Latest / Reformed Thinking / God My Fortress in the Face of Relentless Enemies (Psalm 59) | Charles Spurgeon

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God My Fortress in the Face of Relentless Enemies (Psalm 59) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reform Thinking. Today we are looking at a text
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  that deals with a very specific and I'd say very desperate kind
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  of pressure. We're opening up Charles
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  Spurgeon's The Treasury of David again, and we're going to be
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  focusing on his exposition of Psalm 59.
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  It's a Psalm that was, I mean, it was born in a crisis.
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  If you just look at the heading, the historical setting is
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  incredibly tense, right? This isn't David sitting
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  comfortably on a throne, not by a long shot.
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  This is David inside his own house, and the house is
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  completely surrounded. Right.
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  The context here is connected to First Samuel 19.
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  King Saul has sent his men to watch David's house.
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  They're guarding the exes. They're basically just waiting
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  for the morning so they can kill him.
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  It's a siege. Precisely.
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  It's a siege against one man. And what makes this deep dive
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  so, you know, so valuable is that we're looking at how a
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  believer responds when the government itself is the
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  persecutor, when the house is beset by thieves, as Spurgeon
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  puts it. But the thieves have the warrant
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  of the king. And Spurgeon has this just this
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  beautiful way of framing the whole situation.
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  Right at the restart, he notes the paradox of it all.
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  He does how? Such a terrible situation
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  produce such a brout wall, such a beautiful piece of scripture,
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  he says. Out of a sour, ungenerous soil,
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  spring up the honey bearing flowers of psalmody.
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  That's the Reformed perspective on suffering in a nutshell,
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  isn't it? I mean, we often think of
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  affliction as something that just gets in the way of our
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  worship. Interruption.
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  But Spurgeon argues that affliction is the tuner of the
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  harps. That's his phrase.
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  Without the cruel hunting by Saul, the Church of God would
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  have missed this song. The music of the sanctuary is
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  you know, it's indebted to the trials of the Saints.
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  So we have this set up. David's trapped.
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  Saul's men are outside. Let's look at the title of the
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  Psalm itself, because Spurgeon spends a good bit of time
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  unpacking the significance of the words altasheth and mcticum.
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  OK, Altasius means destroy not, is that right?
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  That's correct. It's a title that you find on a
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  few Psalms, and it carries a heavy theological weight.
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  The implication, at least according to Spurgeon, is that
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  whom God preserves, Satan cannot destroy.
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  It's a statement of divine protection, then.
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  Yes, but what's fascinating is how God chooses to do that
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  preserving. It's rarely a lightning bolt
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  from the sky. No, not at all.
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  Spurgeon points out the Providence of God.
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  Here he mentions how God preserved Elijah using Ravens.
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  You know, birds that would naturally pick out a man's eyes
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  were used to feed him. And here, in David's case, God
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  uses a member of the enemy's own household.
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  You're talking about McCall, Saul's daughter?
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  Yes. David's wife, but also the
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  King's daughter. I mean, the irony is just thick
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  here. Saul sends men to kill David,
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  and the escape route is provided by Saul's own flesh and blood.
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  Spurgeon notes that David always found a friend when his case was
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  peculiarly dangerous. It just shows that God's
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  Providence often works through the very people or situations
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  that seem to be part of the threat.
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  And then there's that other word in the title, Mctem.
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  The Golden Secret. This is the fifth of the Golden
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  Secrets of David. OK, it suggests that the content
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  of the Psalm is a special treasure, something held in high
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  value for God's chosen people. It's not just a complaint.
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  It's a secret key to understanding how to survive
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  when the world turns against you.
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  Now, before we get into the verses themselves, I noticed
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  Spurgeon takes a bit of a swing at the critics of his day.
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  Apparently there were scholars trying to reassign this Psalm to
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  a different author or a different time period.
