Victory in the Day of Trouble

Psalm 20. It's in the battle before the battle where the battle is actually won. The battle before the battle, where the battle is won, Is won. I want this psalm to prepare us tonight for victory in times of trouble. Victory in the day of trouble. I think I uploaded one a little bit later today.

I'm going to talk to you about the battle before the battle. Let me read to you Psalm 20. Verse 1, May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. May he send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion.

May he remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offering acceptable. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel. We will sing for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his hand. Some boast in chariots, some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stood upright.

Save, O Lord. May the King answer us in the day of trouble. We call. Remember in 1944, General Eisenhower gave an order for the day. It was an order to encourage the Allied soldiers who were taking part in the D-Day invasion. There was a battle going on in the hearts of those who would have to storm the shores that day, knowing that there would be great casualties in this great day of trouble.

And this is what the General's words were. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force, you are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.

In company with our brave allies and brother-in-arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy He is well trained, well equipped, battle-hardened.

He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940 and 41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground.

Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.

We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let the beseech of the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. What words of Eisenhower? Think about Joshua going into the land and God telling him, Joshua, be strong and courageous. Joshua, be strong and courageous.

He said it many times to Joshua. Joshua, do it. What I say. Joshua, be strong and courageous. And it was in the battle before the battle that equipped Joshua to go into the land. You know, there never would have been a Golgotha had there not been a Gethsemane.

It was there that the battle was won. Christ, who gave himself full obedience to the Father, who committed himself to drink the cup in its fullness. It was there in Gethsemane that he decided and affirmed, Father, your will be done, not my own. And so he went to the cross.

You see, it's in the battle before the battle that the battle is actually won. And that's what this psalm is about. Four things I want to talk about tonight about this achieving victory in the day of trouble. Because the day of trouble comes for all of us. And it's what you're doing before the day of trouble that it's going to equip you for victory.

It's the battle and battles before the battle that lends itself to victory in the day of trouble. Very straightforward. Forward. How to have victory in the day of trouble. First of all, you need to know that the day of trouble will come. The day of trouble will come.

Look at Psalm verse 20, verse 1. The Psalm of David. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. In the day of distress. Trouble is the word for distress, tightness, straits. You ever see a ship going through a very narrow passageway, the straits, that's the idea of trouble, distress, straits, anxiety, anxiousness, adversity.

And in the context of Psalm 20, this distress is most likely due to a military conflict. But it's clear as you're reading through these Psalms, even the near Psalms, right around this area of the Psalter, there's a lot of other ways that distress comes about. In Psalm 22, we read these words, Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.

Many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. The psalmist is experiencing some kind. Of ridicule, some kind of public being despised or being despised publicly, rejected, viciously attacked, encircled, and cornered. The day of trouble for him in that context. Psalm 25, 16 says, This, turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distresses, out of my straits and anxieties, the troubles. And these troubles are coming about because he's lonely. Guilt, there's shame, personal enemies. There's all kinds of things as you're going through the psalm book that you see, a person is put into distressing circumstances.

You've experienced it. All kinds. Psalm 34, 16. The face of the Lord is against evildoers to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34, it's clear that the psalmist is devastated. Over the evil things that people do. Sometimes just reading the news sometimes can be devastating at what goes on or hearing about what other people do to other people.

And that can put you in a state of distress, mourning, and grief. A lot of biblical examples of those who face the day of trouble. You remember Jacob. Remember Jacob? He decides to go back. Remember, he had an issue with Esau. It's interesting. Some of his troubles were due to his own doing, weren't they?

He had troubles because of his own conduct. And so he had troubles with Esau. Then he had troubles with Laban. And then when he went back into the land, as soon as he got there, there was this issue in Shechem with Dinah and his sons slaughtered the Shechemites.

And then just right after Esau had gotten things cleared up with Esau, he goes back in the land, and there he is again. In Shechem with all this trouble that he gets, and you've made me odious. He's distressed, odious in the eyes of the inhabitants. And so now this trouble is following him around.

So what does he do? Genesis 35, 3. And he says, let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. You remember Joseph and his brothers.

Remember, Joseph was thrown into a pit. You remember, and they sold him into Egypt, his brothers. This distress came about because of sibling rivalry, a stress between tension, between brothers. They threw him in a pit, and then, in God's providence, the tables turned, and the brothers came to Joseph kneading wheat, and Joseph was disguised.

