2 SAMUEL 22 I WILL SING MY VICTORY SONG OF PRAISE2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 22 I Will Sing My Victory Song Of Praise

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. Here in 2 Samuel chapter 22, we have this amazing Psalm of David. G. Campbell Morgan describes it as the most majestic and beautiful of the worship Psalms. And it truly is just filled with great insights,

great pictures. There is a lot here in this psalm that we're not going to be getting into today, and so I would encourage you to continue to spend some time meditating on it later on today, throughout the week perhaps, and allowing the Lord to speak to you through the words of David, the song of David. Now, as we begin to talk about this psalm, I would ask you to consider why is this psalm included here? As we're going through the life of David in Samuel,

Of course, David was a psalmist, but we have the book of Psalms, and in fact, this very psalm is also recorded for us in Psalm chapter 18. But it's placed here in Samuel, and it's kind of out of place. As we are looking at the life of David here, the closing chapters of 2 Samuel are not really in chronological order. They're not, you know, kind of picking up the sequence and continuing the story, but

But there's different elements of David's life and reign that they included in this book to give us a full picture of who David was and the reign that he had. And I would suggest to you that this psalm is included here probably because it was David's favorite song.

It was a song that David would come back to often and regularly. Maybe similar to we have in Christianese that we use today, we have what we call a life verse. And you probably know what I mean by a life verse, right? And it's not something that is biblical in the sense that, you know, the Apostle Paul doesn't say, now Corinthians, make sure you pick out a good life verse, you know, that's going to be with you for the rest of your life. But

But we have that because it's something that it's a shared experience where we've experienced that there's a particular verse that really stands out to us and that God uses over and over and over again throughout our lives. And so in a similar way, I think that this psalm was David's psalm. That he would, everything okay? Sorry. David would come back to this song over and over again and

And it would minister to his heart and that it would speak to him again and refresh him again and again. And the Lord would use this psalm at different times in David's life. And I think that this psalm is included here in this kind of closing chapters of David's life as, you know, this was his favorite song. This is what he would always go back to in his life and that he would sing over and over again. Now, verse one gives us a timing for the original writing of this song in verse one.

It says, then David spoke again, or spoke to the Lord, spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And so he's looking back on his life after a time of deliverance, and he writes these words. And they're words of victory and deliverance. And so I've titled the message this morning, I Will Sing My Victory Song of Praise.

I will sing my victory song of praise. Now, as you think about that, please understand, I'm not saying Jerry's victory song of praise. I'm not saying you should think about, this is Jerry talking about how he's going to sing a song of praise. But this morning, I would encourage you to take these things very personally.

It's going to be your song. And as we look at the different aspects of it, it's things that you declare, that you believe, that you stand upon with the acknowledgement, with the understanding that in the end, you will sing your victory song of praise. And that's an important truth to hold on to because

Well, we go through different seasons in our lives. We go through peaks and valleys and highs and lows, and you will not feel in every moment like there's going to be a victory song of praise in the end. There are moments in our lives where we just can't see how there could be any victory. There are moments and valleys in our lives where we just can't see how things will work out in those moments, in those more difficult days.

we can hold on to, we can come back to this, perhaps like David did, and come back and remember, God will give me a victory song that in the end, I will be able to praise the Lord. And even in those dark times, those harder moments, we can, in faith, sing this song.

look forward to that victory that God will bring. I want to take a few moments as we get started here to briefly consider the life of David, because I think it gives us a little bit a greater depth and meaning to the things that David writes. And so as we get into this, just remembering what he went through. Now, if I was going to chart out the life of David, this is maybe what it would look like. The peaks and the valleys of David's life, the highs and the lows. He went through some various seasons in his life, and

Thinking about those as we get started, I would start with the anointing of David as king by Samuel the prophet back in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel.

And that was a high point, I'm sure. David was out there in the field, not expecting anything. Suddenly he's called in. The Holy Spirit comes upon him. He's anointed as king. It's a high point. Maybe the highest point of his life to that, you know, to that point. We don't know. But there he is experiencing something great. And then things kind of go back to normal. He goes back to the field. And later on in chapter 17, he has the opportunity to win a great battle against Goliath.

