1 Sam 23:26, And Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was hurrying to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men to seize them.
	We are in the consideration of those times in our lives when everything just seems to be closing in on us. We looked at David with his wilderness hiding and escapes from King Saul. That king was trying to utter eliminate this young man because of the threat he poised to Saul’s power and legacy. 
	We also considered a later king, Jehoshaphat, when it seemed that the enemies of the people of God were going to utterly annihilate Jerusalem and the nation of Judah. In both cases, we saw how the power of Jehovah was the source of complete protection and salvation. This caused those besieged ones to offer all praise and adoration and thanksgiving to the Lord God Almighty.
	This is what should take place in our hearts and in our beings as we see how the Lord meets the every challenge to our very survival day in and day out. This is especially in those times of being completely surrounded by the forces of this age with its anger and frustration and emotional pressure and social abuse and anxiety and stress and technological upheaval. We can feel absolutely overwhelmed and physically exhausted. 
Every aspect of our lives seems, at those times, to be under attack and we feel utterly isolated and defeated. That is when we need to recognize the supreme presence of The Lord’s protection. This is what Elisha did in the encouragement of his servant as recounted in 2 Kings 6:16. 
Even as Elisha seemed to be surrounded by those who sought to destroy him, he knew the Hand of Jehovah was his safety. With the Lord protecting us, those who are with us are always far greater than those who are against us. 
2 Kings 6:16, So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 
In the light of this reality, we are to trust in the Lord and see His Hand of Deliverance in action in our lives. We will spend a little time with this encouragement to us in scripture because it is something that every one of us needs as our days unfold. We all and I absolutely and emphatically declare that we all have those times when the world seems to be closing in on us with every sense of trepidation and anxiety and fear proceeding from the depths of our beings. No matter how long we have been Christians, no matter how mature in Christ we may be, there is that, from within us, that betrays our doubts and our qualms at various points in our sojourn on this earth. 
That is why we have these wondrous scriptures to hold onto and to read and to put before the Lord as His promise to take care of us in our loneliness and in our anxious moments and in our times of intense distress and anguish. We need to know that these great promises of God, voiced by those who have gone through the same course of learning to trust and to count on the Lord are there for our encouragement. In Him, our renewal in obedient faith is worked into our conscious walk with God!
We continue therefore with the solid cry of the Psalmist which can be our assurance. It is also our script of conversation with the Lord in those times of extreme trial and difficulty and scalding tribulation by the minions of this age. 
Please open to them and feel free to mark these passages for those times of necessity to be honoring and trusting in the Omnipotence of Our Lord. We begin with Ps 4:1-5. 
Ps 4:1-5, Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! Thou hast relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah. But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him. Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord. 
	The Psalmist was depending on the Lord in this cry as he did throughout his life. There is that knowledge that God does do what God promises to do. Therefore the Psalmist had that certainty in place that all who belong to The Lord should realize and recognize in our lives. The Lord will defend the righteous man. He will quiet the hearts of those who seek Him and trust Him and obey Him. This is something that everyone who knows God needs to have established through profound deliberation on the goodness and the faithfulness and the righteous of the Lord to hear and to respond.
	Next please turn to Ps 17:6-9. Ps 17:6-9, I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt answer me, O God; Incline Thine ear to me, hear my speech. Wondrously show Thy lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Thy right hand From those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Thy wings, From the wicked who despoil me, My deadly enemies, who surround me. 
	Here the Psalmist highlighted the relationship that exists between The Lord God Almighty and those who belong to Him, His chosen people. There is the hearing of the Lord to the cries of His people and He answers those cries with all the limitless resources of His Omnipotence and loving-kindness. 
We see the fact that we are so loved by God that we are considered the apple of His eye. As well, we are wrapped in His protection as if by a mother bird which surrounds the chicks with those wings to hide them from the prey seeking to despoil them. This is the way we can experience the wondrous protection and love of God as we seek Him and trust Him and hold true to Him in our lives.
	Continuing just a few verses later in this Psalm 17, verses 13-15, we have an even greater depiction of the way in which God deals with those who would seek to destroy His people. It declares the fact that we need to be set on the relationship that God has now opened for us with Himself. We place no trust in what the men of this world find to satisfy their cravings and lusts.
