Prayer for Defense against Enemies.
For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A [a]Maskil of David, [b]when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?”
54 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And [c]vindicate me by Your power.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen against me
And violent men have sought my [d]life;
They have not set God before them. [e]Selah.4 Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is [f]the sustainer of my soul.
5 [g]He will recompense the evil to [h]my foes;
[i]Destroy them in Your [j]faithfulness.6 [k]Willingly I will sacrifice to You;
I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For [l]He has delivered me from all [m]trouble,
And my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies.
There is an air of vengeance in this psalm that could overshadow the real message here. David asks God to destroy his foes, and concludes with the idea that then he will look “with satisfaction” upon those who sought his life. And perhaps that was God’s will, and David was merely echoing what he felt God was already planning.
Regardless, there is the reality that David took his problems to God. Very real men were trying to take his life, Saul in particular. Who else could David turn to, who could save his life? And that touches on something we see in verse 4. Even if God didn’t save David’s mortal life, even if his days on earth were cut short, God was the sustainer of his very soul.
Later, Jesus would tell the people (and us also), do not fear man, but fear only the one who has power over your soul. There is only one who has that power, and He is the very one who sustains our soul. Whatever we face, we can take it to God with confidence–not that He will do things as we desire, but that we are safe in God’s hands, no matter what happens on this earth. He will be our strength through it all, as we keep our eyes focused on Him.