April 15, 2026 • 23 mins
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What do you do when the battlefield stretches in every direction and it looks like God Himself brought the defeat?
Join Jaime on the Praying Christian Women Podcast for a devotional on Psalm 60 — a raw, honest lament born out of being surrounded on all sides, where David dares to say You did this, God — and still picks up the banner and calls Him Lord.
Jaime unpacks the historical backdrop of David fighting enemies to the north, east, and south all at once, and shares a breathtaking story from her years near Death Valley — where barren, salt-crusted flats that look permanently dead suddenly erupted into a once-in-a-century bloom of purple wildflowers. Sometimes the victory is already buried right beneath the most hopeless-looking ground, waiting for God's rain to bring it to life.
We also dig into the striking echo of Moses in Exodus 33 — when God offered the promised land without His presence, and Moses said no deal. David carries that same heart here: deliverance by man is in vain, and the land is just dirt without the God who makes it flourish.
Come ready to look at your own salt flats — the silence, the barrenness, the places that feel cracked and pointless — and let this psalm remind you that there are seeds of life lying dormant beneath every one of them. Because He is the water. He is the banner. And He is the only reason the bloom comes.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Life Audio. Hey there, and welcome to another Prayer through
the Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I
am Jamie, and today we get to talk about and
pray through Psalm sixty six zero. And before we do,
as always, let's get started with some prayer. I'm just
definitely feeling a little bit scattered, and life circumstances for
(00:26):
me have changed a little bit. I've actually been starting
training for like a practitioner training that I'm going to
be doing for kind of a career shift, and so
a lot of stuff is going on that has my
brain pretty much like not just swirling, but kind of mush.
So I would love for us to just take some time.
(00:48):
I am certain that you have your own things going on.
This is spring, so this is kind of just a
crazy time for everybody. If you have kids in school,
it's kind of wild because you've got lots of end
of year things happening. Sports are probably shifting and transitioning,
and if you're not, Spring is just kind of a
busy time. We've got, like, you know, a lot more
stuff going on because the weather could be maybe a
(01:09):
little bit better than it has been, and maybe you're
starting to make summer plans. But whatever you're doing today,
whatever is swirling around in your brain, My hope in
my prayer is that we can take this moment and
just regroup and kind of dedicate this time to God.
And I haven't done confession in a long time, so
I'm going to do a little time of confession for
(01:31):
us also because I've been missing that too. Let's pray, Lord, God,
thank you so much. For seasons, things would get kind
of stale and we would probably end up just going
through the motions. If we didn't have seasons to shake
things up, if we didn't have weather changes, or if
(01:52):
we didn't have activity changes and shifts, if our families
never changed, if our kids never got older, if our
friendships weren't fluid, if our church lives didn't shift and
ebb and flow, and our prayer lives do the same.
We just pray that instead of fighting against seasons, you
(02:12):
would help us to really just go with the flow,
that we would be able to ride the wave of
the seasons we're in and do it with grace and
with confidence, knowing that you are in them and that
you are equipping us even as we go. That we
don't have to worry that we won't be able to
(02:34):
handle the things coming up or that we haven't done
well the things that are in front of us, because
we have you, and you can help us course correct,
You can help us assess our schedules, all of the
things that don't seem spiritual, like scheduling and work and
decision making and all of the things that just seem
(02:56):
very practical and methodical. When we invite you in to
those things, when we invite you into our seasons, you
are faithful to guide us and to direct us. And
we just thank you for that, thank you for that relationship.
As we come into your throne room, Lord, as we
come to read your Holy Word and meditate on it,
(03:16):
and as we come to meet with you, we just
pray that you would help us to shed any baggage
we're carrying, and that includes sinful thoughts, words, attitudes, actions
that we've done or held, or are holding or are doing.
And we just pray that at this moment, that just
during this minute or so of silence, that your Holy
(03:39):
Spirit would really search us, that your Holy Spirit would
draw out things that aren't immediately visible to us that
are sinful, and that as we wait and we just
listen for you, that the things that come to mind
easily would just be things that we could write down
(04:00):
and set aside, and that the things that don't come
to mind easily, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would dredge
them up, and like that refining process of silver that
you describe in scripture, that that dross would just precipitate
out and rise to the top so it can be skimmed.
