The superscript reads,
“A Prayer of David”. This Psalm
comes right out of the heart of David, and it is addressed straight to God. God
is always the subject of true prayer. The eye of faith looks always looks to God.
It presents the soul’s trouble directly to Him. It waits for Him (Psalm 130:5) and it knows that it will
ultimately receive perspective from Him. Please note that the prayer starts
with a cry …. “Hear a just cause, O
LORD…”, but it ends with a shout of victory “… I shall behold your face in righteousness…!” This is a very typical pattern found in the
Psalms. The Psalmist comes perplexed and disturbed to God. He presents his
trouble to God. He ends with new perspective, even though the initial problem
may not have gone away. The distinct feature is this: God has moved into the
picture! When Jesus appears in the storms of our life, and when He appears to
be asleep, and when we say, “Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?”, He says, “Peace! Be still!” (Mk. 4:39). And we are OK. So what is happening here in Psalm 17?
OUTLINE
1. 17:1-5 David is seeking vindication from God against His enemies.
2. 17:6-14 David describes the nature of his enemies.
3. 17:15 David finds comfort in the knowledge of God’s keeping power
1. 17:1-5 David is seeking vindication from
God against His enemies
“Hear…
attend… give ear… “ (see also 17:6). David is clearly under pressure. It seems as if he is being accused of being
deceitful (17:1). He believes he is innocent, blameless of the
charges that are laid against him. He believes that he has lived a righteous
life- at least righteous with regard to the charges brought
before him, for in truth no one is righteous before God – no not even
one (Rom.3:10-11 cf. Ps. 53:1-3). David pleaded his
innocence of this sin to God. He says, “my lips are free
from deceit” (17:1b). And therefore he pleads in 17:2
“O God …YOU …vindicate me!”
We are not told what the exact context is, but if we may
assume for a moment that king Saul is his accuser (as Psalm 18 indicates), there might be people
speaking up for David, saying, “O
king,your servant David is a good man.
He is not your enemy. He wishes you no harm. Please, end your strife with him.” But
David did not want to be vindicated by others.
He appeals to God Himself: “From
your presence let my vindication come”. It was one thing if men believed
him to be innocent. But David wanted God to vindicate him.
The Lord Jesus was
accused may times. His work was
attributed to Beelzebub (Matt. 12:24).
He was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton, mixing with tax collectors
and sinners (Matt.11:19). He was accused at various time of breaking the Sabbath
(e.g. Mk. 1:29-31; 3:1-6). He was
even accused of undermining the rule of the Roman Caesar, and for disturbing
the peace in Israel. This is how they eventually charged him and crucified him.
Let it be said categorically that at that time no person vindicated Jesus. God ALONE
vindicated Him, and especially on the third day when He rose again from the
dead. And still people mock our Lord Jesus today. The Day of Judgment will be a
great day of vindication.
David wants the
assurance that God is hearing him and vindicating him…. “Let your eyes behold the right” (17:2b). God sees everything
clearly. He sees the right. This is my comfort in my pastoral work. He sees the
right, and at the end of the day he is the one that vindicates me (Psalm 26:1-3; 35:24). The apostle Paul was frequently accused of many
things. To the Corinthians he says in
this regard, “It is the Lord who judges (vindicates)
me”.
In pastoral work we often struggle to understand the nature of a
situation, which is obscured by the deceitful heart of men and women. Who is
right and who is wrong? Only God ultimately knows, and that is why prayer - that is, crying out to God is ultimately our only resource! This I know. In time God
reveals everything.
In 17:3-5 David continues with his plea as
he bares his heart before God. He says next, “You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night (see also 16:7); you have tested me, and you will find nothing” (17:3). Now let us be quick to assert
that David is not sinless. We know that he was not without sin. He saw, coveted
and took another man’s wife, and from this perspective that is still in the
future. David is talking here about the accusation that he was being deceitful.
And now he is saying to God, “O God you
know the truth about me. I am not guilty with respect to THOSE charges!“. And if these were the charges laid against him
by king Saul, then he maintains his innocence. He asserts his integrity. Despite the hatred of Saul for David, he never cursed his king: “I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.”(17:3)
17:4,5
And still David is not finished
with his plea for vindication. He compares himself to his accuser(s): “With regard to the works of man, by the
words of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. My steps have held
fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped”. David
is saying to God, “I could have been just
like them! I could have been a violent
man. But I am not. I have held fast to your paths… your precepts”.
