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As for Me: The Lord as Our Portion (Psalm 17) · Reformed Thinking

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Reformed thinking. Welcome to the deep dive.
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Today we are cutting through the noise to get a clearview of an
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ancient scripture that I think speaks very directly to our
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modern anxieties. We're looking at Psalm 17.
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And the Psalm, it carries this urgent title, Tifula.
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It's a focused, intense prayer from David.
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And you know, the setting of this prayer is just everything.
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Absolutely. The picture we get isn't, you
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know, a king sitting comfortably in a peaceful court.
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David is in the middle of a really desperate situation.
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He's in the dust of the wilderness.
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He is literally being hunted like an animal by deadly
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enemies. And chief among them is King
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Saul, the very man who should have been his protector, right?
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So David is facing not just physical danger, but also that
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insidious sting of slander, of treachery and just sheer
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injustice. And that reality, the righteous
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sufferer being hounded by the prosperous wicked, that sets up
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the core theological tension that this entire Psalm is built
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to resolve. David isn't questioning God's
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existence or anything like that. He's asking why do the godly
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struggle while the lawless seem to thrive?
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And he handles this not with, say, a confused complaint, but
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with a very stark, very decisive comparison between two separate
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destinies. It's the ultimate contrast,
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isn't it? On one side you've got this
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fleeting, limited, worldly portion that belongs to his
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persecutors, and on the other you have this eternal, utterly
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satisfying hope that David fixes his gaze on what we call in
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systematic theology, the beatific vision.
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So our task in this deep dive is to isolate the sharpest insults
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from David's petition. We'll trace the movement of the
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prayer through, well, three logical and theological stages.
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OK, we'll begin with David's bold claim of of let's call it
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covenantal integrity as he submits himself to the divine
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judge. Then, second, we'll examine his
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very vivid plea for intimate covenantal protection from the
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aggressive, almost predatory malice of his foes.
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And then the resolution. And then we arrive at the
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resolution, his decisive declaration of eternal hope that
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rests entirely in the future. So David launches Psalm 17 not
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with, you know, a quiet supplication, but with this
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forceful declaration that feels almost confrontational.
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He starts with what sounds like an immediate demand for a
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verdict. It is a legal opening.
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It's meant to demand attention. When he says here a just cause,
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oh Lord, he is presenting his case to the ultimate judge.
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He uses the Hebrew word citic, which means righteousness,
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justice, rectitude. So this isn't just an emotional
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plea for help. It's a carefully framed legal
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appeal based on the objective fact that his 'cause his
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situation with Thal is right, not wrong.
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So he's essentially saying my position is justified, judge me
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based on that justification. That's it.
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And he doesn't want some distant theoretical opinion.
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He asks for a sentence, a clear vindication to come forth from
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your presence. From God's presence.
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This means God's own tribunal, the highest court there is, must
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be the one to render the decision.
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David is signaling right away that the only verdict that
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matters is the one delivered in the heavenly courtroom, not the
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corrupted partisan courts of King Saul.
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He trusts that the judge who sees all things will, as he
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says, behold the right. And that Hebrew phrase he uses
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there, maishurim, it means things that are equal or equity.
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David is confident that when God looks at the situation, the
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haunted righteous man and the malicious hunter, God will see
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the plain truth. There's no confusion about who
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the aggressor is. None.
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And David bolsters this confidence by guaranteeing the
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sincerity of his own words. He insists the prayer comes from
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lips free of deceit. That's such a crucial
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distinction, isn't it? He's separating himself from
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hypocrites, from those whose external words are just a
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performance, not matching the genuine intent of their minds or
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their life. Sincerity ensures the words
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actually agree with what's going on inside.
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So this immediate appeal to his own integrity forces us to deal
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with what's probably the biggest theological hurdle in this
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prayer. And it comes in verse 3.
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David seems to invite the most rigorous audit possible, saying
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you have proved my heart, you've visited me in the night, you
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have tested me and you will find nothing.
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And that language always makes you pause.
