Friday, January 30, 2015

Friday, January 30, 2015   

Psalm 54

This Psalm is one of the many attributed to David that deals with his calling on God for help when he is in danger.  The situation this time, according to the heading, is that David has been betrayed by the people of Ziph who tell Saul that David is hiding there – this when Saul is in one of his murderous rages.

Crying out to God for help, expressing his fear and desperation, even his confidence that God will rescue him are all things that I fairly easily relate to and accept.  However, I do feel uncomfortable when David asks God to sends the evil back on his enemies, when he is glad to see them not just thwarted but “punished.”  

Two emotions/motives battle within me.  It is “natural” to want to see those who hurt others “get a taste of their own medicine”, yet Jesus tells us to bless our enemies – seek their welfare.

David’s call to God expresses the first.  In a way, this reassures me that David too was human – subject to “natural” feelings.  Although it is not in this Psalm, David did also know Jesus’s way of dealing with his enemy.  In 1 Samuel 26, we see the story that this Psalm is said to speak to.  David’s behavior is interesting.  Saul and his soldiers have cornered him in a cave.  It is nighttime and they bed down for the night.  David and Abishai (one of those with him) sneak down to Saul’s camp, and even steal the spear and water jug lying beside Saul.  Abishai tells David that God has delivered Saul into his hand – kill him!  But David says No – that is not the way God wants him to behave.  Instead he goes back to a safe distance then calls out to Saul and his soldiers, telling them what he has done and seeking peace. (He is smart like a serpent, but harmless like a dove!)

So, although David seemed to want bad things to happen to those who sought to harm him, he did not act upon those feelings.  Instead he acted on his understanding of the nature of God and of God’s will for him.  In essence: “Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done.”

That remains the model and the challenge for me too.

Blessings

Ann Kelland