17 Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue my soul from their ravages,
My only life from the lions.
18 I will give You thanks in the great congregation;
I will praise You among a mighty throng.
19 Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me;
Nor let those who hate me without cause [i]wink maliciously.
20 For they do not speak peace,
But they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
21 They opened their mouth wide against me;
They said, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!”22 You have seen it, O Lord, do not keep silent;
O Lord, do not be far from me.
23 Stir up Yourself, and awake to my right
And to my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness,
And do not let them rejoice over me.
25 Do not let them say in their heart, “Aha, our desire!”
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”
26 Let those be ashamed and humiliated altogether who rejoice at my distress;
Let those be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves over me.27 Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication;
And let them say continually, “The Lord be magnified,
Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.”
28 And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness
And Your praise all day long.
The tone of the psalm changes a bit from asking God to judge his enemies to praying for deliverance. In spite of impending doom, we see David praising God in the middle of all of this (vv. 18, 27-28). When God answers our prayers, we should not be silent. When He shows himself faithful (though God is always faithful), we need to learn from David.
We boast not in our accomplishments, but rather give all the glory to God. He is our provider, and the source for all we need. Over the last week or two, we’ve had a lot going on, with some unexpected expenses, and some upcoming expenses that were looming large.
In the middle of it all, I would pray, “God, be our provider…” And He would remind me that I ought to pray, “God, I thank you that you are our provider, now and always.” Ultimately, though I didn’t see how it would work out, He was and is our provider.
When we are in the battle, it can be difficult to keep our perspective, to keep our eyes on God. Even more difficult, is to remember that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He hasn’t stopped being our everything, just because we are going through hard times. He always IS our everything, our rescuer, our provider, our strength, comfort, wisdom, and so much more. Thank Him for that right now, wherever you find yourself, whether you can see the end or not.