Psalm 60

O God, You have cast us off;
You have broken us down;
You have been displeased;
Oh, restore us again!
² You have made the earth tremble;
You have broken it;
Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.
³ You have shown Your people hard things;
You have made us drink the wine of confusion.

⁴ You have given a banner to those who fear You,
That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah
⁵ That Your beloved may be delivered,
Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

⁶ God has spoken in His holiness:
“I will rejoice;
I will divide Shechem
And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
⁷ Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;
Judah is My lawgiver.
⁸ Moab is My washpot;
Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”

⁹ Who will bring me to the strong city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
¹⁰ Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
¹¹ Give us help from trouble,
For the help of man is useless.
¹² Through God we will do valiantly,
For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

Oh, restore us again!

Notice how he doesn’t ask God, “Make things better so that we can be on our merry way again!” He recognizes that when we run into trouble, our problem might just be that we are far from God. He knows that God has been displeased with whatever they’ve been doing, and he knows that they are not with God because of it. His prayer, then, is that they be restored to God, that they be taken back into His good graces.

You have shown Your people hard things

God sometimes even shows His people hard times. Even when we’re off doing our own thing, God doesn’t desert us. He lets us do whatever we want, and that leads us into problems. As we’ve seen before, those who don’t follow God are often getting tripped up by their own traps. We don’t just need things to get better when we’re going off on our own, we need to be restored to God.

Through God we will do valiantly

Sure, without God, someone may stumble upon good work and is probably a really decent person. [Although as Aslan said, “For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him.”] On the other hand, without God, we are prone to falling into every trap along the way. And without God, we have no one to help us out of it. But, with God, we can stay on the right track. With God, we have help to do everything. With god, we can do anything courageously, boldly, worthily, greatly, nobly—in a word, valiantly.

Psalm 59

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
Defend me from those who rise up against me.
² Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
And save me from bloodthirsty men.

³ For look, they lie in wait for my life;
The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.
⁴ They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

Awake to help me, and behold!
⁵ You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to punish all the nations;
Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah

⁶ At evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
⁷ Indeed, they belch with their mouth;
Swords are in their lips;
For they say, “Who hears?”

⁸ But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;
You shall have all the nations in derision.
⁹ I will wait for You, O You his Strength;
For God is my defense.
¹⁰ My God of mercy shall come to meet me;
God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.

¹¹ Do not slay them, lest my people forget;
Scatter them by Your power,
And bring them down,
O Lord our shield.
¹² For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for the cursing and lying which they speak.
¹³ Consume them in wrath, consume them,
That they may not be;
And let them know that God rules in Jacob
To the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴ And at evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
¹⁵ They wander up and down for food,
And howl if they are not satisfied.

¹⁶ But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
¹⁷ To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.

They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

I think it is important to note that when we feel like we’re being oppressed that we analyze the situation. We’re not just talking about people who don’t like you in this psalm. We’re talking about people who are doing things against us. I often think, “I didn’t do anything to her. I don’t know why she doesn’t like me.” Well, first off, Allyson, get over yourself. Not everybody has to like you, and absence of like isn’t hate. Secondly, if she’s not actively doing things against you, what are you worried about? Do you realize how many people you don’t like? A lot. They don’t seem very broken up about it. No, a problem occurs when some general dislike turns into action or even words. Plus, we have to be careful to realize whether or not we have possibly done something to cause the whole situation. If I told Mandy that her hair was stupid and then Mandy told me I was stupid, that leads us into a completely different problem. No, we’re talking about honest-to-goodness people who have it out for us for no apparent reason. It’s those moments when you sit there and start to doubt because you can’t answer the question, “Why does God let bad things happen to good people?”

 For they say, “Who hears?”

