The Lord Surrounds Us...

It seems to me that the Lord surrounds us with these things:

-The favor of the Lord surrounds His people and makes a shield of protection completely around their lives: Ps. 5:12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

-There are songs of deliverance (plural) that surround every Believer - these songs dig us out of trouble, keep us on track and make a place for us to hide - what a God!! Have you ever stopped to listen to God's songs over you? Ps. 32:7 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

- The mercy of the Lord surrounds all who trust in Him - Ps. 32:10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.

- The Lord surrounds Jerusalem and all of His people - so much so that He is like a mighty mountain in His strength and protection. Let it be noted that His surrounding is forever. It is not going away - just as the mountains are secure and stable - Ps. 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.

- The Lord has made sure that we are surrounded by the righteous - those who will stand with us to help and encourage us in faith - Ps. 143:7 Bring my soul out of prison, That I may praise Your name; The righteous shall surround me, For You shall deal bountifully with me.”

- There are countless Believers who have gone to glory ahead of us - these surround us as a testimony to God unfailing love and enormous grace - Heb. 12:1 [ The Race of Faith ] Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

The Lord is surrounded by these two things:

- He is surrounded by His faithfulness - Ps. 89:8 O Lord God of hosts, Who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You

- He is surrounded by clouds and darkness - Ps. 89:8 Clouds and darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

Song Of Deliverance 6

Songs From the hiding Place­­—Psalm 32:7

You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

Here are the Hebrew meanings of these important words:

Surround:  câbab - sawbab  (Strongs 5437) a prime root word meaning to revolve or surround, to encircle, border, to compass about on every side.

Song:  rôn  - rone  (Strongs 7438 from 7442) a ringing cry, to triumph, sing or shout for joy. The root of the word means, to overcome. It is a strident, almost militant song.

deliverance: pallet - pal-late' (Strongs 6405 from 6403) escape, deliverance. This word is usually descriptive of God's deliverance.

Even in the direst of circumstances, when we are surrounded completely by our enemies, the Lord can sing over us His surrounding song of deliverance. This song can be heard in our hearts as we commune with the Lord and read the word. Also as singers, we must become ministers of such a song in the midst of the congregation.

It is interesting to me that the Lord makes a hiding place for us in times of trouble. He is such a devoted and loving Father. Not only do we hide in Him, but He sings His song over us and delivers us from our enemy. Carefully read each of these verses:

Ps 27:5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide (6845) me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

Ps 143:9 Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD, for I hide (3680) myself in you. (NIV)

This hiding place keeps us from the plots and tongues of our enemies. Here God restores our reputation. It is the most recorded hiding place in the Word. We must believe what God says about us, not what others say:

Ps 31:20 You shall hide them in the secret (5641) place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Ps. 64:2-3  Hide (5641) me from the secret plots (counsel and conspiracy) of the wicked, From the rebellion (scheming) of the workers of iniquity, Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend [their bows to shoot] their arrows—bitter words, (aimed bitter speech as their deadly arrow). AMP.

Job 5:21 You shall be hidden (2244) from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

Ps. 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered (hidden 6845) ones.

Ps. 119:114 You [are] my hiding (5643) place and my shield; I hope in Your word.

Two things to hear in this hiding place – instead of listening to the taunts of your enemies – listen for:

     His song

     His Word

Once you have heard the song that comes from His hiding place you will be able to sing it into the hearts of those who live in shame and without hope. It is so important for God’s singers and musicians to carry His sound and song on their lives.

Part 1: HERE
Part 7: HERE

Song Of Deliverance 5

The Song of War—­2 Chron. 20

This song comes from standing before the Lord – in this chapter we find 7 ways to stand before Him:

V 5    Stand in the courts of the Lord

V 9    Stand in the presence of the Lord

V 13  Stand (wait) before the Lord Himself (Standing as whole families)

V 17  Stand still (firm NIV)

V 19  Stand up to praise the Lord (with very loud voices)

V 20  Stand with the Word of the Lord (Stand in faith)

V 23  Stand and see the victory of the Lord – by v 24 none of the enemy is left standing

Also: 2 Chron. 29:11 “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”

Stand: 05975. ‘amad aw-mad'; to stand, abide. appoint, arise, dwell, be employed, endure, ordain, present (self), raise up, remain, repair, tarry.

