Year 1, Week 39, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 39, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Psalm 26, 40, 58, 61-62, 64.

Today’s reading consists of six Psalms. All six Psalms are attributed to David, but none have specific historical notes attributed to them in their superscription. However, each of the six Psalms deploy themes that would be consistent with David on the run while Absalom attempts a coup. In Psalm 26, David confesses that he seeks the LORD with a whole-hearted devotion: “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness” (Psalm 26:2-3). In Psalm 40, David cries out to the LORD for deliverance: “Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me! O LORD, make haste to help me!” (Psalm 40:13). In Psalm 58, David pleas with the LORD to strike vengeance on the evil ones: “The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked” (Psalm 58:10). In Psalm 61, David longs to return to the Tabernacle: “Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings!” (Psalm 61:4). In Psalm 62, David expresses his confidence in the LORD: “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8). In Psalm 64, David turns to the LORD while under attack from his enemies: "Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers” (Psalm 64:1-2).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is David’s consistent focus upon the LORD while under assault: “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken” (Psalm 62:1-2); and then again: “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God” (Psalm 62:5-7). David is surrounded by trouble, but the trouble that surrounds David is surrounded by the LORD. The structure of Psalm 62 itself reflects this truth, for verses 1-2, which highlight the character of the LORD, are repeated in verses 5-7, and in the middle of David’s declaration about the LORD is a statement concerning David’s troubles: “How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse” (Psalm 62:3-4). Whether the Psalms from today’s reading are all directly related to David’s escape from Absalom, or they pertain to other historical settings, David is in trouble. But David is not only aware of the troubles that surround him, he is also aware of the presence of the LORD defending and stabilizing him. David looks to the LORD in his troubles. The LORD has David’s trouble surrounded.

David acknowledges that he is under attack by evildoers, who, “who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear” (Psalm 64:3-4). David is not only aware of their determination to get him, but also their arrogance thinking they will succeed: “They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see them?” They search out injustice, saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.” For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep” (Psalm 64:5-6). But David knows that while men have arrows aimed for him, the LORD has His arrows aimed at them: “But God shoots his arrow at them; they are wounded suddenly. They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; all who see them will wag their heads” (Psalm 64:7-8). David’s knowledge of the character and plans of the LORD enables him to rejoice: “Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!” (Psalm 64:10). David is confident as to how things will turn out for him, for he is confident in the LORD, and what he knows about the LORD shapes what he says and does.

David desires to escape from his troublermakers and he expresses this in intensely strong terms: “O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD! Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun” (Psalm 58:6-8). But David’s troublers were intensely wicked men: “Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes” (Psalm 26:9-10). While the wording of what David wants to see done to the evildoers who are harming him is intense, David is not taking matters into his own hands, but entrusting justice to the LORD: “Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!” (Psalm 40:4). David knows that God will render justice in His way and in His time: “Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth” (Psalm 58:11). And knowing who the LORD is and how David could trust the LORD, helped to shape how David sought to live: “But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD” (Psalm 26:11-12).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe