Trust in the Lord
Psalm 55: 1-23
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
One commentator sees in the gloom of this psalm the despair that was Christ's in the dark hours of the night before the cross. Certainly, the experience was real to David during one of the calamities which divided his family. The experience may also be ours as we daily bear the cross of Jesus Christ in our own day and age. The saints of God's Church would rather not hear of any possible trials, troubles and tribulations. Instead we would rather hear of rewards, rest and recreation.
However, the scriptures are true to the real experiences of life and from time to time we are reminded of the darkness from which we have escaped because of Christ's purchase of our salvation. This particular psalm mirrors for us not only that experience, but David's and Christ's as well. Our psalm is divided into four portions. In the first eight verses the suppliant spreads his case before God. In verses nine through fifteen he speaks of his enemies and his earthy human desire to see their just punishment.
In verses sixteen to nineteen, our psalmist consoles himself in prayer and faith. The last four verses restates the earlier themes and closes with a personal declaration of trust in God.
In the first verses there is a threefold petition for God to earnestly hear the psalmist's prayer. We should at least be reminded here to be earnest in our prayers. After all it is not our praying that accomplishes anything, but the will of our Father who does all that He promises. David here is troubled and he seeks an answer.
Notice at the end of verse two how high strung is the King's emotions. It is his thoughts that trouble him and have brought him to the depths of depression. Doctor's today would say that David is under stress! For that he seeks relief. Today we hear very much about this emotion called stress. I very often wonder it this whole stress thing is not the work of the Holy Spirit preparing people for hearing the gospel in our time. A great revival is certainly long overdue and I pray that this will be accomplished for the glory of Christ. Look at the emotional symptoms of a man under pressure in these verses here. Have you ever experienced the heavy hand of the Lord upon your life as David is experiencing it here?
Notice the little things that trouble him, voices and stares. Notice the anguish and fear. See the reality of his desire in verses six and seven. "Oh, that I had the wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest". I am reminded of a scene in the movie Camelot where King Arthur desperately wants to be a hawk so that he can fly away from his problems. Especially a personal problem that involves people very close to him. One like David's own friend mentioned in verse thirteen of our psalm. The pain of David is like that of Arthur, he has been betrayed. Jesus also suffered at the betrayal of Judas who had been a close companion of several years.
In this sense we can well appreciate the emotions of verses nine through fifteen. The wicked in the early verses of this portion are easier to understand. Our psalmist begs that the plague of Babylon be brought upon the wicked so that they may not conspire to do evil. David's agents have heard the undercurrent in the streets. The government is in trouble, David's throne is threatened. If it were an outside enemy he could deal with the situation. But this was a different enemy. Never mind the former closeness, let all enemies be taken with sudden death he prays in verse fifteen. This is the soldier's prayer. David's greater Son prayed for the forgiveness of His enemies. And we know in the final scene on the cross that one of His enemies confessed that "Surely this was a righteous man."
The mood shifts, the third portion begins, here the psalmist consoles himself with the grace of God. The psalmist will not copy the plotting of his enemies. He will place his trust in his Lord and God. O, the daily temptations to imitate the worldly conspiracies, the constant turmoil and the struggles for political control in our day! David would not use their methods, he would count upon the providential promises and purposes of his Father in heaven. Neither would David's greater Son call ten thousand angels to deliver Him from the cross. Instead He died alone much in the tragic mood of this Psalm.
But Jesus like David had the confidence of verse eighteen. And this confidence may be ours as well. Even in the stressed out spiritual battles of our day, deliverance is near to all who will call upon the Name of the Lord. But the noises of the wicked will also be heard in heaven and because of the wicked content of their voices they will be afflicted.
David in the next verse counts his former companion among his enemies. In this last portion he summarizes his prayer and puts his future in the hands of God. The treachery of his friend still plagues his mind, in two verses he rehearses one last time the perversity of false friendship. Then he turns his care over to the Lord. He encourages us to do the same. The word care here in verse twenty-two was translated burden in earlier versions. Spurgeon sees these burdens as being allowed by the Lord and then being given back to Him.
Spurgeon like David admits that we all have burdens laid upon us, not necessarily by the hand of the Lord, but within the providential will of the Lord. Certainly, the trials and tribulations of life confound the purposes of Satan and every suffering may lead us closer in our relationship with the Lord. In later years Alexandyr Solzenitsen has admitted that the trials of the Soviet GULAG were the essential trials that brought him to his knees where he called upon the Lord. When we accept David's invitation to cast our cares on the Lord, we are promised that He will sustain us. In fact in the last line of verse twenty-two there are eternal implications in that promise that "He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."
In comparison is the way of the wicked, who are pointed to the pit of corruption. Just as the images in verse fifteen point back to the earth opening up and swallowing three thousand of God's enemies in the Exodus desert, so too are the wicked promised the same. David makes one last comparison in this psalm. "Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." In other words, their lives will be cut short. This is certainly the case in violent areas of our cities and in the warfilled attitudes of many third-world countries. There, life expectancy is very much lower than what is normal.
The psalm closes with words we should affirm and a call to a life of trust that we should imitate. "But I will trust in You!" David will trust in the Lord, the God of Israel. May we, in spite of personal trials and troubles, learn constantly to do the same. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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Anderson, A.A. |
The New Century Bible Commentary: Psalms. | |
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Spurgeon, C.H. |
The Treasury of David. | |
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The Holy
Bible, New King James
Version. | ||
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055a |
24 February 91 & 09 January 00 | |