Shame Them, So That They May Seek You

Psalm 83

Preached Wednesday, February 19, 2003
by Dennis Gundersen

Some Psalms are written for worship, some Psalms are prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ (Messianic) and some Psalms are prayers. This one is a prayer. It’s a prayer from a man named Asaph, who sees his nation, Israel, threatened by her enemies.

Psalms such as these often contain valuable insights for prayer that we can relate to the spiritual fronts on which we are battling, when we get to the application portion of a message. For we don’t often find ourselves, in this world, individually in the spot that Asaph speaks of here: someone making shrewd plans against us; many conspiring together to our harm, to wipe us out so that we are remembered no more; a host wanting to possess for themselves the pastures of God. I haven’t noted any violent attempts from the neighbors to seize our church property or mug the men who collect the offering.

But we do have enemies. We have spiritual foes who would certainly prevent us from being an effective witness, from operating as salt and light in our culture. And just as Asaph and David often prayed that God would destroy their physical foes, because they had promises pertaining to land and inhabiting the territory the Lord had given them, we are entitled and encouraged to pray against and to call on God to stop the spiritual forces of evil that resist us and threaten our progress in the Lord.

But I still have another point entirely from this Psalm, concerning current events; I suppose it’s my follow-up to recent Sunday morning messages, in light of how near our nation is to war with another nation, maybe more than one other nation. But I’m not going to either interpret or apply this in the way that many would today. We can’t make our side out to be "your people", v 3; and we can’t make those who oppose us to be "Thine enemies"; at least they’re not God’s enemies because they oppose us.

In fact, I am always reluctant even to encourage Americans with the promise of 2 Chron 7:14, the "if My people who are called by My name" passage, because we are not His people and we are not called by His name as a nation. God never gave this nation His "name". That’s not even a fact related to our repentance and faith or lack of it; we’re simply not a nation that God called to be His. There was only one such nation that ever enjoyed that selected privilege, which of course was Israel.

The question was raised, how much can we learn about what a permissible war is from the wars in which God was with Israel, the wars that God even commissioned Israel to boldly go into – and it was rightly and properly answered that any other nation can’t draw too many lessons from that to apply to themselves, for Israel was in a unique, theocratic relationship with God, the likes of which relationship never existed for any nation, before or since.

Certainly, we cannot claim any such relationship to God, and despite the founding fathers’ intent, even in our era of best character, we never could. Many nations like to fancy themselves the special people of God, but only Israel has enjoyed that privilege – and when you turn from God, that privilege is so laden with responsibility that it becomes a judgment.

And so, if you think I was going to apply words like vv 2-3 to Saddam Hussein, or v 5 to Osama Bin Laden, or v 12 to the armies of the Arabs, well, they are enemies of God, but not because they are enemies of ours. The resistance to God those verses describe emerges from men’s lives in a wide variety of forms. We have our own breed of resistance here, which is no less hostile to God than that of those evil men.

There is one kind of refusal to submit to the will of God, as revealed in the Scriptures, among the states that claim allegiance to Allah. There is another kind of refusal to submit to the will of God, as revealed in the Scriptures, among the states that daily show their allegiance to independence and the right of self-rule.

God stands in a totally different vantage point than we do, viewing this world. He has ordained war as one of His many means to dole out retribution against sin. His declaration of war and death goes for all sin. God’s declaration of war with the nations was not pronounced as a result of a power-hungry, proud ruler building chemical weapons. God’s declaration of war did not begin when we made abortion legal, either. God pronounced His declaration on a man and woman who ate a piece of fruit He told them not to. For that, He changed the face of the world, the destiny of the race, the affairs of nations. The world lives under an arrangement in which "the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness."

What does that tell you? For one, that God reserves the right to always judge rebellion against His Law, when He chooses. So, if both sides in a conflict are idolaters, then both sides in the conflict stand a good chance of God being in the matter to harm them. Any national breach of the righteousness of God is warrant for God to punish that nation. Any disregard for Christ is sufficient to provoke the anger of God.

God Himself engages in and commences war, for His own purpose. His purposes are always to glorify justice, and to manifest holiness. He uses it to bring justice against sinners. What is striking is that God also has redemptive purposes in mind, at all times, no matter what else, even while enforcing justice. More on that later. But do keep in mind that the deeds of any of us do warrant death – Rom 3:23: the soul that sins shall die.

