Psalm 56 When I am Afraid...

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This psalm addresses what we should do when we are afraid.

Though it is short (13 verses) Psalm 56 contains a powerful statement of faith and a key concept that allowed David to make such a faith statement again and again. Another unique aspect of this psalm is it’s one of the few that is specifically tied to a recorded event in the life of David… “when the Philistines seized him in Gath.” This brief narrative is found in 1 Samuel 21:8-15.

From the superscription, we know that the psalm was to be sung with the tune “The Dove on Far-off Terebinths.” Is it a coincidence that the previous psalm speaks of the desire for the wings of a dove so that the psalmist might fly away from trouble and be at rest (55:6)? I doubt it. David, having fled from Saul into exile, having “flown like a dove”, wrote Psalm 56 as an individual lament, when he found that flight had not brought the desired rest but only further oppression. I also wonder if the psalm’s tune mimicked the soft yet plaintively distinct sound of a distant mourning dove. When there is one in the area, it is hard to ignore its lament!

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Not only had David been forced to repeatedly flee from Saul’s murderous jealousy, but this time, as he fled Nob, he took Goliath’s huge sword (that had been stored there) and fled to the Philistines in Gath… the very place that Goliath had called home. Crazy where fear directs us! In the West, we have the saying, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire!” This would certainly have applied to David’s situation.

Let’s follow the path of fear that led to this moment.

After David’s victory over Goliath and the Philistines in 1 Samuel 17, as they were coming home the women of Israel sang a celebratory song that caused a lot of trouble.

“Saul has struck down his thousands,
    and David his ten thousands.” (1 Sam. 18:7)

This song made Saul angry and jealous, both masking emotions for his fear that he would lose the kingdom to David. It drove Saul crazy, and he tried to kill David from the next day on. Fast forward several chapters and we find David in his fear fled once again from Saul the promise-breaker right into the city of Goliath. Even there in Gath, that horrible repetitive chorus caused him grief as the Philistine king's servants brought up that refrain...

“Saul has struck down his thousands,
    and David his ten thousands.” (1 Sam. 21:11)

At that moment David became “much afraid of Achish the king of Gath”. I can imagine him suddenly snapping out of his funk and asking himself "How did I get here and what am I carrying this?" We could argue that David should not have been afraid since he had won many victories over the Philistines and Achish was no giant like Goliath. However, exhaustion, grief, and hunger probably shaped David’s emotional response. He feigned madness (21:13) and Achish told his servants that he had enough madmen already and David was allowed to depart to hide in the cave of Adullam (approx. 10 miles away).

David might have written this psalm in the cave as he processed all that had happened in Gath, or perhaps the words of this psalm were actually on his lips as he feigned madness before the Philistines. Such a repeated declaration of faith in the city of the Philistines would have seemed like madness to them! 

Now that we have considered the context, let’s take a brief, devotional, look at the psalm.

David began with a poetic lament describing the severity of his situation and the aggressive and continuous attacks of prideful enemies.

"Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
                      all day long an attacker oppresses me;
                                       my enemies trample on me all day long,
                                                    for many attack me proudly.” (v.1-2)

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As we conclude a long and bitter election season in the US, it would seem almost all candidates could say the same thing as David, though not all would ask God for mercy/grace. As an average person, I know that I have felt something of the “all day long” oppression if only from political commercials! 

David’s next statement was imperfect, indicating that he has to do it repeatedly as a continuous practice. They are words we may have heard before but are very important for us in days such as these. “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." (v.3)

Will we learn to put our trust in God when we are afraid or will we turn to other things for help? Here is David’s statement of trust in v. 3-4…

When I am afraid,
    I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
    What can flesh do to me?

I think many can relate to this cry from the Psalmist's heart... but I wonder how often we think about how we might be the one who tramples on another—if not directly, we may be indirectly a participant in a structure that does. I wonder if we lived out verse 3, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you" instead of trying to control those we fear, it might make the world a better place. This week, at least half the country will have a chance to practice this, if they are willing to do so.

Ironically, fear can prompt us to trust in God, and the more we trust in God the less we fear.

Though David began his lament by saying, “Man tramples me” (v. 1) I have always loved the rhetorical question at the end of v.4, "What can flesh do to me?"(See also v. 11). However, if we read on in v. 5-6, we find that quite a lot can be done to us.

All day long they injure my cause;
    all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk;
    they watch my steps,
    as they have waited for my life.

Though the way forward may be painful and well acquainted with suffering, God knows and remembers. He has stored our tears in a bottle... and He delivers us!

