Psalm 7

Finding Rest in a Hurried World

Introduction

Psalm 7—you’ll notice the preamble to it says, “A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.” Now, that tells us everything that we need to know about this psalm as far as history and context.

A Shiggaion is a song that’s sung with both high and low notes. And notice that it says it is a song that David wrote concerning Cush, a Benjamite. Now, we don’t know anything about this Cush, biblically speaking, other than what it says right here—he’s a Benjamite.

What we do know, historically, is that the Benjamites gave David a very rough time. Why would that be? Well, because of a certain predecessor of David by the name of King Saul. Saul was a Benjamite, and the Benjamites basically took the approach that David was responsible for Saul’s demise. So, they blamed David, they scorned David, and they slandered David.

The context of this song is that David is lamenting before the Lord about the treatment that he’s receiving at the hands of the Benjamites. Now, there are two approaches that we could go through, but we’ve already covered extensively in a couple of previous psalms how to respond to critics, how to respond when people are gossiping about you, and how to respond to slanderers. So, I’m going to take a little different approach to this particular psalm. Although again, you could certainly see that topic or subject or theme in this psalm, dealing with people who exhibit ungodly behavior, and that seems to be a full-time job some have chosen in our day and age.

Finding Rest In A Hurried World

But the approach that I want to take is this: finding rest in a hurried world. And I think we can all relate to that. How do we rest in the midst of the tumult that defines modern living? It seems that day after day, there is a new drama that comes out, and in many cases, it affects us, rolls over our lives like a tsunami. How do we maintain the peace of God and rest? Because that is, after all, what the Lord desires for us, right? He doesn’t want us running around frantically trying to deal with all of these different fires that seem to erupt spontaneously. He wants us to know His peace and to know His rest in the midst of all these things that define life.

So, finding rest in a hurried world was my thinking on this psalm this week. And of course, that deserves a follow-up question, then, doesn’t it? How do we find rest in this world, in the midst of all these things that are going on in our lives? And here’s the answer: by understanding that true godliness comes forth or is manifested from an understanding that God is sovereign.

I had a conversation with someone recently, and these conversations always without exception, confirm for me the teaching for that week. In fact, I’ll say this: even when I visit the prison, I’ll go around and greet all the guys, chat with them for a moment, and see how they’ve been since I last saw them—typically a month ago. And without exception, even in prison, some of the conversations that I have with those guys confirm the teaching that the Lord wants them to hear. It’s just amazing to me how it works out.

Satan Always Distorts God’s Truth

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have God’s fingerprints of sovereignty all over them. It is unmistakable when you know what you’re looking for. And so, Psalm 7... I’m going to give you eight points here that demonstrate what I’m talking about.

I was thinking this week... How many of you have heard any of the comments or commentaries, or maybe you’ve seen the movie yourself—Noah, the movie, the recent movie titled Noah? Not Ray Comfort’s version, but the satanically inspired—oh, did I say that out loud? The Noah movie.

Well, it reminded me of something. It reminded me of the fact that God is sovereign, even over things like that. We see, we being Christians with eyes to see and ears to hear, we see those kinds of movies as an affront to a holy God because they are presenting a picture that is opposed to the Scriptures. What grieves me the most, though, is the number of well-known Christians who were duped into supporting it, who came out in favor of it, and still today, after all the facts are known, still say, “Oh no, it’s a good movie.”

Well, I have to disagree with that. I think it’s a rotten movie, straight out of the pits of hell, and smells like smoke. That’s what I think. Now, you’re free to have your own opinion, of course, but here’s why I say that, just so you know. Well, Mike, it’s just a knee-jerk reaction—have you seen the movie? I don’t need to see the movie. Do I need to engage in some sinful behavior to know it’s wrong? No. So that argument doesn’t hold any weight.

Well, you got to see the movie and then... No, I don’t. I don’t watch Victoria’s Secret commercials on TV—does that mean I can’t comment that they’re ungodly demonstrations of pornography? No, you don’t have to see something to know that it’s wrong.

Here’s some of my problems with that movie, and I sent out a review by the way—I hope that you got it and you read it, and you understood what that author said. Because I agree 100% with everything that he said. That’s why I sent it out.

But in this movie, the director presented Adam and Eve as fleshless spirits. They were not human beings—flesh and blood human beings. They were spirits, luminescent, they were glowing spirits until they ate the forbidden fruit, and then they became mortal flesh. Okay, now clearly that’s not biblical, but it is something the director didn’t just invent out of thin air and say, “Oh, I think this would make a good storyline, so I’ll present them as spirits until they ate the forbidden fruit, and then they become fleshly material beings.” No—that’s straight out of second-century Gnosticism, folks. The same Gnosticism that Paul the Apostle wrote against explicitly and in great detail in many of his letters. The same Gnosticism—this strain of Gnosticism, in fact—was recorded by a Gnostic sect called the Ophites.

