Biblical Hebrew Applied: Psalm 23 (part 5)

“Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
(Psalm 23:5)

What this verse is saying, with regard to “fear” brought on by encountering the “valley of deep, emotional darkness,” is that even in the face of your “enemies,” God will not only sustain you with a metaphorical “table” of provision for whatever you may need in this confrontation, but He will also “anoint your head with oil.” In other words, through the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit, He will give you a deep sense of His presence, as well as His accompanying peace, in the midst of your conflict. And not only that, the metaphorical “cup” of His sustaining wine contains the “living water” of His Holy Spirit, and this “living water” will overflow in you in ways you cannot imagine as you experience His provision of deliverance in whatever situation you find yourself. But once again, this does not come easily, and there are times it comes only through an intense and quite difficult spiritual, mental, emotional, and even physical battle, where we are needing to praise the Lord when we cannot even see any hope of His deliverance. And that is the test! Throughout Scripture, we continually see the importance of praise as a means of true and genuine spiritual, mental, emotional, and even physical victory in what can at times be labeled as horrendous situations. The following are some of those exhortations and examples:

2 Chronicles 20:1-23

Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. ² Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is Engedi).” ³ And Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the LORD; and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to seek help from the LORD; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the LORD. ⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD before the new court, ⁶ and he said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, art Thou not God in the heavens? And art Thou not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Thy hand so that no one can stand against Thee. ⁷ “Didst Thou not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and give it to the descendants of Abraham Thy friend forever? ⁸ “And they lived in it, and have built Thee a sanctuary there for Thy name, saying, ⁹ ‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before Thee (for Thy name is in this house) and cry to Thee in our distress, and Thou wilt hear and deliver us.’ ¹⁰ “And now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom Thou didst not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them), ¹¹ behold how they are rewarding us, by coming to drive us out from Thy possession which Thou hast given us as an inheritance. ¹² “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on Thee.” ¹³ And all Judah was standing before the LORD, with their infants, their wives, and their children. ¹⁴ Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; ¹⁵ and he said, “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the LORD to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because ofthis great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. ¹⁶ ‘Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ ‘You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you.” ¹⁸ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. ¹⁹ And the Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel, with a very loud voice. ²⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God, and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets andsucceed.” ²¹ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” ²² And when they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. ²³ For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely, and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. (2 Chronicles 20:1-23)

Acts 16:16-34

And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortunetelling. ¹⁷ Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment. ¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, ²¹ and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.” ²² And the crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them, and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. ²³ And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; ²⁴ and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and fastened their feet in the stocks. ²⁵ But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened. ²⁷ And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And he called for lights and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household. (Acts 16:16-34)

Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all 12 comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)