(04:20):
Not for us to wallow in self pity or self
deprecation or hopelessness, but so we could be free, so
we could walk out of here lighter than we came in,
because that is a gift, a gift because of the
blood of Jesus, because of his death and resurrection, we
(04:41):
are able to shed those things and instead take on
a cloak of righteousness. And likewise, you tell us that
all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. I
pray that you would help convict us about things that
we're doing that look good on the surface, but that
aren't coming from a place of service to you, of
(05:04):
love for you, and love for our fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ and brothers and sisters in the world.
Help us to identify the things that are masquerading as good,
because those can be the things that are the hardest
to see. Expose lies of the enemy, expose deception, and
expose the things that are that are evil masquerading as light.
(05:28):
Speak to us, Lord, Thank you Lord for meeting with us,
(06:33):
for gently convicting us of the things that need to
be convicted. We just pray that you would help us
to deal with those things not in a spirit of despair,
but that you would help us to see them as
things that we can walk out of. We just pray
that this time meditating on Psalm sixty would change us,
(06:56):
that it would transform us, That your word would literally
just wash our souls clean, that your word would stick
with us, That your Holy Spirit would do exactly what
Jesus said and just bring to mind the words that
come straight from you throughout our week. That it wouldn't
just be a one time thing that we would ruminate
on these words and these lessons, and that as situations
(07:20):
come up in our lives, that you would just bring
them to mind and help us to learn from them
and just to walk in them in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, well,
(07:43):
let's look at this. This is Psalm sixty and the
title is lament over defeat in battle and prayer for help.
The subtitle is for the choir director, according to Shushan Edith,
and that literally means and so what we've found. If
you've joined us before, you know that, according to blank,
(08:04):
usually means it's like according to the tune of a
different song. So it means according to literally the Lily
of Testimony. So maybe that's a song that was known
and these words were used and overlaid with that melody.
A mik tom of David. We've talked about mick tom before.
A mik tom is either an epigrammatic poem or an
atonement psalm, so we're not sure which it is, but
(08:28):
it is of David, and it says to teach when
he struggled with Aram Nahareim and with aarm Zobah and
joe Ab returned and smoked twelve thousand of edom in
the valley of Salt. So I looked this up because
all of these names are crazy to me. But what
(08:48):
I found is that these places when he struggled Aram
Nahareim literally means Aram of the two rivers, and it
was likely between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and then
aram Zoba is north of Israel, So yeah, so he
struggled with Aram between the Tigers and Euphrates. He struggled
(09:10):
with aram Zoba in the north. And then Joe aberturned
and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt,
which was to the south. So basically, he's not just
fighting a war with one group. It's not just the
Philistines or the whoever's right. He's surrounded and he talks
(09:32):
about this in some of the other psalms, but this
is the first one where it's really like fleshed out
for me. Sometimes he's like in a cave and he's
surrounded by enemies, but this is, you know, kind of
like modern day Israel is literally surrounded on every no
matter where you go, whatever direction you travel, you've got
people that want to kill you. And so you've got
(09:54):
David here, same thing he's got all around. He's got enemies.
They literally surround him. So that is where he's coming from,
and it sounds like he's got some struggles going on
that don't look like they're going so well. And then
Joe averturned and smote twelve thousand of etam in the
Valley of Salt. The Valley of Salt sounds like there's
(10:14):
a victory that happened there, and I think it's really interesting.
I don't know if this is related in any way,
but when I think of the Valley of Salt, so
I actually live near Salt Lake City, so I'm familiar
with salt and barrenness, you know. And we lived in
Las Vegas a few years ago, many years ago, and
we went to Death Valley, which was not too far
(10:36):
from there, and there was literally salt flats. It was barren,
and it was one of the you know, Death Valleys,
like one of the hottest places on the face of
the earth at certain times of the year. And there's
this valley of salt there and it is you can
see it. It looks like snow sometimes because it's kind
(10:56):
of white. But the very cool thing is with this
reminds me of they're having the victory in the Valley
of Salt. One of the years that we lived there,
my neighbor said, you have to come out to Death
Valley with us this weekend. She knew kind of the
area more than I did, and I thought, okay, whatever
we'll go. And we went out and they had like
this one hundred year bloom. It was a desert bloom
(11:18):
because of the rain that had come, because of the
climate that year. I don't know what it was. But
every once in a while you get this incredible, like
robust blooming in the salt flats and you look around
and they're these like I don't know if they're crocuses
or what the flowers are they. I remember these little
purple ones. They're just there everywhere, all these different flowers.