See, all you need to do is know your history to know where that stuff comes from. Now, the Ophites followed the Jewish Gnostics who preceded them. Jewish Gnosticism is known as Kabbalah. Now, that may be familiar to some of you—it was popularized in American mainstream media when a certain person by the name of Madonna decided that she was going to be an adherent, a disciple, of Kabbalah. Kabbalah is Jewish Gnostic mysticism.

Gnosticism is the basis of this movie—not the Bible. The director presents the spiritual realm as good, but all flesh as evil. That dichotomy—that’s what Paul was addressing in his letters. The Gnostics said that Jesus could not have been God because the spirit, the divine, cannot unite with the flesh. You see, in Gnosticism, the spirit is good, but the flesh is evil, and so the incarnation of Jesus could not happen according to the Gnostics. And so that’s why Paul addressed that repeatedly.

The lava monsters—if you’ve not seen the movie, you won’t know what I’m talking about—but these so-called lava monsters, these creatures that were... they were lava-cooled lava, they were fallen angels, demons that had fallen. Now, in the movie, they’re redeemed at the end, and they escape their earthly lava bodies and become spirits again and ascend back to heaven. Wrong. Angels are not redeemed. Once fallen, it’s over.

Not only that, but these lava monsters—some of the prominent ones had names. Shemyaza, Magog, and Ramil were three prominent fallen angels, lava monsters, if you will. Those three names specifically are well-known demons in Jewish mythological tradition—in Kabbalah, those three names are demon angels. So, was this an accident? Absolutely not. It was no accident, it was purposely made to subvert, to present an alternative view of the world from an enemies of God viewpoint. And as far as I can see, he is succeeding very well, even in churches.

Now, the most outrageous heresy of Gnosticism, and this Noah movie, is the belief in the portrayal of the Creator as an ignorant, arrogant—and this is a quote from Dr. Brian Mattson’s review—he says the Creator is presented as an “ignorant, arrogant, jealous, exclusive, violent, low-level son of a low-level deity.” See, one of the features of Gnosticism that Paul addresses in the New Testament is the teaching that there are two gods, and that the lesser god—the evil god—actually created all of this, and he’s trying to deceive mankind into following him and believing that he’s a benevolent, loving Creator. But the true god is the spirit god, but you’ve got to escape this reality to understand that.

Let me read on, and this is the point: Mattson said, “This low-level deity is responsible for creating the unspiritual world of flesh and matter. This Creator tries to keep Adam and Eve from the true knowledge of the divine, and when they disobey, flies into a rage and boots them out of the garden.” End quote.

In other words, brothers and sisters, the whole point of the Noah movie as it’s presented right now is that the serpent was actually right. The serpent was actually right! You see, God’s only trying to keep you from understanding. Isn’t that what the devil said? “Oh, will you die? Will you die? He just doesn’t want you to do that, because he knows in the day that you do, your eyes will be opened, and you’ll know evil from good.” I think he left something out, don’t you?

Christians Must Understand the Times In Which We Live

Now, I say all of that to say this: we live in some very interesting times. Some very interesting times, especially if you’re a believer, because believers have eyes to see and ears to hear, right? Well, believers should have eyes to see and ears to hear. Unfortunately, many of my brethren are sleepwalking through life. They’re still physically and emotionally in Disneyland Christianity.

I received, and you can receive this too, I received in the mail this week Jan Markell’s Olive Tree Ministry Understanding the Times newsletter. It’s a monthly publication—you can get it for free, just sign up at Olive Tree Ministries. By the way, we air her program on our radio station – WTTP FM. You can listen to the station live from anywhere at www.wttpfm.com Jan’s show always has very interesting information. In this month’s newsletter, the theme article is called The Convergence. And I thought it was interesting, so I’m going to share this with you because it’s a perfect lead in to the teaching.

It’s called A Convergence, and she makes this point. She says, “A convergence is a coming together of more than a dozen major signs of the times the Bible told us to watch for. Today, one simply cannot point to one single sign that stands out as to the lateness of the hour. The signs are exploding. We don’t just watch them, we now feel them. So since prophecy is a priority, here’s my take on the convergence of some of the signs.” And I wanted to share them because it points clearly to the need for us to remember that God is sovereign, because it would be really easy for us to wring our hands over what’s going on in the world today, wouldn’t it? We could become very, very depressed, thinking, “What does tomorrow hold?” Well, I don’t need to worry about what tomorrow holds—I just need to understand and trust in the one who holds tomorrow.

