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!
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?
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.
When we come to Psalms 54-56 we have to come to grip with David’s imprecatory prayers. These three chapters are prayers where he calls down from God vengeance on his enemies. The difficulty is twofold. First, we have to realize that in these three prayers his enemy is someone(s) who used to be is former friend. He could be praying about King Saul, who haunted him like a dog. He could be talking about his son Absalom, who he tried to love unconditionally, but failed in parenting most miserably. He could be talking about someone we do not know. We struggle with this type of prayer because we are not to call down vengeance upon our enemies (whoever that is). We are to love them and sacrifice for them. That makes these imprecatory prayers hard to square with the Sermon on the Mount theology in our minds.
The second challenge is that David is referring to his past friends as the enemies. We are not inclined to do this. Especially since the Hebrew word for enemy is used to describe real enemies. It seems tough to think this way. Perhaps what David said about these people (whoever it is) in the previous chapter can help us a bit:
Psalms 55:12-14 (ESV)
For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God’s house we walked in the throng.
David recognizes that a friendship in his life has turned south (Saul?). The key to his response is found in the above text. After describing his hurt to God in verses 5-7, he pivots and starts to find a way out of this hole he is living:
Verse 8 = David takes great rest and refuge in the fact that as he is tossing on his bed in anguish and crying tears of grief, God is in heaven with a clicker counting each toss and recording each tear. Wow!! As if God doesn’t have enough to do. This falls into the same category as His counting the number of hair on our heads. The point David is making for us is that God is more than in the know about this situation. He is actively counting the manifestations of our grief.
Verse 9 = David knows that God is for him!! He also knows that things begin to change when he is on his knees calling out to God. It is on his knees in this situation that David learns the most about His God. Things begin to change in the heart of his enemy as he prays on his knees to his God.
Verse 10 = David knows that praise is not just a form of worship but a tool to defeat his emotions from overwhelming him. His praise over God’s Word is a step in his following and obeying God’s Word. Praising God with God’s Words and reminding God of His promises is David’s avenue to new thoughts and new emotions.
Verse 11 = David has come to realize that his way out is based upon his having more fear of the Lord vs fear of man. The word fear is being in awe and having so much deep respect for something it changes your thinking patterns and behaviors. David’s son, Solomon, told us that the fear of man is a snare (Proverbs 29:25). In this prayer David now confesses he is in awe of God more than being in awe of man. He no longer fears man because he fears God more.
Verse 12 = David knows that the key to moving forward is to keep whatever vow he has made to God and to worship God. Obedient worship restores David’s heart. He is NOT going to allow this situation to move him from his prior commitment to serve God and to bring worship to God. Worship is a tool to restoration.
Verse 13 = David, now having set his priorities to not honor man but rather honor God, finds victory. He can rest in the fact that God has brought him through before and will bring him through again. God not only brought him through, but will make sure he continues to walk before God in the light of life. David’s darkness has turned to the dawn by making sure his theology was right. He has chosen to not doubt in the dark what he believed on in the light.
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