Psalm 56: 1 – 13
Is your lamp still burning?
To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A Michtam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.
1 Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. 2 My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High. 3 Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. 4 In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? 5 All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps, when they lie in wait for my life. 7 Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God! 8 You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? 9 When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. 10 In God (I will praise His word), in the LORD (I will praise His word), 11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 12 Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, 13 For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
In today’s study verse 3 jumped out at me. It reads, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You”. This verse gets me thinking about how we as humans attempt everything possible to deal with physical, emotional, and spiritual issues before we ask for our Holy God’s help. Have you ever considered this point of view?
Is it any wonder God says to us repeatedly in Scripture, “Do not fear?” Our Holy and Loving God encourages us in everything of letting go of control and trusting in His Holy Son our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—every day, every hour, every moment, of every day.
Our King Jesus models for us the practice of letting go of control, earthly power and reputation. He emptied Himself at the cross and trusted in the goodness and love of the Father. God intends that we follow the same path. Yet, in situations both large and small, we find this incredibly difficult. Why?
I think our biggest sin is that we fail to trust God.
We worry that things will fall apart. That is true—at least the things that God never intended to remain in the first place. Regardless, we can only keep our plans and agendas from falling apart for a short time. Our Holy God guides us in this as we learn in Psalm 127 verse 1, “Unless the Lord builds a house, we labor in vain who build it?”.
We worry that we will fall apart. Yes, that is true, and it may be a very good thing. Our false selves, our protectiveness and our striving need to be dismembered and dismantled by the Spirit. When we fall apart, it offers God the opportunity to rebuild us. I presently have this lady who is falling apart while giving her full allegiance to worldly fixes. Sadly, she keeps coming to me begging for prayer and not willing to let our Holy God deal with her problems. She wants God’s help without giving Him the Honor due His Holy Name.
For many of us, things were out of control in our families growing up. We were helpless and, in some cases, victimized. So now, as adults, we resist letting go of our control of life.
I personally know that this idea is not true. I grew up as a street kid being on my own since I was 9 years old. As I look back on my life I can testify that my Lord Jesus was there with me every step of my life.
A young adult recently told me how impossible it is for her to trust God since she was betrayed by so many authority figures in his life. I told her that we people weather Christian or not have the ability to betray. Yet there Is One Who will never betray and that Is our Lord Jesus Christ. You will always be in good hands with Jesus.
We serve a God who loves us with inexhaustible love and with no strings attached. Our heavenly Father seeks our good in any and every situation. Yet many of us relate to God as if he were an angry deity—demanding and consistently frustrated with us. It is hard to let go and trust that kind of God.
A day is coming when our earthly life will be over. We will let go of everything—health, relationships, status, possessions. We are all very vulnerable. In a moment, our lives can completely change. To think that we are in control is an illusion.
There are few greater gifts we can give those we serve than the gift of letting go and trusting Jesus. If you are going through some difficult time I pray that you may let go of your yoke of pain and experience the promises of Jesus.
To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A Michtam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.
This is another Psalm dedicated to the Choirmaster or Chief Musician (the head of music). A Michtam may signify ‘a covering’ and thus a plea for protection. It has also been interpreted as ‘a golden Psalm’.
It would appear that, having arrived in Gath after fleeing from the persecutions of Saul (verses 1-2), and hoping to be unnoticed, David’s footsteps were dogged by suspicious Philistines (verse 6). They clearly challenged him as to who he was (verse 5) refusing to accept his assurances, or that he was there in peace, and thus determined evil against him. The Psalm may well have been written while he was waiting for them to pounce, and praying in anticipation, with the final verses of the Psalm indicating that he had prayed through to a position of certainty concerning YHWH’s deliverance, even though it was yet future.
The Psalm stresses the Psalmist’s trust in God (verses 3, 4, 10-11) and the powerful enemies whom he is facing (verses 1, 2, 5-7), and can be divided up into four parts:
. A plea for God’s protection (verses 1-4).
. A description of his enemies’ tactics as they close in on him (verse 5-7).
. An expression of his trust in God in the face of his enemies (verses 8-11).
. An expression of his gratitude for his deliverance (verses 12-13).
1 Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. 2 My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
These verses may refer to the circumstances which forced David to flee to Gath, and thus be speaking of Saul’s attempts on his life. Alternately they may have in mind the attempts by the Philistines to seek him out whilst he was in hiding in a Philistine city.
He calls on God for favor since a mere earthly man is seeking to swallow him up. He emphasizes the continual attempts by his enemy along with his men, to oppress him and ‘swallow him up’. These attempts have been occurring continually ‘all day long’. He has never been able to relax. For his enemies are numerous and are behaving arrogantly towards him. They have set themselves up ‘on high’.