(11:40):
And the crazy thing is, if you were to go
there any time of year other than that, you would
think this was a barren waste land where nothing could grow.
And so this is what I see in this you know,
even this introduction is David is surrounded by enemies and
then he has this victory here in the valley of salt,
(12:02):
and to me it seems like symbolic the valley of
barrenness is where this victory happens. So anyway, we can
all relate right to having situations where it feels like
everything around us is going wrong, and then maybe just
in the midst of that barrenness comes victory from God.
It blooms out, and it doesn't mean that when it
(12:24):
looks barren and it looks like defeat, that there's not
a victory there. In fact, if you were to look
at it like the desert bloom any other time of
the year, you would see barrenness. But in God's season,
in the exact season that he means it to come,
there will be that victory. And it's there those seeds
or bulbs or whatever it is. I don't know. I'm
(12:45):
not a horticulturist, but those seeds and bulbs of stored
up life are existing, dormant, but they're there, and that
is the victory, and it will be exposed in its time,
but it's already there. So let's actually get into the psalm.
Though this is important again, I want to disclaim that
(13:09):
I am not a theologian, so I really hope that
I'm kind of interpreting thing these things correctly with history.
I would love it if you guys ever catch me
with an incorrect don't ever trust what I say, because
I do my best research, but I'm not a theologian
or historian. If I come up with stuff that is
not accurate, I would love you to email me at
(13:31):
pray at Praying Christianwomen dot Com and just let me
know so I can issue a correction because I do
hold God's word very dearly and I don't want to misspeak,
and if I do, I really want to be caught.
That's one of my prayers is that if I ever
say something wrong that might mislead someone, that God would
(13:52):
just allow me to be made right and corrected. So
all right, let's read Chapter sixty Psalm sixty. Oh God,
you have rejected us, you have broken us, you have
been angry. Oh restore us. You have made the landquake,
you have split it open, heal its breeches for it totters.
(14:15):
You have major people experience hardship. You've given us wine
to drink that makes us stagger. You have given us
a banner to those who fear you, that it may
be displayed because of the truth Selah, that your beloved
may be delivered. Save us with your right hand and
answer us. So this is kind of like what David
(14:39):
loves to do. He gives this just heartfelt lament of God.
You have rejected us. We are not seeing victory. You
have literally broken us. You've been angry, You've made us
experience hardship. I mean, he's not just saying we are
experiencing hardship, which is evil on the world. He's saying
you have made that happen and attributing God's hand to
(15:02):
even lowering their senses as if they were drunk, to
make them stagger and not be effective. I'm guessing at warfare.
But in verse four it shifts and he says, you
have given a banner to those who fear you, that
it may be displayed because of the truth. So a
(15:22):
banner in these military terms is usually displayed as like ownership,
like whose you are. When they see the banner or
the flag or whatever it is, it's telling whose army
you're in, what king are you fighting for? And he's saying,
you have given a banner to those who fear you,
(15:44):
So if we fear him, if he fears God, then
he's under God's authority. And it's almost like David is
complaining about being under God's thumb and his lordship when
God does these bad things, And yet he's saying, I
still fear you. I know this stuff is happening, I
(16:05):
know you're on the throne. I'm still waving your banner,
and yet you have given us this banner, that it
may be displayed because of the truth that your beloved
may be delivered. Save with your right hand and answer us.
So it's like almost accepting that if God can bring
this punishment, he can also bring the victory. And I
trust you and I'm here for it. That's how I
(16:28):
read it. And it's not always easy. And I love
that David writes in the midst of his difficulty, because
it's he's claiming that lordship no matter what comes, whether
it's victory or defeat, He's the Lord's Verse six, God
has spoken in his holiness, I will exult, I will
(16:48):
portion out Shechem and measure out the valley of Sucketh.
