Psa 144:1-2 “Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children” – Part 1

[Study Aired February 6, 2020]

Psa 144:1  A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: 
Psa 144:2  My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me. 

God is delivering his children “from the hand of strange children“, and those strange children represent the false doctrines within us from which we must be spiritually delivered (Exo 12:43, Lev 22:25, Psa 54:3, Eze 44:9, Act 4:27).

The way in which we are delivered from “strange children” is the focus of this study,  resulting into that blessing and abundant life given in the lives of those whom God has called to be “as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude^H8403 of a palace” (vs 12). All the physical blessings mentioned in the later verses of this Psalm (Psa 144:12-15) are symbolic words which remind us of the spiritual blessing that will come upon those who are blessed to be that generation (Jer 9:23-24) who come to know the weightier matters of God’s mind (Mat 23:23) as we learn obedience through His judgments which are in our earth (1Pe 4:17, 1Jn 4:17, Heb 5:8).

Jer 9:23  Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth [Isa 26:9]: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Mat 23:23  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

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.

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

The phrase “deliver me from the hand of strange children” is used twice throughout the verses of this Psalm, so we should pay special attention to this witness of how God has purposed to deliver us through Christ to be able to rightly divide His word (2Ti 2:15). We are delivered from this vain flesh that cannot be delivered from itself unless the Lord builds the house and sets us free indeed (Psa 127:1, Joh 8:36, Joh 8:31-32).

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. [Php 2:12-13, 1Co 15:58]

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

God’s elect are called out of Babylon (Rev 18:4) and called into a maturing process that gives us victory over this vain life (vs 4) and the vain thoughts that are accompanied with falsehood (vs 8) within this life, by teaching us to number our days and apply our hearts unto wisdom (Psa 144:1) as we “keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway”. Our Father is dragging His children to Christ and nothing can prevent Him from doing what He has declared He will do from the beginning, from the foundation of the world (Psa 90:12, 1Co 9:27, Job 23:13, Isa 46:10, Eph 1:4-6).

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Psa 144:8  Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Psa 144:4  Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

Psa 144:1  A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

Psa 90:12  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

He is showing us in this Psalm that it is He and He alone who can build the new temple and do the dragging that will rid us of those false children within us [vs 11] (Heb 12:6) as we are sanctified by His word and given the power through Christ to go from glory to glory (Joh 17:17, 2Co 3:18) so “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; [Mat 24:32-34] that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude^H8403 of a palace” [vs 12] (Eze 43:10).

H8403   tab-neeth’   From H1129; structure; by implication a model, resemblance: – figure, form, likeness, pattern, similitude.

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

That “similitude of a palace” is the temple that you are (1Co 3:16) God is building up in your most holy faith (Jud 1:20-23); faith that is going to be tried and purified (1Pe 1:7) so that nothing can any longer defile that temple (1Pe 4:1-2). God purifies the temple by destroying the dead works that naturally abide in everyone, and which can only be overcome by God’s spirit that cleanses us and gives us power to overcome and keep His commandments (Zec 4:6, Rom 8:37).

Jud 1:20  But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Jud 1:21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life [1Jn 3:1].
Jud 1:22  And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Jud 1:23  And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

[The garment spotted by the flesh represents our Babylonish robe (Jos 7:21) spotted by our carnal thinking which tells us we had something to do with who we are and where we are, independent of God. That spotted garment represents the power of that man of sin on the throne who will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming today if we are being judged (2Th 2:8). We do seem as one who mocks when we give a witness of this true gospel message to the world of the destruction of all carnality symbolized by the destruction of the city in this verse (Gen 19:14). Regardless of how much things just seem to continue on as normal in the world today (2Pe 3:4), God’s elect are moving with fear as the church is built and the bride is made ready (Heb 11:7, Rev 19:7) as we experience His return right now in an earnest relationship (Eph 1:14, 2Co 1:22) that will one day have an outward fulfillment when “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1Th 4:16-18)].

