Psa 144:3-15 “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children” – Part 2

[Study Aired February 13, 2020]

Psa 144:3  LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him! 
Psa 144:4  Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away. 
Psa 144:5  Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 
Psa 144:6  Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them. 
Psa 144:7  Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children; 
Psa 144:8  Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 
Psa 144:9  I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. 
Psa 144:10  It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. 
Psa 144:11  Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: 
Psa 144:12  That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: 
Psa 144:13  That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: 
Psa 144:14  That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
Psa 144:15  Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

What is man without the judgments of God upon him (1Pe 4:17) is the opening question in this second part of our study entitled “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children“. If we are being judged by the Lord today, our desire should be to know Him and His son which is “life eternal” (Joh 17:3).

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent [what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him!].

When God “takest knowledge^H3045 “of us, it is speaking of something He is doing with the body of Christ today who are the ones who “makest account^H2803” and acknowledge that God is sovereign in all the affairs of man from start to finish (Gen 45:5-7, Col 1:17).

Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. [What is man, that thou takest knowledge of him!]

Many “prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see”, but Christ tells us it is only given to a few to see and to hear and be changed by keeping His judgment (Rev 1:3) which leads us unto repentance where we “makest account^H2803” (Rom 2:4) and learn of His “goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” toward us through those judgments (Luk 10:24, Isa 26:9).

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Luk 10:24  For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Just knowing those two words “knowledge^H3045” and “account^H2803” should help set the stage for the rest of this study that addresses the vanity of man’s flesh [the fleshly carnal mind, in other words] that God knows how to destroy through judgment [“that thou makest account of him”] (Mat 10:28). The fruit that comes about as a result of that judgment in our earth is we will learn of His righteousness (Isa 26:9) and we will “sing a new song unto thee”, that song being symbolic of the new life of Christ that is formed in us through judgment as we decrease and Christ increases within us (Joh 3:30). We become friends or acquaintances of God and Jesus Christ by coming to know them through the knowledge that we grow in by grace through faith in Christ (Joh 17:3, Eph 2:8).

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

H3045 knowledge  yaw-dah’  A primitive root; to know (properly to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively instruction, designation, punishment, etc.): – acknowledge, acquaintance [Joh_15:15] (-ted with), advise, answer, appoint, assuredly, be aware, [un-] awares, can [-not], certainly, for a certainty, comprehend, consider, X could they, cunning, declare, be diligent, (can, cause to) discern, discover, endued with, familiar friend, famous, feel, can have, be [ig-] norant, instruct, kinsfolk, kinsman, (cause to, let, make) know, (come to give, have, take) knowledge, have [knowledge], (be, make, make to be, make self) known, + be learned, + lie by man, mark, perceive, privy to, X prognosticator, regard, have respect, skilful, shew, can (man of) skill, be sure, of a surety, teach, (can) tell, understand, have [understanding], X will be, wist, wit, wot.
[H8799] = ‘causal’ action Qal:   1. to know

H2803 account  khaw-shab’ A primitive root; properly to plait or interpenetrate, that is, (literally) to weave or (generally) to fabricate; figuratively to plot or contrive (usually in a malicious sense); hence (from the mental effort) to think, regard, value, compute: – (make) account (of), conceive, consider, count, cunning (man, work, workman), devise, esteem, find out, forecast, hold, imagine, impute, invent, be like, mean, purpose, reckon (-ing be made), regard, think.

[H8762] = ‘intentional’ Piel:   1. to think upon, consider, be mindful of  2. to think to do, devise, plan 3.  to count, reckon.

It is God who gives salvation to kings as stated in verse 10, and this type and shadow deliverance in this instance is given to His servant David, who represents God’s elect “from the hurtful [H7451 = ra = evil]  sword”. That hurtful sword is the false doctrines which are wielded for so long in our heavens “from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood” that the Lord must deliver us from. It is in their right hand because there is an appearance of strength with these powers and principalities against which we wrestle through the night, but Christ who is in us is greater and “far above all” these powers and falsehoods that reside in our heavens and which need to be removed as we are sanctified by His word (Eph 6:12, Eph 1:21, 1Jn 4:4, 1Pe 1:4, Rev 14:4, 1Jn 4:4-6).

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 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

The last few verses of this study (vs 12 to 15) reveal the abundant fruit which is produced as a result of having God’s judgments in our lives today (1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17) and the blessing that becomes part of those whose senses are exercised to discern good and evil in this age (Heb 5:13-14). That discerning is a life-long process that God’s elect are called unto  as we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever” (2Pe 3:18) as we learn to wield the two-edged sword of God (Heb 4:12) by His power and not by our own righteousness (Php 3:9, Mat 26:52).