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  Oh yeah, Spurgeon had very little patience for that kind of
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  higher criticism. He calls them the would be
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  intellectuals. There was a fashion then, and
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  there still is, really, to prove one's learning by disagreeing
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  with everyone who came before. Right.
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  Spurgeon just argues that the historical heading fits the
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  verses perfectly. When you read about watching the
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  house and the dogs prowling the city, it matches the incident
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  with Saul's men. He basically says we should
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  trust the text rather than the spasms of modern theory.
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  I. Appreciate that confidence in
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  the text, so let's dig in. Let's look at the reality of the
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  enemy. Verses one and two describe the
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  besieged. St.
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  David prays deliver me from mine.
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  Enemies defend me from them that rise up against me.
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  The first thing to notice is just the inequality of force.
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  It's an armed cordon against one man.
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  Overwhelming odds. Completely.
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  Saul has the authority, he has the soldiers.
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  David is being hunted like a bird in a net.
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  But Spurgeon draws a contrast here between the believer and
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  the unbeliever. He mentions the Starling that
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  cries. I cannot get out.
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  The bird that just panics. Right.
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  Unbelief says prayer is a waste of breath.
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  Unbelief panics. But David makes prayer his soul
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  resort. He doesn't try to negotiate with
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  the soldiers. He cries to God.
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  And notice this specific request.
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  He asks to be set on high. Yeah, that's key.
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  Like. A high tower.
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  Yes, he wants to be lifted into a position that is simply out of
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  reach of the adversary. It's not just about the enemy
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  going away, it's about David being elevated to a place of
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  spiritual safety where their arrows just cannot reach him.
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  And he's very clear about the the nature of these enemies.
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  He calls them workers of iniquity and bloody man.
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  He paints them in their true colors.
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  And this isn't just name calling.
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  It's a theological diagnosis, OK?
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  Spurgeon points out that when a house is beset by thieves, the
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  good man of the house rings the alarm bell.
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  That is what these verses are, the alarm bell ringing.
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  Deliver me, Save me. And the reason he appeals to God
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  is because of their nature. Yes, the bloodthirstiness of the
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  foe. The Lord abhors those who
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  delight in blood. Really strikes me in verses 3
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  and 4 is David's insistence on his own innocence.
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  He says not for my transgression, not for my sin, O
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  Lord. This is so crucial.
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  This is what Spurgeon calls gratuitous malice.
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  Gratuitous malice. David isn't claiming to be
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  sinless before God in a general sense, but in this specific
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  conflict with Saul, he is innocent.
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  He hasn't committed treason. He hasn't tried to kill the
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  king. The enemy is running and
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  preparing for war without fault on David's part.
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  It seems like that would make it even harder to bear.
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  I mean, if you did something wrong you might understand the
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  punishment, but it's just irrational hatred.
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  That is the theological point Spurgeon drives home.
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  The hatred of the wicked against the righteous is often
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  causeless. It's irrational.
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  It stems from that total depravity of the heart that
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  hates goodness simply because it is good.
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  Spurgeon notes that being innocent is a great consolation.
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  It might not win your case in an earthly court, but it is the
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  best argument in the court of conscience and before God.
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  Yeah, we absolutely have to talk about the metaphor David uses.
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  It's one of the most vivid images in the entire Psalm.
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  He compares his enemies to dogs. And we need to be really careful
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  not to read this with our, you know, 21st century Western eyes.
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  Spurgeon and the sources he quotes make it crystal clear
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  that we are not talking about the family golden retriever.
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  Right, these are not house pets. No.
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  In the East, and specifically in the context of ancient cities,
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  dogs were scavengers. They were unowned, loathsome,
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  degraded creatures. They were lean, hungry, and they
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  haunted in packs. Spurgeon quotes a traveller, a
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  man named Albert Smith, who described the dogs in
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  Constantinople. That was a striking detail.
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  Smith described the noise of 60,000 dogs in the city 60,000
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  He called it a continuous uniform riot.
