Psalms 9-11: Safe (LSFAB S13E025)

[TEASER - 0:00]  
Why should I hide when I trust in God's protection?

[INTRO S13E025 - 0:10]  
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we'll read from the entire Bible in a year. And I'm glad you're here today. This is Wednesday, and we're going to read Psalms 9 through 11. Before each chapter, I'll have a brief introduction for you. And then afterwards, I've got some comments. I'm calling today's episode "Safe". But before we read, let's pray.

[OPENING PRAYER - 0:39]
Our heavenly Father, we thank You so much for our time together as a family to read Your Word. I pray God that You would bless this time and that You would touch our hearts. Speak to us as we read. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, let's begin.

[INTRO TO PSALM 9 - 0:53]  
The title of Psalm 9 is "To the chief musician. To the tune of 'Death of the Son.' A Psalm of David." Remember that when we see to the "chief musician" in the title, it's thought by many to mean that the psalm was written to the Lord. And it appears that this song was to be sung to the tune of a well known song of David's time that was called "Death of the Son". But some scholars think that this is actually written by David about his victory over Goliath. David praises God in this psalm for his faithful and good help.

[PSALM 9 (CEB) - 1:29]  
Psalms, chapter 9.

(1) I will thank you, LORD, with all my heart;
I will talk about all your wonderful acts.
(2) I will celebrate and rejoice in you;
I will sing praises to your name, Most High.

(3) When my enemies turn and retreat,
they fall down and die right in front of you
(4) because you have established justice
for me and my claim,
because you rule from the throne,
establishing justice rightly.

(5) You’ve denounced the nations,
destroyed the wicked.
You’ve erased their names for all time.
(6) Every enemy is wiped out,
like something ruined forever.
You’ve torn down their cities—
even the memory of them is dead.

(7) But the LORD rules forever!
He assumes his throne
for the sake of justice.
(8) He will establish justice in the world rightly;
he will judge all people fairly.
(9) The LORD is a safe place for the oppressed—
a safe place in difficult times.
(10) Those who know your name trust you
because you have not abandoned
any who seek you, LORD.

(11) Sing praises to the LORD, who lives in Zion!
Proclaim his mighty acts among all people!
(12) Because the one who avenges bloodshed
remembers those who suffer;
the LORD hasn’t forgotten their cries for help.

(13) Have mercy on me, LORD!
Just look how I suffer
because of those who hate me.
But you are the one who brings me back
from the very gates of death
(14) so I can declare all your praises,
so I can rejoice in your salvation
in the gates of Daughter Zion.

(15) The nations have fallen
into the hole they themselves made!
Their feet are caught
in the very net they themselves hid!
(16) The LORD is famous for the justice he has done;
it’s his own doing that the wicked are trapped.

Higgayon
.
Selah

(17) Let the wicked go straight to the grave,
the same for every nation that forgets God.
(18) Because the poor won’t be forgotten forever,
the hope of those who suffer won’t be lost for all time.

(19) Get up, LORD! Don’t let people prevail!
Let the nations be judged before you.
(20) Strike them with fear, LORD.
Let the nations know they are only human.
Selah

[INTRO TO PSALM 10 - 3:38]  
Psalm 10 is a psalm that points out that it seems as if the wicked prosper, but it acknowledges that God will judge them. Martin Luther said, "There is not, in my judgment, a psalm which describes the mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings and the fate of the ungodly, with so much propriety, fullness and light as this psalm."

[PSALM 10 (GNT) - 4:04]  
Psalms, chapter 10.

(1) Why are you so far away, O Lord?
Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?
(2) The wicked are proud and persecute the poor;
catch them in the traps they have made.

(3) The wicked are proud of their evil desires;
the greedy curse and reject the Lord.
(4) The wicked do not care about the Lord;
in their pride they think that God doesn't matter.

(5) The wicked succeed in everything.
They cannot understand God's judgments;
they sneer at their enemies.
(6) They say to themselves, “I will never fail;
I will never be in trouble.”
(7) Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats;
they are quick to speak hateful, evil words.

