Psalm 60

Psalm 60 Lament over Defeat in Battle, and Prayer for Help.

1 O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us; You have been angry; O, restore us.

2 You have made the land quake, You have split it open; Heal its breaches, for it totters.

3 You have made Your people experience hardship; You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger.

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 answer us!

6 God has spoken in His holiness: "I will exult, I will portion out Shechem and measure out the valley of Succoth.

7 "Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah is My scepter.

8 "Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Shout loud, O Philistia, because of Me!"

9 Who will bring me into the besieged city? Who will lead me to Edom?

10 Have not You Yourself, O God, rejected us? And will You not go forth with our armies, O God?

11 O give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain.

12 Through God we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.

The historical reference here is when David led Israel against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.   These events were from sometime in the earlier part of King David’s reign, when he subjected neighboring nations. 2 Samuel 8:1-8 records David’s victories over Philistia, Moab, and Syria. 2 Samuel 10:1-19 tells of David’s victories over Ammon and Syria. 1 Chronicles 18:11-13 gives us David’s victories over Edom (and specifically in the Valley of Salt), Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek.

The victories described in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles do not mention the kind of setbacks lamented in this psalm. It reminds us that the historical record often condenses events, and that the successes were real, yet not always immediate.

If we take the approach David took, what do we do, when we experience defeat in our life, “defeat”, as in:

• We lose our employment or our business
• We lose our child to addiction or sin or worse yet, death
• We lose our health to some serious ailment
• We lose a friend to betrayal
• We lose our marriage to infidelity

Don’t turn inward, at least not too long.  Yes, try to understand why something has gone wrong, but  immediately look to the Lord.  Remember that His “Banner over us is LOVE”, in fact He is our Banner (Jehovah Nissi).  Quickly bring to mind how He has come through and delivered us from similar situations in the past.   Look ahead in faith and trust that he will make things right.   Ultimately, it may not even be in this lifetime, but look forward to how God will bring beauty from ashes.   Expect God to bring restoration from seeming destruction.  

I want to focus on one thing.   Here’s the core nugget of what I want to meditate on, ponder, consider, mull over, and think about:

• God’s holiness

Sometimes, we can learn about something, by gaining an understanding of what that something is not.   So I’m going to use Pastor Shane’s example of what holiness is not, i.e. unholiness: If I were to go into the kitchen, open a drawer and get a very nice kitchen spoon, and then proceed to go outside and use that spoon to pick up the doggie mess.   That’s a no, no.  Ah, ah, it ought not be done.   It’s unholy.   The spoon would be defiled.   Holiness, on the other hand, would be using the spoon for its intended purpose; in the kitchen.   In the right way.   Using that spoon as it's meant to be used.   That spoon goes through the dishwasher to keep it clean.   That’s holiness.

God’s holiness should result in our holiness.   Our life will become holy, as we fellowship with the LORD, and grow in His grace.   We will be used by God for His perfect purposes.  We will accomplish His will.   We will “do valiantly, and He will tread down our adversaries”.   I want to use the Food Bank Team as an example of being used for holy purposes.