To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.
1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me: make haste to help me, O LORD.
2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.
3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.
4 Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: and let such as love Thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.
5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: Thou art my help and my deliverer: O LORD, make no tarrying.
David prays for salvation for those who seek God and frustration for those who seek to hurt God’s people.
You are desperate for God’s help, and you approach God with a humble and broken spirit. Yet with boldness you pray for the discomfiture of the enemy. This psalm reflects a humble confidence in God.
Verse 1. This psalm has two bookends. The first and last verse both contain cries to God for help. Of all of the marks of a true man of faith, whether it be an Old Testament saint or a New Testament saint, there is no mark so genuine as this one. A true saint of God will continually look to Him for salvation from both his material troubles and his spiritual troubles.
Verses 2–3. Now the next two sections of the psalm again lay out the field between the righteous and the wicked, repeating the same question, “Whose side are you on?” Clearly, there are those who seek to hurt the righteous. They are not out for the edification of the saints. Maybe they are proud and are jockeying for political power, or perhaps they are so self-centered that they resort to slander and gossip so as to cast down others and build themselves up. Some even sought to take David’s life. This is the way the wicked live. David asks God to frustrate these wicked people in their cruel plans. Though the battle is arrayed against the righteous 100,000 to 100, we know that God has overcome such odds many times in the past. “Confuse the enemy!” David prays to God. May their unwise choices in terms of strategy result in a failure to achieve their goals! May they forget their goal of destroying the righteous and turn upon themselves in their blind fury!
Verse 4. The contrast returns again here. In the previous two verses, David prays for frustration for the wicked, but now he prays that God would bless the righteous with joy. He defines the righteous as those that seek God. Then he lays down the battle lines. On one side, there are those in our world who ignore God and live as if He doesn’t exist. Instead of worshiping and fearing God as they should, they take His name in vain. Then there are also those who care about what God thinks: they read what God says in His Word. They cry out to God for His favor and mercy and seek to live according to God’s revealed will in the Bible. These are the ones that seek after God. Even as David prays for frustration and confusion for the wicked, he asks that God would bring joy and contentment to the hearts of those who seek Him.
In the second half of verse 4, David draws another distinction between the wicked and the righteous. The wicked couldn’t care less for God’s salvation. They don’t even want to be saved! But on the other hand, the righteous love the salvation of God, and if you love the salvation of God, you will have more reason to praise and worship God and magnify His holy name!
Verse 5. The second “book end” concludes the psalm with the Psalmist again praying for God’s salvation. Even as he draws the distinction between the wicked and himself, he humbles himself and acknowledges that without God’s salvation, he is nothing. Therefore, as we condemn the wicked, we are at the same time humbled, for we would be lost in our wickedness if it were not for the salvation of God. Do you see how there is a strange sort of irony in this worship? We condemn the wicked for hating God’s salvation, and yet we also hated God’s salvation until that salvation came to us and caused us to embrace it.
We must always see ourselves as poor and needy before God. Pride is probably the most insidious and common sin that dogs the heels of believers, and its effects are devastating. Indeed, Martin Luther’s last words should constitute our life’s testimony: “I am nothing but a beggar.” Let us say these words and mean them.
Worship spells out the antithesis between the righteous and the wicked. When we pray, sing, and preach, we constantly lay out the differences between those who love God’s salvation and those who hate God’s salvation. But at the same time, we must attend these militaristic declarations of allegiance and challenges made towards the enemy with true humility before our God, without whom we would neither exist nor be saved.
1. Name several Deliverance psalms.
2. What are the bookends to this psalm?
3. How does the Psalmist describe the differences between the righteous and the wicked?
4. What does David ask God to do with the enemy?
5. What does David ask God to do for the righteous?
1. Is this family humble? How do we manifest our humility?
2. Is this family bold? How do we manifest our boldness? What does the perfect blend of humility and boldness look like?