Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

”The phrase, ‘ For the choir director ’ is found 55 times in the psalms. David wrote 39 of the ‘ choir director ’ poems, 9 were by the sons of Korah, 5 by Asaph and 2 are anonymous. The word that de- scribes the ‘choir director’ is a Hebrew word meaning: “shining, purest and most dazzling brightness, em- inent ability 1 .” The worshiper shines brightest in the darkest moments and displays a victorious attitude in times of crisis. God chooses his leading musicians based on the content of their character as well as their musical abilities.

I TAKE AWAY MY STRESS - Calling Upon God (1)

“ Answer me when I call, O God who declares me innocent. ”

The first thing we can do in times of deep distress is to call upon God on the basis of what He has done. He is the God who is ‘right’ or righteous and has placed David in ‘right’ standing with Himself be- cause of his faith. “ Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.” (Rom. 3:24) Even though he had sinned greatly by committing adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered, he is now justified and worthy to call upon God in his trouble.

“ Take away my distress. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.”(1)

Distress is a place of narrowness of soul and circumstance where there is no room to move or breathe. David declares that God will hear him and prosper his situation causing him to breathe freely once more. Our distress is a signal to call upon God for additional mercy and a sign that God is trying to enlarge our faith.

II THE LORD HAS SET APART THE GODLY - Chastising His Enemies (2-3)

This section starts out with three ‘How longs?’ which can only be answered, ‘as long as it takes to enlarge the heart of the servant of God.’ Absalom had started the rebellion on the foundation of lies: “ Then Absalom would say, ‘You’ve really got a strong case here! It’s too bad the king doesn’t have any- one to hear it. I wish I were the judge. Then people could bring their problems to me, and I would give them justice!’” (2 Sam. 15:4) and now the entire nation was infected with the malicious accusations.

David prays:

• “ How long will you people ruin my reputation? ” • “ How long will you make these groundless accusations? ” • “ How long will you pursue lies? Interlude ”(2)

Finally he refreshes his soul by taking an ‘interlude,’(Selah) to recover from his growing anger at the injustice.

“ You can be sure of this: The Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord will answer when I call to him.”(3)

David is declaring to his enemies, to his own soul and to the Lord what he emphatically believes to be true. He is taking a stance of faith by verbalizing the convictions of his heart. “ But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, ‘I believed in God, and so I speak.’”(2 Cor. 4:13) Our words have great power in the spiritual realms and it is important to agree with God even when circumstances seem the gloomiest. ‘ YOU CAN BE SURE OF THIS …!’

III TRUST IN THE LORD - Choosing God’s Ways (4-8)

David chooses to trust God in 5 critical areas that caused the negative circumstances to work in his favor. Some feel that David was speaking to Absalom’s rebels in these passages but it is possible that he was speaking to his own loyal band of followers:

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