1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hey Aaron, Welcome to another Prayer through the 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I'm Jamie 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: and I'm excited to be here with you today to 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,759 Speaker 1: talk through and pray through Psalm fifty two. Before we 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,080 Speaker 1: get started as usual, let's just take a minute and 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: pray and prepare our hearts to receive God's word. Heavenly Father, 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: we just come before you, thankful as always for an 8 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: opportunity to slow down, to kind of step out of 9 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,519 Speaker 1: the crazy life, the treadmill that we're on twenty four 10 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: to seven, and just step into a consecrated, set apart 11 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: space where we can meet with you, where time kind 12 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: of isn't a factor, where it kind of stands still. 13 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: Where are our responsibilities, our anxieties, our fears, our frustrations, 14 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: even our joys and excitements and the things we're looking 15 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: forward to. We can just set all of those things 16 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: aside and just focus on You and just quiet ourselves 17 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: and maybe even train our brains to preserve white space, 18 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: not to be afraid of silence, not to be afraid 19 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: of room to hear. We just pray that you would 20 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: help us to create more of that for ourselves in 21 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: the days and the weeks and the months ahead. Maybe 22 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: instead of listening to the radio or listening to a podcast, 23 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: or filling our minds with input on a car ride 24 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: or in the shower, or as we're doing housework or 25 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: on a break at work, that you would help us 26 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: to make intentional time for quiet and for silence. Lord, 27 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: as we come before you with just a minute of silence, 28 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: we pray that you would help us, because it's uncomfortable 29 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: to be silent, that you would just help us to 30 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: be able to as our mind wanders, as it probably will, 31 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: even within a minute, that you would help us to 32 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:21,359 Speaker 1: gently bring it back to focusing on you. And as 33 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,919 Speaker 1: the quote goes, even if the entire minute was spent 34 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: being distracted and bringing ourselves back, it would be a 35 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: minute well spent. We give you this time, Lord, meet 36 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: with us here. Lord, we just pray that you would 37 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: meet us with your word today, that this psalm would 38 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: speak to us, that you would open our ears and 39 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: our hearts and our minds to receive whatever it is 40 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: that you have from this Psalm of David. Amen. All right, 41 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 1: let's shall into our psalm. So this is Psalm fifty two, 42 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: going to be read from the New American Standard Bible 43 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five. This is futility of Boastful Wickedness. That's 44 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: the title for the choir director. So this is a 45 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: song to be sung, not just a poem. And it 46 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: says a maskill of David. And the maskills. Remember our 47 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: contemplative psalms or skillful psalms. A lot of times they're 48 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: just a little bit more reflective as opposed to being 49 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: like words of wisdom. But this is a contemplative song 50 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: of David. When Doag the Edomite came and told Saul 51 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: and said to him, David has come to the house 52 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: of a Himelec. So the background of this story is 53 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: that David had become an enemy of Saul. Saul was 54 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: pursuing David, trying to kill him, and David came to 55 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: the town of Knab where the tabernacle and the priests were, 56 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: and David asked Ahimelech, the priest, if he could have 57 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: food and a weapon. And Ahimelek knew David, and he 58 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: knew that David was one of Saul's closest acquaintances, friends, advisers, 59 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 1: and he did not know that there was any kind 60 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: of broken relationship between Saul and David, and so he 61 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: gave him the consecrated bread for the priests, and he 62 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: gave them Goliath's sword, and he was just assuming that 63 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: David was still serving Saul. But watching all of this 64 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: was Dog, the Eatomite, and he was a high ranking 65 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: servant of Saul, and Dog later went back to Saul 66 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: and told him that a Hemelec, the priest, had helped David, 67 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: but he framed it as treason. So he kind of 68 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: implied that rather than a Hemelech being loyal to Saul 69 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 1: and assuming David was still fine with him and in 70 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: good graces with Saul, he intentionally framed