Psalms 64:1

Psalms 64:1-2 says, “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity.”

One thing is certain in this life, if you set out to follow in the footsteps of Jesus you will have enemies. Of course Jesus said to love your enemies. But that does not mean you have to compromise when it comes to what is true and what is right.

In talking about those who are the enemies of God’s children Psalms 64:2 calls them, “workers of iniquity.” This phrase helps us to understand why they are our enemies in the first place. The word iniquity is a way of saying wickedness or sin. And a worker refers to doing, to action. They are your enemies becuase they are not seeking to accomplish the will and the work of God in what they do. But they are living for themselves and their own selfish desires.

Whenever two people come together with opposing wills there is great conflict especially if one person is seeking to do the will of God and the other person is a worker of iniquity.

Sometimes our enemies are people with great power over us, sometimes it is co workers or neighbors and sometimes it is even our own family. Regardless of who your enemies are, you are going to need wisdom from God. You are going to need wisdom from God so that you are not deceived and manipulated by them, wisdom from God so that you understand the enemy’s councils and how to avoid falling into their traps that they will lay for you.

Proverbs 22:3, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.”

You will certainly save yourself a lot of sorrows in life if you acquire wisdom from God on how to treat those who are your enemies. Perhaps even more importantly than being spared suffering is that you will protect your gospel work from being hindered and damaged. Psalms 64 is going to go into some detail about what those who oppose the gospel will do and also about what God will do to the enemies of His children.

Psalms 64:3 says, “Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words.”

All men have a voice, a sphere of influence. There is a certain power to the tongue. And you can be certain that your enemies understand this and will use their power of speech against you.

This verse says that your enemies will use, “bitter words.” Sometimes those that hate you will use cruel words against you. They do this for many reasons. They want to hurt you by what they say. They want to tear you down and damage your faith. And sometimes even their goal is to try and make you angry so that they can point a finger at you and accuse you. Such people are just like the devil, who is the accuser of the brethren.

Psalms 64:4, “That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.” In other words they will try to do and say things without you knowing. They will talk about you behind your back. They will lie and slander. And they will try to catch you by surprise with their lies. They what they do in secret because they know what they are doing and plotting to do is evil.

Psalms 64:5-6 says, “They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search. Both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.”

Yes they will try to trap you with your own words, to twist what you say even. These are people that put mental effort and thought and time into planning out what they are going to do and what they are going to say so that they can trap you with their words or trap you with your own words.

Psalms 64:7-8, “But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.”

Notice what God says will happen to people like this. Judgment will fall suddenly upon them. God is the judge. He hates sin. He is angry with the wicked every day. You never know when God is going to decide to judge someone for their wickedness. It could be 10 years from now. But then again it could be today. There is a saying, what goes around comes around. And the Bible says what ye sow that shall ye also reap. The evil plans of men will always backfire on themselves because God is in control.

Psalms 64:9-10, “And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of His doing. The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.”

One big reason that God does judge is because His judgment on the wicked will result in those around who see it turning to Him. God is not going to let an evil person just continue and continue in sin and go about ruining and influencing other people’s lives for evil. God is in the business of saving souls. Even those who oppose God will eventually be used in some kind of way by God Himself to help influence others to turn to Jesus. At the very least they will be used as an example of judgment.

Psalms 65:1-2 says, “To the chief musician, A Psalm and song of David. Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Sion: and unto Thee shall the vow be performed. O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.”

Several important things are told to use in these two verses. The first is found in the phrase, “Unto Thee shall the vow be performed.” A vow is an oath or promise made, a commitment.

Concerning swearing and oaths Jesus said in Matthew 5:33-37, “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”

There is however one vow that should be made by every human being and that is the vow made at salvation. When a person repents of their sins and turns to Jesus for forgiveness that person is in effect giving up their life and their own will to follow God’s will. That person is vowing to serve the LORD. This is the vow that every person should make. A Christian should never forget the vow they made at salvation.

A person only comes to Jesus when they truly desire to do what is right and truly desire to believe the truth. Because Jesus gave so much, infact He gave all including his life, it only makes sense for sinners such as us to vow such a vow to the LORD. A person who truly believes in Jesus and accepts Christ into their heart is in effect vowing a vow saying, ‘I give up my own will to follows your Lord. I no longer will live for myself but will seek righteousness.”

A Christian should never forget what Christ has done for them on the cross. But a Christian should also never forget the vow they made a salvation, the vow to serve the Lord. God keeps His promises and we should keep ours too.

Now verse 2 of Psalms 65 reminds us of two very important truths. “O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.”

The first truth is that God hears prayer. Jesus said in Luke 11:9-13, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

These verses in the Gospel of Luke are a very important passage on prayer. Notice that in the context of these verses Jesus is specifically talking about praying to receive the Holy Spirit. A person receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. This is the first and most important prayer to pray, the sinners prayer of salvation.

Of course these words of Jesus also teach us that anyone can be saved. After all Jesus said, “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” For God so loved the world. Yes Jesus died for all the world not just some of it. Any one can be saved. All it takes is belief in the name of Jesus Christ, all it takes is a simple prayer to Jesus for forgiveness of your sins.

Sin separates man from God. If you want God to hear your prayers then your first prayer to God should be to ask Jesus into your heart. Psalms 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”

“O Thou that hearest prayer.” God is all powerful. God is all knowing. God is everywhere. Jeremiah 23:24, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Saith the LORD.” So yes of course God hears prayers. It makes sense to think that if God hears a sinner’s prayer to be saved from their sins and answers that prayer He certainly will hear all your other prayers and answer them too. Of all the things that you could possibly ask God to do for you which thing is the most impossible, the most difficult? Why that would be to be saved from your sins? God always answers this prayer. He certainly can answer all your other prayers.

There is no reason for a person to go through life being doubtful or fearful or wondering if God has heard their prayers or not. All it takes is knowing a few words from the Bible and you will know with full assurance and comfort that God hears your prayers and answers them. That is what it says here in Psalms 65:2, “O Thou that hearest prayer.”

Psalms 65:2, “O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.” The second important truth that we learn in this verse is in the phrase, “unto Thee shall all flesh come.” Everyone is headed down a path in life. The truth is we are all headed down the same path in life. There is an inevitable, ineluctable destiny towards which all humans are headed. That destiny is much more than just the day of our death but it is the day in which we shall stand before God. Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

One of the greatest foes of mankind is death. One of the greatest fears of man is death. “unto Thee shall all flesh come.” Death is a terrible thing. Death is a painful. Death is also a fearful thing. But for the Christian knowing that our final destiny is to come unto Jesus should be a great comfort. Yes you will die, it may even be a very painful death but after death you will be with Jesus.

For a lost person however the truth that after death they must face the Almighty, Holy God is a terrible, fearful prospect. Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” To stand before God without the righteousness of Christ, to stand before God still vile and filthy and lost in your sins; why it would be better to have never been born than to die and to be cast into hell forever.

For the child of God though this verse is a great truth, “unto Thee shall all flesh come.” This life is not always certain. It can be a long and troublesome road. What a great comfort and encouragement it is to know that no matter where the road of this life takes you, the road ends in the arms of Jesus.

This is why if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, today is the day of salvation. Instead of being a worker of iniquity you can become a worker of righteousness. When the judgment of God comes it comes suddenly. Repent of your sins today and trust in Jesus and you too can find great comfort in the truth that unto God shall all flesh come.

$Description: C:\BibleGemsDoc\Image37.gif$

___________________________________________________