Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

In the current batch of psalms, the Big Issue topics are
the poet’s desperate situation,
 his dangerous enemies, and 
his incessant pleas for help. 

In Psalm 56, the tone changes. Though enemies still threaten and life’s situations are still desperate, the poet presents
a more-settled faith,
a more-solid relationship with God,
a more-peaceful approach to his many troubles. 

Let’s look at three expressions of faith in Psalm 56. 

First, the poet says,
  When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
      In God, whose word I praise–
  In God I trust and I am not afraid.
      What can mere mortals do to me? (vv. 3-4). 

The poet feared enemies who pursued and warriors who attacked. But instead of being paralyzed with fear, he actively counteracts it by putting his trust in God. If God protects him, mere mortal enemies have no power against him. 

Psalm 56 presents a second statement of faith, as the poet says,.
    Record my misery,
      put my tears in your bottle,
      are they not in your book?
    Then my enemies will turn back
      when I call for help.
    This I know that God is for me (vv. 8, 9b).

Do you see God as one who stores your tears in his bottle? As one who records your sorrows in his book? These are strangely comforting thoughts leading to the poet’s greatest affirmation of faith: “This I know that God is for me.” Throughout the psalms, the poet has struggled with the problem of faith, namely, “Is God for us, is he against us, or is he just a disinterested observer?” Here the poet presses past his fear and doubts into God’s presence, gaining strength and confidence that God is his friend and his helper. 

The poet makes a third statement of faith at the end of Psalm 56:
  You have delivered me from death
    and my feet from stumbling
  that I may walk before God
    in the light of life (v. 13).

God delivered the poet from stumbling in the darkness of fear and anxiety. He now walks  with God in the light of life. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, with the poet, we make our statement of faith:
    When we are afraid,
        we will put our trust in you.
    What can mere mortals do to us?  

Sometimes, O Lord, our world frightens us. Wars and epidemics threaten. Civilized discourse vanishes. Our very lives are passing away. But we trust you. Watch over us, protect us from evil and disease, look out for our well-being. To you the author of goodness, we surrender our fear. We receive your peace and your protection. 

Our father, you see and treasure our tears. You store them in your bottle. You record them in your book. We invite you to transform the deep sadness of our lives into memories of your goodness, the narrative of our pain into the story of your healing. 

We join the poet in his great statement of faith, “We know you are for us.” We are often alone, often hated, often in danger. We thank you for being on our side. Thank you for being our strong friend, our strong God, our strong defender. Teach us to walk with you in the light of life.  

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

In Psalm 55, the poet is once again overwhelmed by trouble and doubt. 
– His enemies threaten him (v. 3).
– His thoughts trouble him (v. 2).
– His city is rife with violence and abuse (v. 9)
– His friend betrayed him (v. 13).
– He is overwhelmed with horror (v. 5).

Of his traitorous friend he says:
    His talk is smooth as butter,
        Yet war is in his heart.
    His words are more soothing than oil,
        Yet they are drawn swords (v. 21). 

The poet makes two responses to his troubles. His first impulse is to run away. He says,
    Oh that I had wings like a dove,
      I would fly away and be at rest (v. 6).
    I would hurry to my place of shelter,
      Far from the tempest and storm (v. 8).

I identify with that prayer. “God, don’t let it be my problem. Make it all go away. Take me to an island of peace far from the maddening crowd, far from the noise of the city, far from evil and distress. Help me escape the war zone that is my life.” 

The poet’s second response to trouble goes like this: 
     Cast your cares on the Lord
        and he will sustain you
    He will never let
        the righteous be shaken (v. 22). 

Let’s pray. 

Hear us, O God. Our thoughts trouble us when we consider the state of the world and the state of our nation and the state of our own hearts. We thought the bomb would protect our western civilization, but enemies use our technology to build their own bombs. We thought medical science would cure human disease, but viruses change and adapt, outwitting our best efforts. We thought psychology and reason and mood-enhancing drugs would create mental health and stability, but our progress is slow and uncertain. 

Like the poet we see poverty and crime in our cities, violence and strife, malice and abuse. Opioids made to ease pain have spawned an addiction crisis far worse than we could have imagined. Once-vibrant inner cities are violent slums. Lord, we want to escape the noise and confusion and evil. We want to fly to the wilderness, to a place of unspoiled beauty. But if we went there, would we take our evil with us? 

With the poet, we turn our hearts to you, saying,
    We call to God
      and the Lord saves us.
  Evening, morning and noon
      We cry out in distress
      and you hear our voice (vv. 16-17).

You see us, God. You hear us. You call yourself our father, you have adopted us as your children. Look on our world of violence and evil. Remember us when friends betray us, remember us when the public discourse is dishonest and dishonourable, remember us when our enemies plan violence against us, when
    Their talk is smooth as butter,
        but war is in their hearts (v. 21). 

With the poet we pray,
    Cast your cares on the Lord
      and he will sustain you (v. 22).
    But as for me, I trust in you, Lord (v. 23). 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.