The superscription of our Psalm today, helps us to feel the emotional tone of the Psalm and to also understand the context of David’s prayer to God. As far as emotional tone is concerned, just like Psalm 58 from last week, this Psalm is meant to be sung during a regular worship gathering of God’s people because the superscription is addressed “to the choirmaster”. This a community worship song.
This Psalm is also a super intense, violent, heavy metal type of a song that was meant to be sung to the tune or the cadence of “Do Not Destroy” which sounds very heavy metal to me! It is also very much like a tattoo or an engraving since that is the literal meaning of the word Miktam; this Psalm is “A Miktam (or engraving) of David”.
David is not only engraving this Psalm upon his heart amidst the context of the threat of death from the enemies at the gate of his home (which we will examine here in a moment), but he also wants God’s people to engrave this Psalm upon their hearts amidst the threat of death from the enemies on their doorsteps as well. David saw his personal hardships and prayers to God as opportunities to teach God’s people how to deal with opposition and suffering. Christianity is not merely a personal journey, it is a community endeavor.
Now, as far as context is concerned, we learn that David wrote this Psalm “when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him”. The account of this episode of David’s life is found early on in David’s public story in 1 Samuel 19:1 – 17. In that part of David’s story, King Saul became jealous of David because of his heroism on the battlefield; David was a mighty warrior who wreaked havoc on God’s enemies in some seriously bloody and violent ways. People were proclaiming that Saul had killed his thousands and that David had killed his tens of thousands and those proclamations made Saul jealous. Jealousy can be a very deadly emotion if it is not dealt with properly.
So, after trying to personally murder David with a spear on two different occasions, Saul decided to send hitmen to David’s doorstep, to the gate of his home. As the story goes, David’s wife becomes part of the answer to David’s prayer as she helps him escape through a window and then sets up a body double in their bed with a statue and some goat’s hair (like a homemade mannequin) to hold off the hitmen so that David could get away.
I would imagine that most of us have never endured the emotional trauma of having an enemy on our doorstep looking to kill us. But I do think that most of us understand what it is like to have the threat of death or what some people call “the stench of death” looming just outside the gate of our home or our lives. Satan loves to make us feel the impending doom of death. Sin enjoys tempting us to feast on the deadly behaviors of ungodliness. Death itself relishes in the constant reminder that you and your loved ones could be gone from this earth in the blink of an eye.
While we may never have physical enemies waiting at the gates of our homes, we believers do have Satan, Sin, and Death constantly bombarding the gates of our lives. Satan condemns us (you are worthless, hopeless, helpless, death is coming for you). Sin tempts us (you want this, you need this, you cannot live without this deadly poison). Death taunts us (I am coming for you, I will get the last word here on earth, you cannot hide from me, death comes for everyone…especially your loved ones).
What do you do when these enemies are waiting at the gate of your home? When you are tired of running, weary from fighting, fed up with being under attack, at the end of your rope emotionally, and just flat out desperate to survive? The answer, according to one author, is to pray like David, in light of the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the hope of heaven, for rescue and for judgment.2 So following his lead, let us think about what it looks like to pray for God to rescue us from the enemies on our doorsteps. Look at the text with me…
To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.
1Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; 2deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.
3For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression of mine, O LORD, 4for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see! 5You LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah
6Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. 7There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords on their lips – for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
8But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. 9O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. 10My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.
11Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield! 12For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, 13consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah.
14Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. 15They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill. 16But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. 17O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.
#1: PRAY FOR RESCUE (VV. 1 – 7)
Let us review verses 1 – 7 quickly. 1Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; 2deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men. 3For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression of mine, O LORD, 4for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see! 5You LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah
6Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. 7There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords on their lips – for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”
When David prays in verses 1 – 3 for God to rescue him, he uses phrases like deliver me, protect me, and save me because his enemies had risen up against him, they were in the business of working evil, and they were thirsty for David’s blood. The enemies on David’s doorstep, at the gate of his home, were not pansies; they were violent men who were seeking to kill him, they were waiting to kill him, and they were stirring up division against David, therefore he begged God to rescue him, to deliver him, to protect him, and to save him from impending death.