And then Joseph, or then, what happened that Joseph did, the brothers, kind of as a reckoning, understood what God was doing. In Genesis 42, 21, they said to one another, Truly, we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen.

Therefore, this distress has come upon us. Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not tell you, do not sin against the boy, and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood. So there's all kinds of distresses. Oh, we heard a great sermon not long ago, right?

About Jonah. Jonah chapter 2. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish. And he said, I called out of my distress to the Lord. Now, you talk about some narrow straits. Try the accommodations in the belly of a fish. Well, that's where he was.

Those were the distressing circumstances. And he called out to the Lord. And Jonah says this, and he answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol, and you heard my voice. And his troubles were due to what? The discipline of the Lord. He was running from the Lord.

So there's this whole spectrum of troubles that may come upon you. Trouble, distress, tightness, straits, anxiety. Troubles come in different forms and different degrees. But the military imagery of Psalm 20 provides an excellent metaphor for all these kinds of troubles and how we can overcome them. The word day, the day of trouble.

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble, a time period. It could be brief or it could be extended, a time period of trouble. Such a day is guaranteed to come for all of us one time or another, in some form, in some degree. It's important to understand the war that you're involved in.

It's a cosmic war of great spiritual proportions. What's the aim of the enemy? It's to get you to turn back from following God. That's the aim. It's aimed at your faith. The devil roams around like a lion. What does he want to destroy your confidence in God? That's what this war is about.

He wants you to distrust God. We're going to spend a lot more time seeing this in the book of Hebrews. This is the war. Get you to turn back, to curse God and die, to find God unworthy, not able to save, not able to answer, not willing to.

That's the battle that's going on. Will you trust in God or not? How do you prepare for the victory in the day of trouble? Well, first of all, you need to know that the day of trouble will come. Second, you need to recognize the Source of victory. Recognize the source of victory.

Look back at the middle of verse 1. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble you. May the Lord answer you. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. May he send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion.

May he remember all your meal offerings and find your burnt offering acceptable. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel. Notice the word you, second person singular pronoun, you. Notice the psalmist is speaking from the perspective of a person watching another person go through the day of trouble.

Here's the source. May the Lord, Yahweh, that's the source. That's the source of victory. Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. The one who has made a promise to you and keeps his promises. That's where victory is. He will keep his promises. Yahweh, highlighting that he is the covenant-keeping God. May the Lord answer you.

May he be answering you. That implies that you're appealing to him. Notice what it says next. May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high. May the Elohim of Jacob, the power, the might, the creator, the sustainer, the transformer, the redeemer of Jacob, the one who kept Jacob, may he, his name, be the one that sets you securely on high.

May he set you securely on high. What is that? May he be putting you in a state high above your circumstances, being high above the trouble that you are facing. May he put you in that safe and secure place that is untouchable by anything going on on earth or in the spirit realm.

That secure place. May he set you securely on high. It speaks of safety, security, inaccessibleness from that which troubles. Exalted, lifted up. That's the idea. And notice that it's only the most. High that can set you high above your troubles. The Most High has to be the one who can set you high above your troubles because He's the Most High.

He's higher than all of your troubles. And so He can deliver you from all of your troubles, and only He can set you securely on high. That's what safety in the day of trouble looks like. Look at verse 2. Recognizing the source of victory, may He send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion.

May He be sending you help. I love this word. You know what this word is, may He send you help. May He be sending you help. The word for help is the word helpmeet. It's the same as in Genesis 2:18. May He be sending you a resource that is of a helpful nature.

Genesis 2:18. You remember, Eve was a helpmeet from the realm of man. Adam, it was not good for him to be alone. And so what did God do? He made Eve, and same word, a helpmeat. The helpmeet here is from the sanctuary or from the holy. That's what it's actually.

Translated, may he send you help from the realm of the holy. Translators, the holy place, but it's the real place. It's not just the copy, it's from the realm of the holy. May he be sending you a help meet, a holy help meet. Only he can send you a helpmeat from the realm of the holy.

