Psalms 55
Psalms 55:1-23 (NLT)
1 For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments. Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my cry for help!
2 Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.
3 My enemies shout at me, making loud and wicked threats. They bring trouble on me and angrily hunt me down.
4 My heart pounds in my chest. The terror of death assaults me.
5 Fear and trembling overwhelm me, and I can’t stop shaking.
6 Oh, that I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest!
7 I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness. Interlude
8 How quickly I would escape—far from this wild storm of hatred.
9 Confuse them, Lord, and frustrate their plans, for I see violence and conflict in the city.
10 Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders, but the real danger is wickedness within the city.
11 Everything is falling apart; threats and cheating are rampant in the streets.
12 It is not an enemy who taunts me—I could bear that. It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—I could have hidden from them.
13 Instead, it is you—my equal, my companion and close friend.
14 What good fellowship we once enjoyed as we walked together to the house of God.
15 Let death stalk my enemies; let the grave swallow them alive, for evil makes its home within them.
16 But I will call on God, and the LORD will rescue me.
17 Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the LORD hears my voice.
18 He ransoms me and keeps me safe from the battle waged against me, though many still oppose me.
19 God, who has ruled forever, will hear me and humble them. Interlude For my enemies refuse to change their ways; they do not fear God.
20 As for my companion, he betrayed his friends; he broke his promises.
21 His words are as smooth as butter, but in his heart is war. His words are as soothing as lotion, but underneath are daggers!
22 Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
23 But you, O God, will send the wicked down to the pit of destruction. Murderers and liars will die young, but I am trusting you to save me.
This was apparently at the time of David’s son, Absolem’s rebellion, when his own counselor and friend, Ahithophel, sided with his son. While this was a very real and dangerous threat against his own survival, there was a greatly magnified emotional bombshell in that the enemies that sought his own destruction were his son and close friend. As is common when challenged personally, there was, for David, a perception that everything was hopeless, that his best chance was to fly away somehow. He demonstrates, though, the power of praise in turning a vision of despair into one of encouragement that God will again be faithful and that his enemies would be confused and defeated in their threats.
When the soul is overwhelmed by threats that are personally demoralizing, that even come from those we thought were with us, there is an opportunity to lift the eyes above this hopeless vision of despair in the declaring of God’s faithful protection and provision. Rather than identifying with the vision of a victim, there can be an image of God’s own protected ones that transforms hopelessness into confident assurance of triumph.