And here it's a peak for sure. I mean, it's a great victory. It's a huge victory for David, for the nation. In fact, there's songs written about him as a result of it. I mean, it's just a huge victory in the work of God that happened in his life in the battle against Goliath.

But soon after that, David began to experience some more difficult things as Saul attempted to kill David, throwing spears, chasing him daily in the wilderness. And there was a long season of this where daily David was on the run in the wilderness, fleeing for his life and just barely escaping each time. He went through this season. It probably felt like it would never end. It probably felt like it couldn't get any worse until David said,

The only choice I have is to run to the land of the Philistines.

And that brought David to a new low as he lived in the area of the Philistines and committed things that were really despicable and not like David and not what we would expect of David. He was disconnected from God during that time and didn't really walk with God for a year and a half as he lived with the Philistines and really reached a very low point of his life. But at the end of that,

God called him out. He responded. He looked to the Lord and God turned it around pretty quickly and he became king of Judah. And so he comes out of this valley and he now gets to become king, not of over all of Israel, but over Judah. And it's possible that it's at this time that he writes the psalm that we're reading today. Saul has died in battle.

And David is now king. But then there's a new high as David becomes king of Israel about seven years after that. And this is kind of the peak of David's life because this promise that God had given to him so many years ago is now finally fulfilled. He is on the throne over all Israel. He's establishing Israel. He's bringing them back to walking with God and relationship with God. Great things are happening in the life of David.

That goes on for some time until, well, then there comes the deepest valley. David commits adultery and then murder in an attempt to cover it up and then tries to pretend like nothing happened for about a year.

While he runs from the conviction of the Lord. And finally, God sends Nathan the prophet and Nathan repents. And so he comes out of that valley. He begins to climb back up and be established with the Lord and walk with the Lord. And his emotional state, his mental state, you know, it's beginning to recover again.

And as he continues on from the aftermath of those things, he also experienced the low of Absalom, his son, rebelling against him and then dying in battle. But David is, you know, thrown out of Jerusalem as a result. And he is in the wilderness again for a short time. But he comes back and he's king again. And he begins to reestablish himself and walk with the Lord. And

And you see this pattern throughout the life of David that it wasn't just all glory. It wasn't just all suffering. There was different seasons in David's life. And it's at the end of one of those seasons that David looks back and writes this psalm. At the end of a long time of suffering and difficulty, he looks back and says, wow, God, I can sing a victory song. You have been so good to me. But again, as I suggested, I think that David throughout his life from there on out,

He'd recover from these valleys. He'd get through these times. He would go through these difficult seasons and he would be able to come back to this song over and over again and hold on to these truths and these promises about the victory that God has declared that he will bring to us. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. As he looked back on those years of danger and difficulty, David did not see the hardness of life. He saw the gentleness of God.

As you look at David in each of these moments, he might not have felt that there was going to be great victory. He might not have felt such great confidence. He might not have been so encouraged every moment throughout this journey. But as he looks back, he comes to the conclusion, man, God is good. He's given me victory.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, in the same way, God is going to give you a victory song. This is the promise for us as believers. This is a guarantee for us as children of God. No matter what we go through in this life,

There will come a point in the future where we can look back and say, God, you're good, and you've delivered me, and you've given me victory. And so to help us kind of have that perspective, we're going to walk through this Psalm of David, and we're not going to cover every verse. We're just going to hit some highlights, but we're going to start looking at verses 1 through 7, and here's point number one. My God hears my cry. Here's one of the reasons why we can sing this song now, even if we're in the midst of a valley.

We can sing this victory song because we know that God hears our cry. We're going to look at verse 2 and 3 to start with and consider David's relationship to God. In verse 2 it says, And he said,

David begins this psalm with a description of God in a variety of ways. There's about nine different aspects of the nature of God or David's relationship to God that he describes in this, different titles that he uses for God.