Gilead is mine, and Vanessa is mine. Ephraim also is
the helmet of my head. Judah is my Moab, is
my washbowl? Over eat them? I shall throw my shoe
shout loud, Oh Philistia, because of me, who will bring
(17:10):
me into the besieged city? This is David talking again.
I think who will lead me to eat them? Have
not you, yourself, oh God, rejected us? And will you
not go forth with our armies? Oh God, Oh give
us help against the adversary for deliverance by man is
in vain. Through God, we shall do valiantly, and it
is he who will tread down our adversaries. So again,
(17:33):
I don't know, it's almost like he's sort of trying
to manipulate God by saying, oh, you know, Lord, have
you you know? Haven't you rejected us? Will you not
go forth with your people and display your greatness. It's
almost like he's kind of trying to use human persuasion
to persuade God to come with him. But again, he
(17:56):
just gives this very kind of permission for us as
humans who live in the confines of time and space
where we're not experiencing that victory at this moment. We're shielded,
we're we're cloaked, we don't have vision to see the
big picture. And so he's expressing his humanity. But at
(18:20):
the same time, deliverance by man is in vain, and
I think what he's saying is, if you have forsaken us,
then we have no hope. I have a lot of armies,
I have a lot of military skill and prowess, and
yet without you I will not do valiantly. It reminds
me of Moses and This is in Exodus thirty three,
(18:43):
when thirty three to three and the Golden Calf incident happened,
where Moses went up onto the mountain to hear from God.
He comes back down and the people are all making
this golden calf and worshiping it because they just they
need something to worship. And basically God tells Moses, I'm
going to still send you to the Promised Land. I'm
not going to go with you. You guys can go on,
you can have the great land that I've prepared for you,
(19:04):
but I'm not going to be there. And Moses basically says,
we don't want the land if you're not coming with us.
Your presence is what makes this people great. It's not
the land. The land is just a bunch of dirt.
And that's kind of what I think of when I
(19:25):
hear David saying this to God, won't you come with
us because we can go and we can do our best.
I mean, in his case, he's saying, you know, God
is not going to If God doesn't go, then there
will be no victory. But he's saying, through God, we
shall do valiantly, and it is he who will tread
(19:48):
down our adversaries. He's like, I don't we don't want
to go if you're not going to be with us.
So what I take away from this whole psalm is,
no matter what, no matter whether our situation right now
feels like we're being surrounded on all sides by enemies,
whether it seems like there's barrenness and lack of victory.
(20:12):
Maybe you feel like God isn't even really hearing you
or speaking back to you. Maybe you're looking for wisdom
or guidance or direction and there's just silence that just
because things seem barren, just think back to that desert
bloom and death valley and think that there are bulbs
and seeds and maybe rhizomes. I don't know, I don't
(20:35):
know what they're called. But there are life giving structures
that are lying dormant under this cracked, salty, dead looking space.
And in God's time it will bloom and it will grow.
And just claim him as your banner, because he's the water.
He's that water that creates the conditions in which you
(21:01):
and your circumstances will flourish to their most perfect degree.
And without him, I believe that barrenness is real. Even
though there's potential. But without God, without that water, without
that infusion of divine, there will be no bloom. So
(21:23):
let's pray. Father, God, you are everything, and regardless of
our circumstances, we can be joyful, we can be hopeful,
we can be confident that there are bulbs and seeds
under the desert, under the salt, under what looks permanently gone.
(21:45):
But when the rains come we will see. In your time,
we will see victory. But right now, even as we
look on salt, crusted desert dirt, we acknowledge you as
our Lord, as our banner. You are good, You are
all powerful, and whatever comes, whatever you have for us,
(22:07):
whether it's earthquake and defeat in the moment, or perceived
defeat or perceived failure, whatever it is, we still call
you Lord. And we wouldn't go into the Promised Land
without you, because you are the reward, not our circumstance.
