“Hear the word of God, and keep it”(Luk 11:28)

Introduction

Psa 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.
Psa 64:2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
Psa 64:3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
Psa 64:4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
Psa 64:5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
Psa 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.
Psa 64:7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
Psa 64:8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
Psa 64:9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
Psa 64:10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

This prayer in verse one of Psalm 64 sets the tone for what God is bringing the body of Christ to be able to do in this age in advance of so many others who are sincerely crying out to Him. It is “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man [that] availeth much” after all, and we know that it is the righteousness of Christ alone that is accepted before our Father and that makes our prayers powerful and spiritually effective for the body of Christ and for those for whom we pray (Jas 5:14-16).

We are of the generation that has no confidence in the flesh, and yet God inspired the psalmist to write “hear my voice” and “preserve my life”. So we must ask which “voice” is really being spoken about here and which “life” is to be preserved.

If God hears my voice and I am as Christ (1Jn 4:17) and Christ and our Father are one (Joh 10:30), then we must share in that oneness of our prayer life as well (Joh 14:20). It may be obvious, but it still needs to be stated that God hears every prayer, so when the scripture is written “hear my voice, O God, in my prayer” we are being reminded that although our prayer is heard that does not mean that God is going to act upon our every request (Jas 4:15, Luk 22:42-44). It is only when we are broken by God and given a humble and contrite heart from our Creator that we can make that prayer of faith to our Father that is accepted in the beloved, a prayer just as the one that Christ made in the garden, prayers that eventually and over time say more and more consistently “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Isa 66:2, Eph 1:6).

We live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, so we are the disciples of (Mat 26:40-45) who sleep on in our time, to eventually be given to see that it is “high time to awake” (Rom 13:11) as Christ’s bride who is no longer dull of hearing and blind to the signs of the time that are around us and in God’s word (Mat 16:3, Gen 29:17).

Mat 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Mat 26:43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.
Mat 26:44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Mat 26:45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

We rejoice that God has given us to hear the voice of the true Shepherd (Rev 14:4, Rom 8:14). The trumpets of the book of Revelation pronounce judgment upon the marred vessel and those judgments will be understood and heeded if Christ is in fact working in us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure, which is to have Christ be the author and finisher of our faith today. That mature faith comes about as a result of being able to hear spiritually and act upon that which we hear (Rev 1:3, Rom 2:13).

Being able to hear and see spiritually does not preclude that there is no struggle involved with our being able to endure until the end (Mat 24:13), and Christ’s life demonstrates for us that we ought to be as He is at this time watching and praying and being alert and awake today right now with our garments being kept unspotted from the world (Rev 3:4, Rev 7:14). This tall order is impossible to accomplish accept the Lord give us the ability to not fall asleep in the garden as all the disciples did and we all must do in our appointed time.

Rev 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

We will overcome by His grace and faith (Eph 2:8) which causes us to stand as we discussed in last week’s study. God brings us to our wits-end, and manifests within us strong prayers with tears (Heb 5:7) and like Christ we are heard “in that he feared”. So we are heard under these circumstances, but prior to such heartfelt prayers there is a season when our prayers along with our outward actions are very much self-centered (Jas 4:3). All such prayers are not heard, or rather not acted upon (Jas 1:6). It takes the destruction of our carnal minds, as chapter 4 of the book of James clearly says (Jas 4:6-9), to be able to “having done all stand” (Eph 6:13) and to finally be able to make powerful prayers that will unfold in a process that will enable us to understand that this is a work of the Lord within us delivering us from the otherwise undeliverable beasts that we are (Rev 13:4).

It is God’s purpose to show us that light comes out of darkness and so we must have this season of asking amiss and having to be tormented through the process that humbles us and brings us to see that it is Christ in us who is our life and the only one who can preserve our life from “fear of the enemy” by making the kind of prayers that availeth much and give us victory over the enemy we are overcoming together in this age.

Tonight we will look at how scripture defines the wickedness of man’s heart against Christ, and how God for a season uses those evil messengers to remind us that we need our Lord to defend us against the otherwise unstoppable powers and principalities that we cannot make war against (Eph 6:12 , Rev 13:4) except the Lord build up the defences of our life through Christ and His body.

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Psa 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.

It is “in my prayer” (Luk 18:1, Mat 26:41) that the life of Christ is preserved within us. We are admonished to not neglect so great a salvation which is accompanied with victory over “fear of the enemy” if we are being given to stir up God’s spirit within us and realize confidently (Heb 11:6, Heb 10:35) that He who is in us is greater than him who is in the world (Heb 2:3, 1Jn 4:4).

Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

1Jn 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

(1Jn 4:6) reminds us that hearing is a spiritual matter, and although the Lord causes the world and ourselves who are coming out of the world to make many prayers, at this time it is only given unto the elect to offer up prayers that preserve the life of Christ within us (Joh 14:6, Col 1:27, Rom 8:9) from fear of the inward enemy of the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1Jn 2:16).

God is merciful to all those who cry out to Him, and He alone knows the heart of the person making the prayer as He is the one motivating the person to either make a prayer from a broken and contrite heart or perhaps from a place that is more focused for the time on their own need even still being broken from whatever trial or circumstance that has brought them to this point (Php 2:4).

