A Study in Psalms - Psalm 56

Welcome back to our fourth Wednesday of the Summer of Psalms. The last two weeks, we've covered one psalm that was 31 verses, and last week we covered one that was 23 verses, so I had to rush to get through it. Tonight, we got a shorter psalm with only 13 verses. So I wanted to ask the question tonight, and hopefully some of you will speak up. What's your go-to psalm? What's your go-to psalm when you're going through a difficult time, when you're going through trials, when you're going through fear?

So Psalm 46, that's a great one. Anybody else? 139, okay. Could be a verse or it could be the whole psalm. Psalm 91, dial 911. Yep. Anybody else? Psalm 23, remember 9-11, George Bush quoted Psalm 23-4, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. So that was the whole nation. Anybody else? What's your go-to? Mine's Psalm 121-1, I will lift mine eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Anybody else? Well, if you don't have one, maybe tonight's psalm will be one. Psalm 56 is a psalm that David wrote when he was afraid, when he was going through a crisis, and maybe it'll help you. So, I want to start off tonight by talking about back in January 1999, there was an Australian missionary named Graham Staines, you've probably heard of his story. He worked at a leprosarium, he and his wife, and he had been a missionary for many years, and he took his two sons to go on a excursion, and they were going to go to a jungle camp, and they parked their Jeep in a remote Indian village, and they parked the Jeep in front of a Christian church, and they were going to sleep that night, and in the middle of the night, about 50 people, Hindu fundamentalists, came, surrounded the Jeep with axes and machetes, and they poured gasoline on the Jeep, and they lit it, and they prevented Graham Staines and his two boys from getting out, and they were killed.

It was headlines all over the world, especially in India. Persecution in India is not uncommon, but to kill three white missionaries from Australia was big. I tell you that story because in year 2000, the next year, Christ Community Church went to Torreon, Mexico on a short-term mission trip, and while I was there, the pastor, Moses, really bold pastor, he would preach in the taxi cab. He would get up in the middle of the bus and preach. He heard that I was planning on going to India the next year, and so he said, he told me, he reminded me of this story about Graham Staines being burned to death, and he looked at me and he said, can you handle that?

And I kind of paused and thought, you know, there's other better ways to die, hanging, you know, bullets, stabbing, poison. I don't know about being burned to death. That's horrible. And he looked at me and he said, if you can't handle that, you can't go. That was earth-shattering to me, but he's right, and you know, I had to pray about that and think about that. The only thing I had to fear in India was snakes, nothing else, but that was eye-opening for me. Let's look at Psalm 56 tonight, and we'll see the predicament that David was going through.

Psalm 56 says, the superscription says, to the choir master, according to the dove on far off Tiberneth, a victim of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Verse one, be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me. All day long, an attacker oppresses me. My enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I'm afraid, I put my trust in you, in God, whose word I praise. In God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? All day long, they injure my cause.

All their thoughts against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps as they have waited for my life. For their crime, will they escape? In wrath, cast down the peoples, O God. You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back. In the day when I call, this I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

I must perform my vows to you, O God. I will render thank offerings to you, for you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I might walk before God in the light of life. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for another chance to look at one of the great songs.

May we leave here tonight confident, trusting you, no matter what trials, obstacles come our way. In Jesus' name, amen. The type of psalm tonight is called a lament psalm. Probably over half the 150 psalms are laments. And what is a lament? A lament is just a person crying out, expressing need for God's deliverance. There are two types of lament psalms, individual laments, and then congregational laments. But this is an individual lament, and David has many of those with the trials he went through in life.

The superscription we read is quite long. It says, to the choir master, according to the dove of the far off Tiberias. According to this title, it's a tune that was to be sung, commonly known as a dove on the distant oaks. And some commentators say, go back to Psalm 55, and we actually quoted this verse a couple weeks ago. Psalm 55 says, oh, that I had wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest. The next thing it says in the superscription, it says it's a mictum of David. What is a mictum?

