Psalm 28

of David

⁰¹          To You I call, O Lord my Rock;

do not turn a deaf ear to me,

for if You remain silent,

                        I will be like those who go down to the pit.

⁰²             Hear my pleas for mercy,

when I cry to You for help,

            when I lift up my hands in prayer

                        towards Your Holy of Holies.

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Hear My Voice

For the Lord’s Day:  the 5^th of June 2005

 

Introduction:  Our psalm for today may be divided into three parts.  Verse one and two begin with a plea to the Lord to hear David’s cry for help.  Then in verses three to five, David begs the Lord not to punish him, but his enemies instead.  The psalm closes in thankful adoration for the Lord’s hearing and answering his prayer.

 

While it is difficult to determine with any accuracy when this psalm was written, Delitzsch argues that this Twenty-eighth Psalm be considered with the two previous psalms as belonging to the time of persecution when Absalom claimed the throne and drove David temporarily out of the city.  If this supposition be accurate, David can perhaps here be seen drawing nearer to the city in some triumph and expectation of restoration by the end of the psalm.

 

However, in the opening verses, David is still waiting for the Lord’s ear to give his heartfelt plea.  And yet, there still remains throughout the verses - the confidence of many years spent in prayer.

 

In the opening lines, God is the Rock upon which David bases his life and fortune.  “To You I call, O Lord my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me,”  Calvin reminds us that the psalmist relies upon the help of God alone, and thereby David “shows both his faith and his sincerity.”

 

But, even as David realizes, God is God and He answers prayer and delivers His saints according to the overriding providential plan of history, wherein His greater glory is being worked out.  Think of that statement this way, God will work when and as it pleases Him, but – whenever He deigns to act, it is not only for the benefit of the saints, but also to advance the cause of Christ.  All of the saints may pray for that purpose being carried out, both on earth and in heaven.

 

Still, as God’s active agent: David petitions the God of glory to sustain him in this time of trial and according to God’s purpose to work out the details of life that are beyond David’s immediate control.  Farmers, and all of those who work close to the land know better than those insulated by air-conditioning and office hours that seed time and harvest are not the certain things which so many in our day and age have come to expect.

 

Even government and corporate promises are not absolutely certain.  I have an acquaintance in the airline industry who must retire this fall from flying whether he wants to or not.  And just as that event comes to the immediate horizon, the liquidity of his corporate retirement program is in grave condition!  He may very well have to take a “retirement” job to maintain his house and life style.

 

The old saying that nothing in this life is certain except death and taxes is more accurate then all too many suppose.  But, David, like many saints down through the years knows and understands that the only constant and dependable power in the whole universe is the Lord God who created it all.  And David pleads for the kind and loving care from God which he has experienced in the path.  “Do not turn a deaf ear to me,” David pleads even as he expects an answer.

 

Development:  In this psalm, there are several petions, praises and assurances.  The first petition is in the second line of verse one. David begins with an observation of what hell must be like:  “For if You remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.”  Well have the people of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries learned that if there is not God, life has no meaning and without meaning – it doesn’t matter how one lives and acts.  But, like David – we are the more fortunate – God is here, there and everywhere. And as Francis Schaeffer observes:  “He is not silent.”

 

This fact is what sets the evangelical church apart from the rest of the world – we are blessed with the knowledge that God has spoken in history, and that His words are recorded for out benefit in the scriptures.  And it is this knowledge that makes all the difference in the world.  And so David prays that the Lord will remain not silent – otherwise, like the worldly he would be lost forever in a hellish world where there would never be any kindness, justice or even love for that matter!

 

A second petition is listed in verse two:  “Hear my pleas for mercy, when I cry to You for help.”  If, as Delitzsch supposes, this psalm is written in the time of Absalom, or as Calvin thinks while Saul was still alive, much prayer would certainly be in order.  In neither case would David have been willing to personally spill the blood of his adversary – a compunction that would not have limited the intentions and activities of either adversary.

