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Psalm 120 - Lighting Tongues On Fire · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show His love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Hello friends. We are going through Book 5 of
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  Psalms together and we are in Psalm 1:20 today, a brand new
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  Psalm. For the last 22 episodes, I have
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  been in Psalm 119. And so it feels like a new day.
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  I can breathe a little freer. And we're going to read through
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  Psalm 120. This, this Psalm is labeled as a
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  song of a sense, a song of a sense like you ascend a
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  mountain. And these songs would often be
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  used during the pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the different
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  festivals and holy days that the Jewish people had.
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  So you can think in particular the Feast of Tabernacles or the
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  Feast of Booths, Feast of Tents is what's that?
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  What that event is sometimes called.
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  Then you had the Feast of Firstfruits, which would be kind
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  of a seasonal celebration when you got in your, your first, you
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  know, crops and stuff for the year.
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  And then you had, of course, the Day of Atonement and Passover,
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  some of those different things. So there were always great
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  things happening. The children of Israel had no
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  shortage of holy days or times in which they would gather
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  together, but in particular three different times a year.
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  They were all encouraged as the people of God, you need to come
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  to Jerusalem and worship the Lord, give your offerings and
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  your tithes. And so this would be one of the
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  songs that those people would sing as they were headed to
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  Jerusalem. Verse one says this.
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  In my distress I called to Yahweh and he answered me.
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  Yahweh, rescue me from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.
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  What will He give you and what will He do to you, you deceitful
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  tongue? A warrior's sharp arrows with
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  burning charcoal. What misery that I have stayed
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  in Meshach, that I have lived among the tents of Kedar.
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  I have dwelt too long with those who hate peace.
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  I am for peace, but when I speak they are for war.
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  All right, if you like me, are like, what in the world is going
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  on there? I do not know these places.
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  I don't know the geography. I am going to show you my my
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  Bible study program just gave up the ghost on me, hopefully very
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  temporarily, but I'm going to pull that up real once more real
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  quick. So Psalm 120 and the prayer here
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  is God, I need you to intervene because there are liars and
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  warmongers that are here and I am trying to advocate for peace.
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  I'm trying to advocate for your way.
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  But God, I believe that you are going to take care of those that
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  do wrong. So let's begin at verse #1 and
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  then we will, and then we'll go through there.
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  So first one, in my distress I called to Yahweh and He answered
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  me. I'm so thankful that when we
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  call the God, He hears. He is not distant, He has not
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  forgotten us. He is just the one that is
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  constantly there that we can rely on in every single season.
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  And just because we're going through distress doesn't mean
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  that God isn't there or that He doesn't care.
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  It's in our distress that we're able to see God work in ways
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  that we never would have or never could have otherwise.
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  So in your distress, call to God and He will answer you.
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  He will not always answer you saying yes.
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  Everything that you just prayed I'm going to do.
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  Now in my life, there have been times where I've prayed for
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  something and God came through in a massive way for it, and He
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  did the things that I asked Him to do.
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  And I'm really thankful for those times.
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  I'm also really thankful for the times that God told me no.
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  Both of those are incredibly valuable.
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  Verse #2 Here is what He called to Yahweh.
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  Here was the prayer. Yahweh rescue me from lying lips
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  and a deceitful tongue. So this would kind of talk about
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  the spread of gossip or baseless rumors.
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  It is that people are lying in regards to this person.
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  I as I've interacted more and more, both in my life in being
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  around other people, frankly just as an adult, and through
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  reading more and more scripture, I have been blown away by how
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  real and applicable scripture is, and also just how how goofy
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  it is to me, if I can use that phrase, how goofy it is to me.
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  How often people lie. I was very often encouraged from
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  from my youngest days to speak the truth, even if it would get
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  me in trouble. It would be far worse if I lied.
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  You can think even today, if you get pulled over by the cops, you
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  you would do much better to just shoot straight with them.
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  Be on the level, Don't lie to them, because then you will be
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  in much greater trouble. If you lie in a court, you're
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  going to be in a lot of trouble, even more so than if you just.
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  Yeah, if you lie, you'll be in more trouble than you would be
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  if you just did whatever crime was there and you just fessed up
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  to it. You will be in more trouble if
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  you lie about it. And so here the psalmist says,
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  asking God, there is gossip, there's slander, there's lies,
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  there's deceit going on. And so, God, would you rescue
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  me? And then verses 3 and 4 is is a
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  hilarious visual picture for me. So what will he give you and
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  what will he do to you, you deceitful tongue?
