Latest / Reformed Thinking / Salvation Belongs to the Lord: Confidence in Trouble (Psalm 3) | John Peter Lange

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Salvation Belongs to the Lord: Confidence in Trouble (Psalm 3) | John Peter Lange · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine waking up to find that your own son has stolen your
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country. Oh yeah, that is a nightmare
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scenario. Right, and he manipulated your
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army and is currently hunting you through the wilderness with
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10,000 armed men. You are completely exposed.
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And your closest friends have turned on you too.
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Yeah, you are sleeping in the dirt.
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When the sun comes up and the adrenaline of the initial shock
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wears off, what is the very first thing you do?
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Well, most of us would panic or we would start, you know,
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calculating our tactical options, trying to figure out
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how to survive the next 24 hours.
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We would look at the sheer numbers stacked against us and
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probably fall into total despair.
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Welcome to reform thinking. So glad to be here.
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Our premise here is straightforward.
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We take a stack of sources, historical research, linguistic
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notes, theological treatises and extract the most vital Nuggets
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of insight for you. Yeah, and today our deep dive
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focuses on John Peter Lange's commentary on the Holy
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Scriptures. We are specifically looking at
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his analysis of Song 3. We are unpacking the
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theological, historical and psychological weight of this
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text, and the scene here is astonishing.
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It really is. We are not looking at a
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sanitized poem written in a quiet, comfortable study.
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No, not at all. This is a lyrical outpouring
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from King David while he is actively fleeing a violent coup
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led by his own flesh and blood Absalom.
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The contrast of the situation is staggering.
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Land captures a sovereign Chieftain, a man who had reached
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the absolute pinnacle of ancient Near Eastern authority, now
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stripped of his Kingdom. He is running for his life.
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Exactly. Yet in the middle of this
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devastation, he displays absolute reliance on a sovereign
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God. This text provides a master
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class in covenant theology and resting in grace alone.
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But before we even look the specific verses, you need to
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understand the physical and emotional space David occupies
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right now. Right, because this is not just
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a bad day at the office, no. This is the complete collapse of
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his entire world. The Kingdom he spent decades
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building is gone overnight. To ground this land points us to
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the musical and historical markers.
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Right at the beginning of the text we see the title mismore
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and the word Selah used throughout.
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What do those markers actually mean for the text?
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Well, they are technical indicators for the ancient
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choirmaster. They tell us that this raw,
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agonizing diary entry was eventually adapted into the
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formal temple service. Wow, so the private agony of a
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broken king became the public song for the congregation of
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Israel. Yeah, I did.
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I have to pause on that because it is a wild concept.
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Yeah, think about your absolute worst, most terrifying, most
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humiliating moment. I would rather not.
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Right now, imagine that moment being turned into a hymn that
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your entire community sings for generations.
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We tend to hide our failures, you know, we curate our image.
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But David's worst nightmare is put on public display for
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congregational worship. It shatters our modern
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expectations of leadership. We expect leaders to project
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invulnerability. Yeah, but David projects
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complete dependence. But establishing the actual
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timeline of this crisis is critical.
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Why is that? Because Lange addresses some
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intense academic debates regarding when this was written,
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critics like Devette or Sax guess this text is about some
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unknown generalized king. OK, I understand the instinct to
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generalize it. If you look at the grand terms
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used like enemies, Shields, salvation, it feels like a
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universal liturgy. It does, and then you have
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scholars like Hit Sig who try to place this earlier in David's
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life. They put it during his time
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fleeing from King Saul, specifically around the
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destruction of the city of Ziklag.
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The Ziklag theory makes a certain amount of historical
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sense if you only look at the the surface, right?
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Because for those who might not remember, Ziklag was an absolute
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disaster for David. He came back from a military
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campaign to find the city burned by the Amalekites.
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His wives were taken. Yeah, his wives, his men's
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families were taken and his own loyal soldiers were so grief
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stricken they talked about stoning him to death.
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He was totally surrounded by hostility.