(22:27):
I just pray for each person now, for the person
right now who feels your silence, and who sees that crusted,
salt dusted dirt that looks pointless and hopeless and bleak
and desolate. I pray for hope. I pray for faith,
I pray for people to surround them that will build
(22:50):
them up, that will pray for them when they don't
have the words. And I do pray that you would
break through God in Jesus name, that you would give
them a glimmer of hope and light, that you would
bring the reins and show them that there is indeed
life in Jesus' name. Amen. We'd like to take just
(23:11):
a quick second to thank the team at Life Audio
for their partnership with us on the podcast. If you
go to lifeaudio dot com, you will find dozens of
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Life Audio. Hey there, and welcome to another Prayer through
the Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I
am Jamie, and today we get to talk about and
pray through Psalm sixty six zero. And before we do,
as always, let's get started with some prayer. I'm just
definitely feeling a little bit scattered, and life circumstances for
(00:26):
me have changed a little bit. I've actually been starting
training for like a practitioner training that I'm going to
be doing for kind of a career shift, and so
a lot of stuff is going on that has my
brain pretty much like not just swirling, but kind of mush.
So I would love for us to just take some time.
(00:48):
I am certain that you have your own things going on.
This is spring, so this is kind of just a
crazy time for everybody. If you have kids in school,
it's kind of wild because you've got lots of end
of year things happening. Sports are probably shifting and transitioning,
and if you're not, Spring is just kind of a
busy time. We've got, like, you know, a lot more
stuff going on because the weather could be maybe a
(01:09):
little bit better than it has been, and maybe you're
starting to make summer plans. But whatever you're doing today,
whatever is swirling around in your brain, My hope in
my prayer is that we can take this moment and
just regroup and kind of dedicate this time to God.
And I haven't done confession in a long time, so
I'm going to do a little time of confession for
(01:31):
us also because I've been missing that too. Let's pray, Lord, God,
thank you so much. For seasons, things would get kind
of stale and we would probably end up just going
through the motions. If we didn't have seasons to shake
things up, if we didn't have weather changes, or if
(01:52):
we didn't have activity changes and shifts, if our families
never changed, if our kids never got older, if our
friendships weren't fluid, if our church lives didn't shift and
ebb and flow, and our prayer lives do the same.
We just pray that instead of fighting against seasons, you
(02:12):
would help us to really just go with the flow,
that we would be able to ride the wave of
the seasons we're in and do it with grace and
with confidence, knowing that you are in them and that
you are equipping us even as we go. That we
don't have to worry that we won't be able to
(02:34):
handle the things coming up or that we haven't done
well the things that are in front of us, because
we have you, and you can help us course correct,
You can help us assess our schedules, all of the
things that don't seem spiritual, like scheduling and work and
decision making and all of the things that just seem
(02:56):
very practical and methodical. When we invite you in to
those things, when we invite you into our seasons, you
are faithful to guide us and to direct us. And
we just thank you for that, thank you for that relationship.
As we come into your throne room, Lord, as we
come to read your Holy Word and meditate on it,
(03:16):
and as we come to meet with you, we just
pray that you would help us to shed any baggage
we're carrying, and that includes sinful thoughts, words, attitudes, actions
that we've done or held, or are holding or are doing.
And we just pray that at this moment, that just
during this minute or so of silence, that your Holy
(03:39):
Spirit would really search us, that your Holy Spirit would
draw out things that aren't immediately visible to us that
are sinful, and that as we wait and we just
listen for you, that the things that come to mind
easily would just be things that we could write down
(04:00):
and set aside, and that the things that don't come
to mind easily, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would dredge
them up, and like that refining process of silver that
you describe in scripture, that that dross would just precipitate
out and rise to the top so it can be skimmed.
(04:20):
Not for us to wallow in self pity or self
deprecation or hopelessness, but so we could be free, so
we could walk out of here lighter than we came in,
because that is a gift, a gift because of the
blood of Jesus, because of his death and resurrection, we
(04:41):
are able to shed those things and instead take on
a cloak of righteousness. And likewise, you tell us that
all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. I
pray that you would help convict us about things that
we're doing that look good on the surface, but that
aren't coming from a place of service to you, of
(05:04):
love for you, and love for our fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ and brothers and sisters in the world.
