A Blueprint for Perseverance 

In God I Trust

Psalms 56:1-4 (ESV) 1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; 2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.

3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

Read: 1 Samuel 21:1-15… 

Psalm 56 has an ABABC cadence…. 

Verses 1-2: David cries out to God in distress. 

• He is being hunted down by the king whose throne has now been declared by God to belong to David. 
• He has done nothing to deserve or receive such hate…..

Verse 3-4: David recalls what is true and necessary for those who love God. 

• When I am afraid, I put my trust in YOU (LORD)
• In God’s Word I praise and trust and shall not be afraid… what can man do to me? 

Intensity picks up… 

Psalms 56:5-7 (ESV) 5 All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. 7 For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

They don’t stop…. The try and hurt me, they stir up others against me.

• They watch every move I make, waiting to take my life. 
• Will you let them get away with this? 

Psalms 56:8-11 (ESV) 8 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

David recalls again what He knows to be true…. 

• YOU know every tear and sleepless night. 
• I know You will answer when I call.
• I know that YOU are for me.
• YOUR Word I praise and in YOU I trust!
• What can man do to me when GOD is for me? 

Vow of Thanksgiving…

Psalms 56:12-13 (ESV) 12 I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. 13 For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

We are to live a life of thanksgiving in times of adversity and even in times of being afraid. 

• Why….. because we know that God is for us and even when we doubt, God does not abandon us.