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It does. If God promises to find nothing
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wrong, doesn't that just run headlong into the doctrine of
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the universality of sin and human depravity?
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It sounds like David is claiming to be perfect.
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That tension is very real, and it's so vital that we apply what
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we know about the totality of Scripture here.
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I mean, David, the man who wrote Psalm 51, he acknowledged he was
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conceived in sin, of course, and we, adhering to the standard
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doctrines of grace, know that absolute sinless perfection
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belongs only to Christ. So the way we have to understand
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this is that David is asserting covenantal integrity regarding
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the specific charges his enemies are leveling against him.
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OK, so he's not saying I have never sinned in my life.
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No, he's saying I have not committed the crimes of treason,
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malice, or conspiracy that Saul and his officials are slandering
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me with. Precisely.
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His conscience is clean in relation to those political and
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personal accusations. He hasn't returned violence for
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violence. He hasn't tried to usurp the
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throne unjustly. His integrity is established
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concerning the specific covenant God made with him, not his moral
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perfection before the standard of God's holiness.
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Understanding that really makes the level of testing he's
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submitting to feel much more intense and, well, personal.
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Oh it is. The word he uses for tested is
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zaraf, and it's a powerful technical term.
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Zaraf. It means to smelt or refine
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metal, usually silver, through intense heat.
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You have to imagine taking raw ore, heating it until it
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liquefies, and then watching the draw all the impurities float to
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the surface so they can be scraped away.
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God is acting as the infallible refiner, examining David's
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character through affliction and scrutiny, purging the dross.
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David is basically saying God you can turn up the heat and you
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won't find the impurities. My enemies claimer there.
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And the circumstance of this trial visited me by night.
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That adds another layer to that image.
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The night is when things hidden during the day are revealed.
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External restraints are off and the heart's true secret
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affections are exposed. When we're alone, when the
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audience is gone, that's when the hypocrite fails.
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The mask comes off. The mask comes off and the true
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motives are revealed. David is submitting to this
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intimate, searching scrutiny, knowing that his genuine
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resolve, his innocence regarding treason, holds firm even when
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tested in the darkness where only God can see.
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That's where the legal framework meets the personal struggle.
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It's one thing to claim integrity in the light of day.
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It's a whole other thing to claim it when you're hiding in a
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cave. And his claim is backed up not
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just by this internal resolve, but by external, tangible
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conduct, which he attributes entirely to God's guidance.
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He says he kept himself from the paths of the destroyer.
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That's the parrots, the violent, lawless one.
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By the word of your list. The word parrots is so
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interesting here. It doesn't just mean destroyer.
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It signifies this violent, lawless predator, someone who
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breaks bounds and violates agreements.
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Yes, it implies anarchy and lawlessness.
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Dave is saying that the common corrupt pattern of human
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behavior when you're threatened is to become a parrots yourself.
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You retaliate. You retaliate violently, you use
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deceit, you break the law just to survive.
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David refused that path, and he credits the written and spoken
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Word of God as the fence that kept him out of that destructive
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rut. The Word of God was his guide
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and His restraint. That's a powerful theological
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application right there. The word is a guardrail, saving
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us not just from theological error but from practical sin in
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how we respond to persecution. It's the source of sanctifying
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grace. David consciously refused
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vengeance, retaliation, or destruction, even when he had
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Saul helpless in a cave. He avoided using sinful means to
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achieve what was a justifiable end, and this refusal leads to
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his claim of perseverance. My steps have held fast to your
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paths. My feet have not slipped.
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And these paths, the Magal, are described as the established
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ancient ruts of God's commandments.
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They are solid tested routes. His stability is perseverance
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under extreme pressure. He maintained his faithful walk
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because God, through his grace, sustained him in the face of
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immense temptation to act outside of covenant law.
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So this tested integrity provides the whole moral and
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legal framework for his confident appeal.
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It allows him to stand before the judge and then while
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transition smoothly into the request for physical protection.
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So the legal standing is established.