Help us to identify the things that are masquerading as good,
because those can be the things that are the hardest
to see. Expose lies of the enemy, expose deception, and
expose the things that are that are evil masquerading as light.
(05:28):
Speak to us, Lord, Thank you Lord for meeting with us,
(06:33):
for gently convicting us of the things that need to
be convicted. We just pray that you would help us
to deal with those things not in a spirit of despair,
but that you would help us to see them as
things that we can walk out of. We just pray
that this time meditating on Psalm sixty would change us,
(06:56):
that it would transform us, That your word would literally
just wash our souls clean, that your word would stick
with us, That your Holy Spirit would do exactly what
Jesus said and just bring to mind the words that
come straight from you throughout our week. That it wouldn't
just be a one time thing that we would ruminate
on these words and these lessons, and that as situations
(07:20):
come up in our lives, that you would just bring
them to mind and help us to learn from them
and just to walk in them in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, well,
(07:43):
let's look at this. This is Psalm sixty and the
title is lament over defeat in battle and prayer for help.
The subtitle is for the choir director, according to Shushan Edith,
and that literally means and so what we've found. If
you've joined us before, you know that, according to blank,
(08:04):
usually means it's like according to the tune of a
different song. So it means according to literally the Lily
of Testimony. So maybe that's a song that was known
and these words were used and overlaid with that melody.
A mik tom of David. We've talked about mick tom before.
A mik tom is either an epigrammatic poem or an
atonement psalm, so we're not sure which it is, but
(08:28):
it is of David, and it says to teach when
he struggled with Aram Nahareim and with aarm Zobah and
joe Ab returned and smoked twelve thousand of edom in
the valley of Salt. So I looked this up because
all of these names are crazy to me. But what
(08:48):
I found is that these places when he struggled Aram
Nahareim literally means Aram of the two rivers, and it
was likely between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and then
aram Zoba is north of Israel, So yeah, so he
struggled with Aram between the Tigers and Euphrates. He struggled
(09:10):
with aram Zoba in the north. And then Joe aberturned
and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt,
which was to the south. So basically, he's not just
fighting a war with one group. It's not just the
Philistines or the whoever's right. He's surrounded and he talks
(09:32):
about this in some of the other psalms, but this
is the first one where it's really like fleshed out
for me. Sometimes he's like in a cave and he's
surrounded by enemies, but this is, you know, kind of
like modern day Israel is literally surrounded on every no
matter where you go, whatever direction you travel, you've got
people that want to kill you. And so you've got
(09:54):
David here, same thing he's got all around. He's got enemies.
They literally surround him. So that is where he's coming from,
and it sounds like he's got some struggles going on
that don't look like they're going so well. And then
Joe averturned and smote twelve thousand of etam in the
Valley of Salt. The Valley of Salt sounds like there's
(10:14):
a victory that happened there, and I think it's really interesting.
I don't know if this is related in any way,
but when I think of the Valley of Salt, so
I actually live near Salt Lake City, so I'm familiar
with salt and barrenness, you know. And we lived in
Las Vegas a few years ago, many years ago, and
we went to Death Valley, which was not too far
(10:36):
from there, and there was literally salt flats. It was barren,
and it was one of the you know, Death Valleys,
like one of the hottest places on the face of
the earth at certain times of the year. And there's
this valley of salt there and it is you can
see it. It looks like snow sometimes because it's kind
(10:56):
of white. But the very cool thing is with this
reminds me of they're having the victory in the Valley
of Salt. One of the years that we lived there,
my neighbor said, you have to come out to Death
Valley with us this weekend. She knew kind of the
area more than I did, and I thought, okay, whatever
we'll go. And we went out and they had like
this one hundred year bloom. It was a desert bloom
(11:18):
because of the rain that had come, because of the
climate that year. I don't know what it was. But
every once in a while you get this incredible, like
robust blooming in the salt flats and you look around
and they're these like I don't know if they're crocuses
or what the flowers are they. I remember these little
purple ones. They're just there everywhere, all these different flowers.