In 2 Chron. 20:21-22 we can find three different words used for "praise." This implies that there were three different expressions of praise during this incredible battle:

 Faith praise - V 21 yadah - A thankful expression of praise, to lift the hands in praise, to throw out the hand. Praising God with hands lifted in faith – just think, these worshipers were heading into battle. They had no thought of protecting themselves, they lifted their hands in faithful praises.

Passionate praise - V 21 halal - to shine, to boast, to rave until clamorously foolish, wild, enthusiastic praise, to spin about. Again, these worshipers are heading into battle, yet they are dancing and worshiping with all their might in the presence of their enemies.

        

Presence praise - V 22 tehillah - high praise. When this word is used in scripture, the Lord seems to inhabit the praise with the manifesting of His presence in some special way. Here it is – the supernatural found in the midst of praise

We learn from this song that the song of war can be:

        

•  Militant, marching like an army

•  Demonstrative and passionate (halal)

• Anointed with God's power (tehillah) to the "pulling down of strongholds."

•  Preceded and followed by praise. Ps. 149

•  A war song need not be directed at the enemy, but may be a song of praise

Part 1: HERE
Part 6: HERE

Songs of Deliverance 1

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

 What a wonderful verse – God surrounds His people with songs that bring deliverance and joy. I want to take a few days to look at some of these songs of God – the songs He sings over us as we hide in Him. We need to tune our ears to hear His song – then it will resound in us and touch every difficult and hopeless place in us until we come to a place of triumph over our suffering.

I want to begin with the song from Hosea, as I heard from a friend in Nevada today – she sent me an article her husband had seen in the “Natural History” magazine – a song about singing sands!

A Song From The Wilderness—Hosea 2:14-15

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort (tenderly) to her.

 I will give her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

The Lord draws us with solitude in the wilderness - The Lord actually draws us to the desert place. We tend to think of the wilderness or desert as a bad place – a place where we suffer. But the Lord has a special song to sing through us here. He wants us all to Himself and He actually has a unique desert experience picked out for each one of us.

The Lord draws us with words and songs Notice that our song comes after the Lord speaks comfort to us in the wilderness. The word for “speaks” in this passage is the Hebrew word: dabar, which can also mean to promise or to sing!

The Hebrew word for “comfort” is leb. It really speaks of the deep inner comfort that God puts into the core of our being. He gives wholeness and courage to us as He speaks and comforts us in the wilderness – then He gives us a song.

The Lord draws us with gifts of trouble – this wilderness actually has a name – it is the ‘Valley of Achor.” Achor means trouble – it is a place near Jericho where Israel got into her first trouble after crossing in to the Promised Land (Joshua 7). Achan, from the Tribe of Judah disobeyed God and took items from Jericho after God had forbidden it. At some point in your walk with the Lord, He will take you to your “Achor” the place of your first and deepest flaws. What a wonderful thing it is that He helps us to deal with our sinful nature in this wilderness – not only that, He teaches us His song here in this place and turns the trouble into doors of hope – not only for us, but all those who pass this way with us.

Our extremity becomes God's opportunity. Our misery gives place to God's mercy.

Now He is able to close the door of our past behind us and lead us out of the wilderness with His song on our lips and His fire in our eyes!

"Troubles are often the tools

By which god fashions our hearts

For better things."

(Henry W. Beecher)

The wilderness becomes a vineyard

The sorrow becomes a song

The trouble becomes a door of hope

Now we get to something interesting – the article I mentioned from the “Natural History” magazine on “Singing Sands” by E. R Yarham. This is a great article that talks about the scientific phenomenon of sands that “sing” at various times when certain circumstances are in place. Such as…when the sands are hot, when reservoirs of water flow deep beneath the sand, or when the wind blows along surface of the sand and catches little ridges.

Go HERE and read the entire article – it is so interesting.

I am fascinated by this article as it shows us that natural deserts can “sing” – how much more can our desert places sing – especially when we have deep reservoirs of Holy Spirit water within our hearts; or when we have the blowing of the Holy Spirit on our hearts.

So…don’t turn away from the Lord as He leads you into this place. He sings over you and puts His song into your heart. The next step is that you can be used to sing God’s song of deliverance – the song of the wilderness over others who need to walk through their door of hope.

Part 2: HERE