Psalms for Turbulent Times - Part 4
PSALM 60
by Pastor Jim Jester
January 10, 2021
Scripture Reading: Psalm 25:8-22
8 “Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. 9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. 10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. 11 For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
12 What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. 13 His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. 14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. 15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses. 18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins. 19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. 20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. 21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee. 22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.”
Introduction
What a week it has been – unprecedented in American history.
As the world looks to Capitol Hill following unprecedented events, multiple Republican lawmakers are asking their fellow Americans to stay calm and wait for evidence of what happened before jumping to conclusions. Representative Mo Brooks is among a number of members of Congress who allege ‘fascist Antifa’ is responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol. The Alabama Republican took to Twitter on Thursday to warn the public to refrain from being like the “fake news media.” He also presented his evidence.
From Twitter, January 7th
Mo Brooks
@RepMoBrooks
Please, don’t be like #FakeNewsMedia, don’t rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics. Evidence follows:
1. A Congressman warned me on MONDAY of a growing ANTIFA threat & advised that I sleep in my office rather than leaving Capitol complex & sleeping in my condo. I heeded that advice & have slept on office floor for 4 straight nights.
2. Congressman told me he was warned on TUESDAY by Capitol Police officer that intelligence suggested fascist ANTIFA was going to try to infiltrate the Trump rally by dressing like Trump supporters.
3. Capitol Police advised TUESDAY that it best not to leave Capitol complex.
Points Indicating the Siege at the Capitol Was Staged by Democrats:
- The disruption discredited a legitimate pro-Trump protest.
- The Dems could easily blame Trump in their non-stop war on him.
- Trump supporters are called “terrorists” just as Bill Clinton called patriots “terrorists” back in the 90’s.
- NPR caught publishing the capitol “siege” story hours before it took place (Echoes of 9/11 media staging).
- DC Police escorts a busload of Antifa personnel to the site.
- Capitol security was light making it easy for Antifa to get through.
- Additional security was called but it arrived late (Did the mayor delay it?).
- Antifa infiltrates the protest and takes a leadership role in occupying the Capitol building.
- Congress people had elaborate speeches condemning the protest (Were they pre-written?). After the speeches, the vote count continued, with many changing their minds about objecting.
- The planned siege prevented the public from hearing the nature of the Objections.
What better opportunity for the Left to insure their fraudulent Electoral College vote count? They benefit at every angle. Democrats fear the exposure of their crimes, and this event accomplished that purpose.
What’s next? It is hard to say. There’s not many options left. On Jan 8th Michael Adams reports that Trump is fighting from a secure location, and did not concede; but only used language that sounded like he did. Remember Trump used the word “wild” during the protest, but maybe he had something else in mind.
Continuing from the last sermon where we covered the possibility of President Trump using emergency powers to save the nation, we will cover just a pinch of that history via the following newspaper Ad.
Akron, OH: Today [early December], Tom Zawistowski, President of the TEA Party affiliated We the People Convention (WTPC) and Executive Director of the Portage County TEA Party, published a full page ad in the Washington Times newspaper demanding that President Trump Invoke limited Martial law in order to allow the U.S. Military to oversee a new free and fair federal election if Legislators, Courts and the Congress do not follow the Constitution.
Here is the full text of the Ad:
Exercising Extraordinary Authority in Defense of Our Vote May be Required because Martial Law is better than Civil War!
In the months following the start of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln struggled to preserve the Union. Many objected to Lincoln’s extraordinary use of Presidential authority, in particular his suspension of the right of “Habeas Corpus”. On June 12, 1863, Lincoln defended his extreme measures in a letter published in the New York Times. Citing Article I of the Constitution he argued: “Ours is a case of rebellion…in fact, a clear, flagrant, and gigantic case of rebellion; and the provision of the Constitution that ‘the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it’, is the provision which specifically applies to our present case.” Lincoln used the same reasoning in justifying a series of extraordinary Presidential Orders:
- Lincoln ordered hundreds of Northern newspapers that spoke against him to be shut down and their owners/editors arrested.
- Lincoln ordered the arrest of Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham for the crime of speaking out against him.
