My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 55

20 – My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.
21 – His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
22 – Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
23 – But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.

Let’s remember where David is at in his life for a moment. He is on the run from his son’s treachery, on the brink of “loosing” his kingdom. Yet, as he is in the quiet of the night, reflecting on the circumstances he finds himself in, thoughts must have whirled about in his head.

God – why is this happening? How could my own son, and a fellow companion, a close friend, perform such treachery? Who can I trust now?

Consider when God promised the kingdom to David, in 2 Samuel 7:11, He promised the following to the young king.

 2 Samuel 7:11b-13

Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.  When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Now he is on run from his greatest threat, one of the very offspring David may have expected to establish the Kingdom as God promised. Looking back on this promise, we believers have the luxury of knowing God was speaking of Jesus. The kingdom of God is established by Jesus, and He has built a “house” (dynasty) for the name of God. Yes we see this and rejoice in it.

David did not have this luxury. He is being chased down by his potential successor, and I imagine that when he is in his quiet moments, he is recounting this promise from God. A promise that speaks of his days being fulfilled and his lying down (passing away), ushering in his offspring, his very child, that will establish the Kingdom.

I don’t know about you, but if I was in his place, I could see this promise being fulfilled, even in my/David’s defeat. Absalom would “allow David’s death” and he would become sovereign. Are there arguments against this? Yes of course, but that is because we know the history.

I want us to reside in the moment with David, to try to get in his head. Late at night, David may have considered his understanding of the promise of God differently than previously, and given this possibility, this makes verse 22 all the more potent.

The “burden” David refers to is his “lot in life”, the situation he found himself in. He was in the midst of a time where the promise of God may be coming to fruition in a different manner than he originally expected.

There comes a time for every believer to accept their lot in life as from the hand of God. This does not allow us to simply lie down and become passive in our lives, for the Lord wants us to constantly test His will and seek to perform His pleasure. But admittedly, as the days go by, and our past decisions are set in stone, we may find ourselves is circumstances we did not expect.

David made some bad decisions. I too, have made some bad decisions. David would incur the consequences of these decisions, of which might be his current circumstance!. In all the confusion, conflicts and bewilderment, David gave sage advise in his last message in this psalm, to those of us in similar circumstances.

…I will trust in you.

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