Gold for the heart - Psalms 11-18

Psalm 11

1 I sought refuge in the Lord: how can you say to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? 2 For, behold, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Deuteronomy 31:8 the LORD, he it is that does go before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: do not fear or be dismayed.

Ephesians 6:12-18 we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore put on the whole armor of God….

The Lord’s throne is in heaven

4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven: his eyes gaze upon, his eyelids test/examine, the children of men.

Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, appearing like a sapphire stone: and on throne was the likeness of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins upward, and from the appearance of his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness around it. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain was the appearance of the brightness around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

The Lord tests the righteous

5 The LORD tests the righteous: but his soul hates the wicked and him that loves violence. 6 On the wicked he will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this will be the portion of their cup. 7 For the righteous LORD loves righteousness; the upright look upon His face.

Righteousness means to be right.
God says what is right. ‘When you can make a universe then you can make the rules.’ (Dr. J. Vernon McGee)
God is always perfectly right and loves those who follow what is right in life—those that, though sinful, appreciate their Creator and follow His paths.
God gazes on the upright just like we watch our kids when they are being adorable—but so much more.
We still love our kids when they are not being adorable and obedient.
We discipline them for their good.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will feast with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and have set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Psalm 12

1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceases to be; the faithful fail from among the children of men. 2 Every one speaks falsehood to his neighbor: they speak with flattering lips and with a double heart.

Flattery is insincere praise to get something from us: our attention, time, or money.
In 2 Samuel 15 Absalom stole the hearts of a nation by flattery.

Psalm 33:20 Our soul waits for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.

The Lord will cut off all flattering lips

3 The LORD will cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud/twisted things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

The Antichrist in Revelation speaks great things that are false and will be cut off.

Psalm 21:8 Your hand will find out all your enemies: your right hand will find out those that hate you.

He sets the oppressed in safety, guards, and preserves

5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will rise up, says the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that would ensnare him. 6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 You will guard them, O LORD, you will preserve every one of them from this generation forever. 8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Regarding the phrase ‘purified seven times,’ C.I. Scofield outlined seven time periods of the history of man as told in the Bible.
There are also seven thousand years prophesied in scripture from the beginning of time until eternity begins again.

Innocence—the garden of Eden before the fall.Conscience—from the fall to the flood. Human government—after the flood and still going. Law—from Mt. Sinai until the cross. Grace, the church age—from the cross to the tribulation. Tribulation—from the rapture until the Second Coming of Christ. Millenium—from the Second Coming until the Great White Judgment.

Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Romans 8:31… If God is for us, who can be against us?

Psalm 13

The Lord hears our cries for help and deals bountifully with us

1 How long will you forget me, O LORD? Forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long will I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

God doesn’t forget us.
He always wants us to be with Him.
He sent His Son to die that it might be possible.
So when we feel far from God, it is not His will.
Either 1) we have sinned and need to confess to Him—Isaiah 59:2, 1 John 1:9. Or 2) He is guiding us, as when the cloud lifted off of the tabernacle when it was time for the children of Israel to move on. Or 3) We are in the testing of Job. Testing is also for our good. The Lord gives victory over every enemy.

John 17:22-23 the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.

1 Samuel 17:47 the battle is the LORD's…

Hebrews 10:36 you have need of patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; 4 Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 5 But I have trusted in your mercy/love; my heart will rejoice in your deliverance. 6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us: they cannot be accounted in order to you: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Psalm 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 57:10 For your love is great unto the heavens, and your truth unto the clouds.

Psalm14

1 The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none doing good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of mankind, to see if there are any that understand and seek God. 3 All turn aside together, they are corrupt/stinking: none is doing good! No, not one.

Acts 17:24-28 God that made the world and all things in it, because he is Lord of heaven and earth does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 And is not worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, since he gives to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the boundaries of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after him, and find him, though he is not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being…

God is in the generation of the righteous, a refuge for the poor

4 Have all the evildoers not known? Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the LORD. 5 Then they feared a great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. 6 You have shamed the counsel of the poor, becausethe LORD ishis refuge. 7 Who will bring the salvation of Israel out of Zion! When the LORD brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be glad.

At the beginning, in the center of Eden were two trees—the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Those who seek God are partaking from the Tree of Life.
These who do not are partaking from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Evildoers oppress, rob, and kill God’s people as though there will be no accounting.
God allows idolaters to be captured by evil. He will release them from this captivity if they turn back to Him.

Romans 14:12 So then every one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Psalm 15

1 LORD, who will dwell in your tabernacle? Who will live in your holy hill? 2 He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. 3 He that does not backbite with his tongue or do evil to his neighbor, or take up a reproach against his neighbor.

The Lord’s house on earth will be on Mt. Zion in the future kingdom.
Mount Zion is symbolic in scripture of the place where the last enemy has been conquered.
When Israel conquered the land, they didn’t conquer it entirely.
The Jebusites were left in the stronghold of Jerusalem.
Four hundred years later, when David became king, the first thing he did was to conquer the last enemy and dwell in their castle, on Mount Zion.
God’s word is the truth that we are to speak in our hearts.

John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.

Psalm 132:13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling.

Psalm 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined.

4 In his eyes the reprobate is despised; but he honors those that fear the LORD. He swears to his own hurt, and does not change. 5 He does not loan his money with interest, or take a bribe against the innocent. He that does these things will never be moved.

God is to be the solution to our problems.
We are not to blame others, take advantage of others, or hurt others.
God gives each person the fruit of his own doings so others are not to blame for the circumstances of our lives.

Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I test the emotions, to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

1Peter 5:10 the God of all grace, who has called us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.

Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Psalm 16

In God’s presence is fullness of joy

A Michtam of David 1 Watch over me God: for I take refuge in you. 2 O my soul, you have said to the LORD, You are my Lord: my goodness is not apart from you; 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 4 Their sorrows will be multiplied that hurry after another god: I will not offer their drink offerings of blood, or take their names on my lips.

Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

The Lord holds up our blessings

5 The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup:you maintain my lot. 6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a radiant heritage. 7 I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I will not be moved.

David, as king, had great wealth yet he considered God his portion.

‘you maintain my lot,’ is a promise that God who has given us our blessings will maintain them for us.
The Lord is the best counselor because He knows everything (1 John 3:20, Isaiah 9:6). He is our stability.

Jude 1:24-25 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices: my flesh also will rest in hope. 10 For you will not leave my soul in hell; you will not allow your holy One to see corruption. 11 You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

Isn’t this what the whole world is seeking so desperately, fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore?
‘not leave my soul in hell’ is a prophecy of Christ (1 Peter 3:18-20).
After His death and before His resurrection, He went to the underworld and proclaimed the victory He had just won over the forces of evil.

Jude 1:6 And the angels which did not keep their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Psalm 17

1 Hear the right, O LORD, and attend to my cry. Listen to my prayer that does not go out of deceitful lips. 2 Let my judgment come from your presence; your eyes see uprightly. 3 You have tested my heart; you have visited me in the night; you have refined/fused me, and you find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

James 1:2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.

God’s word keeps us from the paths of the destroyer

4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer. 5 Hold up my goings in your paths, that my footsteps not slip. 6 I have called on you, for you will hear me, O God: incline your ear to me, and hear my speech. 7 Show your marvelous love, O you that save by your right hand those that put their trust in you from those that rise up against them. 8 Guard me as the pupil of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings 9 from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies,who surround me. 10 They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. 11 They have now surrounded us in our steps: they have set their eyes to throw us to the ground; 12 Like a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

Psalm 57:1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in you: yes, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities have passed

13 Arise, O LORD, confront him and cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is your sword: 14 From men which are your hand, O LORD, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life, and whose belly you fill with your hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. 15 As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness: I will be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness.

Revelation 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 3 And he that sat was to look at like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like an emerald.

Psalm 45:2 You are more beautiful than the children of men...

Psalm 18

1 I will love you, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; He is my God, and my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

The Lord is all we could possibly need.
Rock-stability, Fortress-safe hiding place, Deliverer-rescuer, God-only one you worship, Strength, Buckler-all weapons attach to this, Horn of salvation-power of deliverance, High tower-nothing can get to you.

3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: by this I will be saved from my enemies. 4 The cords of death hemmed me in. The floods of ungodly men/men of Belial made me afraid. 5 The cords of hell surrounded me: the snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears. 7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was angry. 8 Smoke went out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. 9 He bowed the heavens and came down and darkness was under his feet. 10 And rode on a cherub, and flew: yes, soared on the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his canopy around him; darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies

Revelation 1:7 Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye will see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth will wail because of him.

The Highest is our unfailing stability

12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. 13 The LORD thundered in the heavens, the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. 14 Yes, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightning, and confused them. 15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were bared at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 16. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of great waters. 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

Ephesians 6:12 we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my support. 19 And He brought me out into a wide place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. 20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands. 21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put his statutes away from me.

David wasn’t sinless, but he continued to follow God and His ways.

God’s legal judgments are awesome. They are totally fair to all sides of any controversy with a view to eternal issues.
A listing of these judgments begins in Exodus 21.
After the Ten Commandments— a summary of how to live in order to please our Maker.
Only Jesus can do it rightly. His perfect life was exchanged for our sinful one when we believed.
This was portrayed in every way by the animal sacrifices.
David understood this.

23 Also I was upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. 24 So the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

I have kept myself from my, iniquity is explained by Genesis 4 where God told Cain that sin waited at the door of his heart. He was to rule over it.

25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright; 26 With the pure you will show yourself pure; and with the crooked you wrestle. 27 For you will save the afflicted people; but bring down haughty looks. 28 You will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. 29 For by you I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. 30 As for God,his way is perfect: the word of the LORDis tried/fused: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 31 For who is God except the LORD? Or who is a rock except our God?

Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

He clothes us with strength and makes our way perfect

32 It is God that wraps me with strength, and makes my way perfect. 33 He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and sets me on my high places. 34 He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms break a bow of steel. 35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great.

God wraps around us the power that spoke creation into being.

Isaiah 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows

Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

36 You enlarge my steps under me so that my feet have not slipped. 37 I pursued my enemies and have overtaken them: I did not turn again until they were consumed. 38 I have wounded them so they were not able to rise: they have fallen under my feet. 39 For you have girded me with strength unto the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me. 40 You have also given me the necks of my enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. 41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even the LORD, but he did not answer. 42 Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

The Lord delivers from the strivings of people

43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known will serve me. 44 As soon as they hear of me, they obey me: foreigners will yield feigned obedience to me. 45 The sons of foreigners will faint and come trembling out of their strongholds. 46 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted. 47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me.

Romans12:19 Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.

Revelation 1:6 And has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

48 He delivers me from my enemies: yes, you lift me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man. 49 Therefore will I give thanks to you, O LORD among the heathen, and sing praises to your name. 50 Great deliverance he gives to his king; and shows love to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

Romans 8:31 …If God is for us, who can be against us?

SUMMARY: Psalms 11-18

The LORD'S throne is in heaven
He tests/refines the righteous
The LORD will cut off all flattering lips
He sets the oppressed in safety, guards, and preserves
The LORD hears our cries for help and deals bountifully with us
God is in the generation of the righteous, a refuge for the poor
His presence is fullness of joy
He holds up all our blessings
His word keeps us from the paths of the destroyer
The Highest is our unfailing stability
He clothes us with strength and makes our way perfect
He delivers from the strivings of the people