Our theme this morning comes from verse four and is the New American Standard translation:

"Thou hast given a banner to those who fear Thee,
That it may be displayed because of the truth."

Spurgeon comments on this war psalm and the incongruous title of the tune "Lily of the Testimony" and then shares an illustration of the French Huguenots in battle during the Reformation:

"Now by the lips of those ye love, fair gentlemen of France,
Charge for the golden lillies now, upon them , with the lance."

Then of course, there were the War of the Roses in England and the Chrysanthemum warrior throne in the Orient. But these are minor details. Of more import is the thankful character of this psalm given to God for military victories in a time of national conflict.

Spurgeon divides this psalm into three portions. The complaint in three verses, then the celebration in verses four to eight, and the prayerful closing in verse nine through twelve. Of course, such military themes are no longer appreciated in many places, thus this psalm is often ignored in our day and time.

A short decade ago, when Operation Desert Shield was in the process of becoming "Desert Storm" I called two bulletins to our worship team. An undated bulletin was made up for whenever the fighting broke out and the regular series that we were going through at the time. We did not have long to wait, and my war message was well received by several of the military people on our mailing list. Sadly, warfare is a continuing fact of life and too often we have to take up arms to defend our principles, our nation state or the weak and innocent. A few months ago I found out something very interesting and have shared it once already, so bear with me. During the American War for Independence, fifty per cent of the soldiers in the Continental Army were Presbyterians and all of the regimental commanders but one, were Presbyterian elders. In the American Civil War, the Presbyterian and orthodox churches in the north were terribly weakened when so many fine patriotic young men ran off to join the colors to free the slaves. Sadly too many of them never came home again.

In our time, the battle images are not always military. Cold wars being more in the vogue than hot ones, thankfully. However, this week there was a major sit back for evangelical Christians in that the Supreme Court, just like the Court that established the Dred Scott decision, chose to reaffirm that not all humans are equal. Partial birth abortion has been upheld by a five/four split and any attempts to stop the outright murder of the helpless infants have been set back many years. Fortissimo million American innocents have been slaughtered and the liberals and feminists have outhitlered the Nazi death camps at least fourfold. So in that sense we can certainly sympathize with David in the complaint of the first three verses.

"You have made us drink the wine of confusion", David complains. All of those who have labored for the last one hundred and fifty years to remake this country without consideration for the God of heaven, have made grievous progress. While the last seven years have been a pitiful moral swamp, it took a long time to get to this debasement. And while the evolutionists have yet to prove their theory, we can certainly agree that there does seem to be significant evidence for moral devolution! The most important lesson that we as Christians should learn from the mindset of our country is that we cannot turn things around by our own efforts and will. Just like General George Washington and even the humanist Ben Franklin both admitted, the hand of God is Sovereign in the unfolding of History. Just as He allowed Ahab and Jezebel to rule in Israel, so has He allowed the first couple to reign together in our time. That alone should be evidence enough that America has been abandoned by the Almighty - and the reason? We began abandoning Him no sooner than the ink was dry on the founding documents.

David, the king, we know had is moral ups and downs. Because of Uriah's murder and the military census, troubles came upon Israel. Yet, His sovereign hand guided David's kingship throughout the decades. And in this psalm, David comes before his God once again to plead the case of Israel. In the confusion of the time, he earnestly prays for a restoration of God's love and care for the nation close to His heart.

In portion two, the psalm turns to celebration for the dramatic turn around in Israel's fortunes. Our theme verse is at the beginning of this section. And as I think of the flag that I once served, just like the banner of David, that of the Huguenots and other Battle flags that have been unflured for a righteous cause in the midst of a just war, there is a beauty here that the French have called "La Gloria". It is a sublime concept that celebrates the manly spirit of so many soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines being willing to lay down their lives for an honest and noble cause

Years ago, while I was in Europe with the American Army, I was standing on the rocks of The Great Orhm's Head at Llandudno, in Wales. I was on a ten day leave, it was early morning. The manager of the Hotel had promised me that sunrise from the Head was unbelievable. He was right! As the sun came up, there were the stars still overhead in the bluing west and streaks of light in the east mixed with the low hanging clouds, alternately pink and ivory. I still have a color slide that looks like the first dawn of creation.

A little over two hundred years ago, it was the dawn of a new era in the history of man. Representatives of These United Colonies had gathered to consider the demands of living in liberty. They came to the conclusion that they must rise up against their tyrannical King and proclaim liberty throughout our land and to all of the inhabitants thereof! Within a year, an artist was commissioned to design a suitable banner for the new Republic! This banner was described by Henry Ward Beecher in 1861:

"As at the early dawn the stars shine forth even while it grows light, and then, as the sun advances, that light breaks into banks and streaming lines of color, the glowing red and intense white striving together and ribbing the horizon with bars effulgent. So on the American flag, stars and beams of many-colored light shine out together. And where this flag comes, and men behold it, they see in its sacred emblazonry no ramping lions and no fierce eagle, no embattled castles or insignia of imperial authority: they see symbols of light. It is the banner of dawn. It means Liberty; and the galley slave, the poor oppressed conscript, the downtrodden creature of foreign despotism, sees in the American flag that very promise and prediction of God: 'The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up"."

"Thou hast given a banner to those who fear Thee,
That it may be displayed because of the truth."

Yes, I know, the flag is but a sewn collection of varicolored cloth, nothing more. Yet, just as David raised his banner to the Lord in honesty and in truth, so have generations of patriotic Americans celebrated the uniqueness of this Nation once under God. Just as the force of David's arms were granted victory after victory, so have celebrated a long history of success. Of course, like David, we and our nation are imperfect, and also like David - we are coming under judgment because truth is no longer in the national equation! For the listed triumphs of David, we could of course add battle after battle, those details at one time were carefully sewn onto the battle flags of regiments. Now, the military carry campaign ribbons on the staff of regimental and divisional colors.

However, we dare not rest on the laurels of past successes but learn once again to commit our nationhood to our Father God and to pray earnestly for the restoration of His presence, His Spirit and His leading. David knew well that lesson, look at the last four verses of our psalm:

"Who will bring me to the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God who did not go out with our armies?
Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tred down our enemies."

May the Lord our God, once again come to our aid. May we confess that we cannot run this nation without His true and just laws. May we confess that our strength is insufficient to win the moral battles of our day and place. May we earnestly pray for a renewed presence of His Spirit in our lives and in our nation once again. Amen.