You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call.
This I know, that God is for me." (v.8-9)

While God doesn't store time in a bottle, he does keep track of all our tears! He has shared in our sufferings, for he took them upon himself at the cross. It is in Christ alone that we are delivered, healed, and find peace.

How did David keep trusting? Certainly, he was not perfect and knew his failures well, but David knew something about God that gave him the confidence to continue to trust God!

If there was something that the psalmist knew even when all around him might be madness, it was "This I know, that God is for me.”

Such an understanding that God is not primarily a judge but a loving Father who rewards those who seek him is a key principle of faith. In Hebrews 11, what is called the “Hall of Faith” chapter, we read that faith goes beyond believing God exists to knowing that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6). He is for us, to the end of the line and beyond!

Other people may delight to hound us and belittle us, but our hope is not found in their fleeting approval. We can get distracted, and embrace plans we think are right, but ultimately it is God’s plan that will be established.

So what do we do with our afflictions that hurt so much? Are they a sign that God is angry with us or has turned his back on us? Certainly not! When we are afflicted, we are in a blessed place, a place where we can receive the comfort of Christ, as Paul encouraged the church in ancient Corinth.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Cor. 1:3-5)

I don’t know what the future holds but Jesus does, and he will walk with us through whatever comes until we safely reach the other side where there is no more sorrow! So, instead of being motivated by fear that not only steals our joy but leads to bad decisions and even worse behavior, let us put verse 3 into practice, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." because verse 9 is still true, God is for us!

Psalm 31: “Into Your Hand”

It has been a long time, too long since I have written for this blog. My other blogs either for school (Compelled2) or for the church (Our Long View) have demanded all discretionary writing energy. Now I have the privilege, in this season, of doing some freelance writing on the life of David from 1 & 2 Samuel. This also affords me the opportunity to revisit the psalms and ponder the circumstances in David’s life that accompany their writing.

Psalm 31:1-5

¹ In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
² Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
  Be a rock of refuge for me,
        a strong fortress to save me!

³ For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me;
⁴ you take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

Comments:

While for the sake of this post, I will only be addressing the first five verses, I would encourage the reader to read this entire psalm, hearing three different voices as you do so. 

• First, read it while listening to David speaking to God about of challenges and disappointments of his life’s journey. 
• Second, read it while listening to the voice of Christ in his Passion Week culminating on the cross. 
• Finally, hear the voices of the faithful martyrs mingling with our own as we seek to follow the example of trust set for us.

David’s Patient Voice

En Gedi, one place
where David hid from Saul

David’s life was full of situations where he might have written this psalm, yet it is not explicitly tied to any one of them. In a sense, it is a psalm for all seasons of need. John Phillips in his commentary, Exploring the Psalms, titles this psalm, “Life’s Ups and Downs.” That certainly covers David’s life. If we have read 1 Samuel 16-31 and 2 Samuel 15-20 then when we read Psalm 31 it is not hard to hear David voicing this prayer in a number of different contexts as he continually chose to surrender his fate into the hands of the Lord. This was especially true in terms of the timing and circumstances of David’s becoming king of Israel.

David did not ascend the throne by subtlety and strength but by surrender: “Into Thy hand I commit my spirit.” Because he was such a surrendered man, such a submissive man, God saw to it that he ascended the throne—and by power. But not by his own power!

...It was God’s power that preserved David during his fugitive years and God’s redeeming power that raised him to the throne.” (Phillips, Exploring the Psalms, Vol. 1, 234)

Jesus’ Passionate Voice

We know that Jesus quoted verse 5’s “Into your hand I commit my spirit” as he died on the cross (Luke 23:46). However, I am not sure that we take the time to consider the entire psalm in light of that fact. Patrick Henry Reardon in his book Christ in the Psalms wrote,

It is the prayer of “Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2), speaking to His Father in the context of His sufferings and death. This psalm is part of his prayer of faith…

In this psalm, we enter into the sentiments and thoughts of Jesus in His sufferings. We see the Passion “from the inside,” as it were. [p.59]

As Evangelicals, sometimes we view the atonement too transactionally and not incarnationally enough. Jesus’ entire life was part of the atonement mission of God, not just the last few hours. In his approximately 33 years on earth, he redeemed every stage of human life from infancy to adulthood. As we listen to this psalm through the voice of Christ, we will see how much he identified with and experienced our condition. One verse might require a note of further explanation. The last part of verse 10 says,

“my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and my bones waste away.”

We know that Jesus was tempted in every way like we are yet was without sin (Heb. 4:15), so how could this verse represent the prayer of Jesus? The Bible says that Jesus not only died for our sins but that he became our sin on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21). Taken in that context this line makes perfect sense.

