Psalm 55

[Al Moak]

Psalm 55

This psalm reflects back on a time of the very most extreme trouble for David. It was so bad that His very life was in danger - but it was even much worse because there wasn't a thing he couldn't do about it!  Not only so, but the enemy causing the trouble was even in control of Jerusalem, and the result was that there was iniquity and corruption even in the city of God!  To make matters as bad as they could be, all this was the work of a formerly close friend!

Later on, after the trouble was past and God had delivered him, David wrote this psalm for all among God's people who might experience betrayal at the hands of such "friends."

The scene isn't merely one of possible future trouble, but it's the scene of extreme and present danger.  It's one in which deliverance seems impossible and one in which a horrible end seems imminent.  Painting that scene, he sings, "My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me!"  he sings of a desire to escape, but no means to do so. He says, "I would fly away and be at rest.  Indeed, I would wander far off, and remain in the wilderness.  I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest (of trouble)."

And it was not only personal trouble that was in view, but it was  trouble for the entire covenant nation. The song therefore turns immediately to prayer for deliverance, not only for the singer, but for the people as well – with particular reference to their need for cleansing and righteousness as well as deliverance.  It's a prayer for the return of God's own kingdom rule and protection over every member of this very special people.

They needed deliverance from one who used to come with David and all the people to the morning worship - one who seemed to love God and was familiar to them all. But now this traitor has shown his true colors, so the request has to be that God will deal with him in judgement.  In minor-keyed dissonance and sorrow, the prayer has to ask God to "let death seize them; let them go down alive into hell, for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them!"

The next stanza deals with the desired deliverance itself, a deliverance that is going to have to come from God, because there isn't any other help to be found.  He sings, "As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me.  Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice."  It's not the time for casual, ritualistic prayer – it's time for the only kind of prayer that will do - constant, fervent, and intense.

But the result of that kind of prayer to that kind of God is always triumph!  People who have experienced such deliverance can confidently say, "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved!"  Then, relative to the traitor, he says, "But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction.  Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in You!"

That's the answer!  It was the answer for David's greater Son our Lord Jesus Christ as well.  He was betrayed by a very close friend, but He has risen from the dead to sovereignly deliver each and every one of His people!  If you are His, then YOU will participate in His triumph!