 1: about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's
Speaker 1: life audio dot com.