So here is David. He
is accused of being a deceiver and whatever else. It strikes him in the inmost
part of his soul, and He is saying to God,
“Lord you have examined me. You know this is not true!”
The second part of his
prayer follows now in 17:6-14
2.
DAVID PLEADS FOR GOD TO PROTECT HIM. (7:6-14).
“I
call upon you, for you will answer me O God” (17:6a). This is the spirit of the importunate widow in
Luke 18:1 and the friend at midnight
in Luke 11. David is pressing God for
a fair hearing. This is holy boldness.
This is the spirit of wrestling Jacob… “I will not let you go unless
you bless me” (Gen. 32:26). He takes
it for granted that God will answer him.
Again he says, “Incline your ear to me; hear my words“ (17:6b). “Your verdict, O Lord is important to me! And do you know what else I want - more than anything else, Lord? It is this
-‘wondrously show your steadfast
love (Hebr. hesed-
covenantal) (17:7a).Covenantal love! There can be no greater experience of love
than this love. In our NT context it is the love that God shows us in
reconciling us as sinners to Himself - at
great cost – the cost of the sacrifice of His eternally begotten Son! He who knew no sin – Him He made sin for us ! In
this moment of need David cries, “Show this
steadfast covenantal love to me –
O Saviour of those who seek refuge from
their adversaries at your right hand (17:7b)!”
When the soul is
assailed, it needs assurance. There is
no greater assurance of the love of
God than
that which God gives by His Holy Spirit
to His children (Rom. 8:15,16). David needed to know that. Oh the experience of the
love of God in the soul! It drives away all fear!
And David presses
God in this regard when he says
to the LORD, “Keep me as the apple of
your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me” (17:8&9). The term ‘the apple of your eye’ in the English language is
a translation of the Hebrew which literally reads, “a pupil of the daughter of eye”. The pupil is surrounded and protected by the daughter – the eyeball.
That is a wonderful expression of the love of God, which surrounds us as the
pupil is surrounded by the eyeball. And then David uses another metaphor
to describe the protecting love of God, when he describes the surrounding protection that a mother bird would offer to
her chicks as she spreads her wings over
her chicks - hidden away safely from predators. That is where David wants to be – like the pupil surrounded
by the eyeball; like the chick under the
wings of a mother bird – surrounded by the love of God – “under the shadow of His wings” [1].
17:10-12
Here David exposes the nature of his enemies: (i) they close their eyes to pity - they know no mercy (ii)with their mouths they speak arrogantly (iii)they
are surrounding our steps- they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.
(iv)like a lion eager to tear- to ambush his enemies.
In 17:13-14 he calls upon God, “Arise O LORD (covenantal Name YAHWEH).Confront him! Subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword. From men by your hand O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life”. David is saying, “Do you see what is happening Lord? I am lost without you.”
But He appeals to the LORD – YAHWEH – the God who has made the heavens and the earth. This LORD is his Shepherd. Every true sheep of God is safe. And Jesus has not lost one of them. It is this LORD on who David leans and whom He calls upon. If God is for us who can be against us? (Rom. 8:31). Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom. 8:35)
David’s God is our God! He delivers us from
the boastful and intimidating “men of the world whose portion is in this life” – men who
have everything that their hearts desire, boastful men, men seemingly at peace
in this world – but in truth at war with God
3. DAVID FINDS COMFORT IN THE
KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S KEEPING POWER (17:15).
This 15th
verse is the great turning point in David’s soul battle. “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when
I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness”.
See David’s confidence as he anticipates the seeing of
God’s face. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8). This is, of course true
when following our death we shall
wake up in the presence of Jesus.
We will see His face. We will see Him
face to face whom we have now only known heart to heart. And we shall be changed
to be like Him (1 Cor. 15)
And in heaven we will be perfect, and our souls will
be so full of God and His love. And we shall be eternally beyond the
reach of the enemies that assail
our soul now. We shall be forever out of Satan’s reach and nothing
there will disturb our peace and
joy ever again!
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