What should I do on a day without rainbows? s30e142 Ps 56

When you cannot control the OUTCOME, what will you do with your OUTLOOK?

When you cannot determine the CONCLUSION, what will you do with your CONDUCT?

On the day when there are no rainbows, how will you respond to the Lord?

Look with me at a real moment, with a real guy, who is at real risk. Join me for 7 minutes in Psalm 56.  It will be the most important 7 minutes of your day.

https://youtu.be/h5ACdzTxupg

Transcript

What should I do on a day without rainbows? s30e142 Ps 56

Here is the situation. David has been anointed as king of Israel, but this has not yet been accomplished. God sees him as king, but Saul and the Philistines have something negative to say about that situation.

Here, David embeds with one enemy, King Achish, king of Gath, king of Philistines, to regroup and restrengthen against another enemy: the despirited, panicked, angry and now unanointed previous king of Israel, Saul. Saul’s a good example of not finishing well.

He wants to kill the Lord’s anointed. 

The introduction tells us, that even though David went their voluntarily, the Philistines didn’t know exactly what to do with him and he was SEIZED, detained, and not at liberty. This psalm specifically addresses that. The philistines were never not an enemy. David was never their ally, so the Philistines were right to view him with great suspicion. 

We find David at a real place, in real peril, on a real date.

Remember the history of Israel: His predecessor, Joseph in Ps105 wore a collar of iron and though he saved Egypt and Israel’s bacon through a 7 year cycle of famine, Joseph was NEVER freed from slavery

Get this: one of the best guys in the bible was a slave his ENTIRE adult life. Though he was a HERO, he was never at liberty for one second after his brothers sold him.  The Egyptians, though he was admired for his skill in administration and leadership and wisdom, never rewarded him with freedom, but with the acknowledgement of Hey we got a good thing going with this guy, we’d better keep him a slave.

He was in a circumstance he did not prefer, every single day of his life.

Joseph was in a circumstance he did not prefer. 

David knew his Bible. He knew the history.  The Bbible has plenty of rainbows, but it also asks: what do people do when there aren’t any rainbows?

So David does not know how this situation is going to turn out.

         WE KNOW. We know God will deliver in a conventional rainbows and puppy sort of way.  We know David will not get killed, and will go on to live a life of intimate up and down, sin and forgiveness with the Lord. But one of the good bible techniques is: DON”T read ahead. The situation was faced prospectively, and our reading of it should be prospectively interpreted

David is in a situation a circumstance he does not prefer

         So now what? curse God. 

David does not have control of the situations

David DOES HAVE CONTROL of the TRUST decision

He doesn’t have control of the      but he does have control of the 

                                                      Results                                his resolve

                                                      Conclusions                       his conduct

                                                      Outcomes                          his Outlook

                                                      Developments                  Determination

                                                      Ending                                Effort of his soul

Ultimately, this is about what a soul does when he is in circumstances that he does not prefer.

This is the critical moment of the soul

I know David has already made a series of faith decisions YESTERDAY

The question is: in today’s situation, in today’s strife, in today’s bad circumstance, when it looked particularly hopeless, what is David going to do? Let’s find out in Ps 56

56 To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam of David, when the Philistinesseized him in Gath. 

1    Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; 

all day long an attacker oppresses me; 

2    my enemies trample on me all day long, 

for many attack me proudly. 

3    When I am afraid, ***************

I put my trust in you. ***********

4    In God, whose word I praise, 

in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. 

What can flesh do to me?

5    All day long they injure my cause; 

all their thoughts are against me for evil. 

6    They stir up strife, they lurk; 

they watch my steps, 

as they have waited for my life.

7    For their crime will they escape? 

In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! 

8    You have kept count of my tossings; 

put my tears in your bottle. ********************

Are they not in your book?

9    Then my enemies will turn back 

in the day when I call. 

This I know, that God is for me. **************

10    In God, whose word I praise, 

in the Lord, whose word I praise, 

11    in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. 

What can man do to me?

12    I must perform my vows to you, O God; 

I will render thank offerings to you. 

13    For you have delivered my soul from death, 

yes, my feet from falling, 

       that I may walk before God 

in the light of life. 

You are in a situation today you don’t have control over

What are you going to do about it?

When you cannot control the results, what will you do with your resolv

3When I am afraid, I….DO WHAT?  A: put my trust in you

What can man do to me?

What can financial pressure do to me?

What can evil do to me?

What can cancer do to me?

What do I do on the day without rainbows?

         PLENTY, unless you put the Lord into the equation

Is God FOR ME?

IS God catching my tears?

Come back tomorrow and we’ll find out more

1 Sam 21 David Flees to Gath

10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, 

       ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, 

and David his ten thousands’?” 

12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”