These are not just a list of titles. He didn't just open up his, you know, synonym finder and, you know, find all these cool names that sounded good. And so he wanted to write them down. He wasn't just like meeting a quota, like, okay, this psalm is going to fit on this parchment. Just, it's like a little bit, not long enough. Like, I just need to fill a little bit of space. And so let me just add in some extra names of God to kind of, you know, fill up the whole parchment and then it'll be complete. And that's not what David was doing.

David here is listing these different titles of God, calling God these different things because he has learned by experience that God works this way in his life. When he said, the Lord is my rock, David writes that because he's experienced that the Lord is his rock.

that the Lord is solid and unmovable. And when everything else in his world shakes, the Lord is unshakable, a sure foundation. He says, the Lord is my fortress because David has experienced through those difficult times, through those difficult days that, well, when all other defenses fail,

When all other issues, threats, the protection against them, when those fall short and fail, God still is my fortress and he protects me and he's my deliverer. And I'm not gonna go through all of these, but I would encourage you to do so and to spend some time thinking about if you know God in this way. Now, the only way to know God in this way is really to experience relying upon God and calling upon the Lord

through the midst of these kinds of things. If you want to learn that God is your rock, then trust in him when everything else is shaking and you'll begin to learn. You'll begin to develop the understanding of what it means that God is my rock. Everything else, it's shifting sand. It rocks, it rolls, it moves, but God, he is a firm foundation. Do you know that God is your fortress?

because he protects you even when all the other things that you thought were going to protect you failed and were not able to protect you. And do you know God is your deliverer or is that your savings account or is that your credit card or is that your spouse or, you know, whatever it is that all of those things that we trust in to save us, to deliver us, to rescue us, but at some point those things fail, they fall. But God never does. And so we begin to learn these titles of God by experience.

as we cry out to him and trust in him during these times. Jumping down to verse 7, here's what David says, in my distress, I called upon the Lord. I cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry entered his ears. David, knowing God in this way, was going through great distress, and he determined, I'm going to call upon the Lord. He's worthy to be praised. He's

In the times of overwhelming, in the times of great distress, when I am in way over my head, I'm calling upon the Lord. And what he did at that time was he heard my voice. And there's a little bit of a contrast. He heard my voice from his temple. And so David is describing God. He's picturing God up in heaven in his temple and

And he is down low in his distress. There's a great gulf between them, right? There's a lot of distance separating them. And yet, even though he is so far low and God is so up high, God heard my cry. My cry entered his ears. David's kind of marveling in the fact that God heard him from there in the midst of

F.B. Meyer describes it this way, When we're crying out to God in the midst of our distress, it might feel weak and solitary. It might feel just like dead. You ever feel like you're crying out to God and it's just hitting the ceiling and falling down? It just doesn't go that far. Not much seems to happen. David here reminds us, no, no, no.

You may feel that way. That may be your perception, but that's not the reality. From your distress, from your lowest point, from your worst condition, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, from the worst place you can be, you cry out to God and he hears your cry. He hears it. It enters into his ear. It enters in. He hears it and he begins to respond.

F.B. Meyer describes it as moving creation, which is what we'll see in the following verses. But as we consider these things this morning, I would remind you that God hears your cry. And again, let it be your word, not my word, not just Jerry tells me, but for you to declare, my God hears my cry. Can you say that? Go ahead, say it.

I know I don't usually solicit that kind of thing. So you're like, I don't know. I'm not going to spank you. You're not going to get in trouble. You own it. My God hears my cry. This is your guarantee. This is your promise. God hears his children. As you call out to him, your cry enters his ears.

You're not going to feel like this every moment. It's not always going to seem that way, but it is the truth that you can count on. My God hears my cry. And not only does he hear, but he begins to move. And that brings us to the next point in verses 8 through 16. And that is, my God is moving heaven and earth for me. Now, again, this is a hard one. And these things require faith. But this is the reality, whether we see it or not or believe it or not. When we begin to cry out to God, we're going to hear the truth.

God works in such an incredible fashion in our lives. In verse 8, he describes it this way. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken because he was angry. As David cries out to God, the earth shakes. The foundations of heaven are quaking and shaken because God is angry.

