Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Psalm 56:1) (To the chief musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.) Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresses me.
This psalm follows chronologically the events of David. He had fled from Saul to Gath where the Philistines seized him for fear he had come to seize their kingdom since he had killed their Goliath. Some of the words David used in introducing his psalms were often a great mystery to scholars as they are found nowhere else in scripture. Michtam is one of those words. It's a term he used for some of his psalms perhaps for how they were to be presented or recorded. David often introduced his psalms "to the chief musician of ________." In the past psalms studied, it seemed that most scholars thought he referred to the musical instrument to be used. However, the long word above is actually four words, Jonath-elem-recho-kim, meaning “the silent dove of far-off places.” Although there could have been a musical instrument they called that, it rather sounds like the name of a song already in existence at the time, and David desired his psalm be sung to that melody.
David began his psalm by asking the Lord to be merciful to him. We should always desire mercy and never what we deserve. The filthy sinners that we are deserve nothing of our own and do not even deserve to be in the presence of God asking Him for anything. Therefore, our cry should be for His mercy. Without the Lord's mercy and intervention, men would destroy him, for they came after him daily.
(2) My enemies would daily swallow me up, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
David declared that he had many enemies who would daily swallow him up. Saul indeed, had many servants who sought his life for their king. However, a believer has many enemies that attack him on a daily basis, sin, Satan, and the world, seeking to destroy him. Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, wrote that he didn't believe that "Most High" was meant to be a title of the Lord. He argued that the verse should have read, "...for there are many who fight against me from on high," meaning Saul and his servants.
(3) What time I am afraid, I will trust in You. (4) In God I will praise His word, In God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do to me.
What a beautiful sentiment that we should all take to heart. Whenever we are afraid, we should put our trust in the Lord, as David said he did. He would praise God's word and hold onto the promises God made about protecting and delivering him. He would not fear what man could do to him when he had God on his side.
(5) Every day they wrest my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
David declared that every day his enemies twisted his words. That certainly sounds like our enemies today! In this super-polarized world we find ourselves in today, someone is always looking for ways to twist our words into something that proves their case, for all their thoughts are evil against us, as in David's time. We should remember that no matter the words a person may have clumsily used, if that was not his meaning, then to pretend it meant something else is to lie.
(6) They gather themselves together; they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
David's enemies gathered themselves together, hiding themselves, but watching his every move, and they lay in wait for an opportunity to take his life. I couldn't help but think about President Trump with this one. If there was ever a person whose every step and every word were so carefully watched in order to take him down politically and even literally, that man was Donald Trump!
(7) Shall they escape by iniquity? In Your anger, cast down the people, O God.
David wonders if the wicked will be able to escape punishment by their wickedness. Again, this is so illustrative of our present time when it seems that the wicked are actually too big and important to be brought to justice. They have done wicked things so big that to expose them might destroy the country. God must be angry with such wickedness, with people who act as gods who can do whatever they want and are not held accountable, and David asked that He bring them down in His righteous anger.
(8) You tell my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?
The Lord alone knew how long David would wander this world. He kept track of his sorrows and his tears; they were in God's book of remembrance, not a literal book, but God takes notice of all and remembers all.
(9) When I cry to You, then shall my enemies turn back; this I know, for God is for me.
Whenever David cried out to the Lord, his enemies were forced back. David had full confidence that God was on his side.
(10) In God will I praise His word; in the Lord will I praise His word.
David repeated his sentiment in verse 4; he would praise God's word and His promises. He first called his Lord "God," that is, "Elohim," the supreme Judge. Then he used "Lord," "Yehovah," the self-existent eternal One.
(11) In God have I put my trust; I will not be afraid what man can do to me.
David repeated the rest of verse 4, that he had put his trust in God, and therefore would not be afraid of what man could do to him.
(12) Your vows are upon me, O God; I will render praises to You.
David, having received what he needed from God, would continually offer praises of glory and thanksgiving.
(13) For You have delivered my soul from death and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
David recognized that the Lord had delivered him from death and from falling into destruction in order that he might be a light in the land of the living, serving and glorifying God. Is that not the purpose of all of us? We are here to serve and glorify God so that others may be brought to salvation. We are to be a light unto the world, and we should not hide our lights under a bushel basket (Matthew 5:15).
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