Psalm 83—October 7 Attack On Israel

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Running with Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you, concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible.

Shirley Weaver wants to take you there. And now, here's today's episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome. This is such a sober time for those of us in the church who love Israel, love the Jewish people, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

This is a sober, somber time. The focus of our podcast, special focus. And I think timing is so important now.

I wanted to push this podcast out as early as possible. So let's get right to it. October 7, the most brutal attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas from the area known as Gaza. Also, others have joined the fray, but primarily Hamas. This militant Islamic jihad committed murder, maiming, hostages taken, including women, children, the elderly, some reports concerning the Israeli soldiers who were taken hostage.

Some have been beheaded. All of that to say this brutal attack, all the details that go with that, demand a response, not only in our heart, which is so broken over these events, but also in the way that we pray, and our understanding of God's view. And ultimately the outcome that he has in mind. So first of all, most important, right this minute, our prayer is concentrated for the Israeli leaders. This is critical. You know, leadership is God placed for such a time as this. We need brilliance, strategy, and genius to come forth in these leaders. And I will say, God has gifted the Jewish people precisely that way.

Brilliance, genius. So we're praying for all of that gifting to really, really come forth now. And we're also praying for these hostages. 100 people or more, their families, and the families of thousands who have been murdered and injured, the victims of this horrible, horrible, I would say savage attack. And so then beyond obvious prayer, if you're like me, we want to know God's heart so that we can partner with him, not only in prayer, but the way we practically support what needs to happen now.

So we need insight. We need knowledge from the scripture concerning Israel. We know that Israel, both the land and the people, we know, see we know this, we have this ingrained in us, have a reverence and a respect for Israel.

The Jewish people are God's chosen covenant people, the apple of his eye. So the Bible often speaks concerning anything regarding Israel, but especially now, nothing this apocalyptic would, could occur outside Bible prophecy. And I would say, end time prophecy.

On Saturday morning, October 7, I'm recording on October 9. Two days ago, I heard news reports early in the morning, coming from Israel. And honestly, my first thought was Jeremiah 49. You know, there are numerous prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled.

Some of them concerning conflicts involving Israel, other things as well. But then, beyond Jeremiah 49, looking at other such prophecies, again, concerning Israel in the end times, I settled in on and began to examine Psalm 83. And I have to say, in my view, Psalm 83 is one place we should look.

Read it carefully. It's a Psalm attributed to Asaph, the worship leader in the administration of King David. He prophesies concerning a future conflict in Israel, a coming and a future day conflict in Israel in this Psalm. Verses three and four stand out to me. This is Psalm 83, verses three and four. With cunning, they conspire against your people.

They plot against those you cherish. Come, they say, let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel name is remembered no more. So that Israel's name is remembered no more.

Where have we heard that before? The wiping out of the Jewish nation, the wiping away of the Jewish people. And then, drop down to verse nine, do to them, the Psalm again from Asaph, he is prophesying and appealing to God. Verse nine, do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera at the River Kishon. Remember Midian, Gideon, the book of Judges, and Sisera, that's the story of the Judge of Israel, Deborah, and the General, Barak, who served in her administration. The outcome of both was complete, total annihilation of the threat of the threatening enemy.

So this is important. This Psalm 83 lays out in verses three and four and other verses, something so close to the description of what we're seeing, and then beginning in verse nine begins to explain God's heart, the appeal to God, as God inspires the prophecy that this is God's intention to annihilate, completely wipe out the source of the attack that was intended to completely annihilate and wipe out Israel. Again, the apple of God's eye.

So two things I would consider and I recommend that we look at. First of all, this conflict – along with others that are prophesied like that in Jeremiah 49 – set the stage for a larger conflict, prophesied in Ezekiel 38, the Gog and Magog War. So setting the stage now, we're building up, we're going toward that time, we are in the end times moving toward the fulfillment of this prophecy in Ezekiel 38, also 39. And then a second consideration that according to Psalm 83, God himself is involved in an outcome like Gideon's and like that in the story of Deborah and Barak, total annihilation of the enemy, but very possibly God intends to interject himself in this fight the very same way.

Total annihilation of the source. Something I would say here and just make a note concerning Psalm 83, some Bible prophecy scholars believe that the 83rd Psalm was fulfilled already, has been fulfilled already. Some think it occurred in 1948 at the time of Israel's War of Independence. Others say this particular psalm, this prophecy in this psalm, refers to the Six-Day War in 1967. And even others say there's no prophetic message here at all, but rather just part of the writings in the Old Testament. We know that it doesn't apply to King David's land at that time, the part that he was ruling over because he had just taken all of these lands. So it was not a contemporary prophecy or word or assessment. We do know that. So here's my question. In light of what we see unfolding right now in Israel, is Psalm 83 a prophetic description that this would be the future war Asaph referred to between Israel and Iranian backed, ring of fire entities currently surrounding the Jewish state?

And I would just close with this. I've said multiple times, every Christian, every born again believer needs to have their very own personal eschatology. The timeline that you understand of end time events from your study in the Word, your research of what reliable teachers are teaching, that you gain, therefore, an understanding from all of that together as we pray and as we ask God. In other words, study God's Word, listen to credible teachers, research other resources, and bottom line, pray and ask God. I think our homework assignment could be to study and research Psalm 83. See what the Lord is saying.

We need to know, we need to understand not only so that we can partner with him in our heart, but also to effectively pray. We'll have more to say as things unfold and as the Lord speaks. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others. Post about it on social media or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list. Download the ministry app and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-day devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again and we'll see you next time.