God is beginning to move in a dramatic way as David cries out to him. And he moves in anger, David describes. Now, don't get scared about this. This is not God angry at you. This is God angry for you. And there's a big difference between

When the enemy of your soul is fighting against you and bringing situations that are distressing and seeking to capitalize on issues in your life and whatever the case might be, and you cry out to God, God doesn't just kind of go, oh yeah, yeah, I was thinking something might be up. I have that on my to-do list. You know, I'm gonna get to that one of these days. No, no, God is angry at the works, the plots, the schemes, the

to destroy your life. And as you cry out to him, he will move heaven and earth. God is angry, not at you, but for you. If you need to kind of think about a little bit, think about a parent, right? I was thinking about back when I was a teenager, I was a teenager,

and had some other teenager friends over. We spent the night and they were at our house and you know how it is, teenagers kind of hanging out, gathering together, making a lot of noise, causing a lot of ruckus. And there were times, you know, throughout the night that mom or dad comes out, you know, you guys need to be quiet, knock it off, you know, turn off the lights, go back to bed, you know. And if I have to come out here one more time, right, that's the typical parent talk, right? Well, we didn't. We kept, you know, causing trouble and we snuck into my dad's jar of

of Disneyland jelly beans. There was this like special jar. He'd had it, I don't know for how long he's watching, he'll probably tell me later, but he'd had this and it was like, it wasn't for eating, it was for decoration. It was a, you know, it was a Disneyland jar of jelly beans I think someone had given to him. Sealed and everything. So we busted it open as, you know, of course, that's what you would expect from a teenager, right? And so we busted it open, we ate it, but they were kind of hard because, you know, they were 10 years old and so then we were like, just like,

Chewing on them and like throwing them at each other. And that was a situation where, well, there was anger at us, at me. But then there's other situations where the parent sees someone with their child, sees some threat, sees some danger. You know, we talk about a bear, you know, robbed of her cubs. And you think of it like, whoa, now that, you know, you don't want to be in that situation. Listen, that is where we're at with God. We, we're the cubs and God is the mama bear, right?

Someone messes with you, the enemy messes with you and seeks to bring distress and destruction, oh, God will move heaven and earth in his anger for you, to fight for you, to work on your behalf. He continues to describe it in verse nine. Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Coals were kindled by it. God is, he's fierce, he's angry, he's going to work on your behalf

In verse 11, he says, Now again, this is important because from our perception, we don't often see this kind of thing going on. But we need to understand this is the way that God is working. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, right? Right?

Nice and slow, steady, just kind of making his way. A lot of times that's how it feels to us when we cry out to God. It's like, well, one of these days God's going to get here. You know, help is going to arrive. We talk about God, you know, coming in at the last hour, the last moment, and

That's our perception, but it's wrong. God, on the wings of the wind, he's flying on the cherub. He is there immediately and instantly beginning to work. It may not be visible to us. We may not perceive it quite yet, but when you cry out to God, he is moving heaven and earth to fight for you, to work out all things together for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose.

And so you can declare it. My God is moving heaven and earth for me. Are you ready to step up to the microphone and sing your victory song even in the midst of the valley, even in the midst of the difficulty? You know, you might be at different stages, at different seasons, but here's what you can count on. And you can sing this song. And even if you find it too difficult to sing this at this moment, if this chorus line is too difficult for you to be able to utter at this moment, you can rest assured that there will come a day

In this life, for sure in eternity, there will come a day, like David, you'll look back at the season and sing your victory song and give God thanks and praise for what he's done in your life.

Moving on to verses 17 through 28, we get point number three, and that is my God will deliver me. Verse 17 says, he sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.

As God gets off his throne and comes to David's aid, moving heaven and earth and thundering and lightning, he comes to David to rescue him. David describes him as drawing him out of many waters, that he's facing a flood. There's a tsunami pouring down upon him. And God swoops in and snatches him out. He says, he delivered me from my strong enemy. David was a strong man. He was a fierce warrior.

