Psalm 17

A Prayer of David

 

⁰¹          From lips free of deceit:

hear a just cause, O LORD,

attend to my cry,

listen to my prayer.

⁰²             From Your presence:

                        let my judgment come,

let Your eyes behold with equity.

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An Appeal to Heaven

For the Lord’s Day:  the 15^th of February 2004

 

Introduction: There are many ideas concerning the peculiarities of this particular psalm.  Spurgeon gives us more than a passing theme to display, from which I have given a belated second title:  “An Appeal to Heaven.”  There are encompassed in those words two majestic ideas in my mind.  The first is the necessary lesson that we all must learn to attend our daily prayers and in those moments when we feel the less of His divine oversight, all the more we should fall on our knees and seek His face.  The second lesson is the traditional use of those prayerful words on several revolutionary Battle Standards used at the beginning of the American Revolution.

 

Let us consider the second idea first:  in the early years of the American Revolution, the military and political leaders knew all too well the inequality of military might stacked against them.  Certainly, the British red coats had been surprised by the abilities of the colonials in and around the geography of Boston town.  In their attitude of arrogance, the military leaders had squandered hundreds of valuable soldiers for exceptionally little gain.

 

However, as the colonial leaders well knew – King George III had at his disposal not only the empire forces, but also those of his private kingdom on the continent as well as any number of mercenaries that might be hired out for the duration of the conflict.  On top of that there was the considerable weight of the Royal Navy which had traditionally ruled the waves.

 

Heaven’s gracious help would be absolutely necessary as Washington well knew and prayed regularly.  As it all turned out, Washington admitted that his generalship had been bested at least seven times, but every time – the Lord provided a way and a means to remain in the field with the little band of Continentals who remained loyal.  Then, for the first time in modern European history, the British Navy was unable to contend with the allied ships of the French king who spent himself poor assisting the enemies of his fearsome Britannic foe.  In addition, the war machine in London town was dominated by a fearsome “queen” with whom the greater majority of British gentlemen and officers would have nothing to do.  And finally, all too many Englishmen actually favored the American cause precisely because their own calling for liberty and freedom was wrapped up in the American endeavor.

 

And so, in all of those subtle and differing scenarios – the Creator God encompassed His grace and mercy so that a new political day of freedom might be rung in through the struggle for human rights and decency in government.  Our own Declaration of Independence imitates the theme and majesty of this particular psalm.

 

Development:  The first lesson, which we take up second in order is the absolute necessity for every Christian to learn well from David’s experience here to pray, pray and pray again that the Lord’s gracious will might be worked out daily in our lives and those of our families and friends – and ultimately all to the greater glory of our great God and Father Himself.  So let us turn to the first two verses and discover the sweetness of David’s dependence upon the Lord God of heaven and earth.

 

Psalm Seventeen, like many is styled:  “A Prayer of David.” Spurgeon observes pointedly that “David would not have been a man after God’s own heart, if he had not been a man of prayer.  He was a master in the sacred art of supplication.  He flies to prayer in all times of need.”  How many times have I known when many members and friends of this congregation have suffered trials and troubles – and in the worrisome midst of those spiritual sufferings: they have stayed home, sulked and pouted, when all that they needed to do was enter into His gates and into His house to worship and pray? I do not know what is on your minds, unless you are too much like me – not wanting to bother anyone about personal problems and more willing to suffer in neglect than to seek divine sympathy?  Too often we do not find ourselves in the proper mood to pray, we sense that our attitude and demeanor are not at ease in Zion.  Well, our first spiritual lesson in this psalm is to realize as the German evangelical Delitzsch describes David’s emotional approach in the crafting of this poetic prayer.  “The language of the Psalms of David, which is in other instances so flowing and clear, becomes more harsh and, in accordance with the subject and mood, as it were, full of unresolved dissonances.  …  The language is then more rough and unmanageable, and wanting in the clearness and transparency we find elsewhere.  The tone of the language also becomes more dull and, as it were, a dull murmur.  … The more vehement and less orderly flow of the language which we find here, is the result of the inward tumult of [David’s] feelings.”

 

Thus, we should learn – that any time is the time to pray and as we see at the end of this precious prayer:  how far we all may be lifted by and through the grace and mercy of our Lord who hears, attends and listens to every prayer of those He has called His own saints.  In that three-fold verbiage – David too would have us assent to copying his earnest request.  Listen to David’s opening words: “From lips free of deceit: hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer.”

