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Our Heavenly Resource 

Psalm 144 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • January 27, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2019 

Prelude: 

  1. Brother Roy Deaver introduced Psalm 144 with this comment:

    “Psalms 135 through 139 emphasize the power and the sufficiency of God. Psalms 140 through 143 stress the helplessness of man. Then, as a beautiful summary, THIS Psalm combines both these thoughts. Without God, man is helpless. With God, man can accomplish great and wonderful good” (p. 261).
  2. Notice the movement of this Psalm: 
    1. Acknowledge who God is. 
    2. Acknowledge who man is. 
    3. Why man needs God. 
    4. Celebrate God when He helps. 
    5. Show God’s Blessings. 
      1. One thing leads to the next. 
      2. Knowing who God is and 
        1. how man is nothing in comparison, 
        2. makes it easy to see why we need Him. 
          1. When we do call on Him in our need, and 
          2. He answers, 
            1. celebrate Him and 
            2. announce His blessings. 

Persuasion: 

  1. Psalm 144.0 | A Man Who Knew God

    0 A Psalm of David.
    1. David had known poverty and ______ as a shepherd, and 
    2. he had known prestige and power as a king. 
      1. Out of all those experiences, 
      2. he wrote 75 psalms 
        1. covering many issues of life. 
        2. Read the Psalms, 
          1. embrace the thinking of the psalmists, and 
          2. your spirit shall be as rich as their spirits. 
  2. Psalm 144.1–2 | Who Is the Lord?

    1 Blessed be the LORD my Rock,
    Who trains my hands for war,
    And my fingers for battle—
    2 My lovingkindness and my fortress,
    My high tower and my deliverer,
    My shield and the One in whom I take refuge,
    Who subdues my people under me.
    1. See who and what God was to David: 
      1. He was David’s rock. 
      2. He was David’s trainer for battle and war. 
      3. He was David’s lovingkindness. 
      4. He was David’s fortress. 
      5. He was David’s high tower. 
      6. He was David’s deliverer. 
      7. He was David’s shield. 
      8. He was David’s refuge. 
      9. He subdued David’s people under Him. 
    2. Those were all battle images. 
      1. As the king, the commander in chief, 
      2. he needed all those things, 
        1. including his people subdued to him, 
        2. otherwise, how could he lead in battle? 
    3. All the images David used to picture the Lord 
      1. are things you want in battle. 
      2. However, the Lord is better than the actual images. 
        1. As a rock, the Lord is better than any rock on earth. 
        2. As a shield, no shield of man compares to Him. 
  3. Psalm 144.3–4 | What Is Man?

    3 LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
    Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?
    4 Man is like a breath;
    His days are like a passing shadow.
    1. In comparison to the Lord, man is nothing. 
      1. The superiority of the Lord over man 
      2. is infinitely greater than the superiority of man over a worm. 
        1. That is what you need when in battle. 
        2. That is why David won every time. 
    2. Yet, that made David question 
      1. why the Lord would take knowledge of man and 
      2. why the Lord would be mindful of man. 
    3. The Lord is 
      1. a rock, 
      2. a fortress, 
      3. a high tower, 
      4. a shield, 
      5. a refuge. 
    4. Whereas man is 
      1. a breath and 
      2. a passing shadow. 
        1. How much attention do you give to every breath? 
        2. When you walk, how impressed are you with the shadows? 
    5. Yet, the rock fortress with a high tower and shields in place, acting as a refuge 
      1. notes the breath and shadows that go by. 
      2. He is mindful of all the breaths and shadows. 
        1. He fights for them. 
        2. He defends them. 
          1. Wait until we get to the end of the Psalm and 
          2. you see how he blesses all those breaths and shadows. 
    6. Most of us are familiar with James 4.14:

      14b What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away (James 4.14b).
      1. You just saw Psalm 144.4 refer to man as a breath and a shadow. 
      2. Here are some other similar pictures:

        9 “For we were born yesterday, and know nothing,
        Because our days on earth are a shadow.”
        (Job 8.9)

        2 “He comes forth like a flower and fades away;
        He flees like a shadow and does not continue.”
        (Job 14.2)