Ps 17:13-15, Arise, O Lord, confront him, bring him low; Deliver my soul from the wicked with Thy sword, From men with Thy hand, O Lord, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life; And whose belly Thou dost fill with Thy treasure; They are satisfied with children, And leave their abundance to their babes. As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake. 
	This course of instruction and encouragement and correction of woeful hearts continues for us in Ps 22:8-24. Please rejoice together with me in that which God has made to be our portion as we commit ourselves wholly and fully unto Him.
	Ps 22:8-24, "Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him." Yet Thou art He who didst bring me forth from the womb; Thou didst make me trust when upon my mother's breasts. Upon Thee I was cast from birth; Thou hast been my God from my mother's womb. 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. They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And Thou dost lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots. But Thou, O Lord, be not far off; O Thou my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth; And from the horns of the wild oxen Thou dost answer me. I will tell of Thy name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee. You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Neither has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. 
	This passage is so filled with the course of what we experience throughout our lives. There are the feelings of being utterly helpless, surrounded by the forces over which we can do nothing to defend ourselves. As well, there is held within this passage the manner in which, because of our powerless and utterly lost situation, the picture of Christ and all that He had to suffer in our stead is presented. 
	You may have been aware of this, but I had not seen it until the preparation for this morning, the absolute prophetic description of what would happen to Jesus as He took upon Himself that which would otherwise be our place of suffering and shame and death. In the midst of the portrayal of how the forces of this age were tearing away at the core essence of the Psalmist, there is the shift to what would happen to the Messiah in order to rescue the people He came to save. 
…And Thou dost lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots. 
	There is no place else to turn for help and for salvation because everything is crashing down upon the Psalmist’s, upon our heads! It is Christ or it is absolute destruction! But Thou, O Lord, be not far off; O Thou my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth; And from the horns of the wild oxen Thou dost answer me.
	This then brings forth that rejoicing in the Lord, that celebration of His goodness and His loving-kindness and His praise and His being glorified! …I will tell of Thy name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee. You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Neither has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.
	This is to be the natural course of those to whom the Lord means everything and unto Whom we surrender our hearts and our minds and our wills and our longings and our obedience and our trust. Because we learn more of His way and His faithfulness and His trustworthiness and His Omnipotence and His Omnipresence and His Omniscience, our whole essence must declare and proclaim that He, Alone is worthy of all praise. We join in the growing chorus of the honor and the adoration and the expressed awe of Who God is and all that He does!
	This then brings forth the further substantiation of the Psalmist to praise and adore and worship the Lord as in Ps 35:9+10. Ps 35:9+10, And my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; It shall exult in His salvation.  All my bones will say, "Lord, who is like Thee, Who delivers the afflicted from him who is too strong for him, And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?" 
	There is the altogether awesomeness of God that is displayed through His maintenance and protection and providential care for those who trust in Him. He is always there meeting the every need of those who call unto Him and place their reliance and confidence in Him and seek refuge in Him and not in their own ways and means. 
	Again this is espoused additionally in Ps 37:39+40. Ps 37:39+40, But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble. And the Lord helps them, and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him. 
	We close for this morning with the proclamation that should resound within the depths of our beings as it is voiced in Ps 118:1-24. Please read along with me.
Ps 118:1-24, Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Oh let Israel say, "His lovingkindness is everlasting." Oh let the house of Aaron say, "His lovingkindness is everlasting." Oh let those who fear the Lord say, "His lovingkindness is everlasting." From my distress I called upon the Lord; The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in princes. All nations surrounded me; In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me like bees; They were extinguished as a fire of thorns; In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off. You pushed me violently so that I was falling, But the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but live, And tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, But He has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to Thee, for Thou hast answered me; And Thou hast become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This is the Lord's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 
	We are so blessed to belong to The Lord. We are those in whom He takes such delight and joy as to protect and provide all that is necessary for our testimony of His loving-kindness to go forth in unbridled thanksgiving and rejoicing. Many of these passages of consideration have become the anthems of the people whose God is the Lord! We have been made to be the minstrels and the singers and the choir of the goodness and the mercy and the love and the salvation that is found in Christ, Alone. Thank You, Lord, for these scriptures of encouragement which we will continue to share next time, Lord willing. So be it and amen!

		
	
This morning’s benediction is Ps 9:10. And those who know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; For Thou, O Lord, hast not forsaken those who seek Thee. Amen.