PSALMS LESSON 62

     We will begin this lesson by giving the 64th chapter of Psalms in
metre.

                   THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE

                             Chapter 64

Verse 1  "When I to thee my prayer make, Lord, to my voice give ear;
          My life save from the enemy, Of whom I stand in fear.
Verse 2  "Me from their secret counsel hide Who do live wickedly; From
          insurrection of the men Who work iniquity."
Verse 3  "For they their tongues with malice whet, They make them cut
          like swords; In their bent bows are arrows set, Even sharp
          and bitter words;
Verse 4  "That they may at the perfect man In secret aim their shot;
          Yea, suddenly they dare at him To shoot, and fear it not.
Verse 5  "In ill encourage they themselves; In secret, snares they
          lay, They conference together have; Who shall them see?
          they say.
Verse 6  "They have sought out iniquities, A perfect search they keep;
          Of each of them the inward thought, And very heart is deep."
Verse 7  "God shall an arrow shoot at them, And wound them suddenly:
          Their own false tongue shall them con-found; All seeing them
          shall flee.
Verse 8  "All men shall fear, and that this is God's work they shall
          declare; They shall observe and understand What these his
          doings are."
Verse 9  "The righteous shall on God rely, In him shall they delight.
          In him shall glory every one Who is in heart upright."

     We will begin the verse by verse study of the 64th Psalm now.
Psalms 64:1 "{To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} Hear my voice,
O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy."

     God hears our prayer many times, even before we utter it aloud.
He even knows the thoughts of our heart. Our prayers are symbolized by
the rising of the smoke from the burning on the altar of the oil. No
prayer that is in earnest fails to rise to the throne of God. We must
not pray amiss, but pray in the will of God. We are the salt of the
earth, Christians. Our prayers must keep us in such close contact with
God, that we will preserve the earth with our prayers. Fear is lack of
faith. Christians should not fear the things of this earth. Our enemy
should not be the subject of our fear. The only fear, that is
permissible by God, is fear of the Lord.

     Psalms 64:2 "Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from
the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:"

     David is facing much of what the Lord Jesus faced. The counsel
{in secret} met to see if they could do away with Jesus. The word that
insurrection was translated from means a tumultuous crowd. The workers
of iniquity were after David to destroy him. We, also, see in this
that the tumultuous crowd were out to destroy Jesus. Even though Jesus
was innocent of any wrong doing, they cried for Jesus to be crucified.

     Psalms 64:3 "Who whet their tongue like a sword, [and] bend
[their bows to shoot] their arrows, [even] bitter words:"

     This is another prophetic Scripture about Jesus. Notice, the
tongue they whet is like a sword, it is not a sword. The sword
symbolizes the Word of God. They are pretending that the Word of God
is why they are coming against Jesus, when in fact, it is not the Word
at all. The Word of God should have told them exactly who Jesus was.
They shot their bitter words to Jesus. They even accused the very Son
of God of blasphemy. What boldness they had against God the Word!

     Psalms 64:4 "That they may shoot in secret at the perfect:
suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not."

     We know for sure this is speaking of Jesus, because it says the
perfect. No one ever lived on this earth, except Jesus Christ who was
perfect. It is amazing, to me, how they could say these things to the
Son of God, and not fear what might happen to them. Jesus is the Judge
of all the world, and they will have to stand before Him, and give an
account. How could they not fear?  I really believe, toward the end of
Jesus' earthly ministry, that they knew who He was. They were just
afraid of losing their hold over the people to Him, if they admitted
that He was truly Messiah. What a very foolish thing to do. They
wanted world power so much, that they gave up any chance of eternal
life.

     Psalms 64:5 "They encourage themselves [in] an evil matter: they
commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?"

