Safekeeping
What do you do when you’re so sorely afflicted that you’re of no use to God or anyone else? This can easily lead to a crisis of faith, but it can also activate our faith as we hold God to his word.
A David psalm.
1 I take refuge in you, YHWH.
Don’t stand by watching as I’m disgraced.
Rescue me for you’re the God
who always upholds what’s right.
2 Bend low and hear me!
Hurry and save me!
Be my rock of refuge
my stronghold to save me.
3 Because that’s what you are—
my rock and my fortress.
Lead and guide me
for the honor of your name.
4 Release me from the trap secretly set for me.
There’s nobody I can count on but you.
5 Into your hand
I entrust my spirit.
You’ve redeemed me
YHWH, faithful God.
6 I can’t stand those who worship false gods.
I put my trust in YHWH alone.
7 I rejoice in you and celebrate your mercy
for you see my pain
you know my soul’s anguish.
8 You didn’t hand me over to my enemies:
you planted my feet in a wide open place.
9 Be gracious to me, YHWH
for I’m in distress.
My grief is wasting my vision
my soul and my body too.
10 My life is worn out by sadness
my vitality by groaning.
My sins have so sapped my strength
that even my bones waste away.
11 I’ve become a joke to all my enemies
a horror to my neighbors.
A fright show to even my friends—
whoever sees me in the street runs from me.
12 I’m forgotten like someone dead and gone
as unwanted as a broken jar.
13 I hear all the rumors swirling around me
spreading terror everywhere.
My enemies conspire against me
plotting to take my life.
14 But I hereby put my trust in you, YHWH
and confess that you are my God.
15 My entire life is in your hands.
Save me from falling
into the hands of my enemies
who pursue me relentlessly.
16 Smile down on your servant.
Take pity on me and save me.
17 Don’t let me be humiliated, YHWH
because I’ve cried out to you.
Let the wicked be disgraced instead.
Let the silence of the grave take them
18 and their lying lips lie deathly still
for they speak against God-seekers
with arrogance and contempt.
19 How lavish the goodness
you’ve stored up for those who fear you!
You do good to those who trust you
in full view of everyone.
20 You protect them securely in your presence
from those who plot against them.
You keep them safe
from accusing tongues.
21 May YHWH be praised
for the wonderful way
he showed his unrelenting love for me
22 Panic-stricken, I exclaimed:
“I’ve been driven out of your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
when I pleaded with you for help.
23 Love YHWH
all you who belong to him!
YHWH protects the faithful
and he repays the arrogant in full.
24 Be strong and courageous
all you who wait on YHWH!
David’s urgent cries for God’s refuge, rescue, release, favor, and guidance evidence his deep distress. He speaks of being ostracized and hunted. He’s aware of his own sins, rumors that magnify his fears, and the huge toll it all takes on him. His energy ebbing away, he feels so diminished in body and soul that he sees his life through a darkened lens.
It’s not just that his arrogant, deceitful, derisive enemies are determined to kill him. David knows something they don’t know: that they’re part of a bigger plot, to thwart God’s purposes on earth since it’s through David that God has said he’ll fulfill those purposes. Hence, David’s cry that God would put them out of commission once and for all is really a cry that he would curse the enemies of good in God’s world.
David’s overriding issue is that his present reality doesn’t remotely match God’s covenantal promise to honor and bless his servants and take down their adversaries. But David doesn’t rail against God. Instead, he declares God to be faithful and pleads with him to keep his promise. David repeatedly expresses his faith in God and puts himself in God’s hands—not fatalistically, but rather in confidence that God will hold him fast.
Thus, David stakes everything on God’s faithfulness—saying, “What happens to me is yours to decide”–even when everything seems to suggest that God is unfaithful. Faithful to the end, Jesus’ prayed David’s words from the cross in the same spirit and faith. David ends his poem by calling his community to respond to God’s past demonstrations of steadfast love by loving God, no matter what.
Lord, you’re not careless about keeping your promises. And far from being stingy, you’re generous, want me to flourish, and categorically won’t let anything separate me from your love. Help me love you as you love me and hold you to your word until you answer me. Amen.
In your free moments today, meditate on these words:
Love YHWH
all you who belong to him!
YHWH protects the faithful
and he repays the arrogant in full.