It's a heavenly kind, a holy kind of helper. Hebrews 13, 6 says this. We may confidently say, The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid of what man will do to me. We're not left wondering how this help will come. John 14:16, Jesus speaks of a helper that he will send.

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever. You've got to understand the help that comes from God, from the very presence of God, is not some impersonal force, but a person of God Himself to help, to give necessary aid.

May He send you help, that which is necessary for victory. That's where it comes from. And look at the end of verse 26: support you from Zion and be supporting you. Upholding you, sustaining you. You think this isn't like a one-time help. This is a presence of help, whatever is necessary, support from, again, the real Zion, not the copy.

You see, only the sacred helper from on high can elevate you high above your circumstances. It takes divine wisdom to set you high above, to understand your circumstances, to understand why you're in troubles, to understand what the battle is coming against you, and how to set you and how to elevate you above your circumstances and secure you on high.

Recognize the source of victory. And one of the things that recognizing the source of victory involves is honoring God before the day of trouble comes. Honoring God before the day of trouble comes. You know, if you're not in the habit of honoring God before the day of trouble, what makes you think you're going to be honoring Him through the day of trouble?

Usually the day of trouble just reveals what's already there. And so be in the habit of honoring God before the day of trouble. Look at verses 3 and 4. May He remember all of your meals. Offerings and find your burnt offerings acceptable. May He grant your heart's desire and fulfill all your counsel.

Offerings. It was custom that before a day of battle there would be offerings, there would be sacrifices, there'd be consecration before there'd be military conflict. There would be the battle before the battle, and that is getting right with God and clearing out the idols and going into battle with Him.

You can think about that metaphorically as what we are to be doing really every day of our life is to be honoring God before the day of trouble. Offerings. Whether they're meal or burnt offerings, we're talking about honest appeals. We're talking about humble dependence. We're talking about aligning your will with His.

We're talking about consecrating your actions so it doesn't become a war between you and God. It talks about genuine fellowship. May He remember all your meal offerings, your burnt offerings, and give you your heart's desire. You see, the altar that Jacob built at Bethel was a testimony, number one, to Jacob's earnest appeal to God.

He really came to him for help. And two, It's a testimony that God delivers his people from the troubles that they face. He delivers his people in the day of trouble. So know that the day of trouble will come. It's not a matter of if, it's when. But before that day comes, you need to recognize the source of victory and cultivate a close relationship with him.

Third, you need to understand the purpose for victory. Understand the perfect, the purpose for victory. Look back at verse 5. We will sing for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Here we come to the center point of the psalm.

We. Notice how there's a shift. Now the psalmist is not talking you, you, you. Now he's talking we. We will sing for joy over your victory. It's like there's somebody going through trials, somebody in the day of trouble. And there's those watching. We will sing for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners.

There are those watching the battle that you are going through all around us. People are watching our. They're watching you. And notice what he says: we will sing for joy. We will burst forth with cries of exaltation, cries of joy, shouts of joy, songs of deliverance. We will break forth in that, watching you go through your day of trouble and watching the God who is your God and our God deliver you in the day that you call.

We will sing for joy over your victory. We will learn how to sing. We will exalt the name of our God because of the manifestation that came from the sanctuary, his sanctuary, that manifestation of help that was necessary at the right time to deliver you from those circumstances, those troubling circumstances by which you would be overwhelmed if he would not deliver.

Notice as a result of one's victory, others are blessed, others are strengthened, others are enabled to rejoice. And notice who they're going to rejoice in in the name of our God, in the name of our Elohim, our Creator, our Deliverer. Deliverer. The same one who created Jacob and was with him wherever he went, that God in his name, he is now our God.

He is our creator. Just like he created Jacob and delivered Jacob and was with Jacob, so he is with all of his people. He is now our creator. And we, in the name of our God, we will set up our banners. We will be causing flags and banners to be set up everywhere.

You know what banners and flags indicate allegiance, they indicate conquered territory, they indicate rejoicing, celebration, all of this. You see, your victory can be the source of really encouraging somebody else. Your day of trouble can be a blessing to so many people. You see, the problem with many of us is that we do not see our struggle in the light of the community of the people of God.

We just look at it as if we're, it's just us. And we start looking at our circumstances, we start looking at the day of trouble that comes. Upon us as poor me, woe is me. I get that. I don't say that lightly because I've seen some of y'all go through some things that I don't know how I would stand in it.