(8) They hide themselves in the villages,
waiting to murder innocent people.
They spy on their helpless victims;
(9) they wait in their hiding place like lions.
They lie in wait for the poor;
they catch them in their traps and drag them away.

(10) The helpless victims lie crushed;
brute strength has defeated them.
(11) The wicked say to themselves, “God doesn't care!
He has closed his eyes and will never see me!”

(12) O Lord, punish those wicked people!
Remember those who are suffering!
(13) How can the wicked despise God
and say to themselves, “He will not punish me”?

(14) But you do see; you take notice of trouble and suffering
and are always ready to help.
The helpless commit themselves to you;
you have always helped the needy.

(15) Break the power of wicked and evil people;
punish them for the wrong they have done
until they do it no more.

(16) The Lord is king forever and ever.
Those who worship other gods
will vanish from his land.

(17) You will listen, O Lord, to the prayers of the lowly;
you will give them courage.
(18) You will hear the cries of the oppressed and the orphans;
you will judge in their favor,
so that mortal men may cause terror no more.

[INTRO TO PSALM 11 - 5:59]  
The title of Psalm 11 is "To the chief musician, a Psalm of David". In this Psalm David wrote of the well intentioned advice of his friends when King Saul was pursuing him. The friends meant well, but they had no faith in God. David wisely looked to God knowing that God was where he would find safety.

[PSALM 11 (NIRV) - 6:20]  
Psalm, chapter 11.

(1) I run to the Lord for safety.
So how can you say to me,
“Fly away like a bird to your mountain.
(2) Look! Evil people are bending their bows.
They are placing their arrows against the strings.
They are planning to shoot from the shadows
at those who have honest hearts.
(3) When law and order are being destroyed,
what can godly people do?”

(4) The Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord is on his throne in heaven.
He watches all people.
His eyes study them.
(5) The Lord watches over those who do what is right.
But he hates sinful people and those who love to hurt others.
(6) He will pour out flaming coals and burning sulfur
on those who do what is wrong.
A hot and dry wind will destroy them.

(7) The Lord always does what is right.
So he loves it when people do what is fair.
Those who are honest will enjoy his blessing.

[COMMENTARY - 07:16]  
Beloved, there was a time before he was king when David was being pursued by King Saul and David's friends, though well intentioned, gave him the advice that was not founded in faith.  "Run away! Hide!" they said. David's response was, "Why should I hide when I trust in God's protection? God is still on his throne. He sees what is happening to me and he will deal with those who wish to do me harm. He knows I'm his and he will watch over me."

Beloved, have you noticed that everywhere you look, we're being given another reason to be afraid. "We're on the brink of nuclear war!" "Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter!" "Elon Musk is NOT going to buy Twitter!" "Russia says Ukraine is planning to use a dirty bomb!" "China!" "Russia!" "The Commie Left!" "The Nazi Right!" "We're all gonna die!"

If I didn't know better, I just might think it's a coordinated effort. 

Now, relax. I'm not gonna get all political on you. But I will say that, yes, it is being coordinated. But it isn't being coordinated by any political party or nation. It's being coordinated by the one who wants us to look at what's happening instead of our Heavenly Father. Of course, that "one" is the father of lies, the enemy of our souls. Satan.

David had it right. Why should we fear when we know that "the Lord is in His holy temple and that he is on his throne?" Yes, he is watching. He knows who are his and who are doing evil. The evil will suffer His wrath, and the righteous will enjoy his blessings.

Psalm 46, 1 and 2 says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear..."

Isaiah 41:10 says, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God..."

And Jesus said, "In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

God's word is full of phrases like "fear not", "don't be afraid" and the like. I've heard it said that there are 365 "fear nots" in the Bible...one for each day of the year. Well, that's a nice thought, but it's not quite true. But that's okay. There are actually many, many more times that we are assured that we have no need to fear in the Bible.

Beloved, God has many names in the Bible. I did a podcast called "In Touch with God's Character" for some time, and each episode was only a few minutes long in which I would focus on one of the names of God. Each name of God emphasizes an aspect of who He is. And Jesus, when praying to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed, "Abba, Father." Do you know what "Abba" means? It's an Aramaic word that roughly means, "Daddy". It speaks of the close, intimate relationship of a father and a child and the childlike trust that a youngster places in his daddy.