     We know that they sent spies to search out Jesus and try to find
anything that they might accuse him of. I believe, in this verse, that
David is speaking of his enemies laying traps for him, and all of them
getting together and trying to destroy him.  It, also, is speaking of
the conspiracy going on between the scribes, and the Pharisees against
Jesus. Those, who never had been in agreement before on anything,
worked together as if they were friends to try to destroy the Lord
Jesus.

     Psalms 64:6 "They search out iniquities; they accomplish a
diligent search: both the inward [thought] of every one [of them], and
the heart, [is] deep."

     This, again, is not just David's enemies seeking ways to find him
guilty, but this is speaking of the enemies of the Lord. I always love
it, when Jesus would trap them by answering their questions with a
question, that was impossible to answer without getting themselves in
trouble. They even tried to accuse the Lord for healing on the
sabbath. The amazing and wonderful thing, to me, was that they could
not trap Jesus. They always got caught in their own trap. Every
thought they had, day and night, was on how to trap Him, but they
could not, until it was the right time for His purpose.

     Psalms 64:7 "But God shall shoot at them [with] an arrow;
suddenly shall they be wounded."

     Can you imagine how those, who slapped Jesus and spit upon Him,
and even the ones who nailed Him to the cross, felt when the sun
became dark in the middle of the day, and the earth became to tremble?
I am sure that a dart of pain ran through their heart, knowing they
had crucified the Son of God. Some of them said; surely this was the
Son of God.

     Psalms 64:8 "So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon
themselves: all that see them shall flee away."

     They may flee, but there is no where to run to get away from God.
At this point, they probably wished they had cut their tongues out
before it could say these things about the Son of God. Now, no one
wants to be associated with them.

     Psalms 64:9 "And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work
of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing."

     On this earth these men had boldly come against the Son of God,
but there is coming a day, when they shall have to stand before Him in
judgement, and then they will be terrified. All wise people fear God.
When we think of His perfection in comparison to our shortcomings, it
is enough to cause fear. There is coming a time when all will bow
before the Lord. Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and
[things] under the earth;" Philippians 2:11 "And [that] every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the
Father."

     Psalms 64:10 "The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall
trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory."

     Who are the righteous? Those who have repented of their sins and
been washed in the blood of the Lamb. There is no greater joy than to
know that you are in right standing with the Lord. The victory for
each of us was won on the cross by Jesus, but the glorious day of
rewards will be that day when God accepts us into His household, and
we are accepted in heaven. The glory of the saints is their
everlasting life with Jesus.











                             Questions 62

1.  When does God hear our prayer?
2.  What, in the tabernacle in the wilderness, symbolized the prayers
    of the saints?
3.  Who is the salt of the earth?
4.  What is fear?
5.  What is the only permissible fear?
6.  How does verse 2 relate to Jesus?
7.  What does the word, that insurrection was translated from, mean?
8.  Even though Jesus was innocent of any wrong doing, they cried to
    do what to Jesus?
9.  What should we notice about the tongue in verse 3?
10. What does the sword symbolize?
11. What was the worst thing these evil people accused Jesus of?
12. What should the Word of God have told them?
13. What one word, in verse 4, lets us know for sure that this is
    speaking of Jesus?
14. Who is the Judge of all the world?
15. When does the author believe that those in the temple actually
    knew who Jesus was?
16. They wanted _____ ______ so much that they gave up any chance of
    eternal life.
17. Why did they send spies to check on Jesus?
18. What was unusual about the scribes and Pharisees being together on
    the plot?
19. What does the author love about the answers the Lord gave to these
    who were trying to trap Him?
20. When was the only time they could catch Jesus?
21. What do you think these accusers thought, when the darkness came
    in the middle of the day, and the earth began to shake?
22. What did some of them say at this time?
23. What do they wish they had done, so they could not have accused
    the Lord?
24. How will they feel, when they must stand before Jesus in
    judgement?
25. Quote Philippians chapter 2 verse 10.
26. Who shall be glad in the Lord?
27. Who are the righteous?
28. When was the victory for each of us won?