Psalm 60

"Hanun seized David's men, shaved them, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away."

That's a 1 Chronicles 19:4 method of humiliation. And that's the piece of history to which today's Psalm refers.

Two quotes and then the history ...

For me the key line in today's Psalm is "4 you have raised a banner for those who honor you."

And as the victory banner from that Psalm was waving through my thoughts, I looked down at my desk. It's my desk at home, and I saw a note card for my son's upcoming research paper. Stephen Mansfield in "More than Dates and Dead People" says, "God NEVER changes, and human nature is rather constant. We can see the truth in Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 because there truly can be nothing new under the sun."

Look for human nature's constant bumbling as we turn to our history lesson for today -- I Chronicles 19 -- "2 David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father," King Aram-Nahash. Nahash, David's friend, had died, but bad advisors convinced this king's inexperienced son, Hanun, that David's men were there to spy rather than kindly honor a fallen king. So Hanun cut the seat out of their Jewish robes and sent them bare-bottomed, clean-shaven, and humiliated back to David.

And then they realized their mistake.

Then they realized "6 that they had become a stench in David's nostrils" and mustered an army. David, in turn, mustered General Joab who mustered David's army. The Ammonites were defeated, the Arameans were crushed, and all of this was because of human pride and a few bad advisors.
Now, stitch those two quotes and one history lesson together ...

Human nature is constant in its silliness. We are consistent in our pride and posturing, mistakes and failures, bad advice and ability to provoke conflict. God, on the other hand, is constant too. Fortunately, he is constantly looking for an opportunity to raise a victory banner for those who honor him.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather start raising more victory banners than pennants of pride.

And it all starts with "4 honor[ing] [him]."

"11 Oh, [Lord],
please help [me] against [my] enemies,"
whether they are external forces
or internal prides and concerns.
Why? Because "11 all human help is useless.
Rather, help me always and more quickly turn to you.
Because "12 with God's help we will do mighty things."
Lord, "trample down [my] foes
whether they are against me or within me.