We also have that relationship with God! Paul wrote in Romans, 8:14 and 15, "(14) For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (15) The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"

Beloved, with God, the Creator of all that is as our Daddy, what have we got to be afraid of?

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE - 10:55]
What are your thoughts? Let me know call the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511. Or you can comment on the show notes page for this episode at lifespringmedia.com/s13e025. Or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com. Tomorrow is Poetry Thursday. We'll read Job 7 and 8. Job continues his response to Eliphaz and then has a plea to God. And we'll hear from Job's friend Bildad. Will he be sympathetic to Job? Find out tomorrow.

[SUPPORTER SHOUT-OUTS - 11:31]  
James from Norway is today's Associate Producer. He just signed up for a monthly $20 donation. Thank you, James. And God bless you.

And I got an email this morning from Clay. He said, "I had decided to use podcasting to try to get back to reading the Bible about a week or so before your wife made you a producer on No Agenda for your birthday. In the morning!" ITM to you, Clay. "I downloaded a few episodes of your daily Bible podcast and it was easily several cuts above the other Bible in a year podcasts I was checking out." Well, thank you very much Clay. He continues, "Then you said you were no longer going to be doing it. I was hoping that I misunderstood. But alas you reinforced that it was coming to an end. When you started it up again, and it was a daily podcast, I was ecstatic. Thank you for continuing. I think it's a valuable ministry. Thank you for your service."

Well, Clay, thank you. You're welcome. I am very happy to still be doing the show. It was emails very similar to yours that came in during the month of September while I was taking a break from this microphone, and a lot of prayer, that convinced me to do another season. As long as the Lord continues to bring people to the show, and as long as he provides the ability to pay the bills, this is where I'll be. My desire is to serve Him and to proclaim His name as he called me to do almost 18 years ago.

And speaking of that, the 18th anniversary of the first Lifespring podcast is a little less than three weeks away. November 13th will mark 18 years since I uploaded the very first episode. Man, it's hard to believe. We'll talk more about it when we get closer to the date.

And then yesterday, I told you that I had finally fixed my Bitcoin node so that I could again receive streaming sats and boosts. And I said "Who will be first?" Well, the answer is @23electron who boosted 300 sats from the Fountain app. Thank you for that boost. Much appreciated 23electron, God bless you.

Now do me a favor. Take a look at your podcast app right now, Beloved. Do you see a boost button? If you don't, then you don't have a modern podcast app. Sorry. But you don't have to stay in the dark ages. All you have to do is go to newpodcastapps.com, where you will discover that there are several that you could use. My two favorites are Fountain and Podverse, both of which are available on iOS and Android. Take a look at them. You can stream micro payments to your favorite podcast as you listen and you can send boosts.  And it is fun.

[PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS - 14:03]  
This is Wednesday. So it's prayer request and praise day. Just want to bring you up to date with Kathi there's really nothing new to report. She'll be going to the City of Hope for tests on Friday. And if everything's okay, she'll have another infusion of chemotherapy on Saturday. She's still feeling pretty weak, and she does have some nausea and some hair loss and things like that. So let's pray.

Our heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank You for your grace and Your faithfulness. We thank You that You are our place of safety. We thank You for calling us to be Yours and we pray that You would strengthen Kathi this week and that You would bring healing to her body. Be with her as she goes to City of Hope this weekend.

I thank You, Lord, for each one listening right now, whenever "now" happens to be. And I thank You for every member of the Lifespring family. Bless them today, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

[OUTRO S13E025 - 15:07]  
Thanks to the team: Sister Kirsty who does the newsletter, Brother Sean of San Pedro, who does the chapters and Sister Denise who corrects the transcripts. God bless you guys. Thank you for all you do.

You can comment on today's show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511 or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com, or you can even email me at steve@lifespringmedia.com. I do want to hear from you. If you're enjoying the show, please do support the Lifespring Family Audio Bible by going to lifespringmedia.com/support.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me into your day. I'm Steve Webb. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai