Psalm 55:1-8 Restless Prayer Syndrome

James J. Tissot,
'David Quits Jerusalem' (1898-1902),
The Jewish Museum, New York.

This psalm contains David’s lament at the betrayal he suffered at the hands of his closest counselor. Previously, I have focused my comments mostly on verses from the middle part of the psalm (e.g., 9-11, 12-14, 16-18). So, for this post, I will do something new and focus on the first eight verses while not ignoring the rest of the psalm.

Give ear to my prayer, O God,
    and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
Attend to me, and answer me;
    I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
because of the noise of the enemy,
    because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
    and in anger they bear a grudge against me. (v.1-3)

Perhaps you have seen the endless commercials for prescription drugs for an array of ailments including “restless leg syndrome.” While I don’t suffer from such an ailment, there are times when I can’t get comfortable sitting still. Recently, this happened when a headache kept me from a good night’s sleep. When thinking about these experiences and reading Psalm 55, I wonder if David suffered from a “restless prayer syndrome” where he couldn’t stop pouring out his complaints and prayers for God’s delivering mercy. I wonder if our focus is on our complaint or our plea for mercy in times like that. We all could name people who are heavy on the complaint and light on asking for mercy… because we don’t want to admit that we need it. While David had legitimate personal and corporate complaints, he knew all too well that he constantly needed divine mercy. Also in David’s favor was that “he knew a guy” upon whom he should cast his burdens… the Lord Himself!

My current office is in a building shared with a large Christian preschool. Every morning I hear a cacophony of crying and some pretty regular tantrums that pierce the wall and assault my ears. While those children are not enemies, I sometimes feel restless and even groan a bit because the noise is exhausting. However, some people experience far worse and face debilitating pain, either physically, or relationally. Still, others are persecuted by those in power because of their faith, moral stands, or political beliefs, and they take those situations to God in prayer.

At the time this psalm was written, David had not only been betrayed by his closest counselor (Ahithophel) but also by his own son (Absalom). Rather than fight for his life and rights, David fled for his life out of Jerusalem (See the narrative in 2 Samuel 15-16). Yet, in his heart, he didn’t go so far that he couldn’t hear their shouting and crude behavior from the city walls (v. 9-11). Such wanton hate manifested in violence and immorality grieved David and had him looking for an exit strategy to fly away and find peace.

Mourning Dove. Photo: Cliff Fahey Sr.

My heart is in anguish within me;
    the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and horror overwhelms me.
And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
yes, I would wander far away;
    I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
I would hurry to find a shelter
    from the raging wind and tempest.” (v.4-8)

Yet, he was not a dove who could fly away. He was responsible for the people with him and was about to be pursued. I can picture every step he took being punctuated with prayer for mercy and longing for God to bring the counsel of the wicked to an end.

Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;
    for I see violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they go around it
    on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
    ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
    do not depart from its marketplace. (v. 9-11)

David poetically observes seven wrong things among those who didn't fear God and betrayed their friends. Can you find them all? [*See answer below] This description in v. 10-11 reminds me of Habakkuk’s complaint to the Lord (Hab. 1:2-4) which was answered by the revelation that righteous judgment would come swiftly at the hands of the Babylonian army.

David mourns the loss of his former friend and counselor. Sometimes people will fail us even when they don’t mean to. Others will intentionally betray their friends when they see some profit in doing so. David experienced it 3500 years ago. Such behavior is still present today. Paul warned Timothy,

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.  (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

There are plenty of problems for us to pray about, and plenty of areas in our hearts we need to surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We should not love ourselves more than we love God and others. If we love Jesus, and we know that he loves us, we want to talk to him about most everything. Our prayer life can develop into a running conversation where we talk to the Lord and then listen for how he will answer not in a transactional way but in a relational sense. We will enjoy sheltering in his presence.

The world around us is often unsafe because it is filled with people with evil in their hearts. David minces no words in trusting that the Lord will bring justice upon the betrayers and verses 15 and 23 are especially intense and even prophetic.

Not only was David restlessly consistent and even relentless in calling on the Lord God but toward the end of the psalm, he encourages the readers/hearers to cast their burden on the Lord who will never betray.

Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved." (v.22)

Prayer doesn’t need to be a duty or a discipline when we are in need. In those times we will pray restless prayers like David longing for the comfort and deliverance found in God. In times of joy and abundance, we will pray out of an overflow of gratitude.

I hope that we never get comfortable with a prayer-less life. May the Spirit use either need or joy to make us restless to speak to our Savior! Flying away like a dove rarely brings true rest. Instead, lasting peace comes from running to the Lord who rewards those who seek him (Heb. 11:6).

What a precious truth it is that he is with us no matter where we are or what we face.

 

*Answer: In verses 10-11 David poetically observes seven wrong things when the city was in the hands of those faithless betrayers. Violence, strife, iniquity, trouble, ruin, oppression, and fraud.

