Psalm 70
Hurry Up God?
We’ve all had that moment. It’s the one where you’re listening to a new song, maybe on the radio in the car or on Spotify while washing the dishes. And you think to yourself, “this was written just for me!”. It’s just so relatable. It captures the mood you’re in and the experiences you are going through right now. And that’s what good songs are meant to do.
Yet, it’s important to remember that they were penned by someone else first. So to hear the song most truly we must hear it through their life. And that’s the same in this Psalm we are exploring today.
In it we are hearing God’s anointed King sing, praying for God’s salvation and deliverance! His prayer though is not just for himself but for all of us too.
For the director of music. Of David. A petition.
1 Hasten, O God, to save me;
come quickly, LORD, to help me.2 May those who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
3 May those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’
turn back because of their shame.
4 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
‘The LORD is great!’5 But as for me, I am poor and needy;
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
LORD, do not delay.
This song of David is topped and tailed by his call on God to “come quickly”. Other translations render it as “hurry”, which captures the demand and desperation. The King is in turmoil and danger. He is pleading for a swift resolution. He is crying out to God to change the timetable and get involved sooner rather than later. And if sooner could be immediately, that would be stellar.
It’s a bold prayer. And maybe we think it unbecoming to be so demanding of God. But that’s only if we miss the confidence we have. We are not demanding on the basis of our own pedigree or performance. The King roots this desperate cry in the truth of who God is, “my help and my deliverer”.
In verses 2&3, the King details the peril he finds himself in. He is surrounded by those who are seeking to take his life. He is fenced in by those wish and yearn for his downfall. He is besieged by those who ridicule and revile him.
We hear in this Psalm the voice of our true King, the greater Son of David, calling on his God to intervene and interrupt the plots of his enemies. Jesus is the one who committed himself into the hands of his Father for he knew him to be the trustworthy “help and deliverer”. Not just on the cross but throughout his ministry, Jesus was surrounded by mockers and scoffers, those who schemed his downfall yet it was always to God that he committed himself. Thought he was rich beyond all splendour, he chose to be “poor and needy” (see 2 Corinthians 8.9), taking the form of a servant, committed to the Father’s will. And the Father’s exalted him to the name above every other name, with his enemies at his feet (Philippians 2.6-11; Ephesians 1.19-22).
Is this only about God’s King then? No! The middle portion shows us how if God’s answers the prayers of his King, it is good news for us all.
His prayer is that the plotters and schemers would be confounded and foiled. His prayer is that the mockers and scoffers who be turned back and hoisted on their own petard. His prayer is that the ridiculers and revilers would retreat back to the darkness.
And that prayer was answered at the cross, for through it, God made a public spectacle of his enemies (Colossians 2.15). Their impotence was unmasked in the face of the omnipotent (all-powerful) God. Their schemes were vain in the face of the omniscient (all-knowing) One.
The enemies of our King and his church are defeated. And that is good news because that defeat of God’s foes means salvation for God’s people. The hope of the people of God rests in God’s anointed King. And his true King was raised up to everlasting victory.
And so his prayer comes true as we all sing together, remembering this great salvation:
“The LORD is great!”
Glory be to God the Father, who interrupted the schemes of the evil one to bring victory to his Son.
Glory be to God the Son, who became poor and needy to win us our salvation.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who unites us to the victorious Christ.
Ever three and ever One.