It just reminds me of the typical bully situation. They can pick on you because you’re there, and they know not to do it when the teacher/boss/authority is around. Besides, in the right context, what are they going to do about it anyway? It’s not like bullying is illegal. Or, let’s move up a bit. Very few people commit crimes thinking that they are going to get caught. A burglar might break into your house for no reason besides the fact that it’s there and you’re not home. He sneaks around, thinking, “Who sees?” And, he’s right to an extent, unless you have security cameras around your house. If he’s quiet, the neighbors won’t look. There are no police there. No one is going to know, so he can do whatever he wants.

Do not slay them, lest my people forget

It would be rather unfitting for the psalmist to call God the God of mercy and then ask God to have no mercy on his enemies.

And let them know that God rules in Jacob

The psalmist wants these wicked people to know that God hears, God sees everything they do. He wants them to get caught in their evil deeds, for them to fall by the same snares that they put out for others. God must be just, and these people cannot get away scot-free, especially when they do not acknowledge God. Still, He is merciful, and we should want the wicked to recognize God and hopefully reform their evil ways.

Psalm 58

Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?
Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
² No, in heart you work wickedness;
You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

³ The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
⁴ Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
⁵ Which will not heed the voice of charmers,
Charming ever so skillfully.

⁶ Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷ Let them flow away as waters which run continually;
When he bends his bow,
Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
⁸ Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,
Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

⁹ Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,
As in His living and burning wrath.
¹⁰ The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
¹¹ So that men will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?

This is an example of one of my favorite rhetorical devices. It’s called hypophora, asking a question and then answering it. You’ve probably used it yourself. (“And did you take out the garbage like I asked? No, you let it sit there and now we’ve got bugs.”) You can see the effect. The speaker comes from a position of authority to accuse the wicked. He doesn’t just say that these guys have done unrighteous and unjust things while they were working wickedness in their hearts. Instead, he phrases it as a question. Did they do good and just things? The answer is undeniable--of course they didn’t.

The wicked are estranged from the womb

I like that this version translates the word as “estranged.” Other English translations use different words, and not knowing Hebrew, as usual, I went to the Greek. The word there is ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν, which means to estrange or alienate. I’m sure everyone knows what “estrange” means, but I wanted to be sure what sort of connotation it has in the English language. The online dictionary gives this definition: estrange - arouse hostility or indifference in where there had formerly been love, affection, or friendliness. The womb is typically a place of safety and nurturing and nourishment. There’s a reason why we curl up into a “fetal” position to feel safe. So, it is fitting to say that a wicked person turns away from that loving environment completely to a place of hostility.

Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun

The imagery of birth continues with a rather horrifying image. It’s been argued that perhaps the ancients didn’t put as much stock into their young children as we do because the infant mortality rate was so high. To an extent, I’m sure that’s true. Still, it has to be traumatic to have a stillborn child, then or now. Still, the psalmist has insisted that the wicked are the way they are from the moment they leave the womb. They turn away from the nurturing environment, abandoning it completely. It would be better that they never get the chance to do that, that they no longer exist the second they depart from their mother.

Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.

The last two lines echo the first two. In the first verse, the psalmist asks, “Do you speak righteousness? Do you judge uprightly?” Of course, as we have seen, the answer is no. Then he turns it around and says that for those who are righteous, there is a reward, rather than this fierce condemnation of the wicked. And, even if the wicked judge unjustly, it is God who is in control of the earth and His judgments that rule it no matter what they do or say.

Psalm 57

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by.

² I will cry out to God Most High,
To God who performs all things for me.
³ He shall send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah
God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

⁴ My soul is among lions;
I lie among the sons of men
Who are set on fire,
Whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.
⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

⁶ They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They have dug a pit before me;
Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah

⁷ My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise.
⁸ Awake, my glory!
Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.

