Psalm 55 - An Anguished Prayer

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

Have you ever been personally betrayed by someone you trusted? Betrayed by a friend when you least expected it? Do you remember the emotional pain that such a betrayal generated?

I remember back in high school we had an American Civics class. For one week the class had an activity project designed to teach us about the early labor movement in America. Each one of us was given a role that we were to play surrounding a fictitious manufacturing company. Some of my classmates were assigned to play management. They were to set policies that would make the company more productive. Other classmates were in the role of laborers. They were to work for the company and earn money for their families. A few other classmates were unionizers. They were to convince the laborers that it was in their best interest to form a union and collectively bargain with the management. Everyone had specific goals that they were to try to accomplish by the end of the week. Their individual grades would be based on how well they moved things toward their goals. For example, those playing management would get an A if they increased productivity in the company while also defeating the attempts by the unionizers. The unionizers would get an A if they convinced the laborers to form a union. The laborers would get A’s if they could somehow increase their pay by a certain percentage, one much greater than management would be naturally inclined to give as it would defeat their productivity goals. The structure of the project was carefully designed to pit the various goals against each other. If one group got an A, it was likely another group would end up with a C, and so forth.

I was given an assignment with a goal as well. My role was to play an anarchist. My grade would be based on creating chaos so that other goals were not achieved. To do that I had to make agreements with the various groups that I would then break. I remember the first couple of days went fairly well. I worked to broker agreements between the three different groups because one of the conditions of the project was that I was one of the few people who had free access to all the groups. I brokered deals, deals that were suggested to me by the project instructions, that made the groups think that I was working in their interests. Then, around day 3 or 4 it came out that the various deals that I was arranging actually served only my ends; they hurt the other groups as far as their objectives. I will never forget how angry my classmates were when they discovered that I was betraying them. I played my role sufficiently well that most of my friends did not even want to talk to me the rest of the day.

In the end we figured out a moderated solution so that I think that everyone in the class end up with Bs. But that didn’t mean that my classmates quickly forgave me. The backstabbing of the project left an emotional mark.

Involvement:

When a friend deceives you and hurts you, it leaves a deep emotional cut, one that produces real emotional pain. Our psalmist this morning has experienced that pain and has left us an inspired example of how to deal with it.

Context:

This morning our psalm is again attributed to David. David is surrounded by animosity from old foes as well as friends. There is nothing in this psalm that allows us to tie it to a specific experience in David’s life, but it most certainly conveys the emotions of betrayal perfectly. In fact, an ancient tradition in the Latin church suggested that this psalm pointed to the betrayal of our Lord by Judas. While I don’t believe our psalm is prophetic in that sense, the betrayal of our Lord was certainly the ultimate example of a betrayal by a friend.

Preview:

Like so many of the psalms, what makes this psalm so powerful is the emotional rollercoaster that it takes us on. Many of us will be able to easily resonate with the emotions that come from betrayal. We are surrounded by wicked people; people, who we have talked about on other weeks, who deny God’s right to rule their lives. They may present outwardly as nice people. They may present outwardly even as caring friends. But as long as they are denying God’s authority, the only authority that is left to govern their lives is self. That means that ultimately, they will do what is best for themselves—they will look out for numero uno as the saying goes. Eventually, that central concern to serve self will lead to great acts of betrayal, betrayal that cuts us deep as we seek to serve God with our lives.

This morning we will take this psalm in five sections. It is a slightly longer poem than many of the recent psalms we have considered, but each the sections develop an emotional thrust that collectively teach us one central idea: God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us. <repeat>

Betrayals should not surprise us; they come from living in this sin-cursed world. Yet, we are not to become jaded and keep everyone at arms-length emotionally. Nor are we to become vindictive, striking back at those who hurt us. We are to learn to trust God; trust that He will sustain us. David walks us through the emotion-filled process of learning how to do so this morning.

Transition from introduction to body:

God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us.

We are able to feel the emotional pain right from the beginning as we learn in the first three verses that…

BODY:

I. We can cry in anguish, vv. 1–3

Can’t you feel David’s emotional anguish as he writes these words? <read Ps 55:1–3>.

These are words of anguish, words of sorrow and fear. Because of the things that have been said against him; because of the pressure that has been brought to bear against him; because of all the trouble that he has experienced; David cannot relax. He cannot settle down and focus on anything. Even as he cries out to God, he is unable to set his emotions aside. His experiences make it feel as if God is not listening at all to his urgent prayers. No matter how much anguish comes out in his words, it doesn’t match the anguish of his soul. And yet, where is God? God has not helped in any tangible way.

Illustration

Now, I’ll admit that the situation I described with my high school civics project was rather mild when it comes to betrayal. The only thing jeopardized were some grades on a single project. But I also remember very clearly lying awake most of the night after my classmates discovered my deception. I could not set aside their anger directed toward me and the hurt feelings that my actions had clearly caused.