 

Psalm 54 David's Data Breach in Ziph

Photo by Arif Riyanto on Unsplash

After the epigraph, which helps to set the specific context of this psalm, this short, seven-verse psalm gets right after it. There is no gradual build-up, no extended metaphors or subtle poetry. David had a problem and was quite direct in his prayer to the only one who could save him.

The initial epigram reminds us that the Ziphites took David’s personal information and sold it on the dark web to the bad actor, King Saul. They did it twice! The first time was recorded in 1 Samuel 23.

Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand.” (1 Sam. 23:19-20)

A Ziph-like shot of the Judean Mts. Photo: Greg K. Dueker2011

King Saul commended them for this breach and asked them to keep spying on David (v.22-24). This information dump allowed Saul to hotly pursue David ‘round the mountain until reports of a Philistine raid arrived and Saul had to break off the chase. David named that place seh'-lah hammakh-lek-oth' or “The rock of escape.”

Later, in 1 Samuel 26, the Ziphites informed Saul about David again.

Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?” So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. (1 Sam. 26:1-3)

The Ziphites, by their treachery, violated the universal law of hospitality they should have kept toward the anointed one who lived in their midst. Understandably, David felt utterly betrayed, yet his focus was on the help of the Lord being better than the help of humanity.

From the beginning of this psalm, he mentions “your name” in parallel with “your might” as the answer to his cry for salvation and longing to be heard.

Photo by Matheus Ferrero on Unsplash

If God doesn’t do anything in answer to our prayers, then why would David pray so fervently that God would hear his prayer? He prayed that God would “hear” his prayer and give ear to his words because he fully believed that when God hears us, he acts as is natural for him to act—by saving his people, sharing his goodness, and bringing justice down upon the wicked! As I was thinking about the parallel structure of David’s request in v.2, “Hear my prayer/ give ear to the words of my mouth” it caused me to wonder how much of what we say is prayer and even how much of what we say do we want the Lord to hear? Ouch! Instead of ignoring God in my speech, what if “all the words of my mouth” were a prayer?

In v.3 the psalmist refers to “strangers/ ruthless men” … not so much foreign adversaries but those in Israel who did not practice the protective hospitality of God. Instead, they seek to kill the supplicant, which in this case was the young pre-king David. Why would they be so unneighborly? I would say it was the natural result of their selfishness… “They do not set God before themselves.”

Photo by Maël BALLAND on Unsplash

Will we struggle alone trusting our own strength and wisdom to contend for our rights, the respect we feel we deserve, and even a good return on our retirement accounts? Or will we like David trust God to be our “helper/upholder” (v.4)?

Behold, God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder of my life.

Being a helper is not just women’s work (as some misinterpret Gen 2:18,20) it is the faithful work of God! We need more warrior-helpers today! We can all appreciate those who encourage us in our difficulties with their words and actions. What if we, as the body of Christ, were more concerned about upholding others than knocking them down?

Some people are evil and thus unjust. Some show themselves to be our enemies, but it is not our job to destroy them, God will bring their wicked plans back upon them. Their evil intentions will come back to bite them... hard! This is less a Davidic imprecation than a statement of fact about how God works in the lives of his people.

He will return the evil to my enemies;
    in your faithfulness put an end to them. (v.5)

I am reminded of a verse in Proverbs that says, “Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight.” (Prov. 26:2) In their case there is cause in abundance!

The psalmist confidently declares that he will worship the Lord in an overflow of gratitude for deliverance… even though the deliverance has not happened yet. Let us not miss the “freewill offering” aspect of v. 6. The psalmist sees such sacrificial giving as joyful worship, not a begrudgingly compliant obligation.

With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. (v.6)

If we wait for everything to be perfect before we worship with our giving, it will likely never happen. There will always be one more problem to face, one more crisis to conquer, one more debt to pay, one more day to wait. The blessing available to us is that we can enter into victorious living even amid hardship if we choose a life of generous gratitude! We can enter the joy of the Lord right now! To this point, Paul commended the glad generosity of the Philippian church in Macedonia who gave despite severe circumstances.

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord… (2 Cor. 8:1-3)

In concluding my comments on this psalm, I would say that once we confess, pray, put our trust in the Lord, gratefully worship, and by faith see the future victory we should not forget our testimony. We should be bold in telling the good things that God has done for us. Even if today’s issue has not yet been resolved in our experience, we can testify to how God has delivered us in the past.

For he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. (v.7)

What the enemy intends for evil, God in his amazing love can coopt and use for good. Waiting is hardly ever enjoyable, but trusting the Lord can smuggle contentment into almost any difficulty... even this election season. 

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

How will we prepare for the coming week? 

Will we proactively ask for God’s help? 

Will we talk to the Lord about all that is happening in our lives? 

Will we respond to the challenges we face this week by committing them to the Lord’s justice and mercy? 

I hope so.