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  A riot. Yelping, howling, barking,
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  growling. That is the soundscape of this
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  song. David is inside his house, and
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  outside is this pack of human dogs, howling, prowling,
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  snapping at one another, waiting for blood.
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  It is a genuinely terrifying image, and David extends it to
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  their speech as well. For Seven says, Behold, they
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  belch out with their mouth. Belch out.
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  I mean, it's a disgusting image and it's intentionally so.
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  It suggests a fountain of malice that just bubbles over.
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  They can't contain it, Spurgeon says.
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  Their vocabulary abuse is copious.
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  Swords are in their lips. Their words are designed to cut
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  and to kill. And what's the root of this
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  behavior? Why do they act like this?
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  It's because of their practical atheism.
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  They ask who doth hear. They assume that God is not
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  listening or that he doesn't care.
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  They believe the government on earth souls Government is the
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  only authority that matters. When men think they are
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  unaccountable to heaven, they become capable of the most
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  atrocious cruelty. So you have this pack of howling
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  dogs, completely confident that no one is listening.
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  But then in verse 5, David calls on God to awake.
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  And he appeals to two very specific titles of God, Lord God
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  of hosts and God of Israel. Why those 2 specifically?
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  Well, Lord God of hosts refers to his sovereignty over all the
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  armies of heaven, the stars, the angels.
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  It's a reminder of his absolute strength.
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  And God of Israel refers to the covenant.
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  It's a reminder of his relationship to his people.
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  So David is basically saying you have the strength and you have
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  the promise. And he asked God to visit all
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  the heathen. But there's a distinction
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  Spurgeon makes here regarding mercy.
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  Yes, and this requires some careful thought.
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  David prays be not merciful to any wicked transgressors.
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  Now Spurgeon clarifies that we can pray for God to be merciful
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  to them as men. To save their souls.
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  To save their souls, yes, but we cannot ask God to be merciful to
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  them as transgressors if they remain hardened in their sin, if
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  they continue to be oppressors, justice must be dealt.
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  I see to you know, to wink at the sin of the persecutor is to
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  leave the righteous under their tyranny, and.
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  Then comes the response from heaven, verse 8.
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  But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh. At them we saw the dogs howling.
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  Now we see God laughing. It's such a stark contrast to
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  the Platts of the Mighty. Even a king like Saul are
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  utterly ridiculous to the Almighty.
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  It completely changes the perspective.
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  It does. If God is laughing at the enemy,
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  why should the church tremble? Spurgeon says.
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  The greatest, cleverest, most malicious enemies of the church
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  are only objects of ridicule to the Lord.
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  His high tower is so far above them that all they're jumping
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  and barking means nothing. Moving into section four of our
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  outline, we hit a concept that I think a lot of modern listeners
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  might misunderstand just cause of the language we're talking
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  about. Preventing mercy.
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  This is one of the most significant theological veins in
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  the entire Psalm. Verse 10 says The God of My
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  mercy shall prevent me. Now, in modern English, prevent
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  means to stop something from happening, but that's not what
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  it means here at all. No, we have to look at the
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  archaic or really the Latin root of the word prevenir to go
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  before, to proceed. So David is saying, the God of
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  my mercy shall go before me. So God is beforehand with his
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  people. That's it.
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  Spurgeon notes that the supply is prepared before the need
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  occurs. The refuge is built before the
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  danger arises. Before Saul ever sent those men,
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  God had already arranged for Michelle to be there.
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  God had already arranged the means of escape.
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  So it's the idea that God is never just reacting to a
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  situation. He has already been there.
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  He is never caught off guard. And notice the personal pronoun
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  David uses the God of my mercy. Spurgeon loves that my.
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  Oh, he does. He says there is a portion of
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  mercy laid by in God's eternal counsel specifically for you.