⁹ I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
¹⁰ For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,
And Your truth unto the clouds.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge

There have been weeks when absolutely nothing went my way. Someone will be angry with me, I’ll have ten things all due at the same time, I’ll forget my lunch, maybe lose my umbrella and there happens to be a downpour, and to top it all off, I’ll spill my drink on myself right before I have to go teach. Okay, so maybe all those things haven’t happened at the exact same time for me, but you know what I’m talking about. Whatever you’re going through, odds are it isn’t nearly as bad as having lions and men on fire with pointy teeth who put out nets and dig pits for you. If God is a good enough refuge for all that, He’s plenty good enough for my little inconveniences. But, notice that it’s not God who comes down offering the refuge in this psalm. The psalmist seeks it out. Sure, he could go out there and face his problems head on. We’ve seen lots of other psalms about riding out into battle and being victorious over enemies, but this time, we’re just going to wait them out.

To God who performs all things for me

And when we go seek out God for shelter until the calamities pass by us, we are giving ourselves completely to God’s care. Sometimes it feels like giving up or giving in when we don’t fight our problems ourselves. Part of trusting in God, however, requires that we let God have control of our lives. We don’t always just go for our gut reactions and instead take our issues to God who can take care of it all on His own.

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast

I like how he says it twice; I can almost imagine the mix of desperation and resolve as he calls on God to help him with everything. He’s not giving in to the snares of his enemies. He’s reinforcing his heart against their attacks. He’s standing firm under the shadow of God’s wings. God doesn’t ask much of us when we need His help. We only must be steadfast and go to God who will perform all things for us while we pass through our post calamitous problems with Him watching over us.

Psalm 56

Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;
Fighting all day he oppresses me.
² My enemies would hound me all day,
For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

³ Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
⁴ In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?

⁵ All day they twist my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
⁶ They gather together,
They hide, they mark my steps,
When they lie in wait for my life.
⁷ Shall they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

⁸ You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?
⁹ When I cry out to You,
Then my enemies will turn back;
This I know, because God is for me.
¹⁰ In God (I will praise His word),
In the Lord (I will praise His word),
¹¹ In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

¹² Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;
I will render praises to You,
¹³ For You have delivered my soul from death.
Have You not kept my feet from falling,
That I may walk before God
In the light of the living?

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You

While the psalmist is talking about actual people who have been bothering him, I think we can apply this psalm to other circumstances too. You may or may not have noticed, for instance, that it has been several days since I have posted. Part of it was because I was busy studying for exams and making exams and decompressing from all of that. But, the bigger part was because I got an ear infection. In the greater scheme of things, it’s no big deal. But, I had taken extra strength Tylenol and some Advil and some homeopathic ear drops and whatever decongestants I could find all while I had a heating pad strapped to my face with a scarf and I was still in so much pain. I was to the point where I felt like surely cutting off my ear would hurt less (and maybe make me a famous artist?). I was mad at the universe, mad a God. I haven’t gotten an ear infection since elementary school. Why now when I’ve got so much to do? And I’ve prayed and asked for it to be taken away. Why is it still here? And why can’t the doctor see me for two more days? Why aren’t you paying attention to meeeeeeeee?

I don't think that look would work for me.

 

You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?

But He is paying attention to me. Even now while I sit waiting to take my next amoxicillin with a clove of garlic shoved in my ear (the internet said it would work), He’s paying attention to me. He’s keeping track of every tear that falls from my eyes and has counted every pill I’ve popped in the past few days. Maybe He’s standing there saying, “Hey, Allyson, stop being such a wimp. We’ve got to teach you some tolerance.” Or maybe it’s, “Stop overextending yourself and you won’t get sick in the first place. You’ve got to suffer through the consequences on this one.”

Have You not kept my feet from falling

After all, I suppose it’s not really that bad. I could have gotten really sick all over or been so drained that I would have done something incredibly stupid (rather than my normal level of stupid) on my test. And even though I’m gauging my pain at a 10, I suppose it could have been worse. The lack of sleep…it did help me to get some extra work done.

We’ve got to keep in mind that no matter how bad we think it is, it could always be worse. God never abandons us, He’s constantly keeping watch over us, keeping track of every minute detail of our sufferings. For whatever reason He lets us go through trials or just general inconveniences, He never lets us fall completely. He always wants us to stay on His path and to walk with Him.