Yesterday, we reflected on the importance of being heard by God (“be not deaf to me”; “Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy). Today, we want to reflect on the importance of hearing from God (“if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit”).
Read MoreThere are essentially two petitions in this section: 1) that God would hear him (“be not deaf to me”; “Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy); 2) that God would not be silent to him (“if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit”). We can understand how important these two are in our communion with God.
Read MoreCan you identify with David’s words and sentiment in this prayer? Maybe some of you do. You find yourself in dire need, or you sense an impending crisis. You are brought low in humility, painful aware of your frailty and vulnerability, You look up to heaven and stretch out your arms and cry out to God for help. Or you may feel distant from David and what he might be going through. Your life seems to be going smoothly without much trouble, both at the present moment and on the horizon. You can vaguely remember the time when things were hard, but you are glad that it feels like a distant past. So, you are tempted to gloss over this prayer, feeling let down that it is one of those days when your devotional reading doesn’t seem relevant to you.
Read MoreHaving sought God’s face/presence, David now prays for God’s guidance. As we mentioned before, the order is important. To seek anything, even good and excellent things, apart from God can quickly lead us down the path of idolatry and destruction. As God’s image-bearers, we are made to worship God. When we are not grounded in proper worship of God, we are prone to worship anything and everything in lieu of God because we are made to worship. To worship anything other than God is to be enslaved by it. Only God is great enough to make us truly free when we worship Him. And when we worship God in spirit and truth, we can enjoy all things as they are meant to be enjoyed as God’s gracious gifts.
Read MoreBecause David could not sense God’s presence, he desperately prayed, “Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!” Then, he said, “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.” This is a touching statement, but many are puzzled by it. Seeing that this is a Psalm of David, we cannot help but wonder about the historical veracity of this statement. Was he ever forsaken by his parents? What we read in the Bible is that “David departed from [Gath in Philistia] and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him” (1 Sam. 22:1).
Read MoreYesterday, we saw how David’s petitions in vv. 9-10 showed how much he valued God’s presence. He cried out to God in desperation because, for some reason, he could not feel the gaze of God looking down on him. He felt that God had hidden His face from him. He feared that God had turned away from him in anger. Oh, how urgently and earnestly he sought God’s face!
Read MoreDavid sought God’s face at the invitation of God (v. 8). God commanded him to seek His face because it was good to do so. In vv. 9-10, David affirmed this truth by showing in his pleas how terrible it is to be cast out of God’s presence.
Read MoreBefore David offers specific petitions, he asks the Lord to hear him and answer what he is about to ask of Him (v. 7). This is the mother of all prayers, isn’t it? It is like the goose that lays golden eggs, so to speak, and all other petitions are like the golden eggs. If we have the assurance that God hears our prayers, does it matter what kind of trouble comes at us and how big they are? All we have to do is bring our petitions to Him, who is greater than all our problems. And in the process of praying and having our petitions heard, we grow strong in our faith in God. The greater the problem, the more our faith grows. What a great blessing the gift of prayer is! It is indeed a gift that keeps on giving.
Read MoreDavid confesses that the sole desire of his heart is to dwell in the house of the Lord. That he desires to dwell in the house of the Lord “all the days of my life” is already implied in the word, dwell. But he mentions it nonetheless lest anyone should miss the point. What he desires is not just occasional interactions with the Lord whenever he needs something from Him. He desires the Lord for Him. Why would he want to dwell in His house all the days of his life?
Read MoreHere, David speaks of the sole object of his desire. He claims that this has been true of his life (“One thing have I asked of the Lord”) and will continue to be (“that will I seek after”). How singular and intense is this desire of his? Think of the situations he has in mind: “When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes…” (v. 2); “though an army encamp against me…, war arise against me…” (v. 3). Rather than victory over his enemies marching against him, rather than rescue from their vicious attacks, David will seek after and ask of the Lord one thing. What is it? That he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.
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