The repetitions stress how strongly he feels his situation, and how harassed he feels, as well he might for he has moved from being a power in the land to be a lone fugitive. But he is still confident in God, for while his enemies might think much of themselves, he recognizes that they are mere humans.
3 Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. 4 In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?
David assures God of how much he trusts in Him (repeated twice). When he is afraid it is to God that he will look, and therefore he will not be afraid. This is because he has full confidence in Him. He had cause to be afraid, for the hand of Saul, and every man’s hand was against him. And even now as a fugitive in Gath he was in enemy territory. The Philistines had no cause to be for him either. So, he was beset on every side. But he was confident that God was greater than them all, and that He would help him. Why then should he be afraid. After all his enemies were merely flesh. On the other hand, God was God, and he trusted Him and praised His promised word.
These words could still refer to his enemies in Israel, but it seems more likely that they have his current situation in mind as a fugitive among the Philistines. When he arrived among them it would not be surprising if he was closely questioned, for it would be clear to them that he was an Israelite. The Israelites were no friends of the Philistines, although no doubt in times of peace they traded with each other, but the Israelites had been a subject people, and quite probably there were many Israelites living in Philistia. This the Philistines were not quite sure about David.
5 All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil.
So now the Philistines are suspicious of this Israelite fugitive who has come among them, and they are questioning him and twisting his words. It is quite clear that they intend trouble against him. Their thoughts are against him. They are for evil and not for good.
6 They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps, when they lie in wait for my life.
A group of these Philistines have apparently got together. They are watching him continually. They try to remain unobserved, although to no avail, and they watch his every step. It is quite clear that they think nothing good and are waiting for his life. He had escaped from Saul only to find himself pursued by the Philistines. If at this stage they were already sure that he was David, one of Saul’s most successful commanders (1 Samuel 21.21-22), we can understand why they were suspicious. But it seems that they were not sure of their ground. Later they would detain him and bring him before Achish, one of the five Philistine Rulers (1 Samuel 21.14), but by this time David, aware of his great danger, had begun to feign madness so that Achish dismissed him in contempt.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God!
In David’s eyes these men are accountable to God, and what they are planning iswicked. He feels that as a fugitive (and as the anointed of YHWH) he deserves consideration, and that all they are doing is make things worse for him. He had come in good faith and sought refuge among them. Did they think that they could escape any threat that he posed by failing to show hospitality and doing him harm? Was he not only one among many? To David’s pure soul this was not acceptable conduct, it was inexcusable. And he calls on God in His anger against their deceit to ‘cast down the peoples’, that is, all who are causing him trouble, whether Israelite or Canaanite or Philistine, and all who are like them. At present he sees the whole world as against him. Everyone has proved to be his enemy.
His confidence lies in the fact that he knows that he is the chosen of YHWH, that God is keeping count of his wanderings, and has stored up his tears. He knows that God is ‘for him’, and that those who are opposing him are thus acting against God. He is sure that when he calls on God, God will turn back his enemies. He will thus trust in God and His promises and not be afraid.
8 You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? 9 When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me.
He is certain that God is keeping count of his wanderings, and will bottle up his tears, because He is keeping a record of them. He is sure that God is interested in, and has kept on record, every aspect of his life. Thus, his enemies need to be careful, for he is certain that when he calls on God his enemies will have to turn back because God is for him. Whatever happens, his enemies will not prevail.
10 In God (I will praise His word), in the LORD (I will praise His word), 11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
His confidence lies in God, Who has given him a word, which he can praise. He is aware that he is one of God’s chosen.
So his assurance and certainty lie in God, in Whom he has put his trust, and thus he will not be afraid, for what can mere created beings do to him? His confidence in God is total.
The Psalm provides assurance to all true believers that we are in the hands of God, a God who keeps account of our wanderings and a record of our tears. We too, therefore, can enjoy the same assurance and certainty.
Having prayed through to total confidence in God David now gives thanks for the certainty of his deliverance. God has delivered him in the past and he is confident that God will go on delivering him.
12 Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, 13 For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
With these words David expresses his gratitude to God. He acknowledges the vows that he has made to God and assures Him that he will render the appropriate thank-offerings. And this in the light of the fact that God has delivered him from death, and has prevented his feet from falling, with the consequence that he can still walk before God enjoying the light of life.
David rejoices in his deliverance which means that he can still walk before God ‘in the light of life’. ‘Life’ was often seemed in terms of a lamp that was still burning, and David was aware that his lamp was still burning brightly.
Now I want you to think about this question, Is your lamp still burning?
