Today’s reading is Psalm 28.
David is begging for mercy. He is afraid he will be like those who go down to the pit. But what does he want to be saved from? What is he actually afraid is going to happen? He mentions the wicked, workers of evil, and those who have falsehood in their heart. It is no wonder so many people believe David is asking God to deliver him from wicked people. There are many psalms in which David is doing exactly that. However, read the psalm again. In which verse does David speak of what these wicked people are doing to him? In which verse does David speak of needing rescue from his enemies? Shockingly, when we slow down and don’t just read into this psalm what we’ve read in other psalms, we see those things are actually missing here. Of whom is David really afraid in this psalm? Be honest. David is afraid of God. David is afraid that God, when He brings judgment on the wicked, the evil, the false, will drag him off as well. David is afraid of being swallowed up in God’s judgment. David wants to be saved from God and His wrath. This really fits with the series of psalms we’ve been reading. In Psalm 23, David expresses that he wants to dwell in the Lord’s house. In Psalm 24, he describes the qualifications for dwelling in the house. But then in Psalm 25, he hits a snag. He knows he doesn’t qualify. However, he serves a merciful God who is full of loyal love and is faithful to His covenants. Praise the Lord! That is the only reason David can be assured he will dwell in the holy hill. So, he begs God to remember him according to God’s mercy, not according to David’s sin. But David knows the wicked will be remembered according to their sins. They will be remembered for the works of their hands. What hope does David have? There is nothing he can offer God. He can’t earn His way into the sanctuary of the Lord. He can only turn toward it and beg for mercy. He is the tax collector whose only recourse is to cry out, “Be merciful to me the sinner.” More than that, he is a stalk of wheat in the midst of tares. Can he be sure that he won’t get cut down and cast into the fire with the wicked? That is exactly where we all are. We don’t really need to be saved from the wicked people. What we really need is to be saved from God’s wrath. Isn’t that what Paul says Jesus does for us in Romans 5:6-11? Absolutely. David begged that God would not sweep him away with the wicked. God’s response was to let Jesus die for David. That is His response for us as well. And if God was willing to sacrifice Jesus to save us from His wrath, don’t you think He is paying attention to which folks are actually in Jesus? Of course, He is. In fact, isn’t that the message of Revelation 7:1-12? The Lord knows who are His. Praise the Lord!
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 28.
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A Word for Our Kids
Hey kids, I’d like to use the study of this psalm as an object lesson. Almost everyone who talks or writes about Psalm 28 says the same thing. Most are convinced David is once again surrounded by his enemies who are threatening to kill him. They think he is asking God to save him from his enemies. Now, that may be the case, but like I asked your parents, read the psalm again and find which verse actually says that? I can’t find it, can you? But I can see one thing he is asking for rescue from? He is asking for rescue from God’s judgment on the wicked. “Don’t drag me off with the wicked,” he prays. Now, I admit it, I could be wrong. In fact, there is always that part of me that says if all these really smart people seeing something I’m not, I should check again. So I have. But there comes a point at which if we see a Scripture as saying something different from what all the commentators, preachers, scholars, friends, family, church members, etc. say, we have to stick with what the passage says. Of course, we need to have a healthy dose of humility. We need to always look again and consider that we might be wrong. But if we think the Scripture is saying one thing and everyone else is saying something else, we need to act based on what we believe the Scripture is saying. I’ll just be honest. I may not be right about a lot of things. I may not be right about Psalm 28. David may be asking God to save his life from his earthly enemies. But when I stand before God, I’d rather be able to say, “Lord, I may have misunderstood, but I did and taught what I believed You were saying.” I don’t want to have to say, “Well, Lord, that’s what I thought you were saying, but everybody else was saying something else, so I went with them.” By the way, that means if you think I’m getting it wrong about this psalm, then take away from it what you really read there. Always, always, always, believe, teach, and live based on what you believe the Scripture says, not what everyone else is saying about the Scripture.
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