(11:40):
And the crazy thing is, if you were to go
there any time of year other than that, you would
think this was a barren waste land where nothing could grow.
And so this is what I see in this you know,
even this introduction is David is surrounded by enemies and
then he has this victory here in the valley of salt,
(12:02):
and to me it seems like symbolic the valley of
barrenness is where this victory happens. So anyway, we can
all relate right to having situations where it feels like
everything around us is going wrong, and then maybe just
in the midst of that barrenness comes victory from God.
It blooms out, and it doesn't mean that when it
(12:24):
looks barren and it looks like defeat, that there's not
a victory there. In fact, if you were to look
at it like the desert bloom any other time of
the year, you would see barrenness. But in God's season,
in the exact season that he means it to come,
there will be that victory. And it's there those seeds
or bulbs or whatever it is. I don't know. I'm
(12:45):
not a horticulturist, but those seeds and bulbs of stored
up life are existing, dormant, but they're there, and that
is the victory, and it will be exposed in its time,
but it's already there. So let's actually get into the psalm.
Though this is important again, I want to disclaim that
(13:09):
I am not a theologian, so I really hope that
I'm kind of interpreting thing these things correctly with history.
I would love it if you guys ever catch me
with an incorrect don't ever trust what I say, because
I do my best research, but I'm not a theologian
or historian. If I come up with stuff that is
not accurate, I would love you to email me at
(13:31):
pray at Praying Christianwomen dot Com and just let me
know so I can issue a correction because I do
hold God's word very dearly and I don't want to misspeak,
and if I do, I really want to be caught.
That's one of my prayers is that if I ever
say something wrong that might mislead someone, that God would
(13:52):
just allow me to be made right and corrected. So
all right, let's read Chapter sixty Psalm sixty. Oh God,
you have rejected us, you have broken us, you have
been angry. Oh restore us. You have made the landquake,
you have split it open, heal its breeches for it totters.
(14:15):
You have major people experience hardship. You've given us wine
to drink that makes us stagger. You have given us
a banner to those who fear you, that it may
be displayed because of the truth Selah, that your beloved
may be delivered. Save us with your right hand and
answer us. So this is kind of like what David
(14:39):
loves to do. He gives this just heartfelt lament of God.
You have rejected us. We are not seeing victory. You
have literally broken us. You've been angry, You've made us
experience hardship. I mean, he's not just saying we are
experiencing hardship, which is evil on the world. He's saying
you have made that happen and attributing God's hand to
(15:02):
even lowering their senses as if they were drunk, to
make them stagger and not be effective. I'm guessing at warfare.
But in verse four it shifts and he says, you
have given a banner to those who fear you, that
it may be displayed because of the truth. So a
(15:22):
banner in these military terms is usually displayed as like ownership,
like whose you are. When they see the banner or
the flag or whatever it is, it's telling whose army
you're in, what king are you fighting for? And he's saying,
you have given a banner to those who fear you,
(15:44):
So if we fear him, if he fears God, then
he's under God's authority. And it's almost like David is
complaining about being under God's thumb and his lordship when
God does these bad things, And yet he's saying, I
still fear you. I know this stuff is happening, I
(16:05):
know you're on the throne. I'm still waving your banner,
and yet you have given us this banner, that it
may be displayed because of the truth that your beloved
may be delivered. Save with your right hand and answer us.
So it's like almost accepting that if God can bring
this punishment, he can also bring the victory. And I
trust you and I'm here for it. That's how I
(16:28):
read it. And it's not always easy. And I love
that David writes in the midst of his difficulty, because
it's he's claiming that lordship no matter what comes, whether
it's victory or defeat, He's the Lord's Verse six, God
has spoken in his holiness, I will exult, I will
(16:48):
portion out Shechem and measure out the valley of Sucketh.
Gilead is mine, and Vanessa is mine. Ephraim also is
the helmet of my head. Judah is my Moab, is
my washbowl? Over eat them? I shall throw my shoe
shout loud, Oh Philistia, because of me, who will bring
(17:10):
me into the besieged city? This is David talking again.