There is no person who does not deserve God’s punishment of death for sin. It is retribution for sin. Do you understand that it is no more of an oddity for God to use war to pay the wages of sin as it is for Him to use disease, accident, old age, or whatever else He sends to conclude a life. So the "innocent" widow who dies in war is not innocent of sin; and death is her wages from God, too. Now, it is still fitting to call her "innocent" in a way, in that she is uninvolved in this conflict, and so the response of God to her is not the same as the raging justice of God against a cruel, marauding soldier, who has been ruthless in his use of power upon others. Some have sins that go over their heads, and those who have not been merciful will receive no mercy. God’s punishments to some are merciful compared to his punishments of others. But how God views her depends, of course, on all her deeds in this life as well, and not just her deeds in connection with the war.

The only hope we have of being used of God and favored to any extent by God in this current matter is: 1) God can and does use an evil nation to be a tool of justice, to accomplish the good justice which is in His mind; and 2) God hates the injustice of oppression, and in the current war, our position does not appear, as far as we know, to be that of a power wishing to dominate or oppress. So maybe we will be used as an instrument of God, to crush the particular evil whom we oppose. But we must be prepared, as well, for God to judge us through people whose sins are simply different than ours.

What captured me most in this Psalm, in thinking about it since Monday, is what God does among people through times of conflict, when nations go to war. War does at times awaken men to certain Biblical truths which they have been inattentive to:

Since Asaph’s prayer is God-inspired scripture, we can be encouraged to renew our minds and alter our thinking about what is appropriate for us to pray, by considering it. And here are a few perspectives:

1) Pray that the Hand of God in Making War Will Alter Men’s Trust in the Stability of this World – v 13

"O my God, make them like the whirling dust; like chaff before the wind."

V 13 is a prayer, in short, that people would be "blown away", that is, scattered, driven off, beaten in such a way that our trust in the stability of things of this life is altered. We tend to think of life in this world as largely unchanging and unchangeable at its main points. The outlook we find in the lips of men in 2 Pet 3:3-4 is common; but this habit of mockers is changed when God shakes the world with war. We see how easily blasted away we are, during times of war.

2) Pray that the Hand of God in Making War Will Create An Awareness of God’s Judgment – vv 14-15

"Like fire that burns the forest, and like a flame that sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Thy tempest, and terrify them with Thy storm."

This resembles those times that King David prays for God to give him success over his enemies; when he prays that God would utterly destroy them. He prays for their complete defeat, even their death. Many of David’s prayers did not seek mercy for his enemies, not even a change of their minds, just to get rid of them, slay them. There are reasons for that in David’s purpose in God’s plan that I won’t go into now.

But Asaph sees more than opportunity for this. Remember that, in such times, God accomplishes not just something for justice and holiness, but something with redemption in mind. This chief musician of David sees that side of the story for us to think about. It’s more in keeping with how Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies now, teaching us: "Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who persecute you" – and I mean, all at enmity with the gospel, whether Western enemies or Eastern enemies of the gospel. For we will soon see that we really only have one kingdom. For those resisting it, pray for them, with positive blessing in mind, for their good. Don’t seek their harm, as they do you. Asaph seems to have that spirit when he reaches v 16:

3) Pray that the Hand of God in Making War Will Shame Men So that they Seek Him – v 16

"Fill their faces with dishonor, that they may seek Thy name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and dismayed forever; and let them be humiliated and perish."

There is such a mixture in this prayer. He prays for dishonor, shame, dismay, humiliation, perishing – and, for seeking the Lord as a result. The tie between people becoming ashamed and those people learning from that shame to seek God, is worthy of thought. Shame has often weaned people from their idols. And Asaph prays not for just a little shame, but a considerable dose of it – a weighty burden of shame: for he prays "fill their faces with shame."

That’s a Hebrew figure of speech for the face of one overwhelmed – visibly – with the felt awareness of how insignificant I am, how guilty I am, perhaps disgusting and corrupt, (there are a lot of factors that bring people to shame), even discouraged and depressed, and all of it very obvious – wishing I could conceal how disgraced I am, cover it up, but I can’t. Scripturally, shame often has to do with personal humiliation at the obvious realization that I have been sinful and have broken God’s commands; that I’m a sinner.