He had great strategy in his battles as well. But David here is describing a situation where his strength wasn't enough. He says his enemies were too strong for him. He couldn't handle this situation. He couldn't take it. He didn't have the strength. He didn't have the strategy. He didn't have what it took. He could not resolve this himself. But God was stronger than all of those strong enemies.

Those that came against David in the day of his calamity, he says, but the Lord was my support. God delivered David as he looks back. He calls out to God now because of that memory of how God has delivered him in the past. But notice verse 20. He also brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me.

And this is important to reflect on. Here, David gives us the reason why God is working this way in his life. God delivered me because God delighted in me. And we can look at this and think, wow, great for David. You know, good job enjoying the delightment of God. But does God delight in us in the same way? A lot of times we, going back to the point one, we don't cry out to God.

Because, well, we feel like I don't really deserve God's deliverance. I mean, I'm kind of in this situation. I put myself there. It's my mistake. It's my sin. It's my issue. I put myself there. I don't really deserve for God's deliverance or for God to come in and move heaven and earth on my behalf. I don't really deserve. But the thing here that David is pointing out is God didn't bring this deliverance because of David's performance.

He brought this deliverance because he delighted in David. And God delights in you. He does. He really does. Today, as we conclude the service, we're going to partake of communion where we have the permanent reminders. And Jesus gave us the bread and the cup. And he said, this is my body, which is broken for you because I delight in you.

This is the cup. My blood represents my blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins. I'm giving this to you. Drink it often, regularly. Partake of these things to remember me because I delight in you. The author of Hebrews describes it as the joy that was set before him. It's for that reason he endured the cross. For the delight, for you, for me, for us. He delights in us. He loves us so greatly. Once and for all at the cross, the Father, the Son proved.

He delights in us. He loves us. We can cry out to him. He will work in our lives, not because we've earned it. It's not based on our performance. It's not whether we deserve deliverance or not, but because he delights in us. As we cry out to him, he works in our lives. And to illustrate this further, I just want to camp out for a couple moments here in verses 21 through 25. Here's what David goes on to say, and see if you have any difficulty with it.

According to my righteousness in his eyes.

Here David makes some bold pronouncements. God delivered me according to my righteousness. I'm clean. I've always kept his ways. And that's why God has worked this way in my life. It's a little bit difficult for us to grasp hold of what David is saying here. David, are you saying you're perfect? Kind of sounds like he is. I'm righteous. I'm clean. And so God has paid me back for my righteousness, for how good I am. A lot of commentators going through these verses say,

come to the conclusion, well, so this was probably written before David's issue with Bathsheba, because afterwards, you know, for sure he couldn't say these things. But I would challenge that a little bit and say, could he say these things before, really?

This was for sure after his time in the land of the Philistines where he became a raider, right? And he was like killing innocent people, taking their stuff in order to provide for himself, lying to the king of the Philistines there and just in absolute disconnection to God. Could he say these things? He wrote these things after that. So how does that fit? The thing to keep in mind here is that David is righteous before God and

not because he is perfect and never failed. But remember what the word says about Abraham? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. It's our faith in God. It's our acceptance of God's forgiveness that puts us in right standing. It's not about David's performance, but it's about his position. In his position, he is righteous before God because he has received the forgiveness of

of the Lord. Pastor David Guzik describes it this way. He says, And this, we can relate to David. It's not that we have never dirtied our hands.

But we all can experience that cleansing of God and have that righteous position, that righteous standing with God. Remember what the Lord told Nathan or told David through Nathan the prophet. When Nathan confronted David about his sin, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. You have sinned, but the Lord has put it away. You're cleansed.

You're washed. You're clean. You're forgiven. That's what the Lord told David. David believed that. I would suggest David could sing this song after his encounter and issues with Bethsheba and Uriah. Absolutely. In the same way that he could sing it before. Because it was not on the basis of his performance, but on his position, having been cleansed by the Lord. And it's why you and I can sing this victory song as well.

