Hello friends. We are continuing right along through the book of Psalms this year in our Bible study each Wednesday. If you have not done so, please take a few moments to pray and ask Holy Spirit to teach you what He wants you to know about today's passage. Read through chapter 17 and reflect on what Holy Spirit is showing you. There are 15 verses and we will look at those together.
This particular psalm is a prayer of David. We can tell from these first handful of psalms that David enjoys communicating with God. He often sings praises to God, our Creator but He also runs to Him as a safe refuge in time of trouble. David is also a prayer warrior. He knows how to get God's attention and get the answer He needs to His prayer. Before battles, David would ask, "Should I go up to the battle?" God would tell him yes, or no, and David would follow God's command. That is why David was so successful because he allowed God to use him to bring about victory over the enemy and not just on a physical battlefield. Let's pause for a moment to reflect on what we do in times of hardship and despair? Do we grumble and complain and get calloused toward God? Do we run to Him in prayer knowing He has all the answers we will ever need in life? What is your response when push comes to shove and you feel your back is against the wall?
Let's turn our attention now to the seventeenth psalm. This is David's plea to God for protection.
Verse 1
David starts out asking God to listen to him. He is crying out. He is not being deceitful; instead he is proclaiming his innocence. He is struggling and he needs God to move on his behalf. Are you there? Can you relate? What are you facing right now and you just need God to bow down His Holy ear and listen to your heart's cry?
Verse 2
David wants to be sentenced in God's presence because He alone can vindicate David. Why? Because God sees what is right. Sometimes we are so broken and injured from the lies of satan and it is so important that we run to the Righteous Judge and allow Him to speak our pardon! We are slaves no longer. We have freedom and liberty in the presence of God. 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. What do you need God to vindicate you in? He can do it! He wants to do it!
Verse 3
David says to God, "You have proved my heart, visited me in the night, tried me and found me innocent. So I am determined not to let my mouth sin." What an incredible statement! Psalm 66:10 For Thou, O God, hast proved us: Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. The hell and torment we are going through today, friends, is the fire that is refining us. We cannot get refined without the fire. Let's open our hearts and ask for visitation from God in the night, in the dark, in the hard times, and ask Him to find us innocent.
Verse 4
Because of God's Word, His plan, His promises, David declares this is the reason he has not danced with the devil. He is not walking hand in hand with the enemy into the flames of hell. God's wonderful Word will keep us from the paths of the destroyer. Are you reading His Word? Are you living it out? Do you believe every Word of God? Has His wisdom filled your mind so you make better choices?
Verse 5
Look at this request. David wants God to hold up his goings in God's paths so that his footsteps would not slip. He does not want to mess up, to slip into sin, or to go off course. He is asking God to help him walk the straight and narrow. I just see the hand of God on David, helping him to walk steady the path in front of him. God does the same thing for you and me.
Verse 6
Why is David going to God with these requests? In David's words, "For You will hear me, O God." That's confidence. God is not too busy to listen to our heart's cry. He is not too busy to take time to sit with us and hear what we have to say. Have you called on God? Do you believe He will hear you? Psalm 86:7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee: for Thou wilt answer me. If we know that in our trouble we can call upon Him, and He WILL answer us, then we should pray and talk to Him. Psalm 116:2 Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. Will you declare what David says here? I will call upon God as long as I live because He hears me and listens to me and makes a way for me!
Verse 7
David tells God, Show Your marvelous loving kindness as You deliver them with Your right hand, those who put their trust in You, to save them from those who rise up against them. It is in God's loving mercy that He stretches His hand out toward us and delivers us from the enemy. His kindness and goodness is so marvelous that it surrounds us and protects us from those who want to hurt us and destroy us. Have you seen God's mercy show up like that in your life?
Verse 8
The apple of the eye is to say to God, "Lord allow me to be seen as precious in your sight." He asks to be hid beneath the shadow of His wings. Do you know God wants to do that for us? He does see us as precious. Matthew 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Friends we matter to God. He loves us and He wants to shield us beneath His wings.
Verse 9
Have you ever felt surrounded with worry and guilt and shame? Have you felt like the world was against you? David says in this verse that He wants God to be a fence about Him to protect him from those who surround him and want to harm him. We can run to our Father and He will protect us.
Verse 10
They are proud. God hates pride! It is a sin. It is what caused satan to rebel against God. Psalm 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. They are not running to God because they do not trust Him. They do not even think about God. They think about themselves. 1 Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. Do you remember that pride is listed in the New Testament as something that defiles the person? Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Verses 11-12
David feels like his enemies are surrounding him, caught up with him, and desire to throw him to the ground. Like a lion, ready to pounce on the prey, we often feel like the enemy is ready to attack us. Jumping out of the hidden places, it attacks at just the right moment. We have felt that before if we are serving God. The enemy does not want us to live our faith out loud. When we serve God and surrender to His will for our lives, we will be fought by the enemy but the good news is he is no match for God. 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Verses 13-14
David asks God to confront the enemy and deliver his soul with God's powerful sword. He will deliver us when we ask. David says the men in this world are full of wickedness. They pass down the hidden treasures to their children but they have no hope of eternal life in God. We know we have hope of eternal life. If this life is all there is then we would have no hope. 1 Corinthians 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
Verse 15
David ends this prayer with a bold statement. He said, "As for me, I will look into the face of Your righteousness. I will be satisfied, when I wake up, with Your likeness." David was not going to be content with riches on the earth. He was not going to be happy with just knowing God in this life alone. He is saying when He wakes up in heaven after sleeping in death, He will behold the face of God and see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. Psalms 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
David used prayer as a means to tell God what he wanted. He explained his circumstances, described his enemy and what they were doing to him, and then requested God's help and deliverance. In the end, David holds to hope that after all of this suffering and pain in this life, He will one day wake up in heaven to see the face of God, his Redeemer. What a beautiful prayer. I hope that you will spend some time with your Heavenly Father today to let Him know what you are facing. Tell Him all about it and then get your hopes up again. God is in control and He loves each one of His children. He will hear and answer our prayers.
God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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