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It was incredibly bleak. So why does Lange push back on
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that timeline? The geography itself dismantles
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the Ziklag theory. Lange is uncompromising here.
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In verse 4, David speaks of crying out to the Lord, and the
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Lord hearing him out of his holy hill.
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And that location is the key. Yes, because during the Ziklag
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era, Mount Zion, the Holy Hill, was still a Jebesite stronghold.
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It was not yet conquered by David, and the Ark of the
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Covenant was certainly not there.
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That makes sense. The geographic and theological
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center of the Holy Hill only exists in the context of David's
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later reign in Jerusalem. Therefore, it must be David, and
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it must be the Absalom rebellion where David is physically
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separated from Jerusalem but knows the ark remains there.
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So the mention of the Holy Hill locks the coordinates.
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It has to be Absalom, yes? Furthermore, Lanji pinpoints the
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exact time of day this was composed.
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This is a morning prayer. And it is not just any morning.
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No, this is not the evening of the first day when David went
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barefoot and weeping up the Mount of Olives.
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This is the morning after the intervening night.
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The specific night where his former trusted counselor
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Ahithophel plotted to launch a surprise attack and wipe David
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out before he could gather his loyalists.
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Ahithophel's betrayal is one of the most chilling parts of this
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narrative. Absolutely.
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This was David's smartest advisor, a man who's device was
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treated like the Oracle of God, and Ahithophel tells Absalom.
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Let me take 12,000 men and strike David tonight while he is
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exhausted. God providentially uses another
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counsellor who's shy to stall that plan, but David goes to
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sleep knowing there is a very real chance Ahithophel's
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assassins will find him in the dark.
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Which make the psychology of the following morning incredibly
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heavy. Think about the morning after a
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terrifying medical diagnosis or the morning after a massive
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public failure. Yeah, that first day you are
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running on pure adrenaline. The shock carries you through
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the initial disaster. You were just reacting, but then
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you try to sleep. When the sun comes up the next
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day, the adrenaline is gone. The fog clears, and the crushing
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reality of the crisis fully sets in.
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You wake up and realize this is not a bad dream.
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This is my actual life. That is the heavy, suffocating
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morning David is experiencing when he writes this.
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When you grasp that context, you start to see how believers
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historically apply these texts to literal waking nightmares.
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Land shares a stunning piece of historical trivia that proves
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this .0. The think about the Hollanders.
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Yeah, the Hollanders sang this very Psalm from their Psalm
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books when they were marching against the Belgians on August
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1st, 1831 during the 10 Days campaign.
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That is fascinating. So you have 19th century
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European troops facing artillery fire and they are drawing their
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courage from the morning prayer of a displaced ancient Near
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Eastern king. They took this text and applied
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it to their literal March into battle.
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It bridges thousands of years of human conflict.
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Because the human condition of facing overwhelming odds does
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not change. Right.
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Having established that morning after context, Land moves us to
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David's immediate assessment of his horrific situation.
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He wakes up and looks at the mathematics of treason.
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Verse one says, Lord, how are they increased to trouble me?
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Many are they that rise up against me.
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The commentator Barnes makes a brilliant observation about the
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growth of this rebellion. He notes that the conspiracy
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started incredibly small. It was just Absalom standing at
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the city gate, shaking hands, kissing babies, slowly stealing
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the hearts of the people over a period of years.
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It was a subtle public relations campaign, but it multiplied
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rapidly once the trap was sprung.
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Now it has grown so large that it actively endangers David's
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crown and his physical life. The sheer volume of the
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opposition is staggering to him. The original Hebrew language
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captures that visceral shock. The Hebrew word used here is ma,
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translated in English as how. Linguistic experts like Duette
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and Huppfeld frame this not as a literal question requiring A
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mathematical answer. Exactly.
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David is not asking God for a literal headcount of Absalom's
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army. It is an expression of sheer
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lamentation. It is a groan of the human
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spirit regarding the massive suffocating crowd of enemies.
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It is a gasp. Like look at how many there are.
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How did this happen so fast? But then verse 2 shifts from the
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physical threat to something infinitely worse.
