Sunday, March 4, 2012 pm
Deal With Your Enemies
PSALM 83
Most of these psalms deal with enemies of God and Israel – with request
that God be with Israel and smite His enemies.
The problem being, that in hindsight we know that Israel (and
Judah) was its own worst enemy as it rebelled against God.
The
particular occasion for this psalm is unknown.
There are a number of nations and events mentioned, but we have
no specific event recorded that addresses all of them.
However, there are some suggestions:
1)
2 Chronicles 20 records
the reign of Jehosephat, King of Judah, from 873-848 BC (approx.).
He was a righteous king who turned to God for deliverance against
Moab and Ammon. God
delivered Judah as recorded in
this chapter without Judah having to actually engage in battle.
2)
There are other battles
recorded against the various nations, but none of them describe all
parties mentioned in our psalm.
3)
Another possibility is
an occasion not recorded in the kings and Chronicles
4)
OR, some contend that it
is not an actual enemy on that occasion, but a time when Israel (both
north and south), is being reminded to stay faithful to God, by
recalling various enemies they had faced in times past.
This very well could be – as Judah needed constant reminders
toward faithfulness.
We
live in a time where we are surrounded by the ungodly and materialism.
We are continually being assaulted by atheism and enemies of the
cross of Christ. Like Judah
of old, we need help in dealing with our enemies.
So, with that in mind there are lessons for us to glean from this
psalm.
READ Psalm 83.
a.
Do not keep silent, O
God – repeated.
In this verse we have many themes we have visited before – a sense of
urgency for deliverance, a pleading with God to act as a demonstration
of His Sovereignty and power, a seeking for God whose silence is
deafening.
The answer also reminds us of lessons: To wait for Him to answer – He
will when He is ready (cf. Luke 18:7-8 – sometimes he “bears long” with
us. At other times, we have
abandoned Him and we need to return before it is too late – Isa. 59:2
says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God…so that He will
not hear.” Earlier in Isaiah
1:15 we read, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from
you; Even though you make many prayers I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.”
Psa. 66:15 says, “IF I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not
hear.”
I SUSPECT, that at the writing of this psalm, such was probably the
case, given the history of Israel.
What a lesson for us!
b.
The enemies are causing
a tumult (trouble) (2-3) – they always do.
Recall Psalm 2:1-2 – the nations rage and plot - “a vain thing”…”against
the Lord and against His anointed.”
We will deal more with this in a few moments.
c.
They have taken crafty
counsel against Your people, and consulted against Your sheltered ones.
Often the world goes after the godly and they do it will all the evil
ways they can muster. They
call evil – good, and good – evil; they seek justification for their
ungodly ways thought worldly wisdom; they patiently plot and gradually
act to accomplish their goals – all with great success.
In Bible times I am reminded of the enemies of Daniel who plotted to
destroy him. I am reminded
of the enemies of Jesus who scrutinized His every word so that they
could seize Him (cf. Luke 20:20)
and even toward the end, with malice they “justified” their
conduct (John 11:45-53).
FRIENDS – we need to WAKE UP!
We need to be alert!
Rom. 13:11 says, “…now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now
our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”
Truly we must “Be sober and
vigilant” (1 Pet. 5:8)
d.
The “sheltered ones”
would be those who sought shelter with God – the truly faithful.
e.
Their goal is to utterly
destroy God’s people – cut them off.
Throughout history there have been those who tried to eradicate
Christianity.
- During the late 1st and into the 2nd & 3rd
centuries, the Roman Empire staged numerous persecutions that drove
Christians underground.
- When Mohammed, entered the scene in during the 7th century
(ca. 610 AD) he founded the Islamic faith which sought to destroy (or at
least neutralize) both Jewish and Christian faiths in his region of the
world. Today, the goal of
Islam is to rule the world by conquering all other religions.
- There are many nations that have made it illegal to be a Christian or
to own a Bible.
- And today, let us not forget the more subtle enemies who are perhaps
the most powerful – who seek to simply neutralize the message.
a.
Sometimes enemies join
together to defeat a common foe.
Such is the case against God’s people at times.
Just like Pilate and Herod became friends on the occasion of the
trial of Jesus.
b.
They have consulted
together with one consent
c.
Various nations
mentioned
i.
The tents of Edom –
another name for Esau and his descendants
ii.
The Ishmaelites –
descendents of the eldest son of Abraham.
iii.
Moab was one of two sons
born through incest to Lot, Abraham’s nephew, after Sodom was destroyed
and his wife turned to a pillar of salt (cf. Gen. 19:30-38).
The other son was Ammon, mentioned later in our text.
iv.
The Hagrites are
unknown, but perhaps they were descendants of Hagar, Sarah’s handmaiden
who bore Ishmael to Abraham.
v.
Gebal is unknown.
There is only one other mention of this in the OT – in Ezek. 27:9
where it is described as a city of Tyre.
vi.
Ammon is mentioned above
– the other son of Incest to Lot.
vii.
Amalek – the Amalekites
were descendants of Esau (Gen. 36:12)
viii.
