1 O God, You have cast us off;
You have broken us down;
You have been displeased;
Oh, restore us again!
2 You have made the earth tremble;
You have broken it;
Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.
3 You have shown Your people hard things;
You have made us drink the wine of confusion.
4 You have given a banner to those who fear You,
That it may be displayed because of the truth.
Selah
5 That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
6 God has spoken in His holiness:
"I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;
Judah is My lawgiver.
8 Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me."
9 Who will bring me to the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
11 Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
12 Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.—Psalm 60:1-12
John MacArthur writes that this psalm is a national lament written after the unexpected military setback alluded to in 2 Samuel 8:13 and 1 Chronicles 18:12. As I read through it, I was reminded of the different times in my own life where the proverbial rug has been pulled out, and I have been left feeling shocked, saddened and/or confused by something that had happened and maybe wondering where God was in all of it.
A very wise person early on in my walk with Christ, told me that when I was facing something that I didn’t understand that I was to fall back on what I did understand...namely God and the truth of His word. Such good advice! This is exactly what David did here.
You have shown Your people hard things;
You have made us drink the wine of confusion.
You have given a banner to those who fear You,
That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah
That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.—Psalm 60:3-5
David rallied his people...God’s people...to the truth. He reminded them of what God had spoken in his holiness. God owns the cities. The nations, also are His and He IS in controls. He KNOWS their future. Shechem, Gilead, Manasseh, and Judah belonged to God and He was interested in their welfare. God was for them. The three enemies of Israel, Moab, Edom and Philistia were God’s menial servants who would do His bidding.
Beloved, we are soldiers in the Lord’s army, fighting for His cause. Our times are in His hands. Hold His promises in Your heart...use them as a rallying point to direct your own heart and the heart of others back on to the solid ground of Scripture. Through God, we WILL do valiantly! God has a plan and He keeps His promises. Victory is ours in Him.
For You will light my lamp;
The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.
30 As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the LORD is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
31 For who is God, except the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
And sets me on my high places.—Psalm 18:28-33
Ending with a beautiful quote from Spurgeon...
“My times", that is to say, my ups and my downs, my health and my sickness, my poverty and my wealth-all those are in the hand of the Lord, who arranges and appoints according to his holy will the length of my days, and the darkness of my nights. Storms and calms vary the seasons at the divine appointment. Whether times are reviving or depressing remains with him who is Lord both of time and of eternity; and we are glad it is so.
We assent to the statement, "My times are in thy hand," as to their result. Whatever is to come out of our life, is in our heavenly Father's hand. He guards the vine of life, and he also protects the clusters which shall be produced thereby. If life be as a field, the field is under the hand of the great Husbandman, and the harvest of that field is with him also. The ultimate results of his work of grace upon us, and of his education of us in this life, are in the highest hand. We are not in our own hands, nor in the hands of earthly teachers; but we are under the skillful operation of hands which make nothing in vain. The close of life is not decided by the sharp knife of the fates; but by the hand of love. We shall not die before our time, neither shall we be forgotten and left upon the stage too long.”