God’s elect believe (Joh 6:28-29, Php 4:13) that Christ is the one who gives us the power to go from obedience to obedience “glory to glory”, and we also believe that He represents the strong meat that only nourishes His Life within us, more and more, increasing our discernment to know how to rightly divide the word through Christ and His body, the church (Heb 5:14, Eph 5:30, Eph 3:10). This lifelong process of seeing Christ increase as we decrease is being discussed in this Psalm, and the driving out of those things that defile the temple is another way of saying “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“. He must teach our hands to make spiritual warfare and our fingers to fight in order for this to happen (Psa 144:1, 1Ti 6:12)

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

[symbolized by Christ driving out the beasts of the temple and replacing them with the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world within us (Joh 1:29)]

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Psa 144:1  A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Psa 144:1A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: 

This is a psalm of “David”, and we know his name means “beloved” and that God’s beloved are the elect who are the apple of His eye today, the Israel of God (Psa 17:8, Zec 2:8, Gal 6:16).

Psa 17:8  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Zec 2:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Everything that David did to overcome the physical challenges that the Lord gave him was for our sakes (2Co 4:15) to remind us that we are more than conquerors through Christ who is our strength through whom we can endure all things throughout this life (Php 4:13).

When David says the LORD teaches his “hands to war, and my fingers to fight”, it is type and shadow language to tell us that the son of God can and will set us free from our spiritual enemies within (Joh 8:36). It will come about by our being given the faith that comes from hearing the word of God (Rom 10:17), that will be used to tear down the powers and principalities we come up against. We are promised we can overcome through Christ because we are “sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Eph 1:13-14), stated by Christ this way: “but rather rejoice (Php 4:4, Col 1:27), because your names are written in heaven” (Luk 10:16-20, Mat 24:27, 2Th 2:8).

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, [“but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven“]
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Luk 10:16  He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
Luk 10:17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

God is teaching us to do this hand-to-hand spiritual combat against the devil, against the powers and principalities that would easily sift us (Eph 6:12, Luk 22:31) if not for the mercy of God preserving us in this age through the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ (Heb 12:2, Php 1:6). Christ knows how to direct us to the still waters in our lives (Psa 23:2) so we can find the five smooth stones from the brook, stones that represent the grace and faith needed to take down the giants in our land within which will be bread for us (Tit 2:12, 1Sa 17:40, Num 14:9). He will also teach our fingers to fight and our hands to war (1Ti 6:11-12) through every joint that supplies in love, witnessing that we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us (Eph 4:14-16).

Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

1Ti 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

David’s skill with the sling represents what the body of Christ’s collective hands and fingers must do in order to overcome and endure until the end. In very practical terms it is the hands and fingers, along with our fervent and effectual prayers that He inspires so we can overcome the giants in our lands that will be bread for us (Jas 5:16). In other words it is all of the acts of service and love that each joints supplies (Eph 4:16) that we are blessed to be able to contribute to each other with our hands, with our fingers, that is going to give us the ability to overcome through Jesus Christ in this age (Heb 10:21-25, Rom 8:37).

Heb 10:21  And having an high priest over the house of God;
Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together [‘all the hands and fingers that are fighting a good fight of faith together‘], as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Psa 144:2  My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.

David goes on with all these descriptives of our great God inspired and recorded for our benefit so that we could truly see that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Rom 8:37).

My goodness

H2617  kheh’-sed
From H2616; kindness; by implication (towards God) piety; rarely (by opprobrium) reproof, or (subjectively) beauty: – favour, good deed (-liness, -ness), kindly, (loving-) kindness, merciful (kindness), mercy, pity, reproach, wicked thing.

My fortress

H4686  maw-tsood’, mets-oo-daw’, mets-oo-daw’
From H4685; a net, or (abstractly) capture; also a fastness: – castle, defence, fort (-ress), (strong) hold, be hunted, net, snare, strong place.

My high tower

H4869 mis-gawb’
From H7682; properly a cliff (or other lofty or inaccessible place); abstractly altitude; figuratively a refuge; misgab; a place in Moab: – defence, high fort (tower), refuge. H4869; Misgab, a place in Moab: – Misgab.

My deliverer

H6403  paw-lat’
A primitive root; to slip out, that is, escape; causatively to deliver: – calve, carry away safe, deliver, (cause to) escape.[1Co 10:13]

My shield, and he in whom I trust;

H4043  maw-gane’, meg-in-naw’
From H1598; a shield (that is, the small one or buckler); figuratively a protector; also the scaly hide of the crocodile: –  X armed, buckler, defence, ruler, + scale, shield.