Signs Of Our Times

So here are some signs. She starts off, and this is why I talked about the Noah movie, she starts off: “One of the signs of the times that points to Christ’s soon return is this ‘Days of Noah’ similarity that we’re seeing today.”

She says: “The ‘Days of Noah’ similarities have never been stronger. Corruption and violence characterized Noah’s time. There was genetic manipulation then, and now.” Now, of course, I’m talking about the fallen angels cohabiting and producing the Nephilim. You may have a different view theologically on that, but my view is that the Watchers left their habitat, their natural order of things, and they cohabited with women and produced offspring. You may think that’s far-fetched, but I encourage you to study the Scriptures for yourself.

But Matthew 24 talks about this, Luke 17 talks about this, and, of course, Genesis chapter 6, the first eight verses, talks about this. One of the things is that some people will be so oblivious to the signs of the times that they’re just going to live their life like they always have. They’ll get up and go to work, they’ll give their sons in marriage, they’ll give their daughters in marriage, they’ll party, and they’ll just continue life like nothing’s going on. And yet Jesus tells us repeatedly in the New Testament, “You must know the signs of the times.”

Nobody knows the day—that’s not what we’re saying here. I’m not making a prediction. Nobody knows the day, but Jesus said you can see what’s going on and know the season that you’re in. And so I encourage you to do that. Understand that the things happening in our world today aren’t just random occurrences. They have meaning, they’re pointing to something. Are your eyes open? Do you see it?

So, the Days of Noah—there was great wickedness and perverse evil thoughts. Remember, it says in Genesis 6 that the thoughts and intentions of the heart of man were only evil continually. Every day, it seems like we’re exposed to some new form of evil constantly. And I’m dismayed at the number of Christians who try to say, “Oh, but all this good is going on.” Well, does that negate this? You can’t pretend like this isn’t happening by pointing to the good. Yes, continue to do the good, continue to shine the light of the Gospel, absolutely, but you cannot ignore this.

Talk about evil! This article in the same newsletter talks about cultural decline. I bet you didn’t read this in any of the newspapers or hear this on any of the news networks: “Gay and lesbian troops perform in drag on military base.” We might not enjoy living in the new Days of Noah—which the Bible predicted would be revived—but we’re in them, and we need to be informed. Troops based at Kadena Airbase in Japan had a party recently; six gay and straight service members applied some of their finest makeup and lip-synced to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” in what is believed to be the first drag queen and king show on an American military base. The show was thrown in support for the base’s recently formed OutServe-SLDN chapter—a nonprofit advocacy group for the Army’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Navy Lieutenant Marissa Green told Stars and Stripes that she only expected to sell 75 tickets for the variety show but ended up selling more than 400 in 10 days. The event went through the same approval process as other on-base fundraisers go through, with the only caveat being that it was not allowed to be labeled a drag show. I wonder why.

The Days of Noah, brothers and sisters—we’re living in them.

Second sign: other than May 14, 1948, at her rebirth, Israel’s modern-day role has never been so significant. She is the center of the world politically and even spiritually, with the major religions emanating out of the area. She is the focus geopolitically, as Middle East tensions or peace depends on her activity and choices. It’s all about control, both religiously and politically. There is nothing significant in and of itself about Jerusalem and Israel other than what the Bible says about it in the last days. God is pulling focus and attention on Israel and on Jerusalem.

But it’s all about control, brothers and sisters. In my view, the Antichrist system is using this to gain an advantage for a one-world global religion and government. Now, which one will come first? I don’t know. Will they come side by side? Probably.

Here’s something that Catholic Pope Francis did recently—perhaps you saw this in the paper; this did get reported, I saw this myself. Pope Francis sent a message to Pentecostals around the world saying, “We are brothers.” In fact, Kenneth Copeland had Pope Francis at his Kenneth Copeland Ministries for a presentation, and Pope Francis said that he had “tears of love” and he hoped that he could unite “all Christians.” Listen to this quote: “We have a lot of cultural riches and religious riches, and we have diverse traditions,” he said, “but we have to encounter one another as brothers. Let’s give each other a spiritual embrace and let God...”—now, what does that mean, by the way? “Let’s give each other a spiritual embrace?”—I’m not sure what that means—“Let’s give each other a spiritual embrace and let God complete the work that he has begun.” He said, “The miracle of unity has begun.”

Well, it’s supernatural; I’ll give him that.