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It says many there be which say of my soul.
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There is no help for him and God.
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I want to linger on the word soul.
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Here they are hunting his body. They want to put a spear through
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his chest. Why do they target his soul?
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Launge explains that soul here functions as a circumlocution.
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It is an ancient way of speaking about the entire person.
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Like their core identity, their spirit, their appetite, their
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will. Right.
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By saying this of his soul, the enemies are passing judgement on
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David's innermost character and his standing with the Almighty.
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They're not just trying to assassinate a political rival to
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take his throne, they are pronouncing a spiritual death
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sentence. They are declaring him
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cosmically abandoned. I want to push back on how we
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usually picture biblical enemies.
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We often imagine them as secular atheists who hate religion.
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Just cartoon villains shaking their fists at the sky.
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Yeah, that is a common misconception.
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But based on this text, Absalom supporters are factoring God
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into the equation. They sound like theologians.
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They are theologians of the worst kind.
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You hit the nail on the head. They are deeply religious, which
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makes their slander infinitely more painful for David.
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How so? Well, land brings in the broader
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context of David's life. These enemies know about David's
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past. They remember his heinous sin
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with Bathsheba. Oh right, they remember his
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orchestration of Uriah's murder. Yes, they have watched the
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divine chastisements play out in his family over the years, so
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their argument against him is incredibly cruel.
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But religious? Religiously framed.
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They believe David's previous moral failures mean God has
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finally, permanently walked away from the covenant.
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They look at the coup, they look at Absalom taking the throne and
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they say this is it. The math is settled.
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God is done with him. There is no help for him in God.
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The Hebrew grammar operates his theology.
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In this first, Lange breaks down the Hebrew termination alpha on
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the word for help. Scholars constantly debate
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ancient syntax, but Huppfeld and de Lich identify this specific
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suffix as an accusative of design.
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I have to admit, when I first read about the accusative of
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design, I got a bit lost in the linguistic weeds.
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Help me translate that into normal terms.
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What does that mean for how the enemies view David?
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It means the enemies are looking at the trajectory of David's
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life and they are certain his ultimate destination is absolute
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destruction. They believe his trajectory
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toward ruin is locked in by divine decree.
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Yes. It is not just a casual insult,
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it is a theological calculation. They're saying the design of
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your life ends here, in the dirt, abandoned by Yahweh.
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That is devastating. It is one thing to have people
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attack your reputation or steal your money.
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Yeah, it is an entirely different level of agony to have
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your own religious community, the visible Church of Israel,
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look at your tragedy and confidently declare God has
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forsaken you because of what you did.
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So what does a believer do when the visible church declares him
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completely cut off from grace? This is where the theological
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pivot of the entire Psalm happens.
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David turns away from the voices of his critics and turns
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directly to the Covenant promises.
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Lange introduces Martin Luther's framing of these next verses,
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and Luther's structure is brilliant.
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Luther points out that David counters the three specific
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enemy actions from the 1st 2 verses with three specific
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divine actions. It is a 1 to 1 theological
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combat. Let us lay out those contrasts
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first. David faces a sheer multitude of
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enemies, but he counters that by declaring God is his shield.
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Second, he faces total public disgrace in the loss of his
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earthly Kingdom, but he counters that by calling God his glory
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the one who sets him in honor. And third, he faces the bitter
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slander that his soul is doomed, and he counters that by
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declaring God is the lifter up of his head.
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Let us break those down, starting with the shield,
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because the English translation fails to capture the physical
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reality here. Text says a shield for me, but
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Lange notes a major translation issue with that phrasing.
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The underlying Hebrew word is body.
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Translating it As for me completely misses the spatial
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dimension of the word. What does it actually mean?
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It actually means around me or about me.
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The scholar Alexander points out that this implies covering the
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whole body. I love that distinction.
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When we hear shield, we think of a Roman scutum or a medieval
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buckler, a piece of metal you hold on your left arm to block a
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sword swing from One Direction. Right, but if you are surrounded
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by 10,000 men in the woods, a handheld shield is useless.