But I've watched in my 20 years, I've seen many contests of faith in this congregation. I have at times seen faith on the ropes, and I have seen faith on the victors stand. And I'd say one of the fundamental problems is that we lose sight that we're not in this alone.

And it's not just about us and our happiness. It's about the well-being of others. It's about the glory of God. It's about experiencing who He is. It's about knowing Him more deeply. And it is about strengthening the faith of others. When people watch you go through a difficult time and see you come out on the other side strong in the faith and better for it, they rejoice.

I think most, a lot of us, our day of trouble is, well, we didn't really do very well in the day of trouble, so then that creates another day of trouble because then we go around kicking ourselves because we didn't do very well in the day of trouble.

That's too is a day of trouble that you can lift up to him and just move on. But whatever you're doing. Day of trouble involves, remember, there are others that need to see your victory just as much as you do, and maybe even more. But how do you have victory in the day of trouble?

Well, you need to know that the day of trouble will come. You need to recognize the source of victory. You need to understand the purpose for victory. And third, you need to, or fourth, you need to rely on the means of victory. Look back at verse 6. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed.

He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Notice the shift again. Now I know. Now the psalmist has gone to watching you in action, and then he's seen the day of trouble come upon you. And then he's saying, now as we see your victory, we will all celebrate in your victory.

And now he gets really personal in verse 6. Now I, I myself know that the Lord saves his anointed, and he will answer him from his holy heaven. Now I know. By watching the struggle of another person, the psalmist comes to know with certainty that God helps his people.

He saves, he puts them into a state of victory. Whatever's necessary for Their deliverance, he provides. He puts them in a state of spiritual victory over their circumstances. He lifts them high and he secures them. That doesn't necessarily mean all your circumstances change, but there is a spiritual change that puts you as high above your circumstances instead of being overwhelmed by your circumstances.

Notice the word his anointed. Notice there's a little A there, his anointed. It's not capital A, so it's not a direct reference to Messiah, even though the same word is used. God certainly saves His anointed with a capital A. He certainly saves Christ. We saw that at the cross.

We certainly can rejoice in watching Him and having our faith strengthened, watching His anointed with the capital A. But he doesn't seem to be speaking directly about Jesus here or the coming Messiah. Most of the reputable translators put a little A there, and notice He will answer him, little H, not a capital H.

All of them see this as a general reference to His people, those He has called and commissioned. All God saves. And helps all of his people. Yes, he saves his anointed with the capital A, but he saves all of his anointed little A, and that's us. He's called us out, He set us apart, He put His Spirit in us.

God saves all of His people, and what does He save all of His people with? This is what the Psalmist says: Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed, He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength, with His mighty, irresistible helping power. That is what He's going to save Him with of His right hand.

Through the struggle and victory of watching another person, the psalmist comes to know that God hears the cries of His people and He is quick to save them with His mighty right hand. As I look at this from a New Testament perspective, I cannot help but think who is at the right hand of the Father.

This is what we're studying in the book of Hebrews, and what the author of Hebrews really wants us to grasp is: who is at the right hand of the Father? It's Jesus Christ. He is our advocate, He is our high priest, He sends help. From the sanctuary. He knows exactly, and he is in every way, has been made like us without sin.

He knows what it's like to face the struggles. He knows very much what this cosmic war is about, and he knows exactly how to sustain us. How's your faith doing? That's what he's concerned about. That whatever you're going through, your faith remains. He has sent his helper to aid his people.

Look at verse 7. Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God. We will boast. We will make the name of the Lord our God large in our hearts. We will magnify Him. Some boast in the strength, physical strength, strength of man, strength of flesh.

But we're going to boast in a spiritual name, a name that dwarfs all the physical enterprises of earth. It is he that we're going to magnify in our hearts. We're going to be trusting him. We're going to be having confidence. Not in the implements of human strength, but in the name of our God.

That's who we'll be trusting in. Because he's promised, he's Yahweh, he's the covenant-keeping God, he's Elohim, He's the all-powerful creator and sustainer and deliverer. Only He can set us on high. He's powerful, and He is a covenant-keeping God, so He will secure us on high because He said He would.