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Now David moves to what he wants God to actually do physically to
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separate him from his attackers. He moves from asserting his
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standing to a very concrete plea for physical safety and his
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confidence, which you see in verse 6.
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I call upon you, for you will answer me.
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O God is built entirely on God's loyal character with the Hebrew
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calls nust, or steadfast love. He's not asking for basic help
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though. Oh, is he?
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He's asking for something extraordinary.
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He implores God to wondrously show your steadfast love.
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That word, translated wondrously, show means to set
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apart wondrously or to act differently.
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David is requesting an astonishing mercy, an act that
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goes beyond God's common grace. He wants God to make a visible,
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unmistakable distinction between the fate of the righteous and
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the destiny of the wicked, a bit like how God made the light
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distinct from the darkness or protected Goshen during the
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plagues in Egypt. He wants a miracle of
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preservation. And he grounds this plea in
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God's established role as the Savior of those who seek refuge.
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Seeking refuge in God is a covenantal idiom.
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It's an act of total surrender that at the same time
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demonstrates loyalty. David is saying, I am not
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relying on my field or my army. I am running to you the ultimate
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protector, and this commitment sets up the 2 great metaphors
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for divine protection that follow.
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And these are, you could argue, the most intimate and celebrated
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lines in the whole song, starting with the plea.
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Keep me as the apple of your eye.
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It's such a powerful, visceral request for protective
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vigilance. The apple of the eye is the
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pupil, the eye, Sean, which literally means little man
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because of the reflection you see in it.
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It is the most sensitive, vulnerable and precious part of
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the body. When something rushes toward
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your face, your first instinctive reaction is to slam
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your eyelid shut to guard the pupil.
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So David is asking God to guard him with that same instinctive,
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immediate and fierce care that a person uses to guard their own
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sight. That's it.
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He is asserting his profound value to God.
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To harm the Saint is metaphorically to poke the eye
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of God. It invokes an immediate, painful
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reaction. He is consciously drawing on the
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covenantal language from Deuteronomy 32.10, where God
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describes Israel as a whole as the apple of his eye.
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So it's a plea. It's a plea act toward me with
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the intense jealous care you promised your people.
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And this intense personal vigilance is paired right away
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with the second metaphor. Hide me in the shadow of your
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wings. Now, while the immediate picture
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is a beautiful one, the great bird sheltering its young for
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warmth, safety and nourishment, the Reformed tradition has often
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seen a deeper cultic illusion. Here it connects this physical
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image to the spiritual sanctuary.
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You mean the wings? The Cherubim over the Mercy Sea.
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Exactly. The wings of the cherubim span
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the Holy of Holies, providing the sacred canopy over the Ark
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of the Covenant where God's presence and atonement were met.
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So to be hidden in the shadow of those wings is to be covered by
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the blood of the Covenant dwelling in the secret safe
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place at the Most High. Like Psalm 91 later describes,
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David is fleeing the profane, malicious wilderness and seeking
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spiritual sanctuary and covering.
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And the contrast between that sanctuary and the, well, the
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grotesque nature of his pursuers, Yeah, just makes the
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request all the more desperate. He needs this ultimate shelter
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because he is surrounded by deadly enemies who surround me.
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And these are not casual enemies.
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They're enemies aiming against the soul.
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Their hatred is total. It's intended for nothing less
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than David's complete destruction.
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They're described with this chilling, predatory malice.
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Track his movements. They fix their eyes intently,
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determined to overwhelm him, and cast down to the ground.
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The goal is just domination and annihilation.
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This animalistic comparison continues with a specific
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description of their leader, the ringleader, who is like a lion
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eager to tear as a young lion lurking ambush.
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That zoomorphic language tells us something about the spiritual
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nature of their hostility. A lion doesn't negotiate or
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challenge openly. It lurks patiently until the
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perfect moment to spring terror and devour right.