To make matters worse, in the second half of verse 3 and the first half of verse 4, David laments that these dogs on his doorstep, these enemies at the gate of his home, they are seeking to kill him even though he is absolutely innocent. It is not that David is sinless as a human, but in this instance, he is blameless, he is an innocent victim who has done nothing deserving of the death penalty. Sometimes the conflict we endure here on this earth is as much our fault as sinful people, as it is the fault of other sinners who are sinning against us. But sometimes, you and I will experience the brutal attacks of an enemy when we do not deserve it.
In these moments it is helpful to remember the Lord Jesus when he cried out from the cross of Calvary for our Heavenly Father to forgive his abusers because they were blinded by their sin and did not understand the destructive nature of the things they were doing. Forgiveness is an important part of dealing with the enemies on our doorsteps. We must forgive as Christ forgives but that does not mean that we just lie down and take the abuse either!
In the second half of verse 4 through the end of verse 5, David begs God to come to his rescue, to wake up, to come stand with him in his affliction, to punish his enemies, and to leave not one of them untouched from the fury of his wrath because they are all traitors planning to do evil, God forsaken things.
These enemies of David will not leave him alone and they think they are untouchable. In verses 6 – 7, David describes his enemies as dogs who never stop antagonizing him, as they spend their days howling at the moon, roaming around the city like a pack of wild predators, intimidating people with their loud sharp words, believing that no one will stand up to them. These enemies of David’s are nothing more than school yard bullies – cowards – who open their mouths to cut, slice and maim their victims and run back into the darkness like the cowardly little scumbags they are.
David is begging God to rescue him from these enemies. Can you feel the emotional weight of David’s prayer for God to rescue him? He is tired. He is weary. He is afraid. He is fed up. He is at the end of his rope. He is desperate. He cannot save himself from the enemies at his gate; even though he killed Goliath and his tens of thousands of God’s enemies, these enemies on his doorstep are too much for him to bear and he needs God to rescue him.
Have you felt that way recently? Have Satan, Sin, and Death been hanging out on the front porch of your home lately? The condemning negative self-talk we all listen to at times is a deadly enemy that is always trying to enter the hallways of our hearts. The strong lure of sin is nothing but a deadly trap that is designed to snare you until you crawl into a grave of self-pleasure. The loud voice of death looming in your mind is a constant reminder that your time on this earth with your loved ones is limited and out of your control.
When we face these enemies on our doorsteps, we can pray like David for God to rescue us and we can take heart in knowing that this life is momentary, these afflictions this side of Heaven are like a blink of the eye, and death will not get the last laugh because the cross of Christ was bloody, the tomb of Christ is empty, and the return of Christ is guaranteed!
This is what leads the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55 – 57 to proclaim, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
You see!! As I always say, the game is rigged!! Our enemies will ultimately lose everything. Just when all hell seems to have broken loose, just when Satan, Sin, and Death appear to have won, our crucified, risen, and returning King will remind us that he is victorious! This future revelation, this future hope, this is what enabled David to continue in prayer as he shifts his attention from praying for rescue to praying for judgment.
#2: PRAY FOR JUDGMENT (VV. 8 – 13)
Let us review verses 8 – 13 together, 8But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. 9O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. 10My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. 11Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield! 12For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, 13consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah.
In these verses, David remembers God’s character and his promises which leads him to pray for God to rain down judgment upon his enemies. This concept can be a little disconcerting to many of us – especially if we only believe in a fairy tale god who is warm and fuzzy and is always loving with no ounce of fury or wrath to dish out upon those who continue in their wickedness.
But if we have a proper view – as David did – of the God of the universe who is simultaneously perfectly and faithfully loving towards those who trust in him and who is also furious and ready to dish out justice upon those who live as his enemies, then we can pray boldly for God to bring judgement upon the wicked even as we confess our faith in him to forgive us of our wickedness according to the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary.