Well, a mictum, that word is used six times in psalms, and five of them are in Psalm 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60. So Psalms 56 to Psalm 60 are called the mictum psalms. So mictum, people argue about what it means, but it possibly means engraven or purnament. Then lastly, and most important in the superscription, says when the Philistines seized him in Gath. We have eight psalms of David, where he's being persecuted by Saul and being chased, Psalm 7, Psalms 18, and then we have a bunch in Psalm 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, and 142.

So we have a historical background, which is important in this, and we'll read that in a little bit. First Samuel 21, verses 10 to 15, will correspond to the poetry here in Psalm 15.

So let's look at our outline tonight. Hope you've got an outline in the back. We have five simple points, a complaint, confidence, conspiracy, comfort, and confession. So first off, let's look at David's complaint in verses one and two.

He's gonna ask for mercy, and then he's gonna explain to God his mistreatment and what's going on. So first off is mercy.

He simply says, be gracious to me, oh God. Like the tax collector we quoted last week in Luke 18, who says, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Short and simple prayer. You know, people think that if people have long prayers, they're important, but no. Short and simple to the point, David gets to it. God, be gracious to me. I need your grace, God. And there's a lot of Psalms that say that. Psalms 4.1 says, be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Psalm 6.2 says, be gracious to me, oh Lord, for I'm languishing.

Heal me, oh Lord, for my bones are troubled. Psalms 31.9 says, be gracious to me, oh Lord, I am in distress. My eyes waste away from grief, my soul and my body also. Psalms 41.4 says, as for me, I said, oh Lord, be gracious to me. Psalms 41.10 says, but you, oh Lord, be gracious to me. You all know what the word means. It just means unmerited favor or grace. He's asking God for grace, for help. And why? That's verse, the second part, I think your outline's got a little mistake there.

It's really, mistreatment is the last part of verse one to verse two. And notice the words in this Psalm we read.

We see the word tramples in verse one. We see the word attacker in verse one. We see the word oppresses me in verse two. Enemies in verse two. Trample again in verse two. Attack in verse two. Injures my cause in verse five. Against me for evil, verse five. Stirs up strife, verse six. They lurk, verse five. They watch my steps, verse six. They waited for my life. So you just read this and you can see the mistreatment or the trouble that David is undergoing. So remember here, this is verse Samuel 21.

David is writing, he is not the king. He's simply a fugitive on the run from King Saul. Three things about David here. He's alone, he's desperate, and he's afraid. So number one, he's alone.

Our superscription said, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. So we know from first Samuel 18, 19, 20, and 21, King Saul is throwing spears at David.

King Saul sent people to kill him and he escaped through the window with his wife's help. Things are so bad that David is gonna escape to Gath. Now, anybody remember, does that ring a bell? What's Gath famous for? Anybody know? Who lived in Gath? Goliath. Remember first Samuel 17, it said, Goliath of Gath.

So you gotta be pretty desperate to go to Gath, I would think, even if you're being chased by 3,000 Green Berets from Saul's army. But you gotta wonder, are Goliath's four brothers still alive? Are his family alive? Now, you'll see when he gets there, he doesn't exactly get a warm welcome. So David's alone here. Now, in chapter 22 of first Samuel, David's gonna go to a cave and 400 of his brothers and friends are gonna come to him.

But that's chapter 22. We're dealing with chapter 21 of first Samuel and Psalm 56, David's alone. Secondly, David's desperate.

It says in verse one and two, actually says it three times in this Psalm, all day long, all day long, all day long. The persecution is relentless. David chose Gath because it's the absolute last place that King Saul is gonna go look for him there. Why would David go to Gath? So that's where he's going. So he's gotta be pretty desperate. It's like going from the fire into the frying pan though. And thirdly, David was afraid.

To understand David's predicament and emotions, turn with me to first Samuel 21 and we'll read the historical account that compares to the poetry in Psalm 56.

So first Samuel 21, it's just five verses. In your Bible, you probably have a headline that says David flees to Gath. First Samuel 21 verse 10.