- Chief Justice of the US Roger Taney ruled that Lincoln had violated the US Constitution when he illegally suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus. After hearing this, Lincoln signed an arrest warrant to have the Chief Justice of the U.S. arrested [My comment: The Marshal never arrested Taney. Taney knew that the South had no intention of overthrowing the US government].
- Lincoln ordered the arrest of thousands in Maryland for the crime of “suspected Southern sympathies” including ordering the arrest of Congressman Henry May from Maryland. They were arrested and held in military prisons, without trial, some of them for years.
While some debate these measures still today, no one disagrees that Lincoln and his use of Presidential power were responsible for saving the Republic. While History, and even former President Obama, has judged Lincoln as perhaps our greatest President, few would have agreed at the time he took those actions. Then, as now, a President with courage and determination was needed to preserve the Union. Today, the current threat to our United States by the international and domestic socialist/communist left is much more serious than anything Lincoln or our nation has faced in its history – including the civil war.
We have well-funded, armed and trained Marxists in ANTIFA and BLM strategically positioned in our major cities acting openly with violence to silence opposition to their anti-American agenda: Attacking federal buildings and police, cowardly punching innocent people in the back of the head, assaulting people just eating in restaurants, and burning minority-owned businesses to the ground. All with elected officials in Democrat/Socialist-controlled cities openly encouraging this planned violence against civilians and businesses. Then, to advance their cause, these socialists are acting to “Defund the Police,” creating chaos and suspending the rule of law that protects millions of average, and particularly minority, Americans. The results being massive increases in violent crime and deaths in our cities and the destruction of small businesses orchestrated by those politicians and leftist groups, many funded by domestic and international communists. We are literally under attack from within!
Then there are admitted Democrat/Socialist federal officials plotting to finish gutting the US Constitution after 100 years of trying. They promise to take away critical individual rights like free speech, religious freedom and the 2nd Amendment; destroy states rights by eliminating the electoral college and more; pack the Supreme Court with activist anti-constitutionalist judges who will make law from the bench; give the right to vote to tens of millions of non-Americans; and open our borders to more illegals which will reduce wages. No one voted for these things that were hidden from the majority of Americans by the corrupt media. But not only that, we have a new and more sinister form of media in Big Tech, actively censoring free speech and promoting leftist propaganda to blind our citizens to their real goals and the real consequences of their actions – the end of America as we have known it.
The Socialist Left has been openly working to destroy the United States since Obama promised and tried to “transform” America in 2008-16, and having been stopped by the will of the American people, they openly staged a four year long coup attempt to remove the duly elected President. Culminating in this corrupt and provably fraudulent current election planned to illegally and un-constitutionally deny the American people their most sacred honor, right and privilege – which is the right to elect their Representatives! How can we have a Representative Republic if we cannot hold fair elections to elect them? There is no doubt that this attempted stealing of these elections again “is a case of rebellion…in fact, a clear, flagrant, and gigantic case of rebellion” that requires exercising extraordinary authority to preserve our Union.
President Trump, you and every other official in our local, state and federal governments and everyone in law enforcement and in our military have sworn an oath that says, “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It is time for everyone who swore that oath to act upon it. The enemies are within our gates and our Constitution and Nation are in real risk of being lost to this socialist/communist invasion unless you act decisively.
At least half of all Americans do not and will not accept this fraudulent election because of the eyewitness testimony, and the material, statistical and mathematical evidence of OVERWHELMING fraud. The other half will not accept the outcome if the courts see the evidence of fraud and rightfully overturn the election! The Left has literally been planning riots just for that occasion for months. We the People must not and WILL NOT cede our exclusive Constitutional right to elect our Representatives to judges, lawyers, courts, Governors, Secretary’s of State, Congress, corrupt election officials and local politicians, the corrupt media – or Leftist threats of violence! It is OUR EXCLUSIVE RIGHT to decide our Representatives not theirs! Therefore, We the People MUST demand a NEW and fair national vote, a vote that all Americans can trust and live by regardless of the winner! Without a fair vote, we fear, with good reason, the threat of a shooting civil war is imminent. Gun sales are at an all time high and 40% are first time gun owners looking to defend themselves, their property, and their rights. Therefore, Mr. President you must act now before there is no peaceful way left to preserve our Union.