 

Thus, David is on the horns of a dilemma, given the Machiavellian desires of both Saul and Absalom – deliverance in David’s mind must come from the direct hand of the Lord God of heaven and earth.  I am reminded of discussions over the years when many of us were subject to not only misgovernment but also maladministration at both the national and career level.  Knowing my attitude I was often asked about effective resistance to such problematic individuals.  I always answered that even if Humpty Dumpty was tottering on top of the wall, the last thing we all wanted to be involved in was pushing him over the edge.  That falling must happen within the providence of a sovereign God.

 

On one occasion, several people got involved in undermining the authority and position of an unpopular superintendent.  I stayed out of the way and just as I had supposed – they were found out and dismissed.  It was a particular blessing to me that I treasured the psalms so fondly during those troubled times.  On another occasion, the whole English department was worked up in a tizzy about some new administrivia that would lessen our ability to teach effectively.  A petition was presented to me for the final signature, which was at the top of the list.  I left it blank and informed the ladies that they were not going to hide behind my Tartan Kilt!  And so, my signature line was totally blank when the petition was presented.

 

Each and every other member of the English Department was called in for an individual conference where they were harangued and threatened to mind their manners and do as they were told.  I was called in and thanked for not participating.  Since I was then asked what I thought of the petition and process I casually observed that I agreed with everything that had been written, but I didn’t think there was any chance of being honestly heard – so I had chosen not to waste my time.  I then walked out of the meeting and returned to work.

 

It is probably a minor miracle that I was able to survive twenty-five years in public education and I must credit the Psalms of David for getting me through the whole sad experience.

 

Application:  Thankfully, I was able to retire and turn my attention more to the Lord’s ongoing work in our day and age.  Like David in exile, I knew there was a better country and kingdom than that of the world.  And so we close our meditation on these first two verses with the focus of the last couplet of two lines at the end of verse two:  “When I lift up my hands in prayer towards Your Holy of Holies.”

 

Calvin notes that the sanctuary here “was the pledge or token of the covenant of God, [where] David beheld the presence of God’s promised grace.”  The Holy of Holies, while invisible to the common Israelite, was till a known economy, rich and pregnant with symbolism and meaning.  In years past, and when I was younger, the sanctuary of the church where I grew up was a special place for prayer and worship.  Now, for the many years that I have spent in the PCA, we have yet to build a sanctuary like so many older churches have.  Yes, I know that we must worship God in spirit and in truth, even as David must have realized.

 

But, there is a certain homeliness in the stability of a special built church that escapes so many newer and younger churches.  Whenever Sherry and I have traveled over the years, the third day out is always a nervous time for me because, all the familiar rooms, furniture and accommodations are so far away.  I guess I am a regular home body – uncomfortable with a pilgrim life.  It is this regular contentment of place and home that I sense in these verses here.  We should not suppose that like the Muslim affection for Mecca – that David is praying direct towards the tabernacle.  But rather, he remains focused on the throne room of God, to that better place where God dwells.  Where He, like in John’s vision, rules the heavens and the earth.

 

Certainly, we realize that many of the worldly churches have so polluted their sanctuaries with heresy that there remains no word of God to be heard from their pulpits.  And in this context, the old King James Version speaks eloquently:  “I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.”  The note in my uncle’s old copy reads “or ‘the oracle of thy sanctuary.’”

 

Thus, we like David may rest content in hearing the word of God as spoken in and during the divine worship services rather than an affectation for the mortal tabernacle or buildings to which we have become accustomed.  If David is on the lame as we suppose in this and other psalms, we should understand that thereby he cannot attend to the word as it was given in and during regular hours of worship.  Pity the poor worldling who has no such affection and love for the word of God.  David has heard it, he understands it and he desires to hear it ever and anew.  So, let this be our final thought, even as David prays to God on a much more regular basis than we do in our busy lives, he knows where to hear God speak – in the midst of worship.  And it is there that he, like all of us may be comforted in the midst of troubles and trials.  At the very least – we are more fortunate than David, there is no real reason why we cannot worship on a regular basis and so realize the fondest desires of David’s loneliness as he expresses it in this eloquent psalm.  May we hear the word and by that word be transformed according to the graces of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

 

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

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