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  So it's the person praying God deal with these deceitful
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  tongues. And then he goes, all right, I'm
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  going to imagine how God's going to get you.
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  And then verse 4 says a warrior's sharp arrows with
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  burning charcoal here. This is charcoal that's derived
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  from a hard stemmed plant called a broom tree.
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  So this is the kind of tree that Elijah sits under when he's
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  like, oh man, you know, Jezebel wants to kill me again.
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  And I don't know any other people that serve God.
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  And so I'm just going to die. And God's like, dude, no, you
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  just need to eat some food, spend some time with me.
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  I'm going to give you a new mission.
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  Everything's fine. So here verse 4, therefore there
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  is this thought for the soulmist that they say what's God going
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  to do? He is going to shoot the tongue
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  with an arrow with burning charcoal.
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  It's literally like a lit fiery arrow that is going to attack
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  this tongue of falsehood. I don't know about you if I'm
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  writing Scripture, especially Scripture, knowing the God that
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  I know, I am going to be like, oh, he will let you know about
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  your failures. What's he going to do to you?
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  Tong he will silence you and he will cause you to say good
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  things. I feel like that's the very, you
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  know, quote UN quote spiritual answer.
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  But here there's just a rawness of this psalmist to be like,
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  I've been so hurt by these people that to me, what seems
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  like justice would just be like, bow and arrow and shoot
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  someone's tongue out while the arrow is on fire.
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  And when you have like just so much anger against someone,
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  there are times where perhaps that anger is warranted.
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  You can think even of our God, that Scripture says he is angry
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  with the wicked every day. So God is angry every day.
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  And so we shouldn't expect that we never encounter the emotion
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  of anger. Now we got to do what's right
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  with our anger here. As he says, I am putting it
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  towards God, like God's, the one that is going to deal with this
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  God, I need you to rescue me from it.
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  He's not saying I'm going to attack these people.
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  He's saying, God, It would be, in my estimation, just and good
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  for them to have a burning tongue.
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  You know, you can think that there's a colloquialism in
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  English that you can say, oh, my ears are burning.
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  And it means someone else is is talking about me.
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  And here it's almost like, OK, let them have a literal burning
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  tongue because they they have been using their tongue to talk
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  falsely about me. Can I ask you what, what do you
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  think about that? What do you think of this
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  thought of God? I want you to send a warriors
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  sharp arrows with burning charcoal at these false and
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  deceitful tongues. I think there should also be
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  kind of an introspection for us because we can put ourselves in
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  the slot of the person that is being lied about.
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  And certainly that might be true at times in our lives, but we
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  have also been the ones that have sinned against others in
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  our speech. We have assigned motives that
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  they didn't truly have. We thought that they did
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  something for a reason that they didn't really do it for.
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  And so we can choose to or we we ought to choose to say, God,
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  would you help me that I would only say the things that you
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  want me to say. Help me to not spread lies.
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  Help me to not spread gossip. Help me to not speak falsehoods.
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  Let me say only what is true and what you would have me to.
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  And God, may you help my tongue to be a well of life for others.
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  That when people talk with Brian, they go, man, I'm
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  encouraged. Yeah, I I learned, you know, I
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  learned something about God or man.
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  He really seems like he cares about me and and loves me.
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  He was happy to talk with me. He spent his time talking about
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  things he was excited for or things that he's praying over.
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  He didn't just spend all his time talking trash about other
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  people. I want that to be the way that I
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  live my life. I want my words to be a
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  wellspring of life. I don't want them to be like
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  this that need a warrior's sharp arrows with burning charcoal to
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  to take out my tongue. And then here at the end of this
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  Psalm, he says what misery that I've stayed in Meshech.
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  So this was located southeast of the Black Sea.
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  And then that he says that I have lived among the tents of
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  Kedar. Kadar was an eastern plain
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  located at the northern fringe of the Syrian Arabian Desert.
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  It was normally inhabited by Arab tribes Together Meshach and
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  Kadar. This represented places far and
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  near where Israelites dwelt as aliens.
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  So it's there are these places way far away, like kind of by
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  Russia, north of Turkey, if I remember correctly, as kind of
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  where the Black Sea is. It's in that area of the world.
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  So yeah, Meshech, they are way far away.
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  And then Kedar, which is a little bit closer, but that's
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  near Israel. And so you'd have Israelites
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  that were there that as they're coming to worship the Lord from
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  these places that are just godless and evil, they go, man,
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  I really don't enjoy living in these places.