Is Asaph praying for judgment or for mercy? Well, I think Asaph is just being realistic enough to know that, in such times, some of both occur, and his prayer is submission to that dual purpose of God’s will. Some will repent when they are disgraced and ashamed of their horrible defeat. Some will question whether the god they have trusted is as trustworthy as they thought he was, and will consider the claims of Christ. Some will turn from the god of Islam and some will turn from the god of money and earthly lusts. And yes, others, who will not turn from their evil ways, will just be humiliated and perish. But don’t underestimate the measure of shame and disgrace which God may bring upon people in this world, as He patiently purposes to bring some to Himself.

To say that there is not nearly enough shame today among people is such a minimalizing of the concept of shame. There has never been enough shame among people! We do not comprehend the guilt of sin; we don’t grasp it. There is never shame until people learn and come to feel the viewpoint of God. When people don’t know what God calls sin, or refuse to agree in their conscience with what they do know of it, then they won’t know when they have sinned and will not be ashamed over it.

But too much of the Law of God is written on men’s hearts for them to ignore it all, and so some shame is possible to alert in the conscience, by this or that hard providence. For shame to fill someone usually requires some sort of encounter with God’s Word. But another encounter that often does it is, being utterly humiliated. People have at times been brought to give up their pride and resistance, when they have been defeated in this world in such a way as greatly shatters their hopes anyway. When they are so disheartened, everything has failed them, and they begin to consider their ways – and they turn to God.

Asaph has enough of a missionary heart that he would have the people of neighboring nations, who worship idols, to start to call on the Lord. Don’t you wish some of the people you know would get so defeated in their lives, so disappointed over this world, that they would finally become desperate about their souls and bow the knee to Christ?

But others will, by the very same forces and effects, be destroyed and utterly humiliated. Shame will make them grow bitter and refuse to repent, refuse to face up to their sin, and they must perish in that shame. We have the consolation that God is glorified in that, too, in ways that neither disappoint or embarrass Him.

4) Pray That the Hand of God in Making War Will Bring Men to Recognize God Alone as Lord of All – v 18

"That they may know that Thou alone, Whose name is the Lord, Art the Most High over all the earth."

Someone asked me today if this Psalm was a "Most High" Psalm – as you see, it is. It’s one word – a name, Elyon. A name meant to communicate to men the humbling, devastating truth that anything else or anyone else in whom or in which they trust is nothing in comparison to this God.

We can hope in any wartime that some will turn from sin because the circumstances help them recognize that God is the Most High God over all the earth; that He alone is Lord. As they lose their rulers, in whom they trusted, as they flee or are captured or die, they learn that there is One King of kings and Lord of lords, Who sets up one man with authority and puts down another. On a more personal level, the greater need is that people, such as those of our culture, would become ashamed of having made lesser things their idols and gods, and instead turn from those idols to serve the true God.

Our nation will probably survive this without losing our leaders. But we don’t really know that for sure. I was not expecting to lose a President in November, 1963, one morning as I went to school as a boy – but I soon learned that we had, when John F. Kennedy was killed. God has taken leaders from us at unexpected times before. It is not likely that our nation will get through the next few years without significant loss, on some front. And when it happens, whatever magnitude the loss is – for I share the opinion that 9/11 is just Act One, not a climax, but an introduction – when our losses are more painful than expected, then it is that people are sometimes driven and compelled to acknowledge the superior greatness of the Most High, and that He can turn tables however He wishes.

Most of the people whose conversion you pray for need exactly this: to be filled with shame, that they may seek God. To be humiliated, so they will see God. If men becoming ashamed of self, if being thoroughly disgraced in their own eyes, if it contributes to stopping every mouth before God, so that some will seek the glory that only God has to give and seek the adequacy of His salvation, then better goals than another century of prosperity and earthly comfort will have been brought to pass.

So, as we close, note that the Psalm began "O God, do not remain quiet; do not be silent and O, God, do not be still. For behold, Thine enemies make an uproar…" – yes, they do make an uproar. They talk so much, threatening this, promising that, assuring us that they can guard us. But if there is anything our era and generation needs, it’s to stop listening to the endless roar, the boasting, the empty chatter from men of this world, and hear from God – for His voice to be heard. We should pray that He will speak to men loudly in the coming conflict, and if not in this conflict, then in some way soon that will make men take note that He is God.