I'd like for you to turn to Psalm 56. The 56th Psalm. And while you're at it, we're going to be over in 1 Samuel chapter number 21. 1 Samuel 21. Because it relates to Psalm 56. In Psalm 56, you'll notice from the heading of the Psalm that we find that it was written by David during the time in his life when he was on the run from Saul. As recorded in 1 Samuel 21 verses 10 through 14, he fled to a place that not even Saul would have thought to look for him, and that was, he went to Gath. Gath was where Goliath was from. David's the one that slew Goliath, the champion of the Philistines. And that's where he chose to go, to hide out. You say, what in the world? You think about it, he did that. Yes, he really did. We're not told why David chose to flee there, but as I said, not even Saul would have thought to look there because David had the notoriety of being the one who killed Goliath, their champion. And get this, David had just received, before he made that trip there, he's carrying Goliath's sword. He had just been to Ahimelech the priest in Nob, and Ahimelech the priest had it wrapped up and laid up after David used it to cut Goliath's head off. And it was still around. It was there. And David was in need of a weapon. He didn't have any weapons. And so he said, give me that. I know it's a good weapon. Let's take a look at the background here. Look at 1 Samuel 21 and verse number 10. Well, let's back up to verse number 9. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou wilt take that, take it, and there is no other save that here. In other words, if you want a weapon, that's the only thing I've got to give you. And David said, There is none like that, give it me. And then we see in verse 10, And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad, Wherefore then have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? Well, that's the background to what happened there. We see that the scripture says that David went to Achish, the king of Gath, and doesn't he say that he even tried to hide there? It says he went to the king. And the servants of Achish recognized David. It doesn't say that Achish recognized who he was, but his servants did, told Achish that David was the king of the land and they knew that David had been anointed to be king of Israel because they said he's king. And even though he had not assumed the kingship yet at this point, nevertheless, he was anointed to be king. And they had heard about David's other successes and told Achish of the song that was sung about him there. And he said, you know, uh-oh, you know, he's found out who he is. And the scripture says that David was sore afraid. In other words, he was terrified, if you will, of King Achish. And that's the setting for Psalm 56. You know, fear is one of the emotions that can stir you to get real creative at times. Am I right? One day he got creative, didn't he? I'll just play like I'm crazy. And he played like a madman. And the Lord used it to get him out of that. The Lord is the one that's actually allowed him to be released here. And believing that his life was in danger, the scripture says that he changed his behavior before them. By doing that, Achish didn't want anything to do with David. In fact, when we went through this, when we were studying 1 Samuel, we looked at Psalm 34. Psalm 34 is also about this time. And when we were going through, we didn't look at the psalm we're looking at tonight, Psalm 56. We looked at Psalm 34 that was written after David's deliverance that tells us that the king drove him away and he departed. But tonight I want us to deal with this psalm that we did not deal with when we looked at the passage in 1 Samuel. And the first thing I want us to do is let's read the psalm, Psalm 56. Let's begin verse number one. Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up. He fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up, for they be many that fight against me, O Thou Most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. In God I will praise His Word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Every day they rest my words. In other words, they were twisting the things that he was saying, trying to make him look bad before King Achish. All their thoughts are against me for evil. It's not that he could read their thoughts. It's just the things that were coming out of their mouth showed what they were thinking. They were coming against him. I'm sure a few of them were saying, Hey, buddy, we got you right where we want you. Just wait until we get to King Vince. You're going to be history. and they knew what he had done to Goliath and they counted David as an enemy. Look at verse number 6, says, they gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. Shall they escape by iniquity, and thine anger cast down the people, O God? Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me." You ought to underline that. God is for me. And God, will I praise His word? And the Lord, will I praise His word? So why do you say two different things? Well, in God, talking about the Creator God, looking at the Lord from His creative work, I will praise His word. And the Lord, will I praise His word? Lord there, it's the word Jehovah, Yahweh. It is the covenant name of God. So you've got the creator name of God, Elohim, and you've got the covenant name of God, Jehovah. And so he says, you know, I praise his word. I praise his word. And God, have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. Thy vows are upon me, O God. I will render praises unto Thee, for Thou hast delivered my soul from death. Wilt Thou not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? So the first thing I want us to see tonight, we see David encouraged himself in the Lord's mercy. He encouraged himself in the Lord's mercy. Yes, there was the opposition of the enemy. That opposition is seen in the daily desire of the enemy. He said there in verse number one, the latter part