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They'll just stab you in the back.
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This body shield is a 360 degree perimeter of protection.
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It's like a personal force field.
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The enemy can attack from the front, the back, the sides and
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it does not matter. And that force field connects
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directly back to God's initial promise to Abraham in Genesis
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chapter 15, where God says, fear not Abram, I am thy shield.
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David is leaning on an ancient historical covenant promise.
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He's looking back centuries and saying the God who protected the
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patriarchs is a physical perimeter around me right now in
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this wilderness. The next contrast is incredibly
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moving the lifter up of my head. You really have to visualize
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David's physical posture to feel the weight of this.
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In Second Samuel chapter 15, verse 30, the historian
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describes David walking up the Mount of Olives as he flees the
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city. He is weeping openly.
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His head is covered in mourning. He is walking barefoot in the
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dirt. He is physically crushed,
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staring at the ground. His chin is buried in his chest,
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but here he says God is the lifter of his head.
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That physical lifting represents a total spiritual restoration.
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God is restoring the honor of the broken, humiliated King.
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He reaches down, touches his chin, and lifts his gaze away
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from the dirt and back up to the heavens.
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And this restoration of honor drives David to pray.
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In verse 4, we read I cried unto the Lord with my voice.
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This phrasing kicks off another linguistic debate among the
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scholars launch sites. I noticed that debate and
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honestly it seems a bit redundant at first glance.
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I cried with my voice. Obviously.
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If you cry out, you use your voice.
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What else would you use? Why the repetition?
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Exegetes debate the function of this repetition.
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Some argue that my voice is an accusative of instrument.
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In that view, it simply specifies that this was a loud,
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physical audible call, not just a silent thought or an internal
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wish. It was vocalized.
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But others, like Hitzig and Huppfeldt, argue it is a
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poetical double subject. The active person appears first
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as the subject I, and then the person appears again in the
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instrument of the verb my voice. How does that change the
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meaning? It highlights the intense active
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participation of Davidde whole being.
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It is not just his vocal cords making a sound.
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It is his entire soul, his complete identity, throwing its
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weight into this petition. He is leveraging his entire
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physical and emotional existence in this prayer.
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And then we get this phrase detailing God's response.
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And he heard me out of his holy hill.
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I want you to imagine being physically cut off from your
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church, your community, the place where you usually
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experience God's presence. When David fled Jerusalem, the
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priest Zadok and Abiathar brought the Ark of the Covenant
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out to follow him, but David stopped them.
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He deliberately sent the Ark back to the city.
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He refused to use the Ark as a magic Talisman to guarantee his
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victory. He trusted God's sovereignty
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enough to leave the physical symbol of God's presence behind.
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So he is out in the wilderness, separated from the sanctuary.
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Which is where Hitzik mistakenly thought the Holy Hill referred
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to Mount Sinai or Bashan. Why did Hitzik think that?
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Because Hitzik could not reconcile David being away from
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Zion but praying toward it. But Lange clarifies it can only
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be Mount Zion, where the Ark currently rests under Absalom's
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temporary control. Which means David is physically
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separated from the localized presence of God, from the
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ordinary means of grace. He cannot go to the temple.
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He cannot offer a physical sacrifice on the altar.
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He cannot smell the incense. Yet his prayer pierces through
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physical space, travels all the way back to Jerusalem, right
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past Absalom's guards, and connects directly to the throne
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of the Cherubim. Distance means absolutely
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nothing to this covenant connection.
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What is the result of a prayer that pierces through space and
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connects with a divine presence? The result is an unnatural,
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downright miraculous piece, Verse 5 reads I laid me down and
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slept. Under normal circumstances,
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severe anxiety destroys sleep. If you were worried about a
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presentation at work or a conflict with a neighbor, you
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toss and turn at 3:00 in the morning, staring at the ceiling.
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And David has 10s of thousands of armed men actively hunting
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him in the dark, led by his own son.
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The psychological torment alone should keep him awake, let alone
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the physical danger. Sleeping in a war zone is not
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just taking a nap. Sleeping here is a theological
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act. A theological act.
