July 21st Psalm 57
Micham of David when he fled from Saul in the cave
Pleading
for God’s Help
1:
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth
in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until
these calamities be overpast. 2:
I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things
for me. 3:
He shall send from heaven, and save from the reproach of him that
would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his
truth. 4:
My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on
fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and
their tongue a sharp sword. 5:
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all
the earth. 6:
They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they
have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen
themselves. Selah. 7:
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give
praise. 8:
Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake
early. 9:
I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee
among the nations. 10:
For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the
clouds. 11:
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all
the earth.
To the chief
musician, Al-taschith
Psalm 58
Micham of David
Punish
evil men
1:
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge
uprightly, O ye sons of men? 2:
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands
in the earth. 3:
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as
they be born, speaking lies. 4:
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf
adder that stoppeth her ear; 5:
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so
wisely. 6:
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth
of the young lions, O LORD. 7:
Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth
his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. 8:
As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the
untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 9:
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with
a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. 10:
The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall
wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11:
So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous:
verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
To the chief
musician, Al-taschith
Today’s Bible
reading is Psalm 57 & 58. Psalm 57 is a teaching psalm which he
wrote when he fled from Saul and went to live in the caves in hiding.
David pleads that the Lord will be merciful to him because he is
trusting in him completely. He says I am like a chick that hurriedly
runs to the safety of its mother. And I will stay there until all
these terrible days are passed. These days were difficult days for
David and it was in these times that he learnt to pray as never
before. David has complete confidence in the Lords deliverance and
says to his hearers think about that. He says I am like a lamb
surrounded by encircling lions. They are like men who open their
mouths and seek to destroy me. Yet David exalts the Lord who he says
is above the heavens and whose glory is seen in all the earth. He
says they set a trap for me and dig a pit for me to fall into. Think
about how wicked that is. But my mind is fixed on the Lord and
therefore I will sing his praises. I will rise before dawn to sing
with the harp. And I will sing the praises of the Lord among Israel
and all nations because the mercy of the Lord has been wonderful to
me. May the Lord be exalted about the heavens and your glory over all
the earth. These Psalms of persecution are like the Prison epistles
of Paul because the oppression and dangers of his spiritual life into
corresponding relief with the joy of the Lord. And therefore these
Psalms and Pauls prison letters have alike the subject of Joy. Both
of these Psalms are addressed to the choir master with the word
‘Al-taschith’ which means ‘Do not destroy’. Psalm 58 is also
a ‘teaching Psalm’. These teaching Psalms were one of the ways
that David communicated his message to the children of Israel. In
this Psalm David challenges Israel saying do you really speak right
things? Do you judge the matter correctly – you sons of men? In
your minds you do evil things. You burden the earth with the weight
of your violence. The wicked backslide from the moment they are born
and their first words are lies. They are poisonous like a venomous
snake and they are deaf like the deaf adder. It will not dance to the
sound of the snake charmer even though his is very skilled at
playing. Judge them O Lord says David, break the teeth that gnash on
me. David uses all sorts of expressions to ask the Lord to judge them
and deliver him. May they be like a snail that dissolves. Like a
miscarriage - may they pass away. The Lord will be like a tornado who
will destroy and blow everything away in his anger. The righteous
will rejoice in that day when he sees the vengeance of the Lord. His
feet will be covered in the blood of his enemies. In that day a man
will say this is how the Lord rewards the righteous man and that the
Lord is the judge of all men.
- Why was David running away from Saul?
- How did David deal with this persecution?
- How does David call on the Lord to deliver him?
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