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  And so they say, what misery that I've stayed there, that
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  I've lived among the Kents of Kedar.
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  I've dwelt too long with those who hate peace.
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  I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war here.
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  I think even in our weekly worship, this is something that
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  we can think about that we oh God, I have been in my workplace
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  and I have been for peace, I've been for godliness, I've been
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  for righteousness. I have advocated for life and
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  for Jesus. I have advocated for love.
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  And these other people, they are totally against that.
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  They have a totally different worldview.
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  And so I think here as the Israelites, 3 * a year, they
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  made their pilgrimages that we weekly get to make this
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  pilgrimage and we can say, God, what misery that I have been in
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  this workplace or this neighborhood or even sometimes,
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  you know, if if not all of your home is made-up of Christians.
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  I have been in this home with this family for too long.
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  I am so thankful now to be heading to the place of worship,
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  to the place where God is exalted and where his way is the
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  best way that's being pursued. I think we ought to have a love
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  and a desire to gather with God's people.
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  Some people kind of buck against that, especially nowadays.
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  I can think several times over the past two months or so where
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  I've had people online, you know, just random Internet
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  atheist that have been like, oh, or, or purported Christians
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  even. They go like, oh, I don't need
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  to go to church to worship God. Well, the truth is we do need to
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  because God commands us to. It's not that we need to go
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  because anyone needs to hear from Brian.
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  And it's not that we need to go because it's got, you know, some
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  great band. And we don't just go because all
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  of our best friends are going to be there.
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  That's not why we gather together.
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  We gather to worship the Lord. We gather to hear from the word.
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  We gather to praise. We gather to give of our best to
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  the Lord in in every way. And so we really do need to
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  gather together. And I think here in verses 5
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  through 7, this is a little microcosm of what we often
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  encounter in the world around us, that it's kind of a
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  miserable place. But when we go to worship our
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  God, that is the best time. That is a great time.
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  And so let's pursue that. And then I just want to mention
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  too, with verses 6:00 and 7:00, it says I've dwelt too long with
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  those who hate peace. And then verse seven, I am for
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  peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
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  The people of God are always to be people that are encouraging
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  for peace. Now there can be times where
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  peace is not good. I think of the stories even of
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  World War 2 of further and further property, properties
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  that were given to Germany during that time period.
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  And they thought, OK, if I if we just give them a little bit more
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  land or we just give them this country, then they'll stop.
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  That was a time when there needed to be war.
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  Even with our Nation Today, I've seen some things that say, OK,
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  well, now Greenland's going to be the next place that that we
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  go into. My encouragement for you as a
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  pastor, I'm not a political whatever.
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  So don't be like, oh, listen, you just don't understand the
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  days and times in which we live. We really need Greenland,
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  especially if it comes to any sort of violence, war, etcetera.
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  That shouldn't be something that has the people of God.
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  We're like, yes, we love war. War is done by the nations of
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  this world, godless, controlled by Satan.
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  Read the book of Daniel. You'll see that over and over
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  and over again. The nations of this world are
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  godless and they love war because it gets them stuff.
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  They think that their security comes through violence.
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  They think that they can subjugate others and be in
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  control of others and that they can exploit resources.
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  And that's not a godly thing. That's not a godly way of
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  living. It is the regular way of the
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  world and you can gain financial prosperity or a different things
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  from war and conquest, but you're not doing all of the
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  things that that God would have for you to do.
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  I'd say, Brian, you know, are you just, you know, against this
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  or that or the other? No, that goes fully across the
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  board. This is what Scripture has said
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  3000 years ago or this one probably 2500 or so years ago.
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  This is just what Scripture says.
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  And so I want to always temper any patriotic thoughts with, OK,
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  and what does God's word say? So I can be grateful for some
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  good things in the news recently, there's a Venezuelan
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  dictator that that was removed. And I can be thankful for those
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  good things that do happen while also cautioning, let's make sure
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  that we're never like pursuing violence and war.
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  May we only ever utilize that when it is necessary to protect
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  the innocent, to care for those that would be downtrodden.
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  And so this is not a political podcast.
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  I don't have anything more to say on that.
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  Just follow the word left word, Do that and be for peace.
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  Jesus is the Prince of Peace and one day he will come and make a
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  war that will be won and done. There will be no more war after
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  that and after that and I am looking forward to that day.
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  Thanks for tuning then. Thank you for your patience and
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  looking forward to some 121 tomorrow.