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It connects their actions to the primal spiritual malice of the
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serpent, the great enemy who seeks to devour the souls of
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men. And the most devastating
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spiritual anatomy of these enemies comes in verse 10, where
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David describes their condition. They are enclosed in their own
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fat and they speak proudly. This is such an important piece
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of spiritual insight. Enclosed in their own fat is an
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idiom for being insensitive, obtuse, impenetrable to pity or
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spiritual conviction. It's a graphic description of
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moral and spiritual callousness. You see this throughout history.
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Prosperity often breeds a kind of spiritual apathy.
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The comfort and the abundance of material success have well
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encased their hearts and layers of spiritual lard.
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They're so satisfied with their earthly sensory life that the
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conscious is just dulled. They can't feel human pity for
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David, nor can they feel conviction from Kurz word.
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Their physical abundance has hardened them into arrogant
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pride, allowing them to speak proudly and act violently
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without feeling any moral restraint.
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And that state is the direct opposite of David's condition, a
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heart that's been refined by the heat of affliction.
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Right. David is made sharp, they are
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made dull. And this material focus sets us
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up perfectly for the ultimate comparison.
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David has established his spiritual and moral credentials,
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he's secured his plea for protection, and he's vividly
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catalogued the nature of the foe.
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Now he has to ask for the decisive judgment that separates
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these two destinies forever. The transition here is sharp,
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and it's decisive. David moves from petition to
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this forceful request for God's action.
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Arise, O Lord, confront him. Subdue him.
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This is a cry for the execution of justice.
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And he seeks deliverance specifically through God's own
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execution of justice, his sword or hand.
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Critically, David leaves the sword entirely in God's hand.
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He refuses to seize vengeance for himself, even against a
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deadly foe. This connects directly back to
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his claim of integrity in Section 1.
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He has refused the path of the parrots.
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He entrusts the outcome entirely to the judge who judges justly
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and that. Description of the wicked as
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your sword or your hand illustrates A vital theological
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concept. We have to pause on God's
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sovereignty over even evil actions.
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This is the doctrine of Providence, which is articulated
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in the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 5.
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It teaches us that God, in His absolute sovereignty,
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orchestrates all things, including the actions of wicked
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men. The very enemy that threatens to
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destroy the righteous, like Saul hunting David, is actually an
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instrument, a sword held and wielded by God to chastise,
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refine or test his people. So God is using Saul, but Saul's
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malice is still his own sin. How do we reconcile God using
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the tool without endorsing the sin?
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God uses the sinful actions of men to accomplish His righteous
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final purposes without lessening the culpability or guilt of the
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human actor. Saul's hatred is real and it's
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wicked, but God holds the leash and determines the boundaries.
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OK, David is appealing to the wielder of the sword.
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Your instrument has completed its refining work on me.
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Now please cast that destructive tool aside.
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This shows David's deep understanding that his suffering
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isn't random. It's permitted and constrained
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by God. So having defined God's
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sovereignty over the wicked, David then provides this
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devastating theological description of the persecutors.
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In verse 14. He calls the men of the world
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whose portion is in this life. That phrase is one of the most
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sobering lines in the entire Sultan.
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It defines the ultimate secularist.
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These wicked men are characterized by having an
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entire horizon bounded by shell, the fleeting, perishable
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duration of this present age. They live functionally as if God
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did not exist or as if eternity were irrelevant.
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Their whole definition of success, their security, their
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happiness, it's all located solely in the measurable
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material reality of the here and now.
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And this is where the theology of blessing versus judgment gets
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a bit complex. David notes that God, in his
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general Providence, often supplies them with material
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abundance. God fills their belly with
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treasure. This suggests material goods
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hitting treasures, exquisite dainties, sensory pleasure that
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satisfy their physical and material desires.
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The filling of the belly signifies their enlarged
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appetites and their ample means to satisfy them.
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But the crucial point is that this filling is not satisfaction
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in the deeper sense. It is not a sign of final
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blessing. They are filled with things, but
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they are spiritually empty because their gaze is downward.
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They confuse the material gift with the giver.
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Their material abundance serves only to further enclose their
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heart in fat, making them duller to spiritual reality.
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And their temporal success is secured through posterity.