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  It's held in trust. It's not just some general mercy
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  for the world. It is specific, tailored mercy
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  for the individual believer. It's the father of mercies
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  taking care of his child. And because of this preventing
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  mercy, this mercy that goes before David says he will see
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  his desire upon his enemies. Now aspersion offers a small but
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  important correction There. The words my desire are not
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  actually in the original Hebrew. It really means he will look
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  upon his enemies. What does that imply?
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  What's the difference? It implies looking without fear.
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  It implies a calm gaze. Spurgeon compares it to Stephen
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  in the New Testament, looking at his accusers with the face of an
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  Angel. Oh wow.
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  When you know the God of your mercy has gone before you, you
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  can look the enemy in the eye without flinching.
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  You can see them as already defeated even while they're
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  still howling. That brings us to a very well a
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  very counter intuitive prayer. In verse 11 David says slay them
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  not. It just stops you in your
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  tracks, doesn't it? He just asked for deliverance.
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  Now he's saying don't kill them. So why?
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  Why would he ask God not to destroy the enemies immediately?
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  The reason is given explicitly lest my people forget.
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  Forget what? Forget the lesson.
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  Forget the justice of God. Spurgeon argues that a sudden
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  destruction ends the lesson too quickly.
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  Dead enemies are soon forgotten. But living enemies?
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  Living enemies who are scattered and brought down by God's
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  strength. They serve as living monuments.
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  They become a warning sign. Exactly.
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  Spurgeon uses this brilliant illustration from history.
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  He talks about the Spartans. Apparently there was a
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  neighboring city that was hostile to Sparta and some
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  wanted to just destroy it completely, but the Spurns
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  refused. They said destroy not the
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  whetstone of our young men. The Whetstone.
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  The sharpening Stone. The enemy kept the Spartans
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  sharp, It kept them watchful. Spurgeon applies this to the
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  church. He says a lively, vexatious
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  devil is often less to be dreaded than a sleepy, forgetful
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  spirit. So the enemies keep the
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  Christian awake. They do.
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  They drive us to prayer. If all our problems vanish
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  instantly, we might just become spiritually lazy.
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  That is a hard truth to swallow, but it makes perfect sense of
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  the text. He asked God to scatter them and
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  bring them down. He wants them stripped of their
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  authority and their influence, wandering like Cain.
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  He wants them to be advertisements of God's truth.
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  Eventually, in verse 13, he does pray consume them, yes.
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  There is a timing to it. After they have served their
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  purpose as a whetstone, after they have been a warning, then
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  justice must be final. Consume them in wrath that they
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  may not be. And the goal of this, this
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  consumption? That it may be known to the ends
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  of the earth that God ruleth in Jacob, it is always, always
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  about the glory of God. Spurgeon lists historical
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  examples, the overthrow of Napoleon, the death of Tom
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  Payne, the siege of Paris. He views these things as
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  sermons. When a great tyrant falls or a
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  loud atheist is silenced, it's a lesson to the whole world that
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  God is still on the throne. It's a demonstration of
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  sovereignty. It is God uses them while they
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  are useful for his purposes, and He removes them when his justice
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  demands it. Let's move to the final section,
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  then the contrast between the morning and the evening.
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  We talked about the dogs howling in the evening.
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  Yes, verses 14 and 15 describe the wicked returning at evening.
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  They growl and they grudge if they be not satisfied.
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  That word? Grudge, which is so interesting.
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  It conveys this deep, bitter dissatisfaction.
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  Spurgeon paints a picture of the misery of the ungodly.
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  They have these large appetites, but no satisfaction.
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  They're like those dogs prowling the city, finding nothing and
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  just growling about it. Spurgeon calls it the hell of
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  the wicked. He does.
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  He describes it as an ambitious camp of rebels espousing A
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  hopeless cause driven by raging passions.
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  I mean, think about the psychology of Saul's men.
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  Yeah, they're pacing around. They're angry.
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  They're hungry for blood, and they're frustrated that they
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  can't catch this one man. They are miserable.
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  Sin is just miserable. Work.