God is ridding us of our self-righteousness, our natural inability to let go of the sword of God we hold unto with our own fleshly reasoning as we learn to trust God to accomplish what He is working in us both to will and to do (Php 2:12-13). That trust is the by-product of His judgments in our lives, of His chastening and scourging which are needed in order for us to be received of God as His sons today who are giving an accounting everyday as we die daily (Heb 12:6). A proper knife in the hand of a skilled chef or a knowledgeable butcher, can process those foods with which they are working with very great efficiency, and this is in fact what God has called each of us to do; maturing as kings and priests who are learning to rightly divide the word so we can be edified and strengthened by those things which we are blessed to come to know in the Lord (Heb 5:14, Joh 6:27).

Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

When we try to control the knife and not let the sharp knife do the work of cutting whatever we are working on, it is akin to our own righteousness, and we will soon exhaust ourselves of this vain effort unless we’re given to be more than conquerors through Christ who knows how to take our weary souls with all our cares (1Pe 5:7) and give them over to Him alone who can build this new house, all to the glory of God (Php 3:9, 1Co 2:5, Psa 127:1). This simple analogy and the words we will look at today in this study will, God willing, help us to stand by the power of God and not by the wisdom of men or by the strength of our own flesh, as we come together and pray to our heavenly Father “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children“.

Paul was clear in saying that he considered his afflictions in this life to be a great blessing knowing that this was the means by which God’s grace was going to be able to abound in his life so the gospel could continue to be preached through him and he could be used of God to fulfill His purpose for the body of Christ (2Co 12:9, Col 1:24).

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Psa 144:3  LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him! 

God knows us, of all of his creation, but not all men are being enlightened as God’s elect are today, with the knowledge and the mind of Christ (1Co 2:6-10, 1Co 2:16), and it is because His intention is to make account of us today that we can give an accounting of those things God already knows we are and where we’ve been (Ecc 11:9, Joh 21:18) just as he knew where Adam was in the garden (Gen 3:9).

1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Gen 3:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

It is that accounting that we are blessed to give in this age, being of that generation that shall not pass (Mat 24:34) which brings us to think soberly and to see ourselves for who we really are in the plan of God and how blessed we are to be His friends, His acquaintances who have an altar at which no one else can eat at this time (Mat 22:14, Isa 3:1, Heb 13:10).

God has deemed the weak of the world to be those He would take knowledge of and must bring into judgment first (1Pe 4:17); a judgment that will humble us to our core, crushing us under the stone (Mat 21:44) through that accounting which will destroy our old carnal self and bring about the new creation through Christ (2Co 5:17, Rom 8:9).

Psa 144:4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away. 
Psa 144:5  Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 

These two verses describe the marred vessel we all are (Jer 18:4), shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin (Psa 51:5), our vain flesh and fleshly existence (Ecc 1:14) that shall pass away like a mist (Jas 4:14). It is hard for our minds to appreciate just how fleeting this life is from God’s perspective, and it is only through judgment that we can remain sober and vigilant (1Pe 5:8) in Christ as we continue to apply our hearts to wisdom and to number our days that are so few and being shepherded by the author and finisher of our faith (Psa 90:12, Php 1:6).

Bowing “thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke” are symbols of His judgments upon our carnal hearts that need to be transformed by His word in order to have a new heaven and a new earth (Rom 12:2, Rev 21:1-2).

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The heavens that bow represent new Jerusalem from above coming down or bowing and overtaking our old heavens and old earth through judgment that touches the mountains which represent our pride that needs to be destroyed resulting in the temple being filled with smoke and bringing forth those who have “his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Rev 15:8, Rev 14:1).

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

The old covenant type of this event is shown when the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9) was being given to Moses, and at this time the mountains did smoke as well; the law being given as a type of the new covenant law of the spirit of Christ (Exo 19:18). The first law given could not change us, but only show us how exceeding sinful we were and powerless over it (Rom 7:13). However, the second law, the law of the spirit of Christ (Gal 6:2), is the new covenant realization of “thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke“, Christ in us our hope of glory who will consume everything that breathes with His fiery word (Heb 12:29).

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Exo 19:18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Psa 144:6  Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them. 
Psa 144:7  Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children; 
Psa 144:8  Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 

God’s lightning that scatters the false doctrines of our heart, and His arrows are the same thing, his word that goes forth and is sent into our heavens by way of a process of sanctification (Joh 17:17) that is coming from above (we are in darkness 1Th 5:2, then he sends his word that is likened unto lightning Mat 24:27, to destroy the man of perdition within 2Th 2:8). Boasting is excluded therefore by the law of faith that is required in order for God to “deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children”.