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Lange brings in De Lich and Barnes to explain the mechanics
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of this piece. The reason David can close his
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eyes, and the reason he awake safe the next morning is that
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the omnipotent hand of God was his pillow.
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The pillow of Providence. I love that image.
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He is inaccessible to the enemy because he is sustained by a
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divine hand. Sleep is an admission of
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vulnerability. When you sleep, you are
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completely defenseless. You are admitting you are a
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creature, not the creator. Barnes points out that this
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exaltation, this fresh courage David experiences in the
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morning, is the direct physical result of that.
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Calm, slumber, the mind body are reinvigorated because he
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surrendered his defense to Yahweh.
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And he wakes up to face staggering numbers with a
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completely renewed mindset. Verse 6 says I will not be
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afraid of 10 thousands of people that have set themselves against
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me roundabout. This is not paranoia.
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This is not hyperbole. Lange makes it clear that all of
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Israel had literally gone over to Absalom.
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The myriads are real. David is looking at a sea of
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hostility. What is truly fascinating here
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is a tactual detail that is incredibly easy to miss if
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you're just reading through casually.
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At the end of this specific thought, there is no Sailor.
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The musical pause is missing. Every other major transition in
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the Psalm has a sailor. Why drop it here?
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Delicious points out that the sail is lacking because David is
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not speaking in a tone of triumph for bragging.
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He is not puffing his chest out, banging his sword against his
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shield and shouting about how brave he is to face 10,000 men.
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It is a quiet, humble expression of faith.
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A loud musical interlude would ruin the intimate, hushed
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realization that he survived the night purely by grace, not by
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his own military prowess. Absence of the music speaks
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louder than the notes. It is the quiet confidence of
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someone who knows they did absolutely nothing to save
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themselves. The hand of God held them all
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night, and waking up sustained gives David an unbelievable
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surge of audacity. He moves from quiet rest to
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making demands of the Almighty. Verse 7 begins with an emphatic,
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forceful cry. Arise, O Lord.
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Lanji dives into the Hebrew accentuation on that specific
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command. The word used is kuma instead of
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the standard kuma. Huppfeldt explains that this
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shift in accent is by design. It is meant for special, urgent
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emphasis. It is a sharp rallying cry for
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God to interfere, to step out of the heavens and decide the
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events of the world right now. And then David uses a really
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interesting grammatical tense that feels entirely out of place
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given his current situation. He says for Thou has smitten all
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mine enemies upon the cheekbone. If he is currently surrounded by
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10,000 men who want to kill him, why is he using the past tense?
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Thou has smitten? The enemies are still standing
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right there in front of him. There are two main ways scholars
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interpret this grammar. Some see these as prophetical
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perfects. In ancient Hebrew, an action can
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be so absolutely certain to happen in the future that the
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speaker refers to it is already completed.
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It is a grammatical declaration of faith.
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He is so confident in God's victory that he speaks of the
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enemy's defeat as history. It is already done.
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The battle is over before swords are even drawn.
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The other interpretation argued by Hewald and Alexander is that
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David is actually drawing. His current confidence from
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God's literal historical past actions.
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He is remembering how God previously destroyed foreign
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enemies like the Philistines. He is remembering how God
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dismantled the hostile House of Saul.
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David is using the objective historical record of God's
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faithfulness to fuel his current faith.
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Look at the imagery he uses for God in this verse.
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Lange unpacks this striking metaphor.
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God is pictured as a warlike hero, a divine hunter.
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And the enemies are described as ravenous beasts, like lions or
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wolves, ready to tear David apart.
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God renders these geests harmless by shattering their
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jaws and breaking their teeth. It is a visceral, violent,
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bloody image. It signifies taking away the
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enemy's capacity to cause harm. You can have a massive lion
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roaring in your face, but if the Divine Hunter has broken its
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teeth and shattered its jaw, it cannot devour you.
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God is preparing a complete, shameful and incapacitating
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overthrow for those who oppose His anointed King.
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Which leads right to the climax of the entire Psalm in verse 8.
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Salvation belongeth unto the Lord.
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I want to know about the grammar here because Lange mentions the
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Lambda possession. I have 0 background in Hebrew
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syntax. What does the Lambd do and how
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does it change our understanding of salvation?
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The Hebrew letter lamid, when used as a prefix in this way,
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denotes possession or ownership. De Lich explains that the
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specific grammatical construction means God have
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absolute exclusive ownership and disposal of salvation.
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It is his property. So salvation is not a
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collaborative effort. It is not David's brilliant
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military strategy plus a little bit of God's help.
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It is not a 5050 split. No, salvation is entirely the
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property of Yahweh. He alone holds it, and He alone
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distributes it. He has a total monopoly on
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deliverance. If you want salvation, you
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cannot manufacture it. You have to get it from the
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sole. Owner total monopoly.
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And then David finishes the text with this phrase.
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Thy blessing is upon thy people. I want you to stop and consider
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who the people are at this exact moment in history.
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The people are the ones actively participating in the coup.
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People are the 10,000 men hunting David in the woods.
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The people are the ones slandering his soul and saying
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God has abandoned him. Which is why Lange clarifies
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that this is not a statement of present fact.
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David is not saying look how blessed these traders are right
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now. It is an intercessory prayer.
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He is praying for the very people trying to kill him.
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Yes, the lich connects this beautifully to the anti type of
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David. He sees this ancient prayer
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pointing directly forward to Christ on the cross.
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Looking down at the very people driving nails into his hands and
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saying Father forgive them. David, the betrayed human king,
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asks for divine blessing to fall upon his traitorous subjects
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rather than a curse. That is staggering grace.
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It is completely contrary to human survival instincts.
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If someone is hunting you down to steal your life, your family,
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and your livelihood, your instinct is to pray for fire to
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fall from the sky and consume them.
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You want justice, You want retribution?
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David prays for their blessing. It completely reframes how a
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leader relates to their enemies under the Covenant.
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That reframing is the perfect transition to the pastoral and
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doctrinal synthesis. Lange's commentary does not just
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leave us with ancient history, geography, and Hebrew grammar.
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He takes all these exegetical pieces and views them through
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the lens of historical theologians to extract heavy
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practical application for the believer.
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We have to talk about George von Onhalt.
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Lange brings up his three remedies for spiritual struggle.
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Remember earlier we talked about how David's enemies were
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attacking his soul, acting as terrible theologians, telling
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him his past sins disqualified him from God's help?
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Anne Halt says when you face that kind of crushing internal
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and external accusation, you need 3 specific remedies.
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On Halt prescribes faith in the forgiveness of sins, faith in
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the resurrection, and faith in an eternal life.
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When the world looks at your failures, when they point to
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your own personal Bathsheba moments and declares there is no
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help for you in God, you do not argue about your own
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righteousness. You do not try to justify your
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past. You lean entirely on the
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objective reality of divine forgiveness and the future hope
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of resurrection. You shift the focus from your
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performance to God's promise. But Lange doesn't let David
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completely off the hook for his past either.
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You brought up Stark's observation from the commentary,
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which is incredibly sobering. Stark points out the reality of
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God's discipline within the covenant.
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Stark notes the principle of like with like in divine
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retribution. David previously fled from his
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heavenly Father by running into heinous sin.
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He. Manipulated his power, took
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Bathsheba and orchestrated the murder of Uriah.
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Now, years later, as a consequence of fracturing his
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own house, he's forced to flee from his own rebellious son.
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The fractures in his earthly family mirror the fractures he
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caused in his relationship with God.
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The sword never departed from his house, just as the prophet
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Nathan warned him yet. And this is the crucial part for
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anyone listening who feels like they are currently suffering
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under the discipline of their own bad choices.
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Even under that strict discipline, God remains His
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protective shield. God disciplines David severely,
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but he does not abandon him to the mob.
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He does not hand him over to Absalom Spear.
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That is the tension of the covenant.