of verse, for man would swallow me up. Kind of like they were a monster. I'm sure they were monsters. They were wanting to devour his life. And then verse number two, the very first part of the verse, my enemies would daily swallow me up. I mean, they were chomping at the bits to take David's life away from him. David could sense this through the words and actions of the enemy. We see the opposition is seen also in the daily oppression by the enemy. There in the latter part of verse number 1, it says, He fighting daily oppresseth me. The enemy fighting daily against him was oppressing him. It says down in verse number 6, they gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. It's almost as if maybe he was under a house arrest and they were keeping a watch over him and keeping a watch on him and listening out to what he had to say and looking at what he was trying to do, just trying to find a misstep. There was one commentator that said that he was locked in prison, but I couldn't find any support for that, that he was locked, because it doesn't say in our text over there in 1 Samuel 21, it doesn't say here that he was locked up that way, but nevertheless, he was oppressed by the enemy. They were looking for a way to do him in. There were words of oppression intended to bring him down in the sight of the king where it says, every day they rest of my words. They were twisting his words. They're in verse number five. There were words of oppression to increase his fears. When he said there in verse 5 also, he says, all their thoughts are against me. And again, he knew their thoughts because what's inside of man eventually comes out, doesn't it? It really does. You can tell pretty much how a person feels by just listening to them talk. And that's what he was doing. We see that that opposition is seen in the overwhelming by the enemy. He says there in verse number 2, He said, For they be many that fight against me. It was almost like, Lord, you know I'm outnumbered. All of them are against me. There was nobody there that was for Him except the Lord. But, you know, if you've got the Lord on your side, That's what you need. And he realized that. As we see, David encouraged himself in the Lord's mercy there. Yes, there was opposition of the enemy, but there was the mercy of the Lord. And David called out for the Lord's mercy in the midst of all the opposition and oppression of the enemy. He says in that verse number one, Be merciful unto me, O God. It's almost like a cry out in that way. a loud cry. And we see also, you know, David had a hope. He had a sure expectation of what would happen when he cried to the Lord. Look there at verse number 9, the first part of verse number 9. It says, When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. That was his hope. It was his sure expectation of what was going to happen. He says, this I know. When I cry unto you for mercy, my name is going to turn back. I know this. That's basically what he's saying there. So we see David encourage himself in the Lord's mercy. Second thing is we see the Lord's mercy encourage David to trust him. the Lord's mercy encouraged David to trust him. David was determined in his trust in the Lord. That's expressed there in verse number three when he says, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Listen, we need to do that very same thing in our day. There's all kinds of voices that are out there trying to cause us to fear. trying to bring forth fear. If you start listening to them instead of listening to the Word of God, guess what? You're going to have a heart filled with fear rather than a heart filled with trust. We need to have the same trust that David had. David was determined in his trust in the Lord. Look at verse number four, the middle part of the verse there. It says, In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me." Basically, David realized and he knew that I'm untouchable unless the Lord allows it to happen. The Lord's not going to allow it to happen. He knew that, and we're going to talk about that here in just a minute. In verse number 11, he says, in God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. Now, David had God on his side, which is a good thing to have, amen? David had God on his side, meaning that he had God's omnipresence. Even though David was outside of the nation of Israel at this time, I mean, he's in Philistine land. There was no promise of protection for the Israelites outside of the land that God had placed them in. But he, as king, is finding himself outside of that particular area. Nevertheless, God was with him because God's omnipresent. God's omniscient. God knew exactly what was happening. God knew what David's need was better than David knew what his need was. David probably had an idea of how he'd like this thing to come to pass, but God has his way, his own way of doing things, doesn't he? And God has the power. He knew even though he was outnumbered, God was not outnumbered at all. God's majority in any situation that he is in, and what a blessing that is. So David was determined in his trust in the Lord. David was determined in his praise of the Lord, in his praise of the Lord. It was a praise that was founded in the Lord's Word. I want you to think about this. David had God's word that there were come that he was going to be coming to the throne of Israel God has assured him that he's going to be on the throne He's already been anointed that he's going to be on the throne of Israel and that hadn't happened yet He's not assumed the throne yet. And so he was confident that the Lord would get him through This situation he was in somehow even though He probably shouldn't, that wasn't probably the smartest move that he ever did, to go into Philistine territory. I mean, David was a pretty bright fella, a lot of the things that we read about him, but this, he wasn't showing too much brights here. And so he's in enemy territory, but