Those within us are known by their fruits and must be destroyed as “they speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood” (2Pe 2:18). It is those great swelling words within us that God knows how to destroy through fiery trials which will calm the sea within us as we are brought to our safe haven Jesus Christ (1Pe 4:12, Psa 107:30).

Those principalities and powers spoken of as “a right hand of falsehood” are described as such to remind us that the leaven of the Pharisees has a power, in this case a negative representation of power on the right hand, of which we must be mindful (Mat_16:6) and can only be overcome by the brightness of His coming into our heavens so that these seeds of the wicked one (Mat 13:25) don’t take root and bring forth “strange children” false doctrines.

Psa 144:9  I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. 

As our heavens are cleansed of false doctrines, these false riches are replaced with the true riches of knowing God and Christ and His body (Joh 17:3), and we can now sing a new song of praise, meaning we are able to worship God in spirit and in truth now that all things are new in Christ (Joh 4:23, 2Co 5:17) having had our heavens cleansed of all filthiness (2Co 7:1).

All of this is worship unfolding within the earnest condition (Eph 1:14, Rom 8:23, Rom 8:19, Php 1:20) that we are in “upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings”, the ten now representing the positive relation of the number ten being fulfilled in a life that is being led by the spirit of God (Rom 8:14) and glorifying Him with all our thoughts and actions that He is giving us the power through Christ to bring into subjection unto Him (Rom 8:16, 1Co 10:31, 2Co 10:5).

Psa 144:10  It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. 
Psa 144:11  Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: 

This section of Psalm 144 is at the heart of what our calling is all about. It is a free gift (Eph 2:8), the “salvation” given “unto kings” (Rev 5:10), and is only possible because He “delivereth David^H1732 his servant from the hurtful^H7451 sword“.

It’s God’s beloved, His elect, who are first delivered from all the strange children, false doctrines of this world as we are healed through Christ and made ready as the bride of Christ who will bring forth living waters (Rev 19:7, Joh 7:38) that will be sent out to all the nations to bring healing (Psa 107:20, Rev 22:2).

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Psa 144:12  That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: 
Psa 144:13  That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: 

The reward (Jud 1:24, 1Th 2:19), the end result of being blessed to be made ready to be his bride, is so aptly described in these verses.

Jud 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25  To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

1Th 2:19  For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? [Rev 3:11, Joh 10:28] Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20  For ye are our glory and joy.

The temple of God that we are (1Co 3:16) is being formed as the foundation for all of God’s government that will be established and ordered by God through Christ (Isa 9:6-8) and it is likened to his wife (Rev 19:7) who will bring forth many children as described in this verse “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace“.

We are as Christ now (1Jn 4:17), to the end that the rest of the world will come to know Christ through the church, through the nine pillars found in the temple of God that represent the judgment we will be blessed to administer in the lake of fire (#5 – Exo 26:36-37) so that all the rest of humanity (#4 – Exo 26:32-34) can be grafted into the body of Christ “as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace“.

Verse thirteen is more of the same, speaking of the abundance God will give to the elect, and that abundance is the nations of the world whom we will be blessed to bring into our Father’s joy as Christ did for us (Mat 25:21, 1Jn 4:17).

Mat 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Look at the language used to describe this abundance, and think of Joseph who typifies the elect who laid up store in the garners, which resulted in “affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets“.

His inspired life is a type of the elect. He brought about the conditions (by God’s design) that were going to physically save the world of his time, and Joseph’s brothers represent the other fold [all of the world] that God’s elect will save (Joh 10:16, Oba 1:21), symbolized by this verse “our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets“.

Psa 144:14  That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets. 
Psa 144:15  Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

There will be peace and no end to the joy that all of humanity will experience when it is all said and done, and these next verses give witness to that fact that all of God’s creation will be “happy” and content and productive: “That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD“.

We are all heading toward endless joy and happiness, and God’s elect will have the blessing of being able to give life and to utter the words that our Father gives us the ability to receive in earnest today as we pray for his kingdom to come (Mat 25:21).

Mat 25:21  His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Those words will be uttered through God’s elect because we are as Christ is, but they won’t be uttered until the world goes through judgment as we are going through now, and that judgment will produce a mindset through and through which will glorify God as being all in all (1Co 15:28), within a creation that has been rid and delivered from “the hand of strange children“.