End of Thier Rope

Psalm 55

1 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

2 Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan,

3 because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they drop trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5 Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.

6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!"I would fly away and be at rest;

7 yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah

8 I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”

9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I see violence and strife in the city.

10 Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it;

11 ruin is in its midst; oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.

12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me—

then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him.

13 But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.

14 We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked in the throng.

15 Let death steal over them; let them go down to Sheol alive; for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.

16 But I call to God, and the LORD will save me.

17 Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.

18 He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.

19 God will give ear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, Selah because they do not change and do not fear God.

20 My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant.

21 His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.

22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

23 But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you.

Thoughts on Psalm 54

Verses 1-5

When we are in the thick of it, hard times, the enemy is noisy, and we are distracted, restless, and oppressed. When we are in these situations like David we can feel like GOD is distant too, hiding, or absent. Does it feel like your prayers are falling on deaf ears, bouncing off ceiling?

It's not that GOD isn't present it is because we are distracted and we need to refocus our attention on him. GOD never moved, we did.

Verses 6-8

David wants to run away to find rest to avoid the wind and the storm, but GOD wants us to run to him instead. Sometimes the best place to be is with Jesus in midst of the storm. Only then will we find real rest that our soul longs for.

Psalm 107:29 — He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

Matt 8:25-26 -And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Verses 9-11

David complains about the city with good reason it has turned against him. It turned against the LORD's annointed.

Matthew 23:37 ESV — “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Revelation 11:8-9 their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,

Revelation 17:6 ESV — And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

The place that should have been most like home wasn't. You wonder why the New Jerusalem will be coming down from heaven to earth (see Rev 21:2) to replace the current one? The old is full of strife and death and the new is full of peace and life. 

Verses 12-15 Betrayed 

David was betrayed by Ahithophel.

David didn't see it coming.

1 Chronicles 27:33 — Ahithophel was the king’s counselor, and Hushai the Archite was the king’s friend.

2 Samuel 17:21 — After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, “Arise, and go quickly over the water, for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.”

2 Samuel 23:34 — Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai of Maacah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

2 Samuel 11:3 ESV — And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

Yes Bathsheba's Papa, Pops, Gramps, Papi, Opa, Nonno, Baba, Grandpère, Zayde, Babu was Ahithophel.

Compare

Jesus was betrayed by a close friend.

Jesus knew it was coming.

John 6:64 — But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

John 18:2 — Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.

Luke 22:48 — but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

GOD was betrayed.

He saw it coming before the beginning.

Matthew 25:41 — “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Isaiah 14:13-14 — You said in your heart,‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; will ascend above the heights of the clouds; will make myself like the Most High.’

Revelation 12:9 — And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Both Ahithophel (see 2 Samuel 17:23) and Judas (see Matt 27:3-5) came to the end of thier rope. How about you Mr. Devil, are you coming to the end of yours?

Verses 15-18

They will eventually end up in thier dwelling place. Ahithophel and Judas both did.

David had called on the name of the LORD and was saved. That includes us too, Romans 10:13 — For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Verses 19

"They do not change and they do not fear GOD" 

That us why Jude tells us, in 1:6 — And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day

and 

2 Peter 2:4 — For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Also

Psalm 82:2 “How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

(GOD was questioning the lesser elohim, the rulers, principalities and powers.)

Verses 20-21

Words smooth as butter, drawn swords.

Compare this with what Judas did:

Matthew 26:47 While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

Matt 26:49- 50 he (Judas) came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

Verses 22-23

David cast his burdens on the LORD and his prayers were answered. He once again sat on the throne. Jesus laid down his life, picked it up again and now is seated on the right hand of the power of GOD on his throne. See Matt 26:64 and Luke 22:69

There is a day of LORD, a day of judgment coming, but we can say to GOD like David did, "But I will trust in you." 

My prayer - Holy Spirit help us to trust like David did and know that GOD is closer than we realize and if we feel distant, remind us that it's us who wander away not you.