When the legislators, courts and/or Congress fail to do their duty under the 12th Amendment, you must be ready Mr. President to immediately declare a limited form of Martial Law, and temporarily suspend the Constitution and civilian control of these federal elections, for the sole purpose of having the military oversee a national re-vote. A vote that assures a fair election in every jurisdiction and reflects the true will of the people. Federal candidates only. Paper ballots. No computers. Hand-counted with both parties watching every vote. Only registered voters. Photo ID to prove residence. Conducted safely with everyone wearing masks and six feet apart, just like we did in Ohio. Only then can the winning candidate be accepted as legitimate by a true majority of We the People who must give our consent to be justly governed! Unfortunately, we are at a point where we can only trust our military to do this because our corrupt political class and courts have proven their inability to act fairly and within the law.
You must also act, like Lincoln did, to silence the destructive media’s one-sided propaganda designed and proven to influence the election outcome, and end the unlawful censorship of Big Tech, to restore the confidence of the American People in our electoral process or we cannot continue as a nation. Failure to do so could result in massive violence and destruction on a level not seen since the Civil War. Limited Martial Law is clearly a better option than Civil War!
Many will object to these actions, as they did in Lincoln’s day, but we assure you that We the People understand that no less action will suffice to prevent the loss of our Constitutional right to vote and preserve our Republic. It is time to honor your oath, Mr. President. It is time for you to boldly act to save our nation as Lincoln did. We the People will support a national re-vote. We will also have no other choice but to take matters into our own hands, and defend our rights on our own, if you do not act within your powers to defend us. [End of Ad]
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Well, I would agree, Martial law under Trump is far better than a civil war under Biden; and, far more justified than Lincoln could ever have imagined. If Trump succeeds, I’m in favor of the Lincoln Memorial being turned into the “Trump Memorial.”
It appears a war is coming. The Left is already organized and the Right is not (except for the Militia). If Trump were to invoke the Insurrection Act, there will be a lot of anger among the communist Left, but it would signal the Right into readiness and would be better for the struggle for freedom and God’s Law in America.
Psalm 25 David’s Lament
Our Scripture reading (Ps. 25:8-22), begins with the statement, “He will teach sinners in the way.” In this, King David is acknowledging his past and his many sins, and perhaps even present shortcomings and/or sins; but David’s heart is not as a rebellious type of “sinner”, but as a sinner who is humble enough to be taught by the Spirit of God. Thus, the next verse confirms this by saying, “The meek [humble] will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way” (v. 9). As people, we have not always been perfect, but we are learning; and we are humble enough to keep on learning of God’s perfect ways for us. These verses are not speaking of habitually sinful or rebellious people who reject God’s ways, or His forgiveness. God’s faithfulness and Covenant love are available for those who take seriously their Covenant relationship as expressed in the Law: “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as [those who] keep His covenant and His testimonies” (v. 10).
In the middle of showing God’s character, David repeats his prayer for forgiveness, “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great” (v. 11). He then returns to his wisdom teachings in verses 12-15.
David renews his prayer in verses 16-22, and then turns it toward his nation/race: “Redeem Israel, O God, out of all their troubles” (v. 22).
Psalm 60 – The Nation’s Cry for Help
1 To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth [set to “Lily of the Testimony”], Michtam [golden psalm] of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.
“O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again. 2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh. 3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. (Selah) 5 That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me.
6 God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver; 8 Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of me.
9 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom? 10 Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? 11 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.” – Ps. 60
Historical Context
This psalm belongs to the time when, after his first Syrian campaign (II Sam. 8:3-8), David was engaged in a terrible war of extreme bloodshed with Edom:
II Sam. 8:13; “And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.”
I Ki. 11:15, “For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom;” 16 (For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom:)
Who is Edom? There are many books that tell us of Edom, which is the main source of jewish bloodline (Gen. 36). And, the jews are the main source of our problems within our nation. This has been easily proven and well documented down through history. They were our main enemy then, and they still are our main enemy today. Jews have a far greater influence in our national government than most Americans realize; and worse yet, judeo-Christians think there’s no problem with that. This has been our undoing as a nation. We can lay the guilt of America’s problems at the door of the “church” (so-called, denominationalism – not the true Church).