He is all these things mentioned above to us today as he was for David in his age, the difference being that it is God’s goodness, “my goodness” or “favor” (Eph 2:8-10, Tit 2:12, Luk 1:28) being experienced within us as the strength of God through Christ, through whom we can endure all things, causing us to not fear (1Jn 4:18), and making us strong like a shield within “in whom I trust“.

Luk 1:28  And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The ability to recognize all these characteristics of our Father and Christ, “my goodness“, “my fortress“, “my high tower“, “my deliverer“, and “my shield“, is learned through a process of overcoming as we are given strength to overcome through Christ and come to be convinced of the one “who subdueth^H7286 my people under me” (Rom 8:36-39, 1Co 9:27)

subduethH7286 [H8802] râdad
BDB Definition: 1a) (Qal) to beat down (figuratively)
Strong’s: A primitive root; to tread in pieces, that is, (figuratively) to conquer, or (specifically) to overlay: – spend, spread, subdue.

Total KJV Occurrences: 4
•spent, 1   Jdg_19:11
•spread, 1  1Ki_6:32  [“and overlaid them with gold, and spreadH7286 gold upon the cherubims”]
•subdue, 1  Isa_45:1 [“whose right hand I have holden, to subdueH7286 nations before him”]
•subdueth, 1  Psa_144:2

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. [Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:]

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s children are not taken out of the world (Joh 17:15), and the one sign that witnesses where Christ and His true body are today is found in these words of our Lord which reveal where this process of overcoming is taking place (Mat 12:39-40) as those who are no longer of our Father the devil, who is symbolized by Leviathan (Job 41:1-5, Isa 27:1, Rev 20:2). The sign of that change from being of our father the devil is our being rejected by this world of which he is the father of (2Co 4:4, Joh 8:44).

Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

Mat 12:39  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Mat 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

God’s elect come out of her, out of Babylon, out of Leviathan (Psa 74:14, Exo 14:30, Num 14:9), to be swallowed up by a great fish (Mat 12:40, Mat 4:19) where we learn that we are more than conquerors through Him as we live out our life of overcoming by grace through faith (Eph 2:8).

Psa 74:13  Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psa 74:14  Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat [Num 14:9] to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

Exo 14:30  Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

Num 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

Psa 144:7  Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;

“Jonah is a type of the body of Christ who cries out to God for deliverance, and that deliverance was symbolized by the “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” where our hope of glory (Col 1:27) is in that same earth “the Son of man” where “the process of spiritual completion [3]” is being accomplished in our flesh (his body, the church), [the church]” (two parallel verses (Jon 2:1-4, Heb 5:7). Being in the “heart of the earth” and in the “great fish” are symbolic events which tell us the same thing. When we are bound to the altar (Psa 118:27) we have no choice to be anywhere but where God is dragging us [men becoming fisher of men who are on his line] (Joh 6:44), just as Jonah had to be in the great fish (Jon 1:17).” ~ end quote ~ (emphasis mine tonight) [link here for the study on Psa 130:1-8 with excerpt above.]

His true witnesses have been given power to overcome the world through faith (Rev 11:3, Zec 4:6). We are no longer dragged about by the lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life [our former conversation controlled by leviathan Psa 104:26, Isa 27:1, Eph 2:1-3]. Yes, we are still in the world but not of it as we go through a process (Rom 8:36) in the sea of humanity where Leviathan resides and from which we will overcome through Christ who will take us where our flesh [in that great fish, the church Jer 22:29] does not want to go in the sea of humanity (Joh 21:18).

Isa 27:1  In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Joh 21:18  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

It is in the church where we will learn that He makes a way for us to bear the fiery trials of this life (1Co 10:13, 1Pe 4:12) becoming more than conquerors through Christ who are filling up what is behind of His afflictions for his body’s sake the church (Lev 16:10, Lev 16:21, Col 1:24). It is at the hand of a “fit man” that the scapegoat is taken into the wilderness; that fit man being Christ in us, our hope of glory who “shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (Col 1:27). It is Christ and Christ alone who can, “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children.”