Faithful judge, faithful shepherd  

In Psalm 23, David fears no evil with his good Shepherd protecting him. Here he asks God to protect him from evil and gratefully rejoices in his having done so.

A David psalm.

¹ I cry out to you
YHWH, my rock.
Don’t ghost me!
Because if you don’t answer me
I’ll become just another corpse
slung into an early grave.
² Listen to the sound of my pleading
as I cry to you for help
lifting up my hands
toward your holy sanctuary.
³ Don’t drag me off
with the wicked, those evildoers
who speak peace to their neighbors
while devising evil in their hearts.
⁴ Pay them back for all they’ve done—
give them everything they deserve.
Pay them for every evil deed—
wound for wound and grief for grief.
⁵ Because they pay no attention
to any of YHWH’s work—
any of the things he’s done—
he will tear them down
never to rebuild them.

⁶ Blessed be YHWH
because he heard my plea for help!
⁷ YHWH is my strength
and the shield my heart trusts in.
Because he’s helped me
my heart is full of joy
and overflows with songs of praise.
⁸ YHWH is the strength of his people
the fortress that saves his anointed.
⁹ Rescue your people
and bless your inheritance.
Be their good shepherd
and carry them in your arms forever.

Like Psalm 27, this is a psalm of contrasting moods, but David reverses the order here, putting his plea first, his praise last. Though his life is in danger, he’s gotten no response to any of his urgent pleas directed toward God’s sanctuary. He fears God may have mixed him up with those who deserve to die. Verses 4-5 contrast the wicked person’s work with God’s work—respectively, doing evil and doing good. God’s work includes things like giving sunshine and rain, redeeming and blessing his people, and punishing evil.

Some Christians blanch when the psalmist asks God to judge evildoers, as if we should just forgive and forget their evil. But that’s not how a moral universe works. God will yet judge those who viciously attack the innocent, and we needn’t apologize for asking him to do so.

Here we must distinguish between personal and absolute forgiveness. God alone forgives the guilty absolutely, though that may not exempt them from temporal punishment. When we forgive, however—as Dietrich Bonhoeffer forgave the Nazis who oppressed him—this doesn’t mean we should pray the evildoer will escape punishment. The same Bonhoeffer who forgave the Nazis personally was right to pray that God would faithfully judge them for all their evils, as God eventually did.

Verse 5 is pivotal: knowing God will ring down the curtain on evildoers, David realizes he’s been heard—YHWH will spare his life after all! So, his confidence spills out in joyful praise. In the ancient Middle East, the image of shepherd was always kingly, though not typically kindly, as here. David concludes by commending his deliverer to all his people and asking God to carry them in his arms whenever their strength fails.

Prayer:

Many today live without regard for you or your laws, God. Thank you that you hold evildoers to account. Please bring evil’s reign of terror to its swift and timely end. Thank you that you also shelter and shepherd your people. Help me to trust you to bless and care for me always. Amen.

In your free moments today, pray these words:

Rescue your chosen people
and bless your inheritance.
Be their good shepherd
and carry them in your arms forever.

In the eye of the storm

We live in a world where danger lurks around every corner. And left unchecked, fear can utterly cripple us. But thankfully, we find relief from all our fears in God’s presence.

A David psalm.

¹ YHWH is my light and my salvation.
Who should I fear?
YHWH is my rock-solid fortress.
Who should I dread?

² When vicious thugs close in on me
teeth bared for the kill
it’s my enemies, my foes
who trip and fall flat!
³ Even if a whole army deploys against me
my heart won’t give way to fear.
Though war breaks out against me
my course remains steady.

⁴ I ask only one thing of YHWH—
I seek it above all else.
To live in YHWH’s house
every day of my life
to behold his matchless beauty
and discover all that he desires for me.
⁵ Because when I’m in trouble
he shelters me under his roof
hides me inside his tent
lifts me up onto a mountain crag.
⁶ Now with head held high
above all my enemies surrounding me
I offer sacrifices to YHWH
and fill his tent with joyful shouts
music and songs of praise.

⁷ So, hear my voice, YHWH
as I cry out to you.
Be gracious and answer me.
⁸ My heart says of you
“Come, seek my face.”
I do seek your face, YHWH.
⁹ Don’t hide your face from me
or angrily push your servant aside
you who have been my help.
Don’t leave me or forsake me
my God who rescues me!
¹⁰ Even if my dad and mom abandon me
YHWH will take me in his arms.
¹¹ Teach me how to live life to the full, YHWH
and lead me on a level path
for many are waiting for me to slip and fall.
¹² Don’t turn me over to my enemies
for them to do whatever they want with me—
those who witness falsely against me
maliciously seeking my blood.

