Psalm 021:01-07 Blessed – Part 3

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Three Part Series:  Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Text: Psalm 21:1-7

Introduction

1. God wants His people to be happy.

2. As we have seen, the Psalms have much to say about happiness.

3. We have seen that we can be happy when our sins are forgiven / covered.

4. We have seen that we are blessed when we allow the Lord to teach us.

5. We have seen that we are blessed when we keep godly company.

6. Notice these passages:

a. Psalm 21:6-7. For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.

b. Psalm 2:12. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

c. Psalm 34:8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

d. Psalm 84:5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

e. Psalm 84:12. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

7. We will be blessed / happy when we put our trust in God.

8. What does it mean to trust in the Lord?

9. In order to answer that question, let’s look to for examples of such trust.

Body

I. ABRAHAM TRUSTED GOD.

A. In leaving his homeland.

Hebrews 11:8-10. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

B. In having a child.

Genesis 15:5-6. Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

C. In his willingness to sacrifice that child.

Genesis 22:7-8. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

II. JOSHUA AND CALEB TRUSTED GOD.

A. The Spies (Except for Joshua and Caleb) felt there was no possible way to take the land.

Numbers 13:26-33. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (The descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

B. Their lack of trust in God infected others.

Numbers 14:1-5. So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

C. Joshua and Caleb tried to persuade them to trust in God.

Numbers 14:6-9. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

D. Another example of Caleb’s trust.

Joshua 14:10-13. And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.” And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance.

III. DAVID TRUSTED GOD.

A. A certain giant was defying God’s people.

1 Samuel 17:4-11. And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him. Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 

B. Only David trusted God enough to face Goliath.

1 Samuel 17:45-47. Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

IV. IN ALL OF THESE CASES:

A. God’s people were challenged.

1. There were faced with problems that seemed too big or too difficult to handle.

a) Abraham was told to sacrifice a son.

b) Israel was told to take a land that was occupied by a people stronger than they.

c) David had to face a giant.

2. There were naysayers.

a) In the case of Joshua and Caleb, Israel was going to stone them. Numbers 14:10. And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.

b) In David’s case:

(1) The people were dismayed and afraid. 1 Samuel 7:11. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

(2) His brothers derided him. 1 Samuel 17:28. Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”

(3) Saul felt it was impossible. 1 Samuel 17:33. And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”

(4) Goliath ridiculed him. 1 Samuel 17:43-44. So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

B. These people remembered God’s past faithfulness.

1. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son because God had never failed him. Hebrews 11:17-19. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

2. Undoubtedly, Joshua and Caleb’s trust in God came from remembering God’s previous deliverance of the nation of Israel.

3. David’s confidence was based on previous experiences as well. 1 Samuel 17:34-37. But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!

C. They trusted in God to deliver them in their current distress.

1. Even though the odds were against them…

2. Even though worldly wisdom said there was no chance…

3. Even though everyone else thought they were crazy…

4. They trusted in God!

5. A side-note:

a) Why did David take five stones?

b) I believe the answer to this question is very important.

c) We are to trust God to deliver us and then we are to prepare to do our part.

d) For all David knew, God would let him miss a couple of times.

e) He did not tempt, or test, God by only taking one stone. Matthew 4:5-7. Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

f) He also had his staff just in case the stones did not work.

g) A lot of times, we trust God but we do not really know what His will is.

h) Therefore, like David, we have to prepare, do the best we can, and trust God to work it all out in the end.

V. WE ALL FACE CHALLENGES IN OUR WALK WITH GOD.

A. Do we trust in God? It’s on our money.

1. There will be naysayers.

2. We must remember God’s past faithfulness.

a) With us personally.

b) With others. Romans 15:4. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

3. We must trust God to help us.

a) Matthew 6:31-34. “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

b) Matthew 7:7-11. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

B. Can God trust in us?

Conclusion

1. God wants you to be blessed.

2. We will be blessed by trusting in Him.

Delivered on: February 19, 2012. Streetsboro.