Our Voice (in Perspective)

If the Lord is to be our rock and our fortress, leading and guiding us, and rescuing us from the hidden traps of the enemy (v.3-5) then it is contingent upon our confession of need and calling on him for help. The first two verses introduce David’s prayer at a time when he was oppressed by others.

 In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    in your righteousness deliver me!
Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

It is my belief that we will sooner or later “be put to shame” unless we cry out to the Lord in prayerful dependence as did David. But if we make it our practice to keep talking to the Lord, trusting our lives into his hand, and allowing him to lead and guide us through all the circumstances of our lives. We are not immune to the sorrows of life, but we need not be alone or without hope. While at the time of David, there was no certain understanding of a resurrection and eternal life; because of the work of Christ, we have a more complete understanding and a broader application of this passage.

The psalmist sought (v.18) and received deliverance from death and trusted in the coming of such deliverance; Jesus, on the other hand, gave expression to the same statement of trust as he died. He anticipated not deliverance from death, but trusted God even in dying and death (a trust that was later fulfilled in resurrection). It is in light of the use of the psalm in the worlds of Jesus that its transformation for contemporary faith becomes clear. The psalmist prayed for life, for deliverance from death, and that is the psalm’s fundamental and legitimate sense. But in the context of resurrection faith, the psalm may also be used as a prayer in death, expressing trust and commitment to the life lying beyond the grave. [Craigie, WBC Psalms 1-50, 263]

I am comforted to know that Jesus not only knows what it is like to face unjust attacks, lies, and rumors but walks with us (by the Holy Spirit’s presence) when we face the same. May our voices echo those of David and Jesus as we pour out our hearts to the Lord, and trust everything of this life and the next to the God who is there for us!

“Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”

Psalm 26: King David vs.Jesus?

Let’s start by considering two very different passages of scripture, one from the Old Testament written by a king, and the other from the New Testament proclaimed as the message of the kingdom of heaven.

Psalm 26:1-3

¹ Vindicate me, O Lord,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
² Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.
³ For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.

Matthew 5:1-3

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain,

and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”

How can we walk as King David claimed “in our integrity” and still be blessed as the “poor in spirit” or the “spiritually bankrupt” at the same time? Is it even possible for both to be true in us, or are these attitudes mutually exclusive? Or perhaps we just chalk it up to the differences due to progressive revelation from the mid-Old Testament to the early New Testament as is so often done and walk on by such issues.

Let’s be honest, sometimes King David’s claims in the Psalms seem almost arrogant and self-righteous at first glance…especially given our knowledge of his own personal and public failures. Certainly he was gifted with a completely honest approach to communicating with God and thus some of his statements may offend our more nuanced religious sensibilities. But before we are too hard on David, we need to get the log of self-promotion out of at least one of our own eyes. How often do we mentally make the same argument as David…that we deserve better? That we are not like “them”? That we have integrity in ourselves?

Let me say, in a stage-whisper aside, that it is in our corrupted nature to compare ourselves favorably with others. [Even those who despise themselves and compare themselves unfavorably to others do so with the thought that they should be better or have better in a kind of backwards pride—for if they really despised themselves then they would be happy that their life is miserable.]

We often don’t really feel the deep need for God to vindicate and redeem us because we either see no need for either vindication or redemption, or we are committed to vindicating ourselves. We think we are Superman rescuing our own lives from the gutters of both personal failures and religious superstitions. If God exists, then he must certainly accept us…but more often than not the spiritually confident live as though God

David’s request for God to “vindicate” him is actually a statement of humility. It demonstrates that he knows that he needs to be vindicated (to justify, maintain, support, defend, uphold, prove correct or right) and cannot deliver himself.

In the Expositors’ Bible Commentary Vol. 5, Willem A. VanGemeren writes, “Vindication is here the act of God whereby he declares his servant to be innocent and avenges himself of the wicked (false accusers, enemies).”[1] Note that vindication here is “the act of God” not the act of self-righteous humanity.

The integrity, to which David clung, was faithfully dependent upon the steadfast love and mercy of God (v.3). His integrity is seen in the coherence between his inner life of faith and his outward walk of faithfulness. He shunned everything that smacked of a lie or deceitfulness. He chooses not to enjoy the temporal benefits of those who oppress others. He has weighed the cost of following the Lord and does so with equal parts enthusiastic abandon steadfast endurance. So we see that to “walk in integrity” demands not perfection, but requires the honesty and humility to admit that we desperately need a gracious redeemer!

It has been said that “a life of faith” is one which serves a dream/mission so big that it requires God to miraculously bring it to pass or it is not a life of faith. If, in our integrity, we know that we need God to vindicate and redeem us and we put our whole-hearted hope in his doing so, then perhaps we are living by faith indeed as the “poor in spirit”.