        11 When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,
        You make his beauty melt away like a moth;
        Surely every man is vapor.
        (Psalm 39.11)

        11 My days are like a shadow that lengthens,
        And I wither away like grass.
        (Psalm 102.11)

        6 The voice said, “Cry out!”
        And he said, “What shall I cry?”
        “All flesh is grass,
        And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
        7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
        Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
        Surely the people are grass.
        8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
        But the word of our God stands forever.”
        (Isaiah 40.6–8)

        First Peter 1.24–25 quotes Isaiah
  4. Psalm 144.5–8 | Bow Down the Heavens

    5 Bow down Your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
    Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
    6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
    Shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.
    7 Stretch out Your hand from above;
    Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters,
    From the hand of foreigners,
    8 Whose mouth speaks lying words,
    And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
    1. David took references from the Lord’s appearance on Mount Sinai:

      16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled (Exodus 19.16).
    2. David was simply asking the Lord to make a great display of His power. 
    3. Then David explained what the problem was: 
      1. He was caught in great waters, and 
        1. he told us what he meant by that, 
        2. foreigners or aliens, people who were not of the Lord. 
      2. What were they doing to David? 
        1. They were speaking lies. 
        2. They were creating falsehood. 
      3. He was drowning in their lies. 
        1. It was like a vehement storm, 
        2. raging against him, ready to destroy him. 
  5. Psalm 144.9–10 | Sing a New Song

    9 I will sing a new song to You, O God;
    On a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,
    10 The One who gives salvation to kings,
    Who delivers David His servant
    From the deadly sword.
    1. Look at the sudden shift from verse 8 to verse 9! 
      1. An enemy was lying about him, 
      2. spreading falsehood, 
        1. so much so that it was about to destroy him. 
        2. The situation was bad enough that he needed God’s power to defeat it. 
    2. Then at the snap of a finger, 
      1. David said that he would sing a new song to God, 
      2. David would sing praises to God on a harp of ten strings. 
    3. Why would David do so? 
      1. God gives salvation to kings and 
      2. would deliver David from the deadly sword, 
        1. to which he would be subject, 
        2. if people believed the lies. 
    4. Deaver:

      “The Psalmist speaks in confidence that peace and prosperity will be given him” (Page 262).
      1. This is also typical of the Psalms. 
      2. The psalmist has a problem, and 
        1. he prays to God about it, but 
        2. the psalmist is so confident of 
          1. God hearing him, and 
          2. God answering him, 
            1. that before the deliverance even happens, 
            2. the psalmist starts planning a celebration of the Lord! 
    5. Then David made one more plea for help. 
  6. Psalm 144.11–15 | The Happy People

    11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners,
    Whose mouth speaks lying words,
    And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood—
    12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth;
    That our daughters may be as pillars,
    Sculptured in palace style;
    13 That our barns may be full,
    Supplying all kinds of produce;
    That our sheep may bring forth thousands
    And ten thousands in our fields;
    14 That our oxen may be well laden;
    That there be no breaking in or going out;
    That there be no outcry in our streets.
    15 Happy are the people who are in such a state;
    Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!
    1. David wanted rescue and deliverance 
      1. from these liars, 
      2. not just for his sake, but 
        1. for the sake of his nation. 
    2. If the Lord delivered from the spreader of falsehoods, they could have: 
      1. sons grown up as plants, 
      2. daughters as sculptured pillars in palace style, 
      3. barns full of produce, 
      4. sheep multiplying, 
      5. oxen that have large loads to carry, and 
      6. no cry of distress in the streets. 
        1. Because the church has had freedom in America, 
        2. this is how we have been blessed also. 
    3. To me, David said it all with the last two lines: 
      1. Such a people are happy with that abundance, and 
      2. such people are happy because their God is Yahweh. 

Exhortation: 

  1. God is our unlimited source for all good things. 
  2. Whatever troubles, temptations, trials, or tribulations we experience He is the One who gives us the victory. 
  3. The Psalm teaches (main points from Wiersbe, Bible Commentary: Old Testament, p. 407) 
    1. “Let God train you before the battle (vv. 1–4).” 
    2. “Let God help you in the battle (vv. 5–8).” 
    3. “Sing God’s praises after the battle (vv. 9–15).”