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They are satisfied with children, and they leave their
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abundance to their infants. The world sees the success,
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wealth, a stable family legacy, inheritance as the height of
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human achievement. But David delivers the tragic
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verdict. This material abundance, this
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generational success, is their entire reward.
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Their account is settled here. That's right.
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To have one's portion only in this life, trading eternal joy
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for temporary comfort and a fleeting legacy, is the ultimate
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poverty. The world's greatest treasure is
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reduced to dust at the grave. This indictment sets the stage
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for the glorious, confident pivot in verse 15.
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David declares, As for me, a conscious, sharp refusal to
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share the destiny of the materialists.
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This is the climax of the Psalm. It's contrasting the wicked's
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temporal material fulfillment with the believers eternal
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spiritual satisfaction. David's true goal is the
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beatific vision to behold your face in righteousness.
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What exactly does David mean by beholding God's face?
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That sounds like a frankly terrifying prospect giving God's
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holiness. It signifies the final,
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unclouded vision of God's favor and presence, not just glimpsing
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God's work, but experiencing the unveiled reality of the divine.
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It is the chief blessedness, the fruition of God, the highest
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spiritual good. This goal elevates David's hope
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far beyond simply surviving Saul.
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He's seeking God himself as his true and final portion.
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And the phrase in righteousness provides the necessary condition
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for that. Yes, exactly.
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It means he expects to stand before the divine judge,
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accepted and vindicated. It speaks to a righteous
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acknowledgement of his cause. But more deeply, it anticipates
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the new covenant reality that only when clothed in a perfect
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established righteousness can 1 stand before the Divine Judge
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without immediate soul shattering terror.
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Then we get the eschatological horizon.
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David anticipates dissatisfaction when I awake.
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This phrase carries immense prophetic weight.
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While some interpretations might limit it to waking from a
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night's sleep or from his present trouble, the weight of
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theological interpretation points toward a prophetic
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anticipation of the resurrection from the sleep of death.
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The wicked's chilled ends at the grave, but the righteous man
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anticipates an awakening. Death is just asleep, and when
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he wakes up, he wakes to his true treasure, while the
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wicked's inventory is found to be empty.
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And the result of this resurrection awakening is
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complete and total contentment. He shall be satisfied with your
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likeness. The word for satisfied Saba
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implies a complete, full and lasting contentment.
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This stands in stark contrast to the wicked who are filled with
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temporary earthly goods but remain fundamentally hungry.
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David understands that the goal is not just seeing God, but
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being conformed to God's image or likeness to MUNA.
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This is the promised final transformation that results from
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the direct vision of God. The hope David has is secured,
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and he chooses the vision of God's face over the world's
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temporary fat. We can't really complete this
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deep dive without viewing Psalm 17 through the lens of Christ,
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the True and greater David. No, you can't.
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David serves as the imperfect prototype.
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Christ is the substance and the total fulfillment of the
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righteous sufferer. David asserted A sincere
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covenantal integrity about specific charges, but he was
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still, at the end of the day, a Sinner who needed grace.
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But Christ alone embodies that integrity in an absolute sense.
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Jesus alone could stand before God and men and declare his
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heart pure. He was tested not just in the
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wilderness, but by night and Gethsemane, and his conscience
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was found wholly pure. His steps never once diverged
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from the path of divine righteousness, the ancient ruts
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of God's commandments. His lips were entirely free of
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deceit. He is the ultimate righteous
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sufferer whose cause was absolutely just, yet he was
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condemned and executed by the courts of men.
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And like David, who refused to lift his hand against Saul,
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Christ, when reviled, did not revile.
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In return. He refused to seize vengeance,
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entrusting himself entirely to the Father, who judges justly.
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He submitted to being God's sword, enduring the chastisement
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and the cross. And David sought vindication to
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come forth from God's presence demanding a reversal of the
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earthly courts verdict. That vindication arrived in
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Christ's life not through some political or legal reversal on
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earth, but through the thunderous supernatural event of
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the resurrection right. The Father publicly overturned
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every human verdict against Christ, declared him righteous,
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and installed him as the reigning judge.