And no matter where you're at, and those highs and lows maybe represent circumstances in your life, or maybe those highs and lows represent spiritual condition in your life. Maybe there's some deep valleys of sin and deep issues that you've walked through. You can still sing the victory song of praise. My God will deliver me as you cry out to him.

and receive the restoration and forgiveness that he offers to us. And I know how it is. We sit there in those low points and, well, maybe God won't deliver me because I don't deserve it. I don't deserve for God to work miraculously. I don't deserve for God to restore and heal. I don't deserve it. And we can easily keep ourselves from crying out to God because of that. But here we're reminded in the example of David, yes, you have those highs and those lows.

David had those peaks and valleys, not just in his life and circumstances, but he had those mountaintop, you know, psalm writing experiences. And he had those low valleys of no connection to God, no talking to God whatsoever for long periods of time. And through it all, God is at work and he's able to look back and say, God, thank you, praise you. He's able to sing a victory song at the end. It says, my God will deliver me.

And your God will deliver you. Again, you can own it. You can say this yourself. My God will deliver me. And he will because he delights in you. Moving on to verses 29 through 37, we get point number four. And that is, my God gives me everything I need. Again, here's another reason for us to be able to praise God and thank God and sing our victory song wherever we're at in the season and whatever high or low we may be experiencing today.

we can remember that God gives us everything we need. Verse 29 says, For you are my lamp, O Lord, the Lord shall enlighten my darkness. Verse 30, For by you I can run against a troop. By my God I can leap over a wall. God is my strength and power, and he makes my way perfect. Sorry, that was verse 33. I kind of jumped ahead. Looking at a few different aspects of what David is saying here. First he says,

You are my lamp. You give me what I need, God. I needed light. My life was darkness. My mind was darkness. My emotions were darkness. I didn't know where to go. I had no direction. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, but Lord, you were a lamp. Like we read later on in the Psalms, the word is a lamp to our feet, right? Shining the way, showing us step by step. The Lord walks us through. He gives us the guidance that we need in those times of darkness. You shall enlighten my darkness, he says.

In verse 30, he says, I can run against a troop. That's not normal. Single guy outnumbered by a troop should be doomed to failure and defeat. But David says, no, you know what? When I face a troop, God enables me and I can handle it. David would have put legal loss to shame. That's Lord of the Rings reference in case you didn't get it. Take down an elephant. I'll show you. I'll take on a troop by myself.

David says, God gives me what I need to fight the battles that I face. And by my God, I can leap over a wall. Now, don't think about, you know, your neighbor's block wall that you used to jump over. This is a city wall. It's a wall that, you know, armies would have a hard time scaling and getting over. But David says, with God, I'm Superman. I just, with a single bound, I just jump right over it because God gives me what I need to

When I need to jump over a wall, God enables me to jump over a wall. When I need to fight a troop, he enables me to fight a troop. When I need a light for my path, he lights my way. David says, God is my strength and my power. He says, look, God gives me stability in verse 34. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and he sets me on high places. And it's this picture of being on a high place where the footing is unsure for us, right?

But then there's these deer. They just kind of like skip around and bounce around. They're able to just handle it. That's what David says. This is what the Lord does. He sets me. He gives me stability, even on those rocky places, those hard to balance places. In verse 35, he teaches my hands to make war so my arms can bend a bow of bronze. He gives me great strength. He helps me to fight the battle the way that it needs to be fought. I like verse 37. You enlarged my path under me.

So my feet did not slip. You enlarged my path under me. Now, I don't know if you've ever gone up like switchbacks, right? On a mountain or gone up a hike and there's like this narrow trail, right? And you're like looking and you're like looking down and you're like, okay, I gotta stay focused. You know, you're going up and imagine, you know, you're just, you're walking up. It's this narrow trail. You're trying to stay on it. And all of a sudden, just right underneath you, it just goes, whomp, the path is enlarged. It's wide. You couldn't fall off if you wanted to. David says, this is what God does for me.