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  And the great irony is, while they're prowling and thinking
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  they're going to catch you in the morning, David is already
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  safe. He's gone.
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  He's out of their reach. All their labor is in vain.
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  And then comes the big bud. They're 16, but I will sing.
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  The great antithesis. They howl, I sing, they are
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  stuck in the evening. I'm looking to the morning.
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  I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning.
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  The morning implies the dawn of deliverance.
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  The night of the siege doesn't last forever.
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  And notice the content of the song.
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  He sings of two things, strength and mercy.
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  OK, why those 2 specifically? Spurgeon says strength and mercy
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  must be joined. Strength means he can defend
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  you. Mercy means he will defend you.
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  I see if God had all the strength in the world but no
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  mercy, we would be terrified of him.
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  If he had mercy, but no strength, he couldn't help us.
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  But David sings of both unto thee, O my strength will I sing.
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  Spurgeon has a lovely insight here about the the exclusivity
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  of the song. He says there is not even a
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  stray note for man. David doesn't sing about his own
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  cleverness in escaping. He doesn't sing about Michelle's
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  quick thinking. He sings to God, for God is my
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  defense. It is just total dependence.
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  It is, Spurgeon says. Sweet is the music of
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  experience, but it is all for God.
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  The believer who has been through the siege, who has heard
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  the dogs howling, sings a song that is pure and focused
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  entirely early on the God of his mercy.
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  So to recap, we've walked through the siege, the dogs, the
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  high tower, the Preventing Mercy, and now the Morning Song.
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  It's a remarkable song, a complete journey.
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  OK, let's try and summarize what we've learned from this deep
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  dive into Psalm 59. Well, we started with that sour
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  soil of persecution, and we learned that God uses these
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  difficult times, these sieges, to produce the honey of
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  psalmody. We learned that God protects His
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  people, sometimes using the most unexpected means, like the
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  daughter of the enemy. And we saw the reality of the
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  enemy, that irrational dog like hatred of the world against the
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  righteous. And we saw the sovereign
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  response. God isn't panicked by it.
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  He is laughing. He is the Hightower.
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  And perhaps most one of the biggest takeaways is preventing
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  mercy. The God who goes before us.
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  The God who has the escape route ready before the danger even
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  knocks on the door. And we touched on that difficult
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  concept of the whetstone, that God sometimes allows enemies to
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  remain for a season, to keep us sharp, to serve as living
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  warnings before he deals with them and his justice.
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  And finally, the contrast, the dissatisfaction of sin versus
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  the morning song of the believer.
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  The wicked grudge and growl, the righteous sing of strength and
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  mercy. It really forces you to check
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  your own reaction to trouble, doesn't it it?
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  Does and that leads to a you know, a provocative thought I'd
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  like to leave our listeners with.
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  We all hear the howling of the world.
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  It might not be armed men around our house, but it might be
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  cultural pressure, slander, or just the general noise of a
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  society that hates God. Sure.
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  The question is, are we allowing that howling to disturb our
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  rest? Or are we waiting for the
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  morning? That's the question.
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  And to take it a step further, think about the whetstones in
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  your own life. That person, that situation,
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  that difficulty that just will not go away.
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  Instead of just praying, remove it, remove it, remove it.
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  Perhaps we should be asking, how is God using this to sharpen me?
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  How is this keeping me awake? That changes the prayer
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  entirely. It does.
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  It moves us from panic to purpose.
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  We can look at the dogs and say you can howl all you want.
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  God is my Hightower. He has already been here.
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  He has prevented invented me with mercy.
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  And when the morning comes, we will have a song to sing.
• 18:36
  A song of strength and mercy. Thank you for joining us on this
• 18:39
  dive into Psalm 59. It is a good reminder that no
• 18:43
  matter who is watching the house, God is watching over us.
• 18:47
  Amen to that. We'll see you next time on
• 18:49
  reformed thinking.