Lord, do something!  How many times have we been in yet another overwhelming circumstance, with seemingly no way out to us, and prayed this quick prayer?  Lord, we need you to act!  Lord, bring justice!  How many times have we been in situations where people are telling lies about us so we will be blamed for a project gone wrong?  You want justice and you want it now!  Lord, it’s unfair, is our cry for mercy.  Then, at the end of our ropes, when we are at the end of our rants, we pray, “Lord, save me”.  This is the order of human thinking.  Maybe our prayers should begin with Lord, save me. 

This psalm is about David.  David is being harassed by Saul for Saul is jealous of David.  David is being lied about and chased down by Saul’s officers who are loyal to their King.  David cries out to God for rescue, judgement of his enemy and for his help to live.  But he closes with,

“Help me, oh help me, God, my God,
    save me through your wonderful love;
Then they’ll know that your hand is in this,
    that you, God, have been at work.”

“Save me”, David asks of God.  Not only save him physically but in all other ways as well for David wants what God wants in the end…for others to know God.  Do we?

Had we been in this situation with David, we might have prayed as he did! There was terrible injustice in the land, and only God could remove Saul and put the rightful king on the throne. David did not avenge himself but put the matter in the hands of the Lord (Rom. 12:17-21). Do we?

GOING DEEPER INTO THE MEANING…

The silence of God indicated that the Lord was not answering prayer and working on David’s behalf. Often, we cry out to Him but nothing seems to happen. David reminded the Lord that he did not pray only when he needed help, for he praised the Lord often and thanked Him for His mercies. In fact, in the Hebrew text, “O God of my praise” opens the psalm. God was silent, but the enemy was vocal, speaking hateful, lying words and accusing David of crimes he had never committed. The word translated “adversaries” or “accusers” gives us the English word “Satan,” one of the names of the Devil. Satan is the accuser (Rev. 12:10) and the adversary of believers (1 Peter 5:8), and he uses people to accomplish this work. Like our Savior who was falsely accused, David was innocent of the charges. God’s people return good for evil, most people return good for good and evil for evil, but Satan’s crowd returns evil for good. David responded to God’s silence and to the enemy’s attacks by praying to the Lord. His faith did not waver.

Knowing God’s covenant, David was predicting what would happen because of the sins his enemy had committed. (See Lev. 26:14-39.)  Jewish tradition states that the “sins of the father” be visited sins on future generations!   All of this evil would come right back on David’s enemy’s own head and penetrate his very being, for sinners hurt themselves far more than they hurt their victims.

“Lord, help me!”  As a faithful son of the covenant, David had a right to ask God for the help he needed. His desire was that God might be glorified by showing mercy to His servant (vv. 21, 27). He wanted God to do some wonderful thing that only He could do, and this would tell his enemies that Jehovah was fighting David’s battles.  “Magnify your mercy!” was David’s cry at the end of his song. He wanted the Lord to be mindful of his needs, for he was “poor and needy”. He had a broken heart, and he felt as if his life was fading away like the shadows of evening.  Raise you hand if you have ever felt this way!

Finally, David promised to praise the Lord and give glory to Him when all these trials were ended, and he did. After David had been made king over all Israel, he brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem and sought to honor the Lord (2 Sam. 5-6). God did help David, in His own time and His own way, and so He will do for us. 

God’s promises are true.  God is our rescue. 

Worship and Wisdom, Psalms and Proverbs

Psalm 109, The Message

^1-5 My God, don’t turn a deaf ear to my hallelujah prayer.
    Liars are pouring out invective on me;
Their lying tongues are like a pack of dogs out to get me,
    barking their hate, nipping my heels—and for no reason!
I loved them and now they slander me—yes, me!—
    and treat my prayer like a crime;
They return my good with evil,
    they return my love with hate.

^6-20 Send the Evil One to accuse my accusing judge;
    dispatch Satan to prosecute him.
When he’s judged, let the verdict be “Guilty,”
    and when he prays, let his prayer turn to sin.
Give him a short life,
    and give his job to somebody else.
Make orphans of his children,
    dress his wife in widow’s black;
Turn his children into begging street urchins,
    evicted from their homes—homeless.
May the bank foreclose and wipe him out,
    and strangers, like vultures, pick him clean.
May there be no one around to help him out,
    no one willing to give his orphans a break.
Chop down his family tree
    so that nobody even remembers his name.
But erect a memorial to the sin of his father,
    and make sure his mother’s name is there, too—
Their sins recorded forever before God,
    but they themselves sunk in oblivion.
That’s all he deserves since he was never once kind,
    hounded the afflicted and heartbroken to their graves.
Since he loved cursing so much,
    let curses rain down;
Since he had no taste for blessing,
    let blessings flee far from him.
He dressed up in curses like a fine suit of clothes;
    he drank curses, took his baths in curses.
So give him a gift—a costume of curses;
    he can wear curses every day of the week!
That’s what they’ll get, those out to get me—
    an avalanche of just deserts from God.

^21-25 Oh, God, my Lord, step in;
    work a miracle for me—you can do it!
Get me out of here—your love is so great!—
    I’m at the end of my rope, my life in ruins.
I’m fading away to nothing, passing away,
    my youth gone, old before my time.
I’m weak from hunger and can hardly stand up,
    my body a rack of skin and bones.
I’m a joke in poor taste to those who see me;
    they take one look and shake their heads.

^26-29 Help me, oh help me, God, my God,
    save me through your wonderful love;
Then they’ll know that your hand is in this,
    that you, God, have been at work.
Let them curse all they want;
    you do the blessing.
Let them be jeered by the crowd when they stand up,
    followed by cheers for me, your servant.
Dress my accusers in clothes dirty with shame,
    discarded and humiliating old ragbag clothes.

^30-31 My mouth’s full of great praise for God,
    I’m singing his hallelujahs surrounded by crowds,
For he’s always at hand to take the side of the needy,
    to rescue a life from the unjust judge.

TRUTH:  For God is always at hand to rescue us—in His time and in His way.  Always.

Proverb 30:5, The Message

WISDOM: “The believer replied, “Every promise of God proves true;
    he protects everyone who runs to him for help.”

Abba Father,

Thank you for rescuing me over and over again.  May others know you because of what you did for me and others who believe that you are really real.

In Jesus Name, Amen