He enlarges my path. It feels like I'm walking the tight wire, but then suddenly God just makes it a road. It's a four lane highway. I couldn't fall off if I wanted to. God is taking care of me in that way. God gives me everything that I need. We don't always see this. We don't always feel this. We go through the highs, we go through the lows, the peaks and the valleys, but this is the song that we can sing. This is a chorus, a line in the song that

My God gives me everything that I need. When I need light and direction, when I need to face battles, when I need stability and surety, whatever it is that I need, my God is the answer for it. He is able to provide those things that I need in those moments of need. Verse 38 through 46 now gives us point number five. My God will give me victory. Looking ahead in faith.

This is why we can sing the victory song of praise now. We will for sure sing it afterwards. As children of God, as his people, that's the guarantee, afterwards. And maybe for you, that'll be an eternity where you'll finally be able to look back and say, thank you, praise you God for your work in my life. Maybe you won't see it right now. But in faith, we can sing the song right now, even though we don't see all the results yet. Because God will give me victory.

Verse 34, David says, I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. And I have destroyed them and wounded them so that they could not rise. They have fallen under my feet. For you have armed me with strength for battle. You have subdued under me those who rose against me. You have also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me. David describes here the victory that he has.

And think about the whole process here that David is describing. He cries out to God. God gets off the throne, moves with great shaking and reaches down to David and rescues him as the enemies surround him and are flooding. And he pulls him out just in time as the waves crash. But that's not the end of the work of God. That's not the victory yet. That's the rescue. That's the deliverance. But then what God does is he brings David back

to defeat those enemies that once threatened him. It's not just a rescue from, it's not just a get out of the situation, but let me give you what you need to be able to finish those enemies once and for all. He says, you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose against me. David had different enemies at different times in his life. In one season of his life,

There was a lion that was his enemy as he was guarding the sheep and the lion wanted to eat the sheep and a bear in the next season attacking the sheep as well. Later on though, Saul was David's enemy. Not from David's side, but from Saul's side. David was pursued by Saul. Saul was attempting to kill David. In a different season, the Philistines were the enemies of David.

seeking to destroy him and ruin him. In another season, you know who David's enemy was? It was sin, lust. As he encountered that look, you know, across the way with Bathsheba, it was an enemy, an enemy of his soul. Later on, his own son Absalom became his enemy. And David could look at and think about all these different enemies, all these different ways that there has been an attempt to destroy his life.

And after looking back, after coming through the work of God in it, he's able to say, you've given me victory. You've given me what I needed to survive those situations, but also to win the battle. You've rescued me out, but you've also given me victory over. Who are your enemies? Who are the enemies that you face? I would be quick to point out, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

Like the situation with David, there should never be a time where we consider a person our enemy. David never considered Saul an enemy, but Saul considered David an enemy. Maybe there are people in your life that they look at you as an enemy, and they attack you, and they seek to hurt you and destroy you. God will give you victory. Maybe you're facing a battle of sin. God told Cain, it's crouching at your door, and it's seeking to rule over you, but you must master it. And

You might be facing that, fighting that battle. God will give you victory. Maybe you're looking at, you know, the mortgage company or the electric company and you're saying, that's my enemy, man. They're seeking to destroy me. God's going to give you victory. We know the real enemy is Satan. He is the enemy of your soul and he will use and capitalize all these different things to try to destroy you and get you to turn against God.

But like David, we need to come back to this truth and hold on to this reality. My God will give me victory. That's hard to see in the valleys, right? When you're in the valley and you're like, you know, you're going downhill, all you see is down below, right? It's hard to remember the rest of the good times that have happened. It's hard to imagine the peaks and the exciting things that are still yet to come. It's hard to see those things when we're

facing the calamity that we're in. By faith, we need to believe God at his word. Because he delights in us, he is going to give us victory. Somehow, someway, he is going to work out these circumstances. And one day we will look back in thanks and praise for the way that God has worked even in these situations of our lives. And so we finish it off with the verses we read to start.

Point number six, I will thank and praise God. Again, verse 47 says, the Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. Let God be exalted, the rock of my salvation. It is God who avenges me and subdues the peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me up above those who rise against me. You have delivered me from the violent man.

Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. He is the tower of salvation to his king and shows mercy to his anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore. David concludes with thanks and praise. He says, the Lord lives. And you know how David knows the Lord lives? Because of the way that God has worked in his life.