this as a 71 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 1: treasonous act. And so Saul summoned to Himmelek and all 72 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: the priests, and Ahimelek defended himself. He said how it 73 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: actually was that David had always been a loyal servant, 74 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 1: he had no knowledge of any conflict with Saul, that 75 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: he was not being treasonists Saul accused them of betrayal 76 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:28,919 Speaker 1: based on the testimony of his servant Dog. So this 77 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:34,239 Speaker 1: was basically devastating because Saul ordered the guards to kill 78 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: all of the priests. It was to be a massacre, 79 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: and these guards refused because they didn't want to shed 80 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: innocent blood. I think they knew what was going on. 81 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: But Doague did not refuse, so he had personally ended 82 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: up slaughtering eighty five priests, all of them wearing the 83 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: linen e Fod. And Saul went a step further and 84 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: he ordered the destruction of knob, men, women, shollildren, infants, livestock, 85 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: the whole thing, and one priest escaped and was able 86 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: to flee to David and deliver the message of the massacre. 87 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: David became very disturbed and blamed himself. He said, I 88 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: knew on that day when Dob the Edomite was there, 89 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: that he would surely tell Saul, I have occasioned the 90 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: death of all the persons of your father's house. So 91 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: Psalm fifty two is a response of David for what 92 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: he perceives to be blood on his hands of who 93 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: knows how many hundreds of people, eighty five priests and 94 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: then all of the town, so hundreds, maybe thousands, I 95 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: don't know how many people were there, men, women, children, infants, livestock, everything, 96 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:48,359 Speaker 1: Nothing was spared. So David was very upset. If you 97 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: feel like you are responsible for pain, for suffering of 98 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: another person. Obviously, it's probably not to the extent of 99 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,840 Speaker 1: David's feelings of responsibility, but that doesn't diminish what you're 100 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: going through or what you have gone through. And this 101 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: psalm is basically futility of boastful wickedness. The idea is 102 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: God is still on the throne even when you have 103 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: this boastful wickedness, like Dogue demonstrated in his lying and 104 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: deceiving and accusing so Psalm fifty two, why do you 105 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: boast an evil, Oh mighty man, The loving kindness of 106 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction like 107 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: a sharp raiser, o worker of deceit. You love evil 108 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: more than good, falsehood, more than speaking what is right. Selah, 109 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: you love all words that devour, oh deceitful tongue. But 110 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: God will break you down forever. He will snatch you 111 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: up and tear you away from your tent, and uproot 112 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous 113 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: will see and fear and will laugh at him, saying, 114 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: behold the man who would not make God his refuge, 115 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was 116 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: strong in his evil desire. But as for me, I 117 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: am like a green olive tree in the house of God. 118 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: I trust in the loving kindness of God forever and ever. 119 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: I will give you thanks forever because you have done it, 120 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: and I wait on your name, for it is good 121 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: in the presence of your godly ones. Now I have 122 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: to say that I believe if David felt shame and 123 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: guilt and remorse and lament over what he perceived as 124 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: causing the slaughter of innocent people, his heart was probably 125 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: not light. But what I love about this there are 126 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: times when David laments, when he laments the futility of 127 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,080 Speaker 1: life and laments his sin and how downcast he feels. 128 00:08:55,160 --> 00:09:00,079 Speaker 1: But in this Psalm, he chooses to respond by speaking 129 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: what is true and not wallowing and how he feels. 130 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:08,120 Speaker 1: And in doing so, I believe he brings himself up 131 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: out of that muck and mire. He's not always in 132 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 1: a position where he can do this. I think that's 133 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:17,760 Speaker 1: worth mentioning we've read psalms where he's very dark. Most 134 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: times he brings it back at the end to a butt. 135 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: God is good, but God is on the throne. But 136 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: God will deliver or at least a cry for help, 137 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: but please deliver me, please show mercy. How long will 138 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: I have to wait? But I know you'll do it eventually. 