It says, and David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances? Saul was struck down as thousands and David is 10 thousands. And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish king of Gath. And I'll stop there. So he was much afraid. And then you'll see in the next point, three times in Psalms 56, it says afraid, afraid, afraid.

You know, he was afraid of King Saul, so he's got to flee. Now he's gone to Gath and he's afraid of King Achish and probably the king Achish is a man. So I mentioned that in first, you'll notice also that later in first Samuel 27 to 30, David will go back to Gath a second time.

That time he's welcomed until he starts to march out with armies of Gath, but this time he's not exactly given a warm welcome. So what do we learn here in verse one and two? I think it's pretty simple. That in our Christian walk, in our Christian time, there's gonna be times of fear. You're gonna go through times of fear. It may be severe persecution, like I mentioned around the world. And Jesus said that we should expect it. In John 15, Jesus says, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were in the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. So if the world hates you, maybe you're being a strong Christian. If it loves you, maybe you're not. Let's look at point number two, the confidence of David.

Okay, two points here, trust and thanksgiving. So David can do many things. Well, he can fear and he's afraid. He can flee, he can fret, he could fight, but that would be crazy being one. But what does he do? He has faith, he has confidence in God. So he says in verse three there, when I'm afraid, I put my trust in you. Three times, verse three, when I'm afraid. Verse four, I shall not be afraid. Verse 11, I shall not be afraid. What's David afraid of? King Saul and his men, now King Achish and his men.

Fear can be a very powerful paralyzing force. Now, when David was a boy, he wasn't afraid of the lion. He wasn't afraid of the bear when he was watching the sheep. He wasn't afraid of King Goliath, I'm sorry, the giant Goliath. And then he wasn't afraid of the armies later in life that were many times bigger than his army. But this may be the only instance I see in David's life where it says he was afraid. It says it in 1 Samuel 21, afraid of Achish, and here in Psalm 56, three times. So great fear overcame David when the Philistines reminded King Achish, hey, isn't this the guy that used to slaughter us by the thousands?

Isn't this the guy? In Psalms 11, remember David's motto? In the Lord I take refuge. So David has fear. There's nothing wrong with having fear, but David remembers God. He remembers and he calms down and he puts his trust in God. He's gonna rely on God. Jeremiah 17, seven says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord. Proverbs 16, 20 says, whoever gives thought to the word will discover good and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. Proverbs 29, 25 says, the fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

So he goes from fear to faith, trusting in the Lord. The second thing he does in verse four is he's thankful.

He gives thanksgiving to God. He says, in God, whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. David had the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, and he relied upon it and he knew it.

David's faith is based on the word of God. David's security is based on the word of God and David's trust is based on the word of God. So he goes from fear to faith by trusting and thanking God. Psalms 138, two says, I believe this is the first verse in the Christ community church statement of faith, for you have exalted above all things, your name and your word.

David remembered the word of God and he remembered the name of God. And then he says a rhetorical question at the end of verse four, what can flesh do to me? And the answer is absolutely nothing unless God allows it. I quoted Henry Martin when we looked at Psalm 11 and there are various ways of what he said, but he said, I am immortal until God's work for me is done. The Lord reigns, that great missionary, Henry Martin. So what did we learn from point two? That the word of God is our strength, our source of comfort in trying times of fear.

Maybe some of you are having some fear issues right now. Maybe some of you are going through some cancer issues or some family issues or some school issues. Well, do you have Psalm 27, verse one to four memorized? If you don't, you need to. So turn to Psalm 27 and you probably remember this Psalm. No, I don't think anybody mentioned it today, but it'd be good for you to memorize the first four verses of Psalm 27.

Say them when you're going through times of fear, times of doubt, times of trials. Psalm 27, verse one says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is a stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evil doers assail me to eat of my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army of camp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

So for David, it was the temple. For us, it's Christ community church and the word of God where it's taught here. So we could see from David and we can learn right here. Let's look at point number three, the conspiracy.