He cried out to God. God got off his throne. He moved heaven and earth. He rescued. He delivered. He gave victory. And so David says, the Lord is alive. He's at work. Blessed be my rock. Everything else was shaken. Everything else was moved. But God was my firm foundation. And so he wants to make sure it's clear. Let God be exalted. David doesn't look back and say, look, look how good I am.

Look how much I did. Look how strong, you know, I was able to fight and how valiant I fought those enemies. Look how I handled those situations. Look how I recovered from those things. He doesn't look back and say, look what I have done. He says, look what God has done. I will thank and praise God. God avenges me, he says. It's God who subdued peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies.

Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord. I will sing praises to your name. This is the guarantee that we have, every one of us, as believers in Jesus, as children of God, we have the promise, the guarantee. God is gonna work out in all these situations something that we may not see it right now, we may not perceive it right now, for sure in eternity, maybe in this life, we'll be able to look back and recognize that

God, you've been so good to me. Thank you. Praise you for the work that you've done in the highs and in the lows. No matter where you're at, facing those highs and lows, there will be a day where you will say, I will thank and praise God. It's hard to do in the valleys, but if you believe God at his word, you can begin now, thanking and praising God, preparing to sing that victory song of praise because he hears your cry.

He is moving heaven and earth. Whether you feel it or not, whether you see things shaken or not, they're shaken. He's angry. He's at work, giving you everything that you need to work out the victory that he has planned for you. It will be such a work that we can't take credit for it. We can't say we did it. We can't sing, I did it my way. We can sing, God did it his way. He accomplished his work and thank him and praise him. Are you ready to step up to the microphone?

to sing God his victory song, to say thanks and sing praise. Maybe you're at a high point right now and you're looking back and you can do that and that's appropriate to do, sing those songs. Maybe you're in a different season and maybe you have to do this looking ahead and trusting that God will be faithful to his word and his promises.

And so you sing the song from a different perspective, from a different place, but it's the same song knowing this is what God will do in my life. I want to close our time with a quote from Pastor David Guzik. Ronnie, you can come up and prepare for our time of communion, but here's what Pastor David Guzik says. The enemy of our soul wants us to believe that we can't call upon the Lord in our distress.

As if we have to be right with God and sitting peacefully in a prayer chapel to pray rightly. David knew that God hears our distress signals. And this morning I would remind you, God hears your distress signals. And it might be hard to believe sometimes, but God delights in you.

And we have an opportunity right now as we partake of communion to just stop and reflect on that. Jesus says, do this often and remember me because he wanted us to remember what he did for us. For a lot of reasons, one of which is, I want you to remember how much I love you. I want you to remember how much I delight in you. I want you to remember. Once and for all, God demonstrated his love for us.

and that Christ died for us while we were sinners. It was once and for all, he proved it. God delights in you. You don't have to question that, although we do. You don't have to doubt that, although we might. He delights in you. As we partake of communion this morning, let those elements remind you of God's love for you, his promises, his guarantees, and let it encourage you then to start to sing that victory song of praise.

Even when you can't see the end, even when you can't see the finished work, you know that it's coming because he's shown you how much he loves you. Let it be a reminder to you that also God hears your cry. And so in the situations that you're facing, the things that you're going through, you can cry out to God. He delights in you, he loves you, and he begins to work.

Even from the lowest of the lowest of the low point, you can cry out to God in your distress. And even though he is in eternity, in glory, on his throne, he gets up, he moves, he shakes heaven and earth. Let's take this time to reflect on the love, the delight that God has in us. Let it minister to you that you would cry out to God and sing.

Your victory song of praise. Your very own, not someone else's, but your victory song because God is working in your life. And so Rodney's going to lead us in a couple songs. They're going to pass out the bread and the cup. During any time, during this time of worship, you go ahead and partake. It's your song. It's your time to partake. It's between you and the Lord. You learn that God is your rock and deliverer and fortress as you experience his love, as you're reminded of his delight in you.

Partake, enjoy, receive God's forgiveness and work and cry out to Him as you get ready to sing that victory song. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.