139 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,440 Speaker 1: But he's not always in a place of being able 140 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: to just speak the truth. So I'm personally going to 141 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,960 Speaker 1: put Psalm fifty two in my pocket, both to remember 142 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: the backstory and how tragic and awful it is, and 143 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: then to see how David responded and to borrow his words. 144 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: I think it's so important to be able to borrow 145 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,559 Speaker 1: his words for times when we need that strength, when 146 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: we need to remember. But as for me, I am 147 00:09:59,679 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: like a green olive tree in the house of God. 148 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: So I don't know the exact meaning of a green 149 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: olive tree. A lot of times green means young. Green 150 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: can also mean well fed and nourished and watered because 151 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: much of the landscape of the Hebraic movement was desert, 152 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: so green probably means flourishing, kind of that idea of 153 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: the tree whose roots go into living water and run deep. 154 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: So even though all of this evil is swirling around, 155 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: even though these people are lying and like a sharp razor, 156 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: their words, their tongue devises destruction, not like just the 157 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:47,680 Speaker 1: anger taking over and reckless anger, which would be more 158 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: like a wrecking ball of destruction. No, this is a 159 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: sharp razor. This is calculated, this is premeditated. This is evil. 160 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: And even though all of this is going on, even 161 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: though there was a massacre, even though David feels guilty, 162 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: he knows that the truth is. Even though he feels 163 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: despair and hopeless, he knows that he is like a 164 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: flourishing olive tree, sheltered in the house of God Almighty, 165 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: that he trusts in the loving kindness of God to 166 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: trump anything evil. That God's loving kindness, God's plans, God's mercy, 167 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: God's justice overshadows and surpasses any amount of evil in 168 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,959 Speaker 1: this world. And that is the reality of what is. 169 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: And I love this. I will give you thanks forever, 170 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: and I will wait on your name, for it is 171 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: good in the presence of your godly ones. I will 172 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: wait however long it takes for me to see the 173 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 174 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,720 Speaker 1: I'm gonna wait because I know that I'm already loved, 175 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:06,839 Speaker 1: I'm already sheltered, I'm already flourishing in every sense of 176 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: the word. Because I am the Lord's and he is mine. 177 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: Let's pray, Loving God, we praise you for your greatness, 178 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: that you are King of kings and Lord of lords, 179 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 1: that there is no other God besides you, That no 180 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:35,600 Speaker 1: matter what chaos and wreckage and surgical evil is happening 181 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: on this earth, nothing can negate the truth that you 182 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: are on the throne, and that we are flourishing because 183 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 1: you are our Lord, because we are sheltered in your care, 184 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:01,319 Speaker 1: because we are fed and watered by springs of living 185 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: water that never run dry and the bread of life 186 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: that sustains us forever and ever. Thank you, and we 187 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: will wait for our feelings to catch up with what 188 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:15,720 Speaker 1: is real, for the circumstances around us to come into 189 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,560 Speaker 1: alignment with your absolute truth of what is right. That 190 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:24,679 Speaker 1: the victory has been one evil has been defeated. Amen. 191 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:32,839 Speaker 1: Do you love true crime but feel like it's a 192 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: guilty pleasure because of the swearing and explicit content. If so, 193 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: I can't wait to tell you the good news. Alana 194 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: and I just launched our brand new podcast, Christian True 195 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,720 Speaker 1: Crime Junkies, a squeaky clean crime show for believers. Each 196 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: week we bring you unforgettable testimonies of survival, stories of justice, 197 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:57,560 Speaker 1: and tales of redemption and yes, sometimes plain old murder, 198 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: always clean, always from a Christian perspective. Listen to Christian 199 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: true crime Junkies today wherever you listen to podcasts, and 200 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: don't forget to follow us. New episodes come out every 201 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: week and you don't want to miss out. We'd like 202 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:19,720 Speaker 1: to take just a quick second to thank the team 203 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. 204 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: If you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find 205 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've 206 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more. 207 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 1: That's lifeaudio dot com.