“...This I know, that God is for me.”- Psalm 56: 9

 

What utter audacity – to say “This I Know, that God is for me.” Who in their right mind can make such a bold statement? Could it really be that God would be for a man? How absurd. How mind boggling. Is David delusional, is he mad, has the circumstances and confinement and the fear of man affected his mind that he would conjure up such a thought? Or does he know, genuinely know that God – {Elohim- The Creator and Covent Keeping One } is for him. If so, what confidence. And can I or you, know for certainty Him who inspires such confidence.

 

What a Person this God must be to Inspire confidence in a man in such a plight. David hounded by Saul whose objective is to kill him and has made two personal attempts with a spear to do so, not to mention countless other times when he pursued him. And now in Gath under the capture of the Philistines whose champion Goliath he had slain years earlier, daily tormented and oppressed by them, this ‘champion of Israel’ who made an open display in defeating and humiliating them in the name and through his God, now is in prison and is as verse three says “afraid…” But his fear is met head on with his choice, “When I am afraid- in the day I am afraid - I will trust in You.” Whatever day the fear comes and it had come daily through the oppression of his enemies,{verses 1 and 2 show} it has been already decided by David, he will trust in God. Who is this God? And can He be the same inspiring One to you and I in our own great dilemmas? Can we call on Him and see our enemies turn back or is He selective, depending on who calls? Or does He have a different agenda? Is He obligated to answer us and do as we call? What a mystery, what kind of God is this? What kind of relationship did David have with him that in the midst of great turmoil and oppression at the hands of his enemies who daily and delightedly oppressed him and tried to grind him down that it only conjured up within him, thoughts of God, turning him to this God and when afraid his answer was confident hope in the One he cries out to. There is so much depth in this passage, so much for the soul to ponder and enquire about God and how David had such confidence in One He had not physically seen. What was it about God that could cause a man, a mere man to respond in such a way? No shouts of anger towards God, no blaming God, no turning his back on God but simply praising and trusting in his God. Delusional or did he know something we don’t?

 

“verses 9-11- The turning point of the Psalm. The Psalmist is now assured of being heard. verses 9- “THEN” –David says “points to the sure connection between the coming deliverance from his enemies and the prayer which preceded it.. In the day {that} I cry {so the Hebrew is}, as I do now to Thee, then my enemies are sure to turn back. “THIS I KNOW;” for GOD {IS} for me.-Lit- ‘for God {is} TO me.’ I HAVE Him on my side{Psalm lxxiii.25;cxxiv.1,2}- John Phillips.

 

What an amazing thing it must be to “Know” with certainty that God is for you. It reminds of Paul’s great cry of confidence in Romans 8:31 - where he with equal confidence and certainty writes to the church at Rome these words which have comforted so many over the centuries, writes “ If God is for us, who can be against us?” God is for me- David could write, later Paul could write “…God is for us,..." The circle  increasing the loving embrace of God reaching out to people centuries later.

 

My, what a thought to know God is not against you- but that God is for you. It is a truly amazing thought. But is there any evidence that it is real? How would you know? How did David “know” for certainty.  In light of all the so called “gods” of his own day. How did he know that this particular God would hear him? As today, there are so many “gods” that are worshipped, followed, prayed to, championed, confusing a generation into wanting nothing or little to do with what they view as fanaticism, a crutch, people who are cruel and unloving and disingenuous in business dealings and home life. Reality is absent and the world continues on, suspicious of anyone who claims a right on One God. For many a person has died in the name of “their god”- look to the Middle East. People who will attach to themselves bombs and blow themselves and others to smithereens all in the name of their “god” and cause! To Know the God of David – now that is a prayer and reality we must seek after. “God help me know the God of David as intimately as He knew You…and then perhaps I too will have confidence to praise and trust amidst the turmoil and unwanted circumstances and weaves of my life.”

 

“This I Know…” Ponder that for a moment. What is it that you know for certainty? Have you taken time and has what you and I claim to "Know" been put to the test and what has the laboratory of life produced as a result? Praise and trust in God and confidence to rest assuredly and be able to say “And this I know God is for me?”

 

                        A. - Even when the circumstances do not change like the three Hebrew youths willing to go into the fiery furnace and be burned alive rather than turn away from the One true and Living God. Their response to the threats of an enraged and self obsessed king Nebuchadnezzar was, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." {Daniel 3:17-18}

                    B. - Or those in Hebrews 11:37-38 , un- named but not unknown by God – "They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated {MEN OF WHOM THIS WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY}, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground." Look again at what Scriptures says were their circumstances, words such as "destitute...afflicted...ill-treated...deserts...caves..." Not much of a health wealth and prosperity Gospel here . They were those who were covered with the clothing of animals and hunted and looked like utter defeat, yet of whom the Scriptures testified, “…All these having gained approval through their faith…” – Hebrews 11:39

 

                   C. - Are we not often like those who followed Jesus for “the fish and loaves” and what He could give them or become for them rather than Who HE CLAIMS TO BE- God incarnate? Is He Himself not worthy to be followed whether things work out the way we want them to or not? Is it Jesus plus my will being accomplished by His power for my sake? What would cause a man to say in the midst of tremendous suffering and loss as Job did  in Job 31:15,“ Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”

                D. - Or as Habakkuk upon finding out God would use an un-Godly nation to chastise His people to say “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,  yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights. ”-{Hab 3:17-19}

That is extraordinary faith! To be able to still praise God and trust God when He behaves as God, independent of our desire for Him to operate as our own  personal valet. To have a faith of the Three Hebrew youths, or a Job, or Habakkuk, or Paul or our friend David- is to have our life turned upside down and inside out, shaken and converted, confronted- by claims we have made, ideas and thoughts we have had of Him, some to be sure are true, others a figment of our own imagination or teaching that was not accurate - and to be able to realize and confess when we have been wrong in our thoughts of God , and now to be able to say collectively as the above mentions “And This I know God is for me, and though He slay me yet will I trust Him, we will not bow down for HE is able to deliver us and if He does not we will still follow Him irrespective of the cost, such is His splendor and value in our eyes. And though we go without and no provision be there, yet we have determined and chosen not only not to defile ourselves but to praise and trust in Him- the God of David, Meshach, Shadrach, Abed-nego, Paul , and Habakkuk and the unnamed ones whose deeds of faith are for all to read of in Hebrews 11  ... and may it be because the God who revealed Himself to these mentioned would do so to us in such a way as to inspire confidence amidst times of fear and turmoil in our own lives to be able to restfully say, "This I Know, that God is for me."- What a pillow to lay our weary heads and hearts upon. Such a promise that made even Daniel sleep while all around him were lions! The "lions" need not destroy us, for indeed they cannot touch our souls, for He is Faithful- and whatever our outcome may our tombstones bear testimony that we came to the place in our lives where it to could be said of us for others to be encouraged and dare hope that they too along with David would experientially and Divinely come to know the reality of David amidst great pressures and fears, the comforting of the Holy Spirits reality that rings true and loud in the heart that can say, "For this I Know God is for me."