Philistia and Tyre would
be the land of the Philistines, a coastal nation that was continually a
thorn in the side of Israel during their existence.
We first read about them in Gen. 10:14 in the nations as
descendents of Ham. We read
of their land during the time of Abraham (Gen. 21:32).
They were prominent during the time of David.
ix.
Finally, Assyria – who
would be the nation responsible for carrying Israel away into captivity
in 722 BC.
d.
Combined, this is an
“impressive list” of the enemies of Israel throughout their history.
i.
If you were to plot
these nations you find them in every direction – north, south, east and
west. The psalmist is
appealing to God to once again deliver them, as He has done so many
times.
ii.
But let us recall why
this happened – it goes back to their failure to obey God in the first
place when they inherited the land.
In Joshua 23 as Joshua is about to die, he challenges the people
to finish the job and gives warnings if they do not.
Judges 1:27-36 records their failure to complete the conquest.
Judges 2:1-5 records their condemnation by God because of this.
They were commanded to finish the task of driving out the enemies
and they did not – therefore they became a thorn in their side.
iii.
But let us not forget
that the reason Israel faced such adversity was because of an even
greater enemy – THEMSELVES!
They followed after idols and just simply REFUSED to obey God.
This is what brought about His wrath against them.
e.
Lesson:
WE have enemies both within and without, just as they did.
Friends, like back then, we are living in troubling times.
We are being assaulted from every side.
We are facing ungodly rulers who
are beginning to enact laws that in time will make service to God more
difficult. The mention of
God is being driven out of the public sector.
Immoral laws are being passed which are designed to force us to
accept ungodly conduct such as homosexuality, abortion and going against
other things that we believe to be wrong.
When faced with enemies, let us appeal to Him.
a.
“Deal with them” – when
we have enemies, while there are things we might do, in accordance with
God’s will, quite often we must consider letting God take care of them –
He will! 2 Thess. 1:8-9.
b.
Again the appeals to God
with a list of “accomplishments” from their history:
i.
As with Midian – Numbers
31:1-11 records the defeat of Midian by Israel in the wilderness before
inhabiting Canaan. Recall
that Balak, was king of Midian (Num. 22) who hired Balaam to curse
Israel.
ii.
Sisera was commander of
the Army of Canaan during the time of the judges.
As Canaan was oppressing Israel, Deborah became a judge who with
Barak eventually liberated Israel.
Sisera, being defeated fled and was kill was a woman named Jael
in her tent. She drove a
tent peg through his temple and killed him (See Judges 4).
Jabin, was the king of Canaan who was defeated on that occasion
(Judges 5) Our text says he
perished at En Dor and became refuse on the earth
iii.
Oreb and Zeeb were
princes of the Midianites who were captured and killed by Gideon and his
300 valient men as recorded in Judges 7 & 8 (cf. Jud. 7:25)
iv.
Zebah and Zalmunna were 2 kings
of Midian (Judges 8:12) who were defeated by Gideon as well.
Who said, “Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a
possession.”
c.
Again we have an
“impressive” list describing how God is able to deliver us from our
enemies. Just as God was
able to deliver Shardrac, Meshach and Abed-Nego from the fiery furnace
(cf. Dan. 3:17).
2 Pet. 2:9 says He knows how to deliver us out of temptation.
a.
The psalmist begins with
imprecatory requests for their defeat.
He describes their total defeat:
i.
Make them like whirling
dust, like the chaff before the wind – that is blown away
ii.
As the fire burns the
woods and flames set mountains on fire
iii.
Pursue them with Your
tempest (strong storm) and frighten them
iv.
Fill their faces with
shame – rather than rejoicing, turn them to sorrow
b.
That they may seek Your
name, O Lord. – recall how we are commanded to love our enemies (Matt.
5:43-44). It is noble that
the psalmist desires that their enemies become friends of God and seek
His name.
It is NOT our place to, with bitter hearts, desire the destruction of
anyone (though we ought to pray for the defeat of ungodliness). I am
reminded of Romans 12:17-21 where we are to overcome evil with good.
c.
Let them be confounded
and dismayed forever – put to shame and perish.
In our troubling times it seems hopeless and many do give up.
Jesus warned His disciples that they would be hated for His sake,
“But he who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matt. 10:22)
Also Matt. 24:13 – lawlessness will and abound and the love of many will
grow cold.
Paul told Timothy, “Yes all who
desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
But evil men will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived. But you must
continue in the things you have learned and been assured of…” (2
Tim. 3:12-14)
d.
That they may know You,
whose name alone is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.
Truly, “the earth is the Lord’s” – During the plagues in Egypt,
Moses before Pharaoh says that he will witness plagues so that “you may
know that the earth is the Lord’s”
Psa. 24:1 says “The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world
and those who dwell therein.”
1 Cor. 10:26-28- dealing with the Conscience, Paul tells the brethren to
eat with a good conscience, because all food is from God.
The POINT: God is in control of this world.
It only seems like Satan is in control.