David one
day found out that his son, Absalom, had swayed the hearts of the people of
Israel away from him. 2 Samuel 15:12 says that “the conspiracy was strong, for
the people increased continually with Absalom.” So David was forced to flee
from his son. Absalom and the people thought what they were doing was right in
the eyes of the LORD. They supposed that they were right in taking away the
kingdom from David and giving it to Absalom. The people thought Absalom to be a
righteous and just man, for he had sat by the gate to intercept anyone going to
King David to obtain judgment. He would flatter the person with talk about how
he would listen to them and give them justice if he were king in David’s place
(2 Sam 15:1-6). So more and more people were being swayed away from David, the
LORD’s anointed, who was a man after God’s own heart. In the wilderness,
surveying the situation, David wrote:
1
O LORD, how my adversaries have increased!
Many
are rising up against me.
2
Many are saying of my soul,
“There
is no deliverance for him in God.”
Selah
God’s people
are often surrounded by many adversaries who would rise up against them and
declare that God does not care for them. Religious apostates seek to strangle
the truth as they gain power and influence. Because of their deception, they
have a false confidence that God is for them. Saul of Tarsus thought he was
fulfilling the will of God by persecuting and killing Christians until he met
the Lord on the road to Damascus. It was then that he realized his own delusion
and turned from being an enemy of the gospel to a believer and a preacher of
that same gospel.
However, David
is certain that there is indeed deliverance for him in God:
3
But You, O LORD, are a shield about me,
My
glory, and the One who lifts my head.
4
I was crying to the LORD with my voice,
And He
answered me from His holy mountain.
Selah
God is often
depicted as a shield to those who believe in Him and who walk in His ways.
Although there was a host of people seeking to harm him, David was confident of
God’s protection. Those who worship God and walk in His ways always have God
with them, though they lose all. It could be said that David had lost all
glory. He was no longer in his palace or on his throne. He no longer was
praised by the people. But he recognized that God was his glory. Those who
trust God and keep His Word also know that though trials are unavoidable, they
pass; and they look to God to give to them as He sees fit. David knew that it
would be God who exalted him back to his throne to rule among the people in due
time. He was confident in God, because God had heard his plea and had answered
from on high. God had not been dethroned. He was still sovereign. And although
David felt far away from the presence of God, he was rejoicing that God had
heard him and answered.
5
I lay down and slept;
I
awoke, for the LORD sustains me.
6
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who
have set themselves against me round about.
God had
answered David by preserving him through the night in the midst of his
multiplying enemies. He had laid down to sleep, trusting God to keep him safe,
and he had woken in the morning and recognized that God had sustained him. Even
though this seems like such a small victory in the face of overwhelming odds,
David recognized that if he could trust God with one night, he could trust Him
with anything. So he confidently asserts that he would not be afraid of even
ten thousands of people setting themselves around him in opposition.
With renewed
strength, he again cries out to the LORD:
7
Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God!
For
You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;
You
have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
8
Salvation belongs to the LORD;
Your blessing
be upon Your people!
Selah
God desires
His people to pray to Him. The first instinct of the believer must be to cry
out to God for deliverance from the trials of life. He also desires them to
trust that He will indeed deliver them. David expressed his confidence that God
would contend with his enemies.
In the last
verse. David expresses the main theme of the psalm: salvation belongs to the
LORD. Primarily, physical salvation is in view in this context. But it is also
true that spiritual salvation is from the LORD. God delivers the repentant from
the oppression of sin and the devil, and He delivers them from the afflictions
that present themselves to those who believe in Him. He is, first, the redeemer
of the soul from sin, and, second, the deliverer of the redeemed from
affliction.
Conclusion
Those who
fear the Lord and walk in righteousness have always been hated by those who
walk in unrighteousness. Because the unrighteous want to shirk the bonds of the
sovereign and righteous God, they strike out at those who love Him. This was
true of Abel. This was true of David. This was true of all the prophets.
This was
true in the life of the Lord Jesus, whose enemies increased and gathered around
Him to crucify Him, supposing that God would not deliver Him from their hand.
What they did not know is that they were acting according to the plan of God.
All of His life, Jesus entrusted Himself to God, for He knew that God’s plan
could not be altered or thwarted. Thus, Jesus showed no fear as His enemies multiplied
and cried out for Him to be crucified. He entrusted Himself to God, who would
lift up His head and exalt Him to His right hand. In this way, salvation
belongs to the LORD, and His blessing is upon His people. For they will not be
condemned on the day of the LORD, but will be saved through their trust in the
atonement of sin provided by Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
How we can
rest assured in the finished work of Christ. We can entrust ourselves to God to
watch over us and keep us from harm. And most of all, we can trust His promise
of salvation from sin and a citizenship in the coming Kingdom of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will reign forever and ever, smiting all of His enemies on the
cheek and shattering the teeth of the wicked.
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