I don’t know if president Trump is aware of these facts, but he ought to be figuring it out right about now, for he has been in battle with them since he took the office of the presidency. Unfortunately, jews surround him at every hand and some are within his own family. Hebrews 12:1 tells our people to throw off everything that hinders us, “…especially the sin that so easily entangles us, let us keep running with endurance the race set before us” (ISV). What is the sin that so easily entangles and entwines Americans today? Just look around your community; look at the TV, where it is even more prominent – it is race mixing and miscegenation! It is promoted and glorified by jews; and it is the fast-track to the destruction of any great civilization. As chief law-enforcement officer of the land, president Trump needs to take action against the Edomites.
This war with Edom (the jews) was marked by an unpleasant change of circumstances, and at least one grievous defeat of the forces of Israel (v. 1-3, 12); but ending in a glorious victory, and occupation of the country:
I Chr. 18:13, “And he put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became David’s servants. Thus the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.”
The psalm is written after the great defeat, and before the fortune of war had turned. God is pleaded with (v. 1-5), reminded of the promises He has made (v. 6-8), exhorted in the strongest terms to give His help (v. 9-11), finally pronounced a sure Helper, through whom Israel is certain to obtain complete victory (v. 12).
“Through God we shall do valiantly…” (v. 12). No miracle is expected or asked for; just let our God look upon us favorably and grant us the victory. “…For He it is that shall tread down our enemies.” Compare this to Psalm 44:5; “Through Thee will we push down our enemies: through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.” This is a joint effort – a Covenant relationship between God and His People.
Conclusion
There are highs and lows in the Christian life. We may pass quickly from the one to the other. When at the height of triumph we may be brought low. When in the depths of despondency we can be raised up. This psalm speaks of despondency; yet, it provides the antidote.
I. HOPE RISING IN THE MIDST OF DESPONDENCY (Ps. 60:1-4). We are apt to fix our mind on our trials. Sometimes they are many, and press us sorely. We shrink from their effects, bewildered and dismayed (v. 3, “Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.”). God seems to be visiting us in wrath, instead of mercy. And we are too quick to think of our trials as judgments. But this is our mistake. As we turn to God with humility, hope rises in our hearts. God is not against us, but for us. If he visits us with trials, it is for our good. His banner over us is still the banner of covenant love.
II. FAITH IN GOD’S PROMISES SUSTAIN US IN DESPONDENCY (Ps. 60:5-8). The words of Moses, Samuel, and Nathan had sunk deep into the psalmist’s heart. He remembered them, and was comforted. How much more reason have we to say, “God hath spoken in his holiness” (v. 6)! We have not only the words that David had, but also many other words. We have the words of the prophets, apostles, and the words of Him of whom it was said, “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” The Holy Scriptures are rich in promises: “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (II Cor. 1:20). We can take these promises to the throne of grace, and say, “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope” (Ps. 119:49).
III. PRAYER GAINS VICTORY OVER DESPONDENCY (Ps. 60:9-12). Great things are promised, but how are they to be performed? If it all depends on man, we certainly have doubts and fears. But we have a Covenant with our God, and He is both able and willing to fulfill his word. Remembering His character and works, we rise above all depressing influences. Committing ourselves to the keeping of the Lord of hosts, we go forth to the fight with brave hearts; and are able to say, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 15:57).
Psalm 60
“Lord Thou Hast Scourged” by Joel Barlow, 1786. Meter: 8686. Tune: PISGAH.
1 Lord thou hast scourg’d our guilty land, Behold thy people mourn; Shall vengeance ever guide thy hand? And mercy ne’er return?
2 Our Zion trembles at thy stroke, And dreads thy lifted hand; Oh, heal the people thou hast broke, And save the sinking land.
3 Exalt thy banner in the field, For those that fear thy name; From barb’rous hosts our nation shield, And put our foes to shame.
4 Our troops beneath thy guiding hand, Shall gain a glad renown: ‘Tis God who makes the feeble stand, And treads the mighty down.
