PSALM 54 - TRUSTING IN GOD

PSALM 54

The notes at the beginning of this psalm tell us the occasion for its writing. It was when the Ziphites betrayed David by telling Saul where David was hiding. 1 Samuel 23:15-24 tells the story of David hiding from Saul in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. This area is about 5 miles southeast of Hebron, south of the Dead Sea.




It was a dry, desert area with no food, but with hills and caves to hide in.







The people who lived in the area were the Ziphites. They were descendants of Caleb, one of the two spies who urged Israel to going Canaan when they balked.

The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibea and told him where David was. Gibea was a little west of where David was hiding. They told the king to come there and they would deliver David into Saul’s hands.

David escaped, but obviously felt the sting of the betrayal. He wrote this Psalm in response.

Prayer For Salvation From Enemies
54:1-3

David asked God to hear his prayer and save him by his name and to vindicate him by his might.

The Bible often speaks of calling upon the name of the Lord. For example, Psalm 20:7 says “some trust in horses and some in chariots, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Romans 10 13 says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

What does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? It does not mean we yell out God’s name when we are in trouble and there is magic in the name. That makes me think of the old vampire movies where someone would hold up a cross and vampire would run away.

The Jewish exorcists in Ephesus discovered this truth the hard way. They were trying to cast out demons saying “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims”. The result was a demon possessed man beat up all seven of them. (Acts 19:13-17)

The “name” of God is a way of saying God himself, in the fullness of his character and presence.

That is why the third commandment is that we shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. (Exodus 20:7) If we use God’s name in false oaths, or as an expression of displeasure, we are not being reverent toward God as we should. God demands that he be honored. This is made clear in an event in Leviticus 24, where a man blasphemed the name of God and cursed. God demanded that he be stoned to death.

So, when we call upon the name of the Lord, we are calling upon the Lord himself as our redeemer and deliverer who has the power to help us. That is what David was doing.

David also asked God to use his might to vindicate him. David had been anointed as king by Samuel at God’s instruction. Yet, he had not taken the throne. David asked God to intervene and show that David was his anointed, to vindicate him, by saving him from Saul and his other enemies.

In verse 3, David set out the reason for his prayer. Strangers rose against him. The Ziphites actually lived in Judah, so they should have been kinsmen of David, not strangers, and protected him. Yet, they betrayed him for their gain.

They were men who were ruthless, having no pity or compassion for David.

They were Godless, not caring that God had anointed David and offering David up to gain favor with Saul. These men probably knew David had been anointed to succeed Saul, but did not care. They were willing to sacrifice him for their own good.


54:4
Believing in God

Despite David’s precarious situation, he did not lose faith in God. He said to look and see (behold) that God was his helper and the one who upheld, or protected his life.

Remember that David had about 600 men with him. (1 Samuel 25:13) But Saul had about 3,000, or 5 times as many. (1 Samuel 24:2) He was outnumbered. But he continued to believe in God as his helper. In that belief, he called on God to save him from Saul.

Sight told David the situation was hopeless.

Faith told David God was his hope.

David went on to say that God would return evil to his enemies. The Ziphites, and Saul, did evil to David. David relied on God to vindicate himself and to take vengeance on his enemies. David never struck at Saul, even when he had the chance. But God delivered Saul into the hands of the Philistines, who killed him on Mount Gilboa.

God reserves the right of vengeance to himself. In Deuteronomy 32:35, God said “Vengeance is mine, and recompense”. Paul explained this further in Romans 12:19, saying “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave to the wrath of God”.

We may not always see God’s vengeance or our vindication. As believers, we may not be vindicated in this life. But we know that God will punish those who hate him and hate us and that we will be vindicated on the last day.

54:6-7
Giving Thanks

David believed God would deliver him and looked forward to the day God would deliver him from this trouble. In response, he would make a freewill offering.

A freewill offering was a voluntary sacrifice. (Leviticus 23:38) It was to be a male bull, sheep, or goat with no physical deformities or blemishes. You could not buy it from a foreigner (Leviticus 22:17–25). The worshiper had to include flour mixed with oil and wine (Numbers 15:1–10). It to be made in a place of God’s choosing, not in an area formerly used by other religions or at home (Deuteronomy 12). Although you could give the sacrifice during formal feast-days, you could give it any time. (Deuteronomy 16:10)

David intended to express his thankfulness and appreciation to God, not only in prayer, but by offering the sacrifice. Both were his expressions of worship to God his protector.

Most of us have been or will be betrayed or plotted against at some time. David shows us how to respond to this. I have had someone plot to take away my job in order to consolidate his power. I kept a Bible open on my desk at work, open to the Psalms. I realized I was powerless in the face of a powerful opponent and would be given no chance to defend myself. So, I relied upon God and often read and prayed psalms like this one. And God delivered me.

So, the first thing we do in these situations is trust in God and call upon him for help. When he delivers us, we should remember to express our thanks to him. We certainly can and should express our thanks to God verbally. But, do not overlook the freewill offering. My wife and I have done this a few times when we recognized God’s deliverance from threatening situation. We did this by giving an offering of money to our church above our normal giving.

God wants us to trust him and rely on him. He also wants us to thank him. A lack of thankfulness is a sign of a heart that is hard toward God.