Today’s reading is Psalm 59.
The ancient heading of Psalm 59 places it smack in the middle of 1 Samuel 19:11. Saul had personally tried to kill David at least three times, but David escaped. He sent David out on a fool’s errand to kill a hundred Philistines as a bride-price to marry Saul’s daughter, Michal, but David survived. Saul made David commander of his armies, but David had more success than all the servants of Saul. “Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning” (ESV). Michal covered for David, letting him out through a window, then placing a decoy in the bed. When she sent the message David was sick and unable to get out of bed, Saul demanded his messengers bring the entire bed so Saul could kill him in it.
No wonder David cries out in this psalm, “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men” (Psalm 59:1-2, ESV). Frankly, it is not likely David wrote this psalm during that stressful night while being let down out of a window and sneaking out of town. Perhaps, but unlikely. Rather, written later, this psalm memorializes the events and the deliverance God provided.
However, keep reading the psalm and see if it doesn’t seem like David actually wrote this psalm much later. In Psalm 59:5, David asks God to punish all the nations. Then in vs. 8, Yahweh laughs and holds the nations in derision. In vs. 11, David wants “my people” to remember. That sounds like the words of a king.
Possibly, David wrote this strictly about that night when Saul sought to kill him, speaking with the knowledge that God had anointed him king, looking forward to having a people. More likely, David wrote this psalm as king when facing a national enemy. As his kingdom faces a treacherous enemy, he recalls the night God delivered him from Saul. The odds were overwhelming. How could David possibly survive a night like that? Yet God delivered. If God would do that for David, the man merely anointed to be king, what would He do for the kingdom? David realizes like king, like kingdom. If God would deliver him from Saul, He will deliver Israel from the nations. Though bloodthirsty plotters raise armies against Israel, God will deliver. He always has. He always will. Praise the Lord!
When we face the enemy, we recall we are God’s kingdom. We too can look back. Doing so, we recall God’s deliverance of His anointed and His people again and again and again: Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Daniel, and more. We also recall the victories given us in our own lives. Can you think of times when you thought, “This must be a God thing”? Can you think of times you were anxious, worried, afraid, but you survived, perhaps even thrived? Every good gift is from above.
God delivered His king. He will deliver His kingdom. God will deliver us.
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PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
What in Psalm 59 prompts, provokes, or improves praise for you?
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