nevertheless, his faith in the Lord is strong because he knows that he's gonna come to the throne of Israel one of these days, and God was going to get him out of this somehow, some way. It kind of reminds me of Abraham's confidence in the Lord on Mount Moriah. When he was told to go offer up Isaac, remember? Now, previously been told that through Isaac, his seed was going to be called. He knew the Lord would intervene because the Lord had promised him that the covenant blessings were going to come through Isaac. So, there's a portion of scripture that says that he showed that he was actually believing the Lord could raise him up, if need be, which he received Christ in a figure there, because he believed in the resurrection. Amen. There in verse number four, He says, in God I will praise his word. He had God's word as his defense. He had God's word as his assurance that he was going to get out of this situation. And because he had God's word, that latter part of verse number nine, he says, this I know. For God is for me. God is for me. And in verse number 10, he says, And God will I praise his word, and the Lord will I praise his word. In verse number 11, Thy vows are upon me, O God, I will render praises unto thee. God had given him his word. And he said, you know, I'm just going to praise you. While he was waiting on the Lord to act, while he was in the hallway waiting for the Lord to open the door for him to get out of Dodge, so to speak, to get out of there, to be delivered from there, he was just going to go ahead and praise God in the hallway until the door opened. And we need to do that sometimes, don't we? We have God's Word as our assurance. And don't forget that. David was determined in his trust in the Lord. David was determined in his praise of the Lord. And then in verse 13, we see that David was determined that his deliverance was a done deal. I like verse 13. Look at verse 13 and so forth. Thou hast delivered my soul from death. And that word delivered is like plucked. That's what it really means. It means plucked. And so, he's seeing this as a done deal. Thou hast delivered my soul from death. I mean, we know that the Lord had delivered him from death previously. He talks about that in some of his other writings, how the Lord saved him out of the mouth of the lions and the bears. We know the Lord saved him out of the hand of Goliath. People that looked at him as he fought Goliath, there's no way this little kid is going to go out there and win this battle against this big giant. He's gonna be mincemeat for this giant. But the Lord delivered him out of what everybody else thought would be certain death. And here, I think he's actually, his trust in the Lord is so great that he is saying, Lord, thou hast delivered. and wilt not thou deliver, you know, that's what he's saying there, that thou hast delivered my soul from death, wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. In other words, he was gonna be able to testify to others of God's deliverance from this particular situation in his life, the same way that David gave praise a lot for what God did in his life. Yes, you read through the Psalms. The Psalms that are written by David, a lot of it is praise for what the Lord has done for him in his life. Now, what do we draw from this tonight? Well, listen, we're living in a time when we as believers are facing enemies. We know that our enemies as believers are the world. The world doesn't like us. They don't have a high view of Christianity, and their view is getting lower and lower of it, and Christians. We know that we have to battle this flesh that we're in. That's an enemy that we face. And we know that the devil, and of course he tries to use our flesh against us. He uses also the world against us. But our future, listen, is as bright as the promises of God. Our future is as bright as the promises of God. That's basically what David was saying. in this psalm, he believed in the word of the Lord, and he knew that he was delivered from that situation that he was in. Now listen, no matter what's going on around us, and there's a lot that's going on right now. A lot to fill our hearts full of fear. While we were in church Sunday evening, I didn't catch any news while I was out of town. Didn't watch any news programs, didn't see anything, but the preacher where we were at, the church that we were at Sunday evening, he said that Biden had had basically told us to get ready for food shortages. And I thought to myself, how stupid is that? You cause food shortages by just mentioning that there's going to be food shortages. People running out and making, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, a deal. You know, as you listen to the reports that come through the airwaves, many things that would cause your heart to fear or to wonder what's going on and worry. But what should we do as believers? Well, no matter what's going on around us, we can have confidence in God and His Word. And the question is, are you standing on the promises like David? Can you confidently say, this I know for God is with me. This I know for God is with me. He knew some things because God was with him. I mean, let tomorrow come. I have God and He is for me. Let's keep that in mind, amen, as we go about in our week. from week to week. And I'm not saying that it's not going to get more difficult. I believe that we're going to see some difficult days ahead. But what I'm saying is, no matter how difficult the days may get, God is for us. And we got some things that we can cling to. We got some promises we can stand on. And let's stand on the things that the Lord has given to us. Let's trust in Him. David encouraged himself in the Lord's mercy, let's do the same. We see the Lord's mercy encouraged David to trust him, let's trust the Lord, amen, amen. All right, that's our Bible study for this evening. Let's pull out our prayer list, we'll pray for the needs, and we'll be dismissed.