Psalm 55
Casting Ourselves on God
The enemies are not just outside but inside the gates.
We all put up walls. They are for our protection. It is our choice who stays out and who enters. But there are times when people sneak in, who take advantage of our trust, and cause us deep distress.
This is a Psalm for those times, when we are assailed not just from a distance by strangers but up close by those we once called friends.
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
1 Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;
2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.’9 Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
11 Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.12 If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
at the house of God,
as we walked about
among the worshippers.15 Let death take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
for evil finds lodging among them.16 As for me, I call to God,
and the LORD saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed
from the battle waged against me,
even though many oppose me.
19 God, who is enthroned from of old,
who does not change –
he will hear them and humble them,
because they have no fear of God.20 My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.
21 His talk is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords.22 Cast your cares on the LORD
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
23 But you, God, will bring down the wicked
into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
will not live out half their days.But as for me, I trust in you.
The enemies are not just outside but inside the gates. From the outset, we encounter an individual who is not just besieged by enemies but his mind has been infiltrated by their slander, deceit and threats (1-3). Their schemes have led to his physical, mental and emotional suffering. They have made his life miserable.
And it is because of this, we hear the desperate cries which open this Psalm. Here we find David cascading blows on the door of God. He demands that God not just hear him out but answer clearly and quickly. For the King can find no escape.
The enemies are not just outside but are inside the gates. They have broken into his heart (4-5). He is agitated, restless and disturbed. His thoughts are plagued by terrors and his dreams are tormented by horrors.
And his desire is deeply human. He yearns to escape (6-8). To be liberated not just from the physical siege but the emotional torture. This is not the situation where we just wish to sidestep a danger but want to flee and fly far from it. To a place where there is no word or rumour of what has caused his anxiety. To the desert where he is far from other people, the cause of of his distress. This prayer resembles that of the true King, who asked God to remove the cup from him. Yet at the end, he submitted to the will of his Father.
The enemies are not just outside but inside the gates. The city is suffused with violence and strife. It is permeated with malice and abuse. It is saturated by threats and lies (9-11).
And the shock is that at the heart of this malevolence is the King’s close companion and friend (12-14). An attack from a stranger unsettles and bludgeons. But betrayal from a friend stings and bewilders. There is a shift in the Psalm here where it moves from speaking to God to the one who has double-crossed David. This is intensely personal. The traitor is not named but their previous friendship is sketched out. It was one who was near and immediate. A companion who had walked with the King in intimacy during worship. Their friendship was sweet. Now a bitter taste is left in the heart of David.
He is later described as deceitful and two-faced (20-21). His words are smooth but his tongue is sharp. Like when Jesus was received a kiss from his friend and follower and was betrayed into the hands of his enemies. In the same garden where he prayed, “Thy will be done.”
For the King commits himself to the LORD (16-19). He commits his enemies to God. Trusting him as righteous. Trusting that he will deliver justice. But also that God will deliver his people from the hands of our great enemy. That he will deliver us from those who assail us and bring accusations against us. That he will deliver us from death. The King’s confidence, and our own, is in the God is does not change and therefore we know that he who has previously delivered his people will do it once more (see Romans 8.32).
There’s one final shift of direction in this Psalm. David speaks to his own soul. And he invites us to join with him.
The call to our souls is to cast our cares on God (22-23). In doing this, we implicitly declare that God is bigger. He is big enough and more to handle our sorrows. He is big enough and more to cope with fears. He is bigger than our enemies. He is bigger than their scheming and plotting. He can… No, he will sustain us. He will never let us fall away. He will uphold us. He will never cast us out when we cast ourselves on him.
Because he cares for us (1 Peter 5.7). Because he is for us.
Glory be to God the Father, who is enthroned from of old and does not change.
Glory be to God the Son, who will never cast out those who seek refuge in him.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who sustains and upholds us in the storm.
Ever three and ever One.