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The resurrection perfectly resolves the tension of the
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righteous 1 suffering unjustly by affirming that justice
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belongs to God alone. And this connection provides the
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basis for the believers hope. David sought to behold God's
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face in righteousness. How does the Christian realize
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this? Well, the believers confidence
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in standing, accepted before the divine judge, rests entirely on
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union with Christ. We have to recognize that our
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own covenantal integrity, while it's necessary, is always
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flawed. We can't stand before God in our
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own deeds. No, instead we are clothed in
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Christ's perfect imputed righteousness.
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The righteousness of the true David is counted as belonging to
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us. And that astonishing act of
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grace is what makes David's hope possible for us.
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We can approach God's presence and behold his face, the same
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face that judges the world without terror.
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Because we are shielded by Christ's perfect standing, we
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are approaching Him in Christ's righteousness.
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And Christ, Florida State fulfills the climactic hope of
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the resurrection awakening in verse 15.
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David anticipated waking up to his true treasure.
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Christ awoke in the ultimate sense on Easter morning, rising
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with the likeness of glorified humanity.
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He is the firstfruits, the proof that the body will not remain in
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sleep because He arose and now enjoys unbroken joy and
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satisfaction in the presence of the Father.
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Believers too shall awake to share in His vindication and
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eternal inheritance. So David's hope of being
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satisfied with your likeness becomes the guaranteed reality
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for every Christian. Our final satisfaction is to be
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fully conformed to Christ's likeness.
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As John tells us, we shall be like him because we shall see
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Him as He is. The objective is to experience
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the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, to be
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remade in the image of the risen King.
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The entire hope that David whispered in the wilderness, a
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perfect righteousness aimed at a final vision of God, is fully
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secured by Christ's death and resurrection.
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This elevates Psalm 17 from a desperate historical lament to a
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Universal Declaration of Christian certainty.
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So as we draw this deep dive to a close, let's revisit the
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crucial, actionable takeaways from David's fervent prayer,
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composed while he was running for his life in the wilderness.
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Psalm 17 offers a clear model for endurance in the face of
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persecution and injustice. The resolution to suffering is
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not a guaranteed change in your immediate circumstances.
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David was still being hunted after he finished praying.
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It's a profound spiritual redirection of your hope.
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And the Psalm requires us to avoid 2 very modern temptations.
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The first is, I think, a cynical resignation, just accepting that
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the wicked will always prosper and feeling outraged by it.
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The second is the temptation toward outright retaliation
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using the tactics of the violent against them.
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The practical challenge, then, is to learn to bring all
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injustice, whether it's slander in the workplace, conflicts in
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your neighborhood, or political persecution, into the courtroom
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of heaven. First, we must trust the God who
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judges justly rather than immediately, shifting our focus
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and hope to the temporary tools of this passing age, be they
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political, ideological or activist campaigns.
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This means we have to refuse to use sinful means to achieve what
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we perceive as a righteous outcome.
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David refused the path of the parrots, the lawless destroyer.
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Even when confronting Saul, we're called to refuse
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retaliation, destruction, or lawlessness in our own
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responses, trusting that God's methods are always superior to
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man's sinful means. And we must hold this world's
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goods, that fleeting shield portion, loosely.
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If our enemies find their entire satisfaction in material wealth
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and earthly legacy, that should not tempt us.
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We walk this world's paths faithfully because our eyes are
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fixed on a satisfaction that no present treasure can match.
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Which brings us to the final thought that Psalm 17 leaves for
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you to genuinely Mull over. The song calls us to live now in
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the light of the future awakening.
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If our complete and final satisfaction is the vision of
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God's face and our conformity to His likeness, what single
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decision must you make today in your finances, your career
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aspirations, or your emotional reaction to injustice that will
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leave you most prepared and ready to behold God's face when
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you awake? The believers ultimate measure
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of success is not what they accumulate in this life, but
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what they are prepared to receive in the next.