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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Ps. 56
“This I know: God is for me.” (Ps. 56:9b). If we believed that statement with wholehearted certainty, fear would have absolutely no power over us. But how do we know that God is for us? I think about the instance when the commander of the LORD’s army appeared to Joshua before the battle of Jericho. Joshua asked him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” and the man replied, “Neither”. (Josh. 5:13b-14a). I commented when I read this that the question seemed to be who Joshua and the Israelites were for. So perhaps the reason David knew with such certainty that God was for him was because David fully acknowledged his need for God and willingly placed his life in God’s hands. When we genuinely trust God, we will always find Him to be fully trustworthy.
Ps. 120
In this Psalm, David equated lying lips and a deceitful tongue with those who hate peace. I see that connection. It is one of the ways Paul tells us that we can identify false prophets. When people’s words cause division where there should be unity, you can be certain they do not speak truth.
Ps. 140
To continue the thought from Psalm 56, David says in this Psalm, “I know that the LORD upholds the just cause of the poor, justice for the needy.” (Ps. 140:12). Nobody wants to be counted among the poor and needy. But it’s when we know that we are that God saves us. As Jesus said, we need to come to Him as little children, knowing that we bring nothing to the table.
Ps. 141
“But my eyes look to you, LORD, my LORD. I seek refuge in you; do not let me die. Protect me from the trap they have set for me” (Ps. 141:8-9a). Once again I turn to the thought that we need to be strong and courageous in holding fast to God. The desire of the evil one is to trip us up and draw us away from God. Unfortunately, he is very active in this pursuit. Thus, we need to be even more active in guarding against it. So when David said, “do not let me die”, here, I have to apply that to the spiritual side of things. When I do, I see that I need to keep my eyes fixed on God so that I do not fall prey to all the efforts to separate me from Him.
Ps. 142
I need to understand, as David did, that it is in the acknowledgement of my own weakness that I can fully rely on God’s strength. If I for a moment think that I am strong enough to face my foe, I will try to do so on my own. Not good! Far better to embrace my weakness so I can put my strength toward trusting my God who saves.