I'll just cover this real quick in verses five to six. Four things, twist, they're gonna twist his words. It says, all day long, they injure my cause. So most commentators believe that they're talking about twisting his words here. Like what they did about David, what the Achish's men, the Philistine soldiers said, Saul kills his thousands, David is 10 thousands. They're gonna twist his words. And then for the third time, it says all day long.

So secondly, it says all their thoughts are against me for evil. There's no good here, okay? You know, when you read the history of Saul chasing David in first Samuel, it's 14 chapters long.

Saul is constantly thinking of new ways to kill David. He'll go after David, then Jonathan will make peace. Then he'll go after David and then there'll be peace. He just keeps going after him thinking new ways. Saul was consumed in thought of how to kill David and keep the throne. And then thirdly, they're gonna try to trap David, right?

It says they stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps. In first Samuel 19 verse 11, it says, Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him that he might kill him in the morning.

So Saul was always watching his soldiers watching David. Now he's in Gath and Achish's men are watching him. So he had to watch his steps in Saul's palace. He had to watch his steps in the wilderness when Saul's men are chasing him. And now he's got to watch his steps in Gath. David's enemies are organized, they're deceptive. They stalk him like an animal on the hunt waiting to strike. And that's the fourth sub point there. They want to terminate his life. It says, as they have waited for my life.

Saul's men want to kill him. And some of Achish's men apparently here want to kill him. So what did we learn here? To be a Christian in the world today, many are undergoing some experiences that happened to David. In May of 2004, in Eritrea, Africa, my mother and father ran an orphanage in the 60s and the first part of 70s in Ethiopia, but Eritrea is split from Ethiopia.

But two pastors in May of 2004 were arrested by Eritrean authorities for their roles in leading illegal house churches in their Christian denomination. So last month marked the 19th year. These two pastors, Pastor Haley Naizigi and Dr. Kulfu Gimermesakel, if I can say it right, have been in jail, 19 years. They believe there are about 2000 Eritrean Christians in jail right now.

And they believe that they're in military camps held in prisons across 12 locations in Eritrea. They estimate that there are at least 28 pastors in this country of Eritrea that are being held in jail. So when you look at the index of persecuted countries, North Korea is number one.

Somalia is number two. Eritrea is number four. So think about that sometime. During COVID, three pastors in Canada were put in jail. I don't think any in America were, but all around the world, there are pastors who are undergoing times of trials like David went through. Let's move on to point number four, comfort, verses seven and nine. Two sub points, avenging and assurance. So first off, verse seven.

He says, for their crime, will they escape? In wrath, cast down the peoples, O God. In Psalms 11, if you remember, we saw an imprecatory prayer in one verse. Here you again have a one verse imprecatory prayer. David is crying out, and maybe this is a prayer we ought to be crying out today. In wrath, cast down the peoples, O God, against the wickedness that's going on in America and the enemies of God. So this is a prayer, but remember that imprecatory prayers are taking matters of injustice to God's throne room.

You don't do any acts of vengeance against them. You let God handle it. David knew the word of God. I mentioned he knew the Torah, and David knew what God said in Deuteronomy 28, seven, where it says, the Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. So David cries out a short imprecatory prayer, asking God to destroy the enemies, to cast them down. He's literally crying out for the wrath of God.

You know, we, Lance mentioned last year that our political leaders, we should pray, either redeem them, God, or remove them. That's a short imprecatory prayer. And I mentioned when you pray for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, in essence, that's an imprecatory prayer, because when Jesus comes, the wrath of God will be poured out on the wickedness of the world. Let's move on to point two, the assurance. He says a very interesting verse in verse eight. You have kept count of my tossings. You put my tears in your bottle.

Now, one commentator mentioned, there is such a thing as tear bottles. They were called, I don't know if I can pronounce this word, lac, lac, lacamatory, lacamatories. They were used among the ancients for collecting tears of mourners. These bottles were then placed at the tombs of the deceased. They were made of glass, pottery, agate, or sardonyx. So we discern from Psalm 56.8 that these lac, lactamaries, however you say it, were known at the time of David. So the application that is made by David is that the tears of sorrow of which God has kept an exact record.