Third thing that we see going on in the newspapers today: Russia is rising. You know, Russia is tied in Scripture and in prophecy to Gog and Magog, right? The end-times prophecy, very, very important for Israel’s future. How many of you have been reading about what Russia is doing in the Ukraine? Yeah, that’s just the first move, brothers and sisters.

How many of you understand what’s going on with our own administration, our own government, in relation to Israel? President Barack Obama is warning Israel of a bleak future characterized by international isolation and less security should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not agree to a U.S. proposed framework peace agreement. In other words: give your land away. Obama suggested that time was running out for Israel to agree to a deal, or else face international isolation.

Obama’s remarks appeared to be a veiled threat that the administration might not be able to continue to defend Israel at the United Nations and other international forums where the Jewish state faces attacks on its policies. Jewish journalist Carolyn Glick, in her article “Surviving Obama,” publicly stated that after the midterm elections in November—this coming November—U.S. policy towards Israel would become bitterly hostile. Wait and see if that doesn’t come to pass. Why? Because that’s the last election before Obama’s term is up, and he’s got nothing to lose then.

Barack Obama is beginning to abandon any pretense of supporting Israel, and once the election is over, he will unleash fury on the Jewish state and further favor his Islamic cronies. This trend should have been obvious last November when he authorized John Kerry, Secretary of State, to strike a deal with Iran that allows them to continue to build nuclear weapons that will be aimed at Israel.

The Bible is clear that this will be the sad state of Israel’s isolation in the last days. Tragically, there are consequences for this behavior. They are spelled out in Genesis 12:3, where God’s blessings and curses depend on the treatment of Israel. Is it any wonder that America is reeling in every department, from the economy to weather-related problems?

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is also reeling from international betrayal and U.S. betrayal.

So you have the Days of Noah, the wickedness and the evil; you have what’s going on in the Middle East with Israel; you have Russia rising, exerting power, and now starting to take over nations.

So, fourthly, you have the “King of the South” rising again. Now, who is the King of the South? That’s Egypt. The so-called Arab Spring—I watched with amazement as this was happening and everybody was falling all over themselves saying, “Oh, what a wonderful development! Freedom and democracy have come to the Middle East.” It was all plastered over the news. I even saw local coverage, where they were interviewing Muslims and talking about it as if it was this amazing step forward. And I’m thinking, are you serious? Do you not see what this is? But anybody who pointed out the truth about the situation was shouted down, belittled, or called intolerant or “Islamophobic.”

But let’s get back to Egypt. She’s been in the news since 2011 when the Arab Spring began, and Egypt fell into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, this is a critical piece of the puzzle. If you remember, just a few years ago, I held a conference here, an all-day conference, on Islam. And in my research on the Muslim Brotherhood, I discovered that their founders had close ties to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The collaboration between these two groups goes back decades. Why do you think the radical Muslim groups are so obsessed with Israel? They teach their children from a young age to be suicide bombers, to hate Jews, to carry out what they consider a holy war against Israel. This hate isn’t arbitrary; it goes back to their ideology being shaped with one solution in mind: the eradication of the Jewish people.

This understanding is why I reject the mainstream narrative that the Muslim Brotherhood is “moderate” or somehow just looking out for the people. This is why I get frustrated when I hear leaders and diplomats trying to paint these groups as if they’re benign, as if they’re no different from any other political organization.

So, yes, the King of the South is Egypt, and she’s gone through some changes over the past few years, with the Muslim Brotherhood taking control, then losing control, and Egypt returning to a slightly more stable state. But I believe this is only temporary. Egypt, as well as much of the Middle East, will continue to play a role as things continue to unfold.

Fifthly, let’s talk about technology. Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate. Prophecy students used to puzzle over verses in Revelation and other prophetic books, wondering how certain things could be possible. For instance, how could the entire world see the two witnesses lying dead in the streets of Jerusalem? It sounded impossible—until now. With satellites, cell phones, 24/7 news coverage, and cameras everywhere, there is absolutely no place in the world that’s truly private or off the grid.

Think about this: there’s practically nowhere you can go that can’t be monitored. We’re at a place now where things we look at online, ads we click, or even locations we visit are tracked and cataloged. The other day, Kathy and I drove past a shopping mall, and her phone suddenly alerted her with a coupon from a nearby store. Now, I don’t know about you, but that feels a little invasive to me. How did her phone know where she was, what store was nearby, and what kind of offer might be tempting enough to get her to stop in?