So we can have confidence, and in Him, our heart can magnify Him and let Him be the object and source of our strength and confidence. So even when we face some of the most difficult kinds of troubles, even as Christ faiths Gethsemane, He's relying upon God's power, God's nearness, covenant nature.

Notice in contrast, they have bowed down and fallen. They have bended the knee, or maybe broken the knee. They are down. They have bowed down and fallen, never to rise again. They have been put in a state of fallenness. But we, verse 8, we have risen. We have been Preserved.

We have remained and stood upright. We are still standing or we have returned to standing. That's the means of victory. The right hand, the name. We know his name to be Jesus. But how to have victory in the day of trouble? Well, you need to know that the day of trouble will come.

You need to recognize the source of victory. You need to understand the purpose for victory. You need to rely on the means of victory. And finally, you need to call on his name in the day of trouble. This is our responsibility in the day of trouble. Everything we've seen so far is the battle before the battle.

No, recognize, understand, rely. And then when that day comes, what is your responsibility? Call upon him. Be calling upon him. And keep calling upon him. Save, O Lord. May the king answer us in the day we call. That's what this psalm is about. Call upon the day. I mean, call upon the Lord in the day of trouble.

Be calling upon him. I think sometimes we forget this, and it's the one essential thing. Get so caught up. Call. And then call again. And then keep calling. Save. This is the one imperative and earnest plea in the whole psalm. Save us. O Lord, save. Yahweh, save. Covenant-keeping God, save.

Put us into a state of spaciousness, a space of freedom, deliverance, victory. Whatever that looks like, in whatever situation we may find ourselves in, we are to call upon his name. This psalm is an invitation for us to call. It's more than a call, it's an invitation. This is what you must do if you're going to have victory in the day of trouble.

May the king answer us. May the king respond to our signal flare. That's what that word is, may the king answer us. May he see our signal needing help. May he see our signal flare in the day we call. What is our responsibility? To call, to appeal, to ask.

What do you think he's going to say? No? Of course not. Call. Call upon him. In fact, this is, if you look at the way this psalm is arranged, it's arranged around this responsibility. Look at verse 1. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble implies a call.

Look at verse 5. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Verse 9, may the King answer us in the day we call. It's about calling upon his name. Yahweh is also our King. Now we can again speak from the New Testament perspective, the name of the Lord, the covenant-keeping God.

Yahweh is Jesus. Jesus is our king. Jesus is at the right hand of God. Jesus is our high priest. And so we are to call upon him. And so the battle, before the battle, is to know that the day of trouble will come, to recognize the source of victory, to understand the purpose of victory, to rely on the means of victory, and then when that day of trouble comes, you call upon his name.

Listen, no matter who you are or where you are, I can assure you, we are to call upon him in everything we cannot handle. You call upon him on whatever you cannot handle. And which, if you are like me, that means you're calling upon him a lot. All times.

And even with some of the most simple tasks. Trouble comes in various sizes, shapes, forms, and degrees. So we are to be calling upon him and everything you cannot handle. Which is a lot when you get honest with yourself. But the takeaway: your trials can bring glory to God.

And they will bring glory to God as you call upon his name. And they can also cause other people to call upon his name. And that's what the psalmist is saying. He's watching somebody go through the day of trouble. And he's saying, and watching your victory, then we all get put in a state of celebration because we saw what God did for you.

And then we come away with the certainty, God hears the prayers of his people and God delivers. So then it becomes very personal. Now I know. And so your way you face your trials can cause others to call upon his name when they face days of truth. Of trouble as well.

So, let's call upon him and be a people who go forth calling upon him. Pray, in Jesus' name. Let's go. Father, I just, we want to go in your name. We want to be a people who call upon you. Father, we can't even apply these truths to our heart.

We will quickly forget them, and we rely upon your helper who will you will send, who you have sent to call these things to mind that we may remember the things that you are saying to us through your word. And so, Father, go with us. Let us be a people who call upon your name.

Let us be a people who celebrate the victories of others. And let us be mindful that there's a bigger picture than ourselves going on here. And so, Father, thank you for letting us be part of this body. Thank you for giving us life. Thank you for being Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God.

Thank you for being Elohim, the all-powerful creator and sustainer, and for being our King. We thank you for all this in Jesus' name. Amen.