¹³ I firmly believe I will yet see
YHWH’s goodness poured out on me
right here in this life.
¹⁴ Wait for YHWH to come through.
Be strong and take heart.
I say it again:
Wait for YHWH to come through.

David’s radiant confidence in verses 1-6 makes it hard to imagine he’s in trouble now. But his urgent pleas in verses 7-11 tell us the dangers he previously mentioned—e.g., an army on his doorstep—weren’t all hyperbole, but rather allude to his vulnerability in the moment. It’s not that David has a huge capacity to laugh danger off. It’s that he’s made an existential choice to trust YHWH, who has always proven faithful. That choice is what maintains the tension between the psalm’s two halves, holding them together.That and the fact that trust is always close to fear in the midst of the storm.

Which of David’s images should we take literally? Perhaps the line between literal and figurative doesn’t matter so much here. David has faced literal armies bearing down on him (e.g., 1 Sam. 24) and he’s longed to be a member of God’s household (e.g., Psa. 15). It’s immaterial whether he was literally lifted out of danger, onto a crag. Like Van Gogh’s swirling brush strokes in “The Starry Night,” his descriptions go beyond the purely literal to make what he depicts live and pulse for us. And their concreteness makes them suggestive of life’s many diverse situations.

At the psalm’s core is David’s deep longing to know God and engage with him intimately each day, a longing intensified by David’s desperation. He seeks this relationship because God alone is utterly reliable. Everyone else fails us at some point, even our parents, who brought us into the world. God’s reliability makes David confident God will come through for him. So, using the words of Moses and Joshua, he charges himself to be strong and courageous in obeying God and waiting for him to do what he alone can do.

Prayer:

Lord, you’re my shelter in the storm, the true center of all that is. Help me to seek you with all my heart, to prize you above all else, and cherish your every word to me. Light my way and empower me with your strength. Make me bold always to trust, obey, and wait for you. Amen.

During your free moments today, pray these words:

I ask only one thing of YHWH—
I seek it above all else.
To live in YHWH’s house
every day of my life
to behold his matchless beauty
and discover all that he desires for me.

The road to character

What believer hasn’t served God only to feel he’s somehow treating them like they aren’t really serving him at all? David prayed this prayer when he felt that way.

A David psalm.

¹ Vindicate me, YHWH
for I’ve lived with integrity
and trusted YHWH without wavering.
² Examine me, YHWH, try me—
test me, heart and mind.
³ I keep your unrelenting love always in view
and walk in your truth.

⁴ I don’t run with those who lead empty lives
or hang around with spiritual pretenders.
⁵ I can’t stand the gang of thugs—
I have nothing to do with
those who give themselves to evil.

⁶ I wash my hands in innocence
and circle your altar, YHWH
⁷ in order to thank you out loud
and recount all the wonderful things you’ve done.
⁸ I love the house you’ve made your home
the place where your glory shines, YHWH.

⁹ Don’t drag me away
with those who ignore what you say
or take my life
when you call scoundrels to account—
¹⁰ men who brandish a blade in one hand
and hold out a bribe in the other.

¹¹ Unlike them, I live with integrity.
Redeem me, be merciful to me.
¹² My feet are planted on level ground.
When all his people come together
I will worship YHWH.

This psalm’s first word (shaphat) can mean “vindicate” and “judge,” but it can also mean “render a verdict.” Since David mentions no accusations against him, he’s not asking God to defend him against evildoers’ accusations. Rather, he’s asking God to examine him and see that he genuinely seeks to serve God and keep his covenant. He’s not claiming to be perfect. But since he’s resolutely held to God’s path, he’s asking God to keep his part of the covenant by blessing him, not punishing him with unbelievers.

David double-frames his prayer with an emphasis on integrity and the security it brings. Like Psalm 1, this psalm speaks of life in relationship to God and contrasts the values, lifestyle, focus, and end of believers with those who cheat, bribe, and bully their way through life. David tells God he’s walking the path bounded by YHWH’s grace and truth, not that of those who merely pretend to serve God. On that basis, he asks God to redeem him, not curse him with evildoers. He doesn’t need to mention the covenant for his hearers to know he has its blessings and curses in mind.

Since we’re created for relationship with God—to worship him—David puts this at the heart of his poem.[1] David loves God’s sanctuary, where he glimpses God’s glory. On entering, he washes his hands to show that he wants no part in the sins of evildoers, and he looks to YHWH for grace and redemption. Circling the altar, David overflows with praise in company with God’s people. This being the path David has chosen, he ends as he began, with a practical declaration of faith: living for God puts him on level ground, where he won’t slip, as everyone on life’s alternate pathway eventually will.

Prayer:

Jesus, you call me not to impress others with my seeming goodness, but to model your character from the inside out. Help me resist evil’s deadly pull, make you my focus, and worship with your people. Bless me in this place, where I truly stand secure. Amen.