What does that mean for us as believers? Well, if they’re already tracking shopping habits, how much more could they monitor? And how far off are we from this technology being applied in even more personal ways? You know, traditional credit cards are set to be phased out soon, and we’re going to see the introduction of credit cards embedded with microchips. You think that’s just for convenience? Those cards will not only track your spending but likely your location, purchases, and more. This technology is paving the way for an infrastructure where people can be monitored and controlled on an unprecedented level.

This brings us to the next point, number six: one-world religion. More than ever, we’re hearing calls from world leaders for unity. And when they talk about unity, they’re not talking about people coming together under the banner of truth. No, they’re talking about a compromise of beliefs, a “coexist” kind of unity where everyone is expected to put aside their differences, including their doctrinal beliefs. This is something I feel strongly about because it’s not simply about people working together for peace—it’s about watering down the gospel of Christ.

We see the current Pope pushing hard for this idea of unity, saying, “We’re all brothers.” There’s talk of unity from the heads of various denominations, calling for ecumenism, saying it’s a positive thing. You’ve probably seen those “coexist” bumper stickers, right? Well, there’s something insidious behind that sentiment. It’s one thing to be respectful and loving to people of other faiths, to be a light and a witness. It’s another to abandon the gospel by treating all religions as if they’re the same.

And here’s the part that gets me: no one is talking about what happens when we, as believers in Christ, resist this kind of unity. When we stand up and say, “No, Jesus is the only way,” they’re not going to accept that. It’s only a matter of time before resistance to this so-called unity becomes “intolerance” and a crime.

Now, we’re moving to point seven: Apostasy is on the rise. Even though many in the church are still talking about a coming revival, I have to tell you—I don’t believe there will be a great end-time revival before the rapture. After the rapture, there will be a revival, yes, as the 144,000 Jewish evangelists go out and preach the gospel. But this side of the tribulation, we’re in a period of falling away. There is a massive apostasy happening before our eyes, as churches compromise and water down the Word, as believers abandon sound doctrine. This is exactly what Scripture warned us about in the end times: that there would be a falling away, not a revival.

Eight: the occult is on the rise like never before. We’re seeing things that would have shocked previous generations. Look at the popularity of witchcraft and sorcery among young people today! Sorcery in the Bible is tied to the Greek word pharmakeia, which has to do with drug use or abuse, but also with occultism. And let me tell you, the occult is alive and well. It’s woven into our entertainment, our books, our movies, and especially the materials our kids are consuming.

Nine: our society is in moral decline. Hedonism, humanism, immorality—these are the ideals that drive our culture today. Everything is being redefined, twisted to fit the narrative of the day, which is that you can do whatever you want and there are no consequences. That’s the mindset, and it’s destroying families, communities, and entire nations.

Ten: the pace of life has become frantic. In Daniel, it says people will be running to and fro in the last days. Today, we’re moving faster than ever. In one generation, we went from the Wright Brothers’ first flight to putting a man on the moon. And now, technology is moving at a breakneck pace, with more information at our fingertips than we know what to do with.

Eleven: Christians and Jews are hated as Jesus said we would be. The rise of persecution against Christians and the anti-Semitism we’re seeing today is overwhelming. Entire Christian communities in parts of Africa and the Middle East are being wiped out.

Twelve: there is a longing for a “Mr. Fixit.” People are desperate for someone who can come in and fix everything. And that’s exactly the kind of situation the Bible says the Antichrist will step into. He’ll appear to have all the answers, and people will flock to him, thinking he’s their solution.

Thirteen: strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. We’ve got the Blood Moons, the Comet ISON, and more—signs that Scripture tells us to watch.

Fourteen: global instability leading to a push for a one-world government. Nothing is stable anywhere. Every government is in some kind of crisis. Many believe we’re just one more global crisis away from seeing a one-world government.

Fifteen: strong delusion is sweeping over people. Whether it’s the apparitions of Mary or the cult of global warming and climate change, people are falling for lies and deceptions that lead them away from the truth.

Finally, sixteen: the rise of evil is out of control. We’re seeing a level of wickedness that is almost unbearable to watch. And yet, in all of this, we need to remember God’s sovereignty.

We’ll get into Psalm 7 in depth in the next post and see how David dealt with persecution, slander, and trials by focusing on the Lord’s sovereignty. Remember that in all these signs and challenges, our Lord is coming soon. He told us to watch and be ready. So let’s not lose heart; let’s keep our eyes on Him and stay faithful.

Concluding Prayer

Father, thank You for Your Word and the promises that remind us You are in control. Help us to stand firm and not be dismayed by what we see happening around us. You are faithful, and we trust in You. Equip us, Lord, to stand as lights in this dark world, and use us to reach those who don’t yet know You. We love You and give You all the praise and glory, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

To be continued…

Pastor Mike