Psalm 26, from which these verses are taken, is described as a psalm of entrance…that might have been used by the worshipper entering into the temple complex seeking both the clean hands and pure heart necessary to come before the presence of the Lord. The psalmist asked God to search and to test him, not because of an elevated sense of self-righteousness, but from the response of a heart captured by the steadfast love of the Lord! He wants to be able be in the presence of God.

He consciously distances himself from the oppressor and draws near to God in whom true freedom is found. For as Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)  This psalm testifies that the psalmist was a “one master” kind of guy. To quote VanGemeren again, “The psalmist's concern with integrity, acts of devotion, and words of praise flows out of a heart filled with love for the Lord and for God's house. It is motivated by a zeal for the Lord.”[2] 

So can I say the same thing about myself? A couple of years ago, in commenting on this same passage, I wrote,

I hope that one day I will be able to look back and say with the psalmist that “I have trusted the Lord without wavering.” Yet I am not so sure that I want to ask the questions of God that David asks in v.2. But I wonder if it is possible to experience unwavering trust (v.1) without asking God to test us (v.2). Maybe the key is in verse 3…where I keep God’s steadfast love before my eyes (which makes it a lot easier to trust) and I live in his perfect faithfulness (not my own).

So we see that David’s integrity caused him to cry out to the Lord for redemption, vindication, and relational access to the Lord. Perhaps David is actually a pretty good case study in the blessedness of being poor in spirit.

What do you think?

This post is also published at Compelled2 my cultural engagement blog.

---

[1] Expositors Bible Commentary Vol. 8

[2] Ibid.

Psalm 18:6-16 "Song in the Storm"

Psalm 18:6-16

In my distress I called upon the Lord;
    to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
    and my cry to him reached his ears.

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⁷ Then the earth reeled and rocked;
    the foundations also of the mountains trembled
    and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke went up from his nostrils,
    and devouring fire from his mouth;
    glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹ He bowed the heavens and came down;
    thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰ He rode on a cherub and flew;
    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
    thick clouds dark with water.
¹² Out of the brightness before him
    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

Photo by Brandon Morgan
on Unsplash

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
    and the Most High uttered his voice,
    hailstones and coals of fire.
¹⁴ And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
¹⁵ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
    and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶ He sent from on high, he took me;
    he drew me out of many waters.

Comments:

Recently I was listening to the August Rush soundtrack which I have loved since I first saw the movie. I was reminded of a couple of lines from the movie that stood out to me. Robin Williams’ tormented Fagin-like character “Wizard” argued in a lucid moment that it is not that many people can’t hear the music, but that not many are listening.  He encouraged August, “You got to love music more than you love food. More than life. More than yourself!” Unfortunately, Williams’ Wizard loved the money more than the music…and ended up alone with only a harmonica under the L. However, his mystical thoughts about music are brought full circle in the faith and longing of a child. After the performance of August’s Rhapsody, the 11-year-old August whispered, “The music is all around you. All you have to do is listen.”

David the psalmist also heard the music—the music of God’s love—all around him. He wrote this longish psalm (50 verses), to celebrate his deliverance from the years of false accusations, threats, betrayals, and violent pursuits of King Saul. He had believed that the Lord was his refuge through all his troubles, and had seen God continually providing help, strength, and salvation in so many situations. In verses 6-16 above he used the powerful poetic description of a terrible storm to communicate the emotion of his song of deliverance. God was working on his behalf, in answer to his prayers. Do we hear God's song in the storm? Do we, like David, have ears to hear the Lord working in love? Do we, like August, want to be found?

It is such “music” in his soul that inspired David to sing v. 28-32 with infused enthusiasm as he faced the new battles ahead, now that he had stepped into God’s calling for his life.

For it is you who light my lamp;
    the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
For by you I can run against a troop,
    and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—his way is perfect;
    the word of the Lord proves true;
    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

For who is God, but the Lord?
    And who is a rock, except our God?—
the God who equipped me with strength
    and made my way blameless. 

The deliverance of God is not just from something but unto something. David was delivered from running for his life unto serving Israel as God’s anointed king.

What is it that God has delivered us from? What is it that we are delivered unto? What enthusiasm, what courage, what freedom now that we have been found and he has removed the shame and the blame of the past?

Dare I say it? The word has been so overused and underapplied. Yet God has equipped us for a mission…should we choose to accept it.

The music of God’s steadfast love is all around us. Today I am repeating the seven words of verse one, "I love you, O Lord, my strength!"  

 
Can you hear the music? I hope it gets stuck in your head too!