Application

Now, I was troubled, having been the one who created the problem through my actions. How much worse is it when we are on the receiving end of the hostile actions of others; when others seek our destruction, when they deceive us and bring pressure down on us. Such times create great emotional anguish, the pain is palpable. In fact, the emotional pain usually causes such tunnel vison that the only thing that we can see in the world is our little universe of pain. In the middle of such pain, it is not unusual for us to conclude that God doesn’t care, that He isn’t listening. Yet, that is also the times when we will be most apt to cry out in continued anguish to Him, wetting our pillows with our tears.

Does this resonate with you? Can you remember times when you have cried out to God in anguish? Maybe that time is right now? Maybe no one else here knows the emotional pain of your heart at this very moment because you have kept it quiet, yet anguish is consuming you, nonetheless. Friends, God lovingly allows these situations into our lives so that we will cry out to Him in our anguish.

Transition:

God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us. The first step to truly learning this lesson is for us to remember that we can cry in anguish. We need to turn to God in our emotional pain.

Secondly, we must learn that…

II. We can confess our fear, vv. 4–8

Look at verse 4 with me…<read Ps 55:4–8>.

I believe that these verses should be very comforting verses for us. David takes all of his fears and simply puts them out there before God. He admits his anguish. He confesses his terror. He tells God that he would love to simply run and hide; he wants to be a bird that could fly out into the desert far away from his problems. Everything about these 5 verses is raw, open emotion.

Application

Have you ever found yourself feeling better by simply telling someone how you feel, unloading your problems and fears? The situation doesn’t change when we do that, but our perspective does as we articulate our problems. The simple process of talking about them puts boundaries around them. It causes us to place our problems back into the larger context of this world that doesn’t actually revolve around us after all.

What we learn from David is that God is always there. We can take all our fears and confess them to God. There is no need to put up a brave front; it is ok for God to see our lips quiver. Let God hear from you how you feel; after all, God already knows. It is not like you will be telling God anything that He was unaware of, but it will help you put the pain and emotion into perspective by confessing them to God.

Transition:

God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us. The second step to learning this truth is coming to realize that we can confess our fear.

Third, in verses 9–15 David finally gets more specific about his circumstances. As he does so we learn that…

III. We can call for justice, vv. 9–15

Continuing on in our psalm…<read Ps 55:9–15>

David calls on God to act on his behalf. In verse 9 he alludes to the Tower of Babel incident when God scattered the nations for their rebellion against Him. In verse 15, he seems to allude to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram when God had the earth swallow them up, taking them alive directly to Sheol. Both historic events were situations when God directly intervened on the side of righteousness against the wicked. David wants God to add another direct intervention to that list; he wants God to act now!

When we look through these verses, we get a general picture of the situation David faced. He looks around the city and sees rampant violence and unrighteousness, numerous evil forces are aligned against him. Yet the situation that directly affects him is sourced in someone whom David thought of as a friend. This is made emphatic as David imagines speaking directly to the betrayer in v. 13 as he describes the situation to God, “it is you.” The betrayer was a person with whom David had shared many experiences throughout his life, including coming together to the central tabernacle for the festival times of worship when the whole nation assembled. This man, this man that David would have placed well into the friend column of his life, this man has betrayed him and was now openly aligned with the evil forces against David. This man has metaphorically stabbed David in the back; he has deceitfully sought harm against David.

David does not take action to deal with the person directly, but he does call out to God for justice. He calls on God to act. David knows that he has not done anything wrong. In fact, by this person’s actions, David knows that his ex-friend has shown himself to be in rebellion against God. So, David calls on God to vindicate him by bringing justice down on the head of his new-found enemy. He calls on God to cause the deceit of this ex-friend to come back on his own head until it leads to his own destruction—his death. As long as the person remains in open rebellion against God, that is the end that justice demands.

Application

Have you had the experience of a friend stabbing you metaphorically in the back this way? A friend who had pretended to be a strong believer, who had joined you in worship, suddenly revealing that he or she has no heart for God and will be more than willing to hurt you to get what he or she wants.

Illustration

I know that several of you have had this kind of experience. Over the years we have had to discipline people out of the church because they have refused to turn from their sin, They have held on to their sin so tightly that we could no longer affirm that the person was a believer; they were acting like unbelievers. They held on to their sin despite the destruction that their sin was causing in their own lives and in the lives of others. In every case, there have been men and women from this congregation who we know and love hurt by those destructive sins. I know that these people know what David is feeling. I also expect that there are several more of you who know what David is feeling even though I am not aware the situations you have experienced.

Application

What we need to recognize, though, is the proper action for us to take when we have such a back-stabbing experience. We are not to take matters into our own hands and seek our own vengeance for the way we have been wronged. We are to call out to God to seek justice on our behalf instead.

Transition:

The third step is to realize that we can call for justice. We can turn the specifics of our situation over to God, calling out for justice from the Judge who is always just. God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us.

Having called out to God, David moves into a fourth step that we need to learn in verse 16,…

IV. We have certainty in God, vv. 16–21

There is a dramatic shift in verse 16. David has poured out his emotional pain and laid out his specific situation. Now he writes…<read Ps 55:16–21>.