He varies his prayer using this metaphor on the basis that God has already anticipated his request and entered an account of every tear in his book. In fact, David realized that all the details of his life were in the foreknowledge of God. What this means is that God will never forget the tears of his children. Matthew Henry said, the tears of God's persecuted people are bottled up and sealed among God's treasures. Because David concludes that with, are they not in your book? God is aware of what we feel, what trials we're going, what suffering we has, and he's actually recorded it.

Psalms 139 says, in verse 16, your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written, every one of them, all the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was not one of them. And Malachi 3.16 says, those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord. So there's a book of the Lord that God knows. He knows every trial, every obstacle that we go through. So what do we learn here?

That God is gonna pour out his wrath on the wicked. That may happen, not now. It may happen in the future. It needs to happen now.

Justice will be done on the wicked of the world. But while we suffer, while pastors, while Christians are persecuted in our world, God knows their tears. John 16.33 says, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Lance said something many years ago, I wrote down in my Bible, that God directly causes or directly permits everything that happens in the universe or the history of the universe. And that's a comfort for us.

God knows what's going on. Let's move to point number five, the last point, the confession, verse 10 to 13. And so first off, I've got four points there.

Confidence in God's word. Verse 10 is almost a refrain of verse four. He says, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? David wasn't afraid of the bear, the lion. He wasn't afraid of Goliath. And I read 1 Samuel 17.47. That says the battle is the Lord's when he went out to face Goliath. I was reading about another missionary in 1858. His name is John Patton. And he was ready to go to what today is called the Island of New Hebrides. And a man in his church named Mr. Dixon said, you're gonna be eaten by the cannibals when you go to that island.

And in fact, the two first missionaries that went to those islands were eaten by the cannibals. Mr. Patton quietly replied, Mr. Dixon, you are quite advanced and old in years now.

And in your own prospect, soon you're gonna be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms. And in the great day, my resurrected body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of a risen redeemer. And John Patton would go to New Hebrides and have a wonderful ministry there. So he wasn't afraid. Second, first off, David had confidence in the word of God.

David had confidence in God. Verse 11, he says, I must perform my vows. Oh God, I will render thank offerings for you. David's already anticipated God answering his prayers. He's already anticipating he's gonna go to the temple when God answers his prayers, Tabernacle Temple, and he's gonna offer his thanks. He would do this by offering sacrifices at the temple and by singing Thanksgiving songs at the temple. God did indeed answer David's prayers. God delivered him from the grasp of Achish's men and from the grasp of King Saul.

And I mentioned in 1 Samuel 22, one and two, I love that, what it says. It says in 1 Samuel 22, David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam and when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him and everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was in bitter and soul gathered to him and he became commander over them and they were with him about 400 men. God answered David's prayer. Imagine that, these were mighty warriors, mighty men that went to that.

So David had confidence in God. So, you know, God wants his people to acknowledge their dependency upon him, not vice versa. We must offer offerings to God for his abundant mercies to him. How do we fulfill our vows? Well, we sing thankful songs, we give thanks in our prayers and that's point number three.

Confidence in prayer, verse 12. In God I trust, I shall not be afraid, what can man do to me? Again, you have the refrain from verse four repeated here. You know, I messed up with my thing here right now.

There's confidence in prayer. My outline's messed up here, but David is gonna have confidence in prayer, and let me be able to check verse 12.

Okay, in verse 12. I must, I will render you thank offerings to you. That's what I wanted to talk about, prayer and thanks. And the Bible has many verses in the New Testament giving thanks, thanks always to God. And somewhere in my outline, which I messed up, I was gonna ask the question, is do you go, do you ask God, do you give him thanks right away, or are you always giving him your troubles first?

David knows the answer here. He knows that God has an answer in his prayer, and he goes to him. So David had confidence in God's word, he had confidence in God, he had confidence in prayer, and then he had confidence in his daily work. I think my outline is really messed up, I'm sorry. He says in verse 13, for you have delivered my soul from death. Yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before you in the God of life. God did keep David from death. David escaped Gath, as I mentioned. But it's interesting, I mentioned that in 1 Samuel 27, he's gonna go back to Gath with his 400 men, and he's gonna live there for many years and make raids, and King Achish didn't know what he was raiding there.