In your free moments today, pray this prayer:

Vindicate me, YHWH
for I’ve lived with integrity
and trusted YHWH without wavering.

[1] The psalm’s chiasm is as follows: A: Call for God to recognize I’m on integrity’s path (vv. 1-3), B: I avoid evildoers (vv. 4-5), C: I worship in purity before your altar (v. 6), D: I PUBLICLY PRAISE AND THANK YOU (v. 7), C: I love the house where your glory shines (v. 8), B: Don’t treat me like an evildoer (vv. 9-10), A: Call for redemption and declaration that I’ll yet worship on integrity’s path (vv. 11-12).

Walking with God

Obeying God always brings opposition. That might not be so bad if we obeyed him perfectly, but we don’t. Wonderfully, the God of all grace forgives, protects, and guides us in his path.

A David psalm.

¹ To you, YHWH
I lift my soul.
² I trust in you, my God.
Please don’t humiliate me
or let my enemies revel in my ruin.

³ Don’t let anyone
who looks to you be disgraced.
Rather, let those be disgraced
who act treacherously for no reason.
⁴ Show me your ways, YHWH
and help me walk in them.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me
because you’re the God who delivers me.
I put my hope in you
from dawn to dusk.

⁶ Remember how you’ve acted
with compassion and relentless love
from time immemorial, YHWH.
⁷ Forget my youthful sins and rebellion.
Because you are goodness personified, YHWH
look at me only
in the light of your unrelenting love.

⁸ Because YHWH is good
and always does what’s right
he guides those who go astray
back to the true path.
⁹ He guides the afflicted in the way of justice
and reveals his path to those bowed down.
¹⁰ All of YHWH’s ways
reveal his unfailing love and truth
to those who cling to his promises
and obey his commands.

¹¹ Display your noble character, YHWH
by pardoning my sin
grave as it is.

¹² What can be said
of those who revere YHWH?
He leads them in his chosen path.
¹³ They flourish in every way
and their children will inherit the land.
¹⁴ YHWH offers his friendship
to those who fear him
enabling them to grasp
the meaning of his covenant.

¹⁵ My eyes are always on YHWH
who frees my feet from the trap.
¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me
for I’m friendless and forlorn.
¹⁷ My anxieties threaten my very life.
Release me from them all.
¹⁸Look at my misfortunes
see my pain and forgive all my sins.
¹⁹ See how many enemies I have
and how violently they oppose me.
²⁰ Rescue my soul and protect me.
Don’t leave me stranded
now that I’ve put my trust in you.
²¹ May your integrity and virtue protect me
because I wait for you.

²² Redeem Israel, O God
from all her troubles!

Alternating between confessions of faith and cries for mercy, this acrostic psalm’s rambling style may be meant to approximate life’s messiness. David creates the sort of tension we regularly experience. He knows God’s path leads to flourishing and commits to following it, yet he struggles to do so. Acrostic psalms also aim to deal comprehensively with their topic—in this case, walking with God.

Never easy, the right road runs right through enemy territory. Taking it has left David in trouble, hurting, and alone—with public disgrace threatening ahead. He’s had some falls, he faces violently treacherous enemies, and he dreads defeat with its attendant shame. He knows how weak and vulnerable he is. But he also knows he’s on the right path and is trusting that his guide won’t fail him.

Thankfully, David returns repeatedly to God’s goodness and grace, the focus of the psalm’s chiasm.[1] David isn’t trying to earn forgiveness—he asks God to forgive simply because he’s merciful. The ancient Middle East’s gods were viewed as arrogant and disdainful of their subjects. By contrast, YHWH is gracious not just to his obedient servants, but to repentant rebels too. Though his servants often fail him, he remains faithful, helping them to stay on course.

With God giving them all the protection, forgiveness, and guidance they need, what more could they want? Knowing this enables David to wait on God for deliverance. And the psalm’s final verse opens this redemption up to all God’s people.

Prayer:

Jesus, I swing between faith and unbelief as others’ opposition and my own weaknesses threaten to undo me and any good I do. Yet following you is the only way to life. Forgive my sins and guide me in your way. Help me wait on you. Redeem me for the honor of your name. Amen.

During your free moments today, meditate on these words:

He guides the afflicted in the way of justice
and reveals his path to those bowed down.

[1] The psalm’s chiasm is as follows: A: Cry for help (1-3), B: Plea that YHWH will teach David his ways (4-5), C: Plea for forgiveness (6-7), D: YHWH’S WONDERFUL CHARACTER (8-10), C: Plea for forgiveness (11), B: YHWH will teach his servants his way (12-14), A: Cry for help (15-22).