With this image of God’s perfect holiness and never-ending love in mind, David prays for God to bring judgment upon his enemies. In verses 8 – 10, David remembers that God is not fazed by his enemies, he actually laughs at their petty little attempts to overthrow him. God essentially mocks his enemies for their unproductive war against him. It is a futile thing to think that we would ever get the last laugh in a war against the Creator of the universe!
David, referring to God as Strength (v. 9), says that he will get his eyes off his enemies as he waits and watches for God to act on his behalf; God is his fortress, his refuge, his hiding place. When all hell breaks loose on his doorstep, David knows that God’s never-ending love will meet him in his time of need and that God has promised to let him share in the victory over his enemies (v. 10). The thing that will sustain you and I when our enemies – Satan, Sin, and Death – are waiting at the gate of our home is nothing less than the righteous character and the trustworthy promises of God in Christ Jesus!
Just as Jesus overcame Satan, Sin, and Death at the cross of Calvary, and the empty tomb, and has promised eternity, free from the effects of those enemies for all who have trusted in him, so to, we can trust that the benefits of Christ’s victory will sustain us whatever comes our way!
In this posture of hope and assurance, David, in verses 11 – 13, calls upon God to rain down judgment upon his enemies, to take them out slowly and methodically, to weaken them, to topple them from their places of power, because of the pride fueled sin filled words of destruction that come out of their mouths. These enemies on David’s doorstep have been cursing God’s name and spreading their deceitful lies for far too long and it is time for things to come to a violent end.
It is time for God to consume them with his righteous anger until they are wiped off the face of the planet so that God’s people will remember his strength and so that all the earth will know that God does not play around with his enemies! Our God is a vengeful King who rules and reigns in perfect majesty and righteousness, and one thing we can be certain of is this: God will rain down righteous judgment against those who make war against him and his redeemed people.
This violent image of God’s wrath is captured so well in the image of the returning Christ on his war horse with his cloths drenched in the blood of the helpless saints who have been murdered by God’s enemies (Rev. 19). This image is also captured really well in Revelation 2 where we see that our crucified, risen, and returning Savior possesses the authority to rule over the nations who wage war against him with an iron scepter; I believe he will literally break the kneecaps of his enemies with that scepter and at that point the promise will be fulfilled which says that every knee and head will bow in submission to the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Phil. 2:10 – 11).
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, it important for us to note that the last four verse of this Psalm are especially helpful to us once we have prayed for rescue, and once we have prayed for God’s judgment, because these final verses, 14 – 17, reveal David’s posture at the end of his praying. He has prayed for God to rescue him, and he has prayed for God to bring judgment upon his enemies, but God has not yet answered, he has not yet rescued David and he has not yet brought the fury of his wrath to bear upon David’s enemies.
In verses 14 – 15 we can see that David’s enemies are still alive and well and just as treacherous as they ever were. They are still on his doorstep every night, they are still howling like banshees for everyone to hear, they are still prowling around like ravenous predators who never get satisfied. You see, David’s circumstances have not changed but his faith has; he began fearful and ended faith filled; his fear gave way to faith which helped him to watch for God to move on his behalf and as he looked forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises, he began to worship!3
This is David’s praise filled heart despite the enemies that are bombarding his front door seeking his death: Those dogs can do whatever those dogs are going to do, “But I will sing of your strength; I will sing of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my Strength, I will praise you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love” (vv. 16 – 17).
Sometimes, when facing down the enemies on our doorsteps, whether human or spiritual, it is tempting to use their tactics against them – rage, jealousy, despair, manipulation, coercion, intimidation, etc. – but when our hearts are rightly focused on the God who rescues us and promises to judge the wicked, we are enabled to live in stark contrast with the world around us as we praise God amidst the storms of this life.
True peace is not the absence of conflict, suffering, difficulty, or oppression. True peace is the presence of the Prince of Peace, our crucified, risen, and returning King who holds us secure even when our enemies are on the doorsteps of our lives. – Amen!!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 Richard, D. Phillips, Psalms 42 – 72, Reformed Expository Commentary, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2019), 175, 179.
3 Ibid., 181 – 183.