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Discipline is not damnation. A father might discipline a
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child, but he does not let the child be destroyed by wolves.
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We see how David navigates this through the graduation of faith
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pointed out by the theologian Stridel.
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Stridel maps out the logical progression of a believer in
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crisis based on this specific Psalm.
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Stridel lays out this fascinating 3 step cycle in the
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text. I was reading this and it struck
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me as almost algorithmic. It is like a spiritual engine.
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How does that engine work to prepare David for the next
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crisis? The progression is 3 distinct
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steps. When attacked, he prays.
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When he prays, he is saved. When saved, he gives thanks.
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It is a constant cycle of dependency.
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The external attack triggers the desperate prayer.
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The prayer brings the divine deliverance and the deliverance
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results in immense gratitude, which strengthens the heart and
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prepares the believer for the inevitable next attack.
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You cannot bypass the prayer and expect the salvation, and you
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cannot forget the gratitude once you are saved.
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I love how Tertullian frames this dynamic.
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Lange quotes him and I want to share this concept because it
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changed how I view suffering. Tertullian talks about God as
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the ultimate guarantor. He says if you deposit an injury
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with God, he is the Avenger. If you deposit a loss, he is the
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restorer. If you deposit a pain, he is the
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physician. If you deposit death, he is the
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reviver. It is an ancient banking
26:44
metaphor applied to human suffering.
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Think about when you deposit money into a secure bank
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account. You do not sit awake all night
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wondering if the vault is locked.
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You transfer the burden of security to the bank.
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Tuolian is saying you must take the raw material of your crisis,
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the betrayal, the slander, the physical danger and deposit it
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into the hands of a sovereign God.
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You are legally transferring ownership of the problem to him,
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and because he possesses that lament of possession, the
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absolute ownership of salvation, he can return a dividend of
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restoration and life. You stop carrying the dead of
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vengeance yourself. You hand it over.
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Which brings us to the final synthesis quote from Chapter
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Spurgeon. Lands uses Spurgeon to tie this
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entire historical and theological package together.
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Spurgeon says that searching the Scriptures, reading these raw
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accounts of human failure and divine deliverance reveals that
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salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine of the Word of
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God. It all comes back to Grace.
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David did not survive that terrifying night because he was
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a tactical genius. He survived because the Lord
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sustained his breathing while he slept.
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He did not wake up and ask for blessing on his enemies because
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he was naturally a forgiving nice guy.
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He did it because his own head had just been lifted from the
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dirt by unmerited grace. When you realize you are only
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breathing because of grace, it changes how you view the people
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people trying to stop your breath.
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So as we wrap up this deep dive, I want to talk directly to you,
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the listener. We have covered military coups,
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ancient geography, the syntax of Hebrew poetry, and the
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psychological weight of betrayal.
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But the core issue is how this ancient morning after Psalm
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intersects with your current reality.
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Think about your own life right now.
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Whether you are facing literal enemies trying to dismantle your
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career, the sting of public slander in your community, or
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the crushing, isolating consequences of your own past
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mistakes, you are challenged to view your circumstances through
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this specific lens. The central question of the text
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demands an answer from you. Can you lay down and sleep in
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the middle of your specific crisis, knowing with absolute
28:48
certainty that salvation belongs entirely to the Lord and not to
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your own efforts? If the omnipotent hand of God is
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your pillow, the math of the enemy's treason does not matter.
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It does not matter if it is 10 people or 10,000.
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But before we sign off, there is one final thought to Mull over,
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building on what we discussed about verse 8.
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If David's intercessory prayer for his traitorous subjects
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prefigures Christ praying for his executioners, how should
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that change the way we pray for those who actively seek our
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ruin? The Divine Hunter has already
29:18
broken the teeth of the enemy, making them ultimately harmless
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to our souls. Perhaps our role is no longer to
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pray for their destruction. Perhaps our role is to pray for
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the blessing of the very people we fear the most.
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That is a staggering thought to leave on.
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive.
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Let the reality of that grace sit with you today.
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We will catch you on the next one.