 

Now, there is an important point that I have made in the ordering of the sacred poetry.  I began with the last phrase in order to highlight the three repetitive verbs used in the original Hebrew.  “From lips free of deceit,” David begins this prayer.  The words in that phrase are a literal translation my Translator’s Handbook intones.  Then the authors of that helpful linguistic commentary suggest that they would translate it simply as “My honest prayer.”

 

But, methinks they miss the essential point better brought out by older scholars.  Delitzsch observes:  David “knows that he is not merely righteous in his relation to man, but also in his relation to God.  In all such assertions of pious self-consciousness, that which is intended is a righteousness of life which has its ground in the righteousness of faith.”  Delitzsch then compares this statement to the understanding of Pauline Christianity and notes: “the truth, that faith is the ultimate ground of righteousness, is expressed in” Genesis 15: 6, where we read: “[Abraham] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

 

Delitzsch continues a careful outline of the orthodox underpinnings of biblical understanding by crediting “other turning-points in the course of the history of redemption” as well as a distinct expression of Jeremiah “the Lord our righteousness.”  He concludes that in the expression here of David’s heartfelt experience of faith, that “there is no self-righteousness, in David’s praying that the righteousness, which in him is persecuted and cries for help may be heard.”

 

Calvin gives another twist to the interpretive logic here.  “Whenever the wicked assault us, the same Spirit calls upon us to engage in prayer, and if any man, trusting to the testimony of a good conscience which he enjoys neglects the exercise of prayer, he defrauds God of the honor which belongs to him, in not referring his cause to him, and in not leaving him to judge and determine in it.”

 

Thus, with that duality of caution – we have both an earnest admonition to avoid the sin of omission wrapped up in our obligation to take everything in prayer to our gracious Lord and God.  Even those things that we think we can handle all by ourselves!  Now, having understood the nature of our coming to the Lord in all earnestness and honesty, we see three active verbs in the phrases highlighted in all sincerity.  These include:  “hear, attend and listen.”

 

While the poetic devise here is certainly repetitive, all the more do we sense the emotional state of David, the greatest of the prayer warriors in the Old Covenant.  This is almost like the methods used by infants to gain the audience of their mothers.  In order to be heard, a new born infant only knows how to cry, further it is the babe’s intent that someone will attend to the reason for his cry and further that he be listened to by the one responsible.  Do we, are we willing to admit that in comparison to the Almighty power and influence of the great Creator God – that our best intellectual musings are at best mere imitations of a new born babies cries to mother and father?  Parents of course quickly learn the language of their wee ones, even if imperfectly.  On a much higher level, we like David must confess that God already knows our need and because He loves us and would use us to demonstrate His greater glory – He has already begun to do a great work in and through us.

 

Application:  An understanding of this true to life relationship should lead us on to the second verse before us today:  “From Your presence, let my judgment come, let Your eyes behold with equity.”  Just as weary and sickly infants take great comfort in being held and cuddled, so may we rejoice in the continual presence of the Almighty God of heaven and earth in our lives day by day and even night by night.

 

While we are sleeping – do we count it all grace that we may awaken in the morning?  David’s life was not one always with that assurance.  He was often a hunted man and when he would lay himself down to sleep – at the very least there were armed guards to protect him.  But, David well knew the limitations of that expedient since he had sometimes fled to the wilderness alone and must need the divine presence to assure him any tomorrow.  In a book that I am presently reading, the author describes how his father slept in the snake infested gullies of Camp Pendleton while being trained for worse things to come.  One night, the squad was awakened when one of the men swatted an insect and instead wrapped his hand around a rattlesnake.  For the rest of that night at least, the victim attempted to sleep standing up against some wooden supports.

 

During the colonial era, scout and frontiersman Simon Kenton would squat under a blanket that shielded the small grass and twig coals between his legs.  This not only prevented him from snoring, but also allowed him to learn how to rest and remain alert deep within the wild and dangerous forest environment.  In fact, whether David or any others would know it, ever and always – the Lord watches out for those who have been called to entertain the works of providence as designed before time began.  And further, even the worldly and wicked are not called to account until the moment that has been arranged for their demise.

 

But we miss the point if we only consider the common graces, for there is much more in the earnestness of this prayer.  Note the last two phrases of verse two:” let my judgment come,” and ” let Your eyes behold with equity.”   These two things show us the mind and heart of David.  First we see that he trusts the judgment of the Lord and further that in the “equity” of God’s love and mercy – David can rest secure in the imputed righteousness upon which he stands, even as all men must at long last count everything in and from the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died that we might be covered through His perfect righteousness – even as Job, Abraham, David and all the other Old Covenant saints whose faith was counted as righteousness.  May our hope be “in nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.”  Amen.

 

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PREACHING RESOURCES

 

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

The Westminster Confession & Catechisms.

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