So you see that last part of verse 13, it says very beautiful, that I may walk before God in the light of life. And that reminds me of John 8, 12, that Jesus says, I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. You have Jesus Christ in your heart tonight, you walk in the light of life. So I just wanted to close tonight, talk about another missionary story. Some of you know that when I went to India in 2001, I worked with a pastor named Reverend Peter Cashon. And he and his wife are in the United States right now, because their daughter had a liver transplant at Cedar Sinai. So I've been running yesterday, I ran Monday, I ran to Cedar Sinai, taking them to see their daughter.

And I was reminded and asked Peter on Monday, tell me the story again, about the missionaries that went to your Nagas. Because Peter's great grandfather was a headhunter. The Nagas would slaughter each other, they would take the head of the victim, the different Naga tribe, and they would put it in a spirit house, believing that head would give the power. So they would have sometimes hundreds of heads in their spirit house. In fact, I read a book about the Burma Road, General Stilwell in World War II, the American airmen would fly from India, and they would fly the hump over the mountains to get to China to drop supplies.

And they were fearful that if they had to parachute, there were still cannibal Nagas there. So they were always in fear. But Peter told me the story about Edwin Clark. He was an American missionary, and he left Boston in 1868. And he landed in Sipsagar, India. And in 1869, he wanted to go up to the Nagas to be one of the first missionaries to work for him.

The British never conquered this part of Nagaland, even though the British took over Nagaland, they never actually conquered this part because they didn't wanna go mess with the headhunters up in the hills. So the British told Dr. Clark, you're gonna be eaten by the cannibals who are called the Nagas. Well, long story short, all 18 tribes of these headhunting Nagas would come to Christ. It's one of the great missionary stories in the world, but there's no movie. I have a short book in my library about it.

But they came to Christ. And in last year, Open Doors estimated that there are at least 360 million Christians who experience a high level of persecution or discrimination. They say that's 20 million more than 2001. The number of Christians estimated killed for their faith in 2002 was almost 6,000. 80% of those come from the country of Nigeria. That's almost 5,000 people that died last year and probably will die this year in Nigeria for their faith. So let me ask you, are you afraid?

You know, you're not gonna go be a missionary to headhunters. You know, even missionaries today, they have it so good. We can get home in a month. We don't have to fear much of anything. So God isn't asking you to be a missionary, but maybe you're going through some fear. Maybe you're going through some trial. Maybe when you get up in the morning and you send your kids to public schools, you fear because you wonder what those teachers or the PTA is gonna teach. I was talking to a man just a couple weeks ago who goes to work and the human resources calls everybody in and says, you will start using these pronouns.

Maybe you want your kid or your kid's interested in joining the United States military and you don't want to now because of the woke policies. So we can have fear in our work, in our school, in our home, but how do you navigate that fear in this increasingly wicked world? I just wanna give you four quick points and they're right in your Psalms if you read them. First off, I will trust God.

I will trust God. And we said three times, it says in our Psalm, verse three, I will trust you. Verse four, in God I trust. Verse 11, in God I trust. You know, your dollar bills, your currency says, in God we trust. But let's be honest, most Americans don't, right? Even a lot of Christians don't. But Jesus told us that in Mark four, when he's talking about the parable of the rocky soil, that there would be people who, when they hear the word of God, they would immediately receive the word of God or say yes to Jesus.

But then in Mark 4, 17, it says, they have no root in themselves, they endure for a while, then tribulation, persecution arises on account of the word, they immediately fall away. We have it pretty good. We don't have it like Nigeria where maybe 5,000 Christians will kill, Eritrea where people are in jail, you know, different countries around the world, Somalia, North Korea. But things are getting worse, you know it. We gotta put our trust in God. It's easy to say I trust him, but when you get up every morning saying, God, no matter what comes your way today, no matter what happens, I'm gonna trust you.