I think who will lead me to eat them? Have
not you, yourself, oh God, rejected us? And will you
not go forth with our armies? Oh God, Oh give
us help against the adversary for deliverance by man is
in vain. Through God, we shall do valiantly, and it
is he who will tread down our adversaries. So again,
(17:33):
I don't know, it's almost like he's sort of trying
to manipulate God by saying, oh, you know, Lord, have
you you know? Haven't you rejected us? Will you not
go forth with your people and display your greatness. It's
almost like he's kind of trying to use human persuasion
to persuade God to come with him. But again, he
(17:56):
just gives this very kind of permission for us as
humans who live in the confines of time and space
where we're not experiencing that victory at this moment. We're shielded,
we're we're cloaked, we don't have vision to see the
big picture. And so he's expressing his humanity. But at
(18:20):
the same time, deliverance by man is in vain, and
I think what he's saying is, if you have forsaken us,
then we have no hope. I have a lot of armies,
I have a lot of military skill and prowess, and
yet without you I will not do valiantly. It reminds
me of Moses and This is in Exodus thirty three,
(18:43):
when thirty three to three and the Golden Calf incident happened,
where Moses went up onto the mountain to hear from God.
He comes back down and the people are all making
this golden calf and worshiping it because they just they
need something to worship. And basically God tells Moses, I'm
going to still send you to the Promised Land. I'm
not going to go with you. You guys can go on,
you can have the great land that I've prepared for you,
(19:04):
but I'm not going to be there. And Moses basically says,
we don't want the land if you're not coming with us.
Your presence is what makes this people great. It's not
the land. The land is just a bunch of dirt.
And that's kind of what I think of when I
(19:25):
hear David saying this to God, won't you come with
us because we can go and we can do our best.
I mean, in his case, he's saying, you know, God
is not going to If God doesn't go, then there
will be no victory. But he's saying, through God, we
shall do valiantly, and it is he who will tread
(19:48):
down our adversaries. He's like, I don't we don't want
to go if you're not going to be with us.
So what I take away from this whole psalm is,
no matter what, no matter whether our situation right now
feels like we're being surrounded on all sides by enemies,
whether it seems like there's barrenness and lack of victory.
(20:12):
Maybe you feel like God isn't even really hearing you
or speaking back to you. Maybe you're looking for wisdom
or guidance or direction and there's just silence that just
because things seem barren, just think back to that desert
bloom and death valley and think that there are bulbs
and seeds and maybe rhizomes. I don't know, I don't
(20:35):
know what they're called. But there are life giving structures
that are lying dormant under this cracked, salty, dead looking space.
And in God's time it will bloom and it will grow.
And just claim him as your banner, because he's the water.
He's that water that creates the conditions in which you
(21:01):
and your circumstances will flourish to their most perfect degree.
And without him, I believe that barrenness is real. Even
though there's potential. But without God, without that water, without
that infusion of divine, there will be no bloom. So
(21:23):
let's pray. Father, God, you are everything, and regardless of
our circumstances, we can be joyful, we can be hopeful,
we can be confident that there are bulbs and seeds
under the desert, under the salt, under what looks permanently gone.
(21:45):
But when the rains come we will see. In your time,
we will see victory. But right now, even as we
look on salt, crusted desert dirt, we acknowledge you as
our Lord, as our banner. You are good, You are
all powerful, and whatever comes, whatever you have for us,
(22:07):
whether it's earthquake and defeat in the moment, or perceived
defeat or perceived failure, whatever it is, we still call
you Lord. And we wouldn't go into the Promised Land
without you, because you are the reward, not our circumstance.
(22:27):
I just pray for each person now, for the person
right now who feels your silence, and who sees that crusted,
salt dusted dirt that looks pointless and hopeless and bleak
and desolate. I pray for hope. I pray for faith,
I pray for people to surround them that will build
(22:50):
them up, that will pray for them when they don't
have the words. And I do pray that you would
break through God in Jesus name, that you would give
them a glimmer of hope and light, that you would
bring the reins and show them that there is indeed
life in Jesus' name. Amen. We'd like to take just
(23:11):
a quick second to thank the team at Life Audio
for their partnership with us on the podcast. If you
go to lifeaudio dot com, you will find dozens of
other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's
life audio dot com.
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