Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19970713.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Seventy-Six - Overcoming A Dread Of Very Angry, Unjust Opponents To Our Cause
(Psalm 76:1-12)
  1. Introduction
    1. A formidable challenge for a believer is his having to deal with the anxiety of facing fierce wrath by unjust opponents. Sometimes it may be a relative, sometimes a co-worker or maybe even a fellow believer who is furious for no just cause.
    2. Psalm 76 is a lesson in overcoming a dread of very angry, unjust opponents.
  2. Overcoming A Dread Of Very Angry, Unjust Opponents To Our Cause, Psalm 76:1-12.
    1. Psalm 76 was written to commemorate God's deliverance of His oppressed people in the Holy Land, 76:9.
    2. These people had been attacked by infuriated warriors who at one time had besieged the land, seeking to remove these people from the land promised to them in the will of God, Ps. 76:1 0a, 5 with Gen. 15:13-21.
    3. However, God had marvelously rescued His people from these opposing warriors, and possibly over a period of many years with many conflicts and different military events involved, Ps. 76:5-6, 8.
    4. According to such precedents of divine help, the psalmist concluded that present or future wrathful attacks of such unjust opponents would still praise God, for God would continue to use such opponents as vehicles of bringing glory to Himself through His judging them in such coming attacks, Ps. 76:10.
      1. The psalmist stated that the wrath of such opposing warriors would be used to praise God, 76:10a.
      2. The way this would fall out would be through their coming into conflict with God in their attacks, and being defeated by God; God would defend Israel as Her Defending Warrior, defeating these attackers to His glory as pictured in God's wrapping His gestures of wrath about His waist in a show of power, 10b.
    5. In response to this truth, the psalmist praised the Lord, Ps. 76:1-4, 7:
      1. He claimed that God's name or reputation as pictured in His name is great in Israel, Ps. 76:1.
      2. He claimed that His tent is in the city of Salem, or "Peace" as a conquering Warrior Who knows no defeat at the hands of fierce, furious human attackers, Ps. 76:2-3.
      3. He claimed that God is resplendent in His spoils of war, more that a mountain filled with game, 76:4.
      4. Accordingly, God alone was to be feared among the nations, for when He is full of wrath, no warrior full of wrath against His people can stand up against Him, Ps. 76:7.
    6. Also, the psalmist called upon his readers to make vows to the Lord and to fulfill them as submissive to Him, and for all the neighboring lands to bring gifts to the Great Warrior to be respected, Ps. 76:11-12.
Lesson: The believer overcomes a dread of threatening, infuriated human opponents to him and his cause when he is in the will of God through learning to respect His defending GOD more than the opponents he faces. God Who has PERSONAL interests in the welfare of His own who are in His will must defend these innocent people against the furious attacks of opponents to His godly ones regardless how angry or imposing are the threats of these opponents!

Application: (1) Learn to fear God more than anyone else if we would live a life free from being intimidated by beings around us. God is GREATER in power than any opponents His people face, and He INTENDS to defend them. (2) As the psalmist relie d upon PAST divine protective events from furious attackers for hope to overcome present and future threats, we can assume that if God has PREVIOUSLY worked to DEFEND our welfare on an issue, He intends to CONTINUE to do so! (3) If we are facing unjustf ul, wrathful opposition, view the crisis as an opportunity for God to SHOW HIS VOTE as to whether or not we are in His protective WILL in life! Thus, such a threat becomes instructive and edifying!! (a) Thus, if God defends us, we should ((a)) rejoice in His protection and ((b)) in His apparent approval of us or of the cause about us that is being so deeply, UNJUSTLY opposed! (b) Thus, IF God does NOT defend us, ((a)) something is awry with the cause we were trumpeting, or with the means of operation, etc., requiring us to CHANGE! ((b)) In that case, we shouldn't want it defended anyway!