And number two, it kinda goes with number one, I will pray with God. You know, we said in Psalms 11, during these sinning times have been the saints praying times. I said sinning times have been the saints praying times. If you're not praying today with all the things going on in the world, and I can't even remember the ridiculous headline from Fox News tonight, but this is just crazy times. But is prayer your last resort or your first resort?

Do you wait till the trial comes till you're in it and then cry out to God, dial 911? You ought to get up in the morning and spend time with God saying, I don't know what's gonna happen today, God. I don't know what person I'm gonna encounter. I don't know what human resources, what kind of person I'm gonna encounter, but help me get through it. Give me words to say, you know. But a lot of people, their motto is, when all else fails, I'll pray. We ought to get up in the morning and pray right away.

I think I mentioned a couple weeks ago, nine times I see David inquire to the Lord, David inquire to the Lord, David inquire to the Lord. And it reminds me of that story we quoted from David and Goliath. It says that Saul was there for 42 days. That's almost seven weeks before David got there. Did Saul have a prayer meeting? Did Saul have a Bible study? Nope, he just feared every time Goliath came out. But day one, David shows up. I'll take him on, I'll take him on because the battle's the Lord. David was always praying with God.

So trust God, pray with God. And number three, I will serve with God. And I get that out of number 12, okay? When things get bad, a lot of people go into hiding, right? The next chapter, David's actually gonna go into hiding in a cave. I don't want you to go into a cave. I don't want you to check out. You're not a Christian in Nigeria where you could die tomorrow, where your church could be burned. Ping, I spent three years in Myanmar and Ping showed me last night a church that got bombed in Myanmar, where we were, that was destroyed.

In Manipur, India this year, 220 churches have been burned in conflict there. So you're not in one of those countries. You're in the United States of America. If anybody's gonna get arrested here in a few years, it'll probably be Pastor Lance. It won't be you. But we gotta continue to serve God and not go in hiding. And Ephesians 2.10, you know it. It says, we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God created beforehand, that we should walk in Him. So we need to continue to trust God.

We need to continue to pray with God and we need to continue to serve with God. Hebrews 12 says that in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. We still have it pretty good. I was watching a video today, a pastor from Canada. His father was one of the three arrested last year. Maybe you saw it today, if you haven't seen it on Twitter or YouTube. He was giving a speech before the European Union today. Powerful speech, this pastor said, about how bad it is in Canada.

I don't think we realize how bad it is in Canada. We have something called a constitution which separates church and state and most of the rulings favor us a lot of times, right? They don't have that in Canada. But I think America's about 20 years or 10 years behind Canada. In fact, most Christians in America that get beat up today or harassed are the ones going to the pride parade with the street preachers or holding signs. I'm not saying that's wrong, but you know Romans 1. Lance just read it last week, right?

Romans 1, the list of sins says malice, murder, strife, haters of God, ruthless. So if you're gonna go into direct conflict with that kind of people, you're probably gonna get beat up. But most of us, we haven't shed blood and we probably won't shed blood. And it's a reassuring fact that God does not ask for many of us to die, but he asks for all of us to live for him. Number four, I'm gonna walk with God. Every day I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna walk with God. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 16, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

So be wise as serpent and innocent as doves. I listed a bunch of countries where they literally go out in the morning. In India, pastors could be beaten, could be killed. Here in America, it's getting increasingly hostile toward Christians, but we haven't yet shed blood. It was Richard Sibes who said, there can be no victory where there is no combat. You have to realize that we're in a war and every day is a battle and you have to walk with God every day. It begins by getting up in the morning and spending time in God's word, spending time in prayer, time serving him and walking with him.

Romans 8, 31 says, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Hebrews 13 says, sixth verse says, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? So in closing, we learn in Psalm 56 that in the midst of trials, like David, we must trust God. There's nothing wrong with fear, but that fear needs to go to faith really quick. God has never promised us that we won't have adversity in this world. He has promised to be with us in the midst of that adversity when it happens though.

As we trust him, we experience the truth of his promise and like David, we will praise his word.