The “I” of verse 16 is quite emphatic, “I, I will call upon God. Yahweh will save me.” David is determined to remain loyal to God as he calls on God in his prayer. And why is this the case? Because David has certainty about who God is. Look at verse 19, God is “the one who sites enthroned from of old.” David’s confidence is grounded firmly on the eternal enthronement of God as the final king of the universe. This is God’s world. He is the center of it. He is the One who rules it.

For that reason, David is going to bring his complaints to God over and over throughout the day, every day. You see, the reference to “evening and morning and noon” in v. 17 reflects the Hebrew perspective that the new day began at sundown. David will go to God all day long. We don’t have to limit the idea to only three times, but there is definitely a pattern here of intentionally setting time apart to come before God in prayer.

David knows that God will give him strength, endurance, and even inner peace to continue facing the battle with the betrayer. The betrayer has a talented tongue; he can make his words sound smooth as butter, even though they are designed to cut David to pieces. But David has certainty that God is not deceived because God rules from His throne of old.

Application

Are you able to make this dramatic shift when you experience deep hurt and betrayal? Are you able to call out to God for justice and then shift to a certainty that God is in control, that He is sitting on His throne of old? I am not talking about being able to state that truth as a Sunday school answer to what does it mean to say that God is sovereign? Nor am I talking about agreeing that it is an orthodox statement for the church. I am talking about having such certainty that God is on the eternal throne that it affects your emotions amid your trying situation. Having the ability to look beyond the smooth words of the person betraying you and look past the evil actions that have been taken against you and seeing as the foundation of your life that God is God; God of your life. Do you have that certainty? That is the certainty that allows us to call out to God repeatedly throughout the day. That is the certainty that allows us to make the shift from what we are experiencing to be able to say, “As for me, I shall call upon God, And the LORD will save me.”

Of course, there is no way to do this if you do not really believe that God is enthroned from of old. And you do not believe that if you have not accepted His Son, Jesus Christ, who God the Father sent to die for your sins. Refusing to accept Jesus as Savior is an act of betrayal against God; it is open rebellion. Belief in God must be connected to believing in the salvation that He provides through His divine Son. If you need to know more about how you can come to know Jesus as Savior, contact me through my email. I would love to show you from the Bible how you can bow before the One “who sits enthroned from of old.” The one with “whom there is no change.”

Transition:

God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us. Learning this truth requires that we have certainty in God. Certainty in God then leads to the fifth and final step,…

V. We find confidence in faith, vv. 22–23

Let’s read the last two verses of our psalm…<read Ps 55:22–23>.

“I will trust in You.” That is David’s final statement on the matter. In fact, having made that decision for himself, he encourages all the godly to follow his example and do likewise, “Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Having experienced such deep personal betrayal, here is David’s advice; this is what all who have certainty in God can do.

Notice, though, the promise that David gives us in verse 22. The promise is that when we cast our burden, God will sustain us. It is not the promise that God will remove the burden. In fact, the literal translation of the Hebrew word “burden” would be along the lines of “what He gives you.” David is telling us to throw back to God whatever God has given us and when we do that God will sustain us, He will not allow His righteous ones to be shaken from their faith.

Faith recognizes that God will deal with the wicked. He will deal with them according to their wickedness. Faith simply turns the burden of looking for justice over to God. Doing that yields confidence, “I will trust in You.”

Application

There is a reason that Peter cites the first part of verse 22 in 1 Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxiety on Him.” The reason is because God is just as faithful to sustain His children now in the NT era as He was in the OT framework. God has not changed. He still, as Peter states “cares” for us. That is a glorious truth that is completely independent of any circumstance that we face. It is not affected by any wickedness directed toward us. Betrayal by friends have no impact on this truth. God will sustain us. He will never allow us to be shaken if we are one of His righteous children, children saved by the cross-work of Jesus Christ. He will sustain us. Period. God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us.

Coming back to that foundational truth moves us from anguish to confidence. The situation that generated our anguish has not changed. We are still waiting on God to punish those who deserve His divine justice in His own time. The situation has not change, but our attitude will. We will be men and women with confident faith.

Transition from body to conclusion:

God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us. We find confidence in faith.

CONCLUSION

I betrayed my classmates as part of that high school project. My betrayal hurt my classmates. You may be experiencing a much more significant betrayal this morning; your anguish may be much deeper. Betrayals will happen. Friends will betray us. That is why we need the lesson from this psalm: God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us.

David understood betrayal and through his inspired writing takes us through five steps that will teach us this truth. Step 1: We can cry in anguish. Step 2: We can confess our fear: Step 3: We can call for justice. Step 4: We have certainty in God. Step 5: We find confidence in faith.

God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us.

Application

How is your faith this morning? Is there a situation in your life trying to push this foundational truth to the side? Do you need to look beyond your anguish to the confidence of faith that God will sustain you? If you are struggling because of anguish, especially the anguish of betrayal, I encourage you spend time with David and this psalm this week. Learn the lesson that David has left for you.

God will sustain us when the wicked try to crush us.