We need to pray for each other and ask for our own daily needs spiritually, but we also need to realize that God is the author of our prayer life that is growing with His spirit (1Co 3:6) within as He bring us to be able to offer up the types of prayers that give us the ability to put off the flesh and go through the fiery trials of this life which are the only things that will make it possible for this gift of faith that we are given to become tried and tested, the kind of faith that works with the love of God for good of all others (1Pe 1:7, Gal 5:6).

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

There were secret counsels against Christ which parallel what will happen to the elect especially at the end of this age (Mat 12:14, Act 4:27, Rev 11:7-10), and it is important for us to see this and understand that God will make provision for us when those days become more overt and we are dragged where we do not want to go (Joh 21:18) to give witness among those whom God would have us leave this witness (Act 7:57-60, Luk 21:11-12)

Mat 12:14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Luk 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Luk 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

We are hidden in the Lord (Col 3:3), and consequently it does not matter what people do to our flesh (Mat 10:28), and as always it will be by going through the fire and the trials of having to be falsely accused in this world that we will be hidden “from the secret counsel of the wicked”. It is not by escaping the crowds that Christ was preserved from “the insurrection of the workers of iniquity”, although there was a season where God delivered Christ from all their attempts to destroy his flesh because Christ’s time had not come to be apprehended (Joh 10:39), but when it did come He was made ready by going through the process of fervent prayer and being strengthened by the angel in the garden that God sent to him (Luk 22:41-45).

Luk 22:40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
Luk 22:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luk 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Luk 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Luk 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luk 22:45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
Luk 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

Psa 64:3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
Psa 64:4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.

What is going to be and already has been one of the hardest trials we have to endure through Christ is the false accusations of those who are enemies of the cross (Pro 25:18, Php 3:18), and although the Lord will let them “whet their tongue like a sword” and “and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words” as the scripture says, we can be confident as the body of the Christ that we can stay the hand of Satan and all the fiery darts that God will allow to be sent our way at the appointed time (Psa 12:3, Pro 10:31, Eph 6:16).

We are told exactly how the enemy operates. It is in secret and using the blitzkrieg method to attack Christ without fear.

For those who are not familiar with the term, here is the meaning of the word blitzkrieg:

A German term for “lightning war” – blitzkrieg – is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserve human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery.

All of this reminds us of these words of our Lord that remind us of how powerfully God can remove these spirits in an instance (Luk 10:18, Act 9:3-4).

Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Nothing is going to surprise the elect if the Lord is making our hearts ready for all such attacks which are predestined to occur. We need only go from verses 7 to 9 of this psalm 64 (Psa 64:7-9) to see this point in God’s plan which is also declared in (Isa 48:3):

Psa 64:7 And God doth shoot them with an arrow, Sudden have been their wounds,
Psa 64:8 And they cause him to stumble, Against them is their own tongue, Every looker on them fleeth away.

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

This verse really speaks about that part of our human nature that foolishly hides in the garden (Gen 3:8) from the Lord, deluded into thinking that we cannot only hide from the Lord but plan and plot in such a way that we could even overtake his plans and purpose by doing what we want outside of His will, which we know nothing is (Rev 20:8, Eph 1:11).

Amo 9:2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:

We dig into hell, the evil earthly ‘earth, earth, earth’ experience that God gives us (Ecc 1:13, Jer 22:29) to eventually give an accounting in the day of our judgment (Ecc 11:9, Mat 12:36, 1Pe 4:17).

All those laying of snares in secret become our own trap that we fall into in the day of evil that the Lord made for himself (Pro 16:4, Isa 29:15).

The Lord reveals who we are and how great His power and hand is over all the affairs of humanity, the light and the darkness, which are the same unto Him (Psa 139:12, Joh 1:5).

Psa 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.

God gives us a powerful enemy both within and without, who are “ever learning” but not able to come to “the knowledge of the truth” for a very specific reason (2Ti 3:7): It is the vain philosophies of man throughout the ages and the science falsely so called (Col 2:8, 1Ti 6:20) throughout the aions that have been profound and deep and have kept the mind of mankind in darkness and unbelief of the true Creator and His purposes (2Co 4:4).

This is the “diligent H2664 searchH2665” spoken of in this verse, and Rotherham says it well:

Psa 64:6 (Rotherham) They devise perverse things, They have completed the device well devised, Both the intent of each one, and the mind, are unsearchable.

Gen 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

All of this deception has been according to God’s counsel who will suddenly break the vanity and lies that we have held onto in one symbolic hour (Jos 11:6, Gen 32:24, Rev 18:10). The Lord will bring into the light all this iniquity, perverseness, vanity, deceit (Zep 3:5, Zep 3:13, Psa 147:6) that is the strength of the horse in us that will be broken (Jer 8:6, Psa 147:10), and “all that watch for iniquity are cut off” (Isa 29:20).

(For more information please see: Animals in Scripture – Horse

What will hamstring (hough) the hind leg of the beast is shadowed in this verse as well (Gen 25:26) and God has made manifest this correlation between the heal of Esau being bruised by Jacob and the houghing of the horse to remind us that we are beasts who will only be overcomers once God takes away our strength by the hand of the Lord (Gen 32:25) typified by Jacob taking hold of Esau’s heel (Ecc 3:19). And it is then that “all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing” and “The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory”(Psa 64:9-10).

Psa 64:9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
Psa 64:10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

[More studies in this series can be found at https://anthocul.wordpress.com and additional study notes can be seen by joining Tony’s Thursday night study at 7:30 p.m. ET. The link to join is on the home page of this site. Furthers questions or comments can be sent to Tony at anthocul@sympatico.ca.]