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 56:1-4
1 To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Considering the background to this psalm in our last post, we saw that David was in flight mode, slipping into greater and greater deceit, first with his own people (the priest’s of Nob) and now with those who were his enemy. Let us remember that David is the one who killed the Philistine giant Goliath, and as he enters the city of Gath to seek asylum, he is in possession of Goliath’s sword. Surely he did not bring it in front of Achish, reminding him of his previous victory over the Philistines.
Nevertheless, as he writes, he is reaching out to God for grace.
He speaks of “man” oppressing him, trampling on him all day long. The term trampling does not only carry the meaning of a crushing, of a beating down, or a stepping on, but also of a “panting after”. This picture is of his enemies chasing after him, panting out their breath, seeking with all their strength to catch him. This is no passive effort on David’s enemies part, but in his mind, and in truth, his enemies are but a step behind him.
He needs God’s help, the God who he has come to know in the fields with his sheep, the God who he has sung songs to and has worshipped under the stars while all alone with his livestock.
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
Verse 3 is a favorite of mine, for I am one who may experience fear (rightly of wrongly) more than most. It seems to be my achilles heal, and this story of David on the run resonates with me. I can somewhat identify with him, for though my circumstances are no where as dire as they were for the future king, the allowance of fear controlling my actions is just as real. I am thankful that David is a real man, a man of weakness in the midst of his victories and that the Lord of heaven brought him though difficult times
The question in my mind is whether David considered his act of madness in front of Achish to be an act of faith, “helping” God with the circumstance he was in. Or was this statement a statement of a lesson learned, where David is writing of his future decisions to trust God when fear strikes.
This refrain of trust in the midst of fear comes up again later in the psalm and is the theme of this psalm, for in the midst of the circumstances David was in, his primary experience was of fear.
As fear sometimes grips our hearts, even in times of actual danger, do we learn from our actions in the midst of the fear?
Can we determine as David does, to trust God instead of succumbing to fear? Surely we have known God to be the One who rescues, and yet we are but frail men and women, susceptible to fear. Unless we act in faith, knowing our God is on our side.
May His name be lifted up in our lives, even as we trust him in our fears!
…in God I trust; I shall not be afraid
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.
Considering the Bible 