Justin Tucker, LHBC Worship Pastor

Psalm 56
Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. When I am afraid I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Yes I will, lift You high in the lowest valley
Yes I will, bless Your name
Oh, yes I will, sing for joy when my heart is heavy
All my days, oh yes I will

David was known as many different things. He was a shepherd boy, a warrior, a king but most importantly he was a worshipper. He was known as a man after God’s heart. It seems like no matter what situation he found himself in, either good or bad, he was never too far away from his harp. This particular Psalm was birthed out of a situation that David found himself in in 1 Samuel chapter 21. David is on the run from Saul and finds himself actually fleeing to the Philistine city-state of Gath. Do you remember Goliath? Well he was the giant that David killed with his slingshot and ended an entire war.  Goliath  was from Gath. You can only imagine how welcome David was there. To keep from being captured, David pretended to be crazy and wound up leaving Gath and hiding in caves while amassing a following of nearly 400 men. 

Here we find David on the run and alone and even in the midst of a major low point in his life, he chooses to praise God. Let’s look at the first four verses of this passage…1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; 2 my enemies trample on me all day long for many attack me proudly. 3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?…when I am under attack, when I am afraid, I choose to trust You. He goes on in verses 8-11 and repeats it again. 8 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call.  This I know, that God is for me.10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise,11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?  

It’s easy to praise God when things are going well. It’s easy to thank Him when we are living the blessed life. It’s easy to trust Him when things are going our way. Here is David though…alone, under attack, living amongst his enemies and He praises God in the valleys of life the same way he does on the mountaintops. Our worship of God cannot and must not be reliant on our circumstances in life. God is good whether we are on the mountain or the mountain is in our way. Authentic worship has to be a faith born response to who God is. We see this played out in David’s life here. He is praising God for a deliverance that hasn’t even happened yet.

Are you on a mountaintop today? What mountains are in your way today? What has you held captive? What do you feel like is attacking you? Does your worship or prayer life look the same no matter what your situation is? We can all learn from David today and choose to worship on both the mountains and the valleys of life.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Father, grow me in my worship. Teach me to be authentic in my worship. Teach me to worship you based on who You are and not how I feel in a situation or moment. Teach me to be confident in my faith and be able to thank you and praise you for the things that you haven’t even done yet. Teach me to trust your goodness and your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name, amen.

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Psalm 130:5- I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope.