Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Today is 2-for-1 Friday!
Check out Does God Care?
The Questions
1) Who is writing this Psalm and why?
2) What does verse 8 mean regarding wanderings, tears, and God’s book?
3) What does it mean that God is for me?
Psalm 56:8-11
8 You yourself have recorded my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call.
This I know: God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mere humans do to me?
Original Intent
1) Who is writing this Psalm and why?
As with all recorded psalms, it is important to understand who is writing and why because it gives a framework for what the author is thinking and feeling. In this psalm, David is the author and he is writing in response to when the Philistines seized him in Gath. David had a history with the Philistines. He had killed their soldier Goliath, who was from Gath, (1 Samuel 17:4) and now he finds himself in their land years later as he runs from Saul. However, this did not stop David from taking time to pour his heart out to God which is what we find in this psalm.
2) What does verse 8 mean regarding wanderings, tears, and God’s book?
God knows David’s movements and his emotions. No matter where David found himself physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually, this constant remained true! Matthew Henry’s commentary says, “God has a bottle and a book for his people’s tears, both those for their sins and those for their afflictions. This intimates, that He observes them with compassion and tender concern; He is afflicted in their afflictions, and knows their souls in adversity.” David knew this in the depths of who he was, and in moments of sorrow and wandering, he trusted his God in adversity.
3) What does it mean that God is for me?
David knew, even in the midst of being on the run, that God was for him. He wasn’t alone and he didn’t fight alone. I think back to the childhood of David where God protected him from bears and lions as he tended the sheep, and when David knew God would take care of him as he faced the giant Goliath on the battlefield. Throughout David’s life, he continuously saw the faithfulness of God played out before him. David’s faith in God “set him above the fear of man” (Matthew Henry). He knew God was going to fight for him.
Everyday Application
1) Who is writing this Psalm and why?
David writes this psalm in response to being on the run from Saul and in dangerous Philistine territory. While we are unlikely to find ourselves in literal enemy territory in the same way as David, we frequently encounter our enemy, Satan, and find ourselves in hostile territory, whether it’s spiritual or physical. David took time to pour his heart out to God even in those moments and the lesson for us is we should do the same. We know David today as “a man after God’s own heart” and the relationship he had because of that heart-attitude towards God is something we can learn well from. Even when we find ourselves in enemy territory, we need to take time to pour our hearts out to our Father who cares for us. Why not give it a try today! Find a few minutes and whether it’s pen and paper or screen and finger taps, tell the Lord what you are facing. This deepens your relationship with Him because He loves to care for you!
2) What does verse 8 mean regarding wanderings, tears, and God’s book?
The God of the universe is a God who intimately cares about each us in detail! Expositor’s Bible Commentary says God collects our tears, “To show how precious they are in His sight, and perhaps to suggest that they are preserved for a future use.” When we find ourselves in times of wandering or sorrow we are not alone. In those moments, our Father is with us and cares enough about our circumstances to collect the tears we cry. There is such hope and comfort in the knowledge that we are never alone! When have you felt abandoned recently? Is it difficult to believe the truths David write about and anchored his heart within? Take time to intentionally think through and write down those moments of feeling alone, then read this passage from psalms over and over multiple times. Apply God’s unchanging truth to your current reality!
3) What does it mean that God is for me?
Matthew Henry writes, “The saints have God for them; they may know it; and to Him they must cry when they are surrounded with enemies; and, if they do this in faith, they shall find a divine power exerted and engaged for them; their enemies shall be made to turn back, their spiritual enemies, against whom we fight best upon our knees.” When we have a relationship with God we are among those saints. He will fight for us! As believers, our job is to bring our needs and our concerns in prayers and petitions trusting Him, just as David did, because He cares for us! Paul, in Romans 8:31, brings it all together, “If God is for us, who is against us?” It doesn’t mean we don’t have an enemy, it just means our God has defeated the enemy! As you consider the landscape of your life, where are you tempted to feel defeated and overwhelmed? How might your perception shift if you remembered, and trusted, the reality of God as your Warrior and Victor?!
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Missing the connection to our other Journey Study today?
Catch up with Does God Care?
Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
Memorize It!
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