In God I Trust
Psalm 56
To
the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths [seems to be a melody or musical setting appointed for the rendition of
the psalm]. A
Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
1Be gracious to me, O God, for man
tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me;
2my enemies trample on me all
day long, for many attack me proudly.
3When I am afraid, I put my
trust in you.
4In God, whose word I praise, in
God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
5All day long they injure my
cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6They stir up strife, they lurk;
they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life.
7For their crime will they
escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
8You have kept count of my
tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
9Then my enemies will turn back in
the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.
10In God, whose word I praise, in
the Lord, whose word I praise,
11in God I trust; I shall not be
afraid. What can man do to me?
12I must perform my vows to you,
O God; I will render thank offerings to you.
13For you have delivered my soul
from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light
of life.
Here we have another psalm that is directly attached to an
event from David’s life. He spent 10 years running from the murderous King
Saul. During that time, he was so afraid of Saul that he ran to another enemy,
the Philistines. When he came to Philistia, King Achish had him arrested. This
was, after all, the man who had killed the Philistine giant, Goliath. David
feigns madness to get himself released.
1 Samuel 21:10–15
10And David rose and fled that
day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David
the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul
has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” 12And David took these words to
heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13So he changed his behavior
before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the
doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14Then Achish said to his
servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me?
15Do I lack madmen,
that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall
this fellow come into my house?”
This psalm seems to rock back and forth between outright
fear of man and confident trust in God. Ultimately, David arrives on the side
of trust for that is where the true strength lies. While the man can certainly
hurt us physically, that is all they can do. If we rest securely in God’s
hands, what else do we need? But – I will freely admit, finding that place of
trust can be difficult. For every step of faith we take, the enemy might knock
us back two. Confidence in God is built with experience. When we are fearful,
looking back over all that He has already done for us (and others) can really
chase away that fear. The Apostle Paul even falls back on this concept in
Romans.
Romans 8:31
What then shall we say
to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
In 1956, “In God We Trust” was adopted as the official motto
of the United States. Sadly, it only
took 60 years for that motto to be cast aside by a great portion of the
population. That is rather tragic. David describes what life is like when we
trust in ourselves or other people. It is desperate and terrifying. But we don’t
have to make that choice. Instead, we can turn to the God of all Creation and
seek His help and protection. We turn our need for revenge or retribution over
to Him as well and just leave it all in His hands. Suddenly, our fear dissipates
and we are comforted by our Lord. By the blood of Jesus we are free to
always turn to God because we are bought by that blood and free to live as His
children, secure and unafraid.
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