Psalms 55:1

The Bible says in Psalms 55:1-3, “Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.[2] Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.[3] Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.” David is saying that he desperately needs an answer to prayer. David is also showing a great determination to come to God in prayer and to find an answer from God. David knows that God can do anything, and that God answers prayer. No matter what your trouble is, if you do what David did and continue to seek the Lord earnestly, you will find help in time of need. Of course, we are reminded of this all through the Bible. It says in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” David needed help because he was surrounded by those who hated him, who oppressed him, and who spoke against him.

The Bible says in Psalms 55:4-8, “My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.[5] Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.[6] And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.[7] Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.[8] I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.” David was suffering a lot from what he was facing. He used words like pain, terrors, fear, trembling, and horror. You have probably heard that when faced with conflict, people tend to do one of two things: fight or flight. David was definitely considering flight. He just wanted the craziness to end. He said in verses six, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” But there is a third option in addition to fight or flight: ask God to fight for you. That is what David did in prayer and it worked. Prayer changes things. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay.

The Bible says in Psalms 55:9-11, “Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.[10] Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.[11] Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.” In verse nine David expresses the real problem with the wicked. It is “their tongues.” They spread violence and strife by what they say. They keep the dialogue of hatred going. They play on people’s worse fears. What can we do about that? We can pray to the Lord and ask Him to change things. God can “divide their tongues.” In other words, the Almighty God can do things to make their message fail. The fake news, the mainstream media, the lying socialists, the false teachers can be defeated by God alone. If God does not defeat them, then this is what we will have: violence, strife, mischief, sorrow, wickedness, deceit, and guile. I would say that we need the Lord’s help as badly as David did.

The Bible says in Psalms 55:12-14, “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:[13] But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.[14] We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” Your greatest attacks and sorrows will probably come from those who should be united with you. Those who call themselves Christians might be the ones who do you the most harm. This can happen on Christian campuses because the administrators have a lot of power over your life when you are a student. If they become carnal, and are not led by the Spirit, they just might do you evil. We see the same thing in our nation. We are supposed to be fellow-citizens all working and hoping for the best for our country. And yet it is the enemies on the inside of our nation who can seem to cause us such trouble and sorrow. Jesus said, “A nation divided against itself cannot stand.”

The Bible says in Psalms 55:15, “Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.” Death and hell are mentioned in this verse. God does end some people’s lives prematurely due to sin. This is especially true concerning believers. If you are a believer in Jesus, but have turned back from walking with Him, why should He leave you here on the earth? God certainly is the author of life and death. God decides who lives, how long we live, and when we die. You may not choose to turn to Christ and start following Him, but God may take away your opportunity to do so by ending your life. Death symbolizes eternal death, which is suffering in hell forever. The wicked die just like the believers. We each have our appointed time on the earth. But there will come a time when God will end the lives of vast numbers of unbelievers all at once. It is called the Second Coming of Christ. That is one reason that we should feel compassion for all those who do not know God. If they do not repent and turn to Jesus, they will be lost forever.

The Bible says in Psalms 55:16-17, “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.[17] Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” Verse sixteen is a very clear declaration of how to be saved. Since salvation is entirely of the Lord Jesus, we do not do anything to be saved except to call upon His name. It is not by good works, and it is not by going to church or baptism or other religious observance, and it is not by how you treat others. To be saved you simply call upon the name of the Lord with repentance from a sincere heart. As it says in Romans 10:13, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The name of the Lord is Jesus. If you bow before Jesus, confess your sins, and ask Him to save your soul, you will be saved and you will dwell in heaven forever.

Of course, as we live this life in a world where woe and sorrows and difficulty can easily come against us, we need to be saved or rescued from those things too. The life of faith is a daily fight. We need to pray daily about everything that is going on in our lives because we need the Lord’s help daily. David said in verse seventeen, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud.”

The Bible says in Psalms 55:18, “He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.” This verse and the rest of the verses in this chapter show the result of praying many times every day: answer to prayer and victory. God answers prayer that is given in the name of Jesus. Prayer changes things. Because David prayed, instead of war he had “peace.” Because David prayed, God touched the hearts of others to join with David: “for there were many with me.” God uses people sometimes to accomplish His will. And the Spirit of God can touch peoples’ hearts to join with you and to help you.

The Bible says in Psalms 55:19, “God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.” God always hears our prayers. And the wicked are always in a place of trouble. Because they are not right with Jesus, they never know when the wrath of God shall fall upon them. Unless they repent, eventually God shall “afflict them.” God is the eternally existent One. God “abideth of old.” Man lives a few short years on the earth. God is always there. God sees, and God knows. And God moves and acts when He decides that it is time. God is holy and just, and He is always true to Himself. He will judge at the time of His choosing. The unbelievers should fear the judgment that awaits them, and repent and turn to Jesus while there is time.

But the last part of verse nineteen tells us, “Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.” What kind of “changes” do people need? They need to change from going their own way to going God’s way. They need to change from a path of sin to a path of doing the right thing. They need to change from not believing in Jesus to trusting in Christ as their Savior and Master. In other words, they need to repent. To repent means to change their mind about all these things. Those who do not repent “fear not God.” They do not respect God, they do not honor God, they do not trust in Christ; and they do not fear God and His judgment that will eventually come upon them.

The Bible says in Psalms 55:20-21, “He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant.[21] The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.” These verses continue to describe the wicked. They are trouble-makers. They start trouble even when others would like to “be at peace.” They are covenant-breakers because their word means nothing. When they speak, their purpose is to deceive and beguile. They hide their real motives: “war” and “drawn swords.” That is why their words are “smoother than butter.” As Jesus said, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The Bible says in Psalms 55:22-23, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.[23] But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.” These two verses show the difference in the destiny of a believer compared to an unbeliever. A believer has the Lord Jesus to rely on. That it why it says, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee.” It is a great advantage to cast your burdens on the Lord instead of carrying them yourself. We are not under law, but under grace. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The last phrase in verse twenty-two touches a bit on the subject of eternal security. It says that God “shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” Once you accept Christ as your Savior. you can never be moved from that standing in Christ whereby God views you as one of His children who is going to live in heaven forever. Once you accept Christ as Savior, you can never be moved from the position of being forgiven. You will not be condemned. You will not be damned in hell. But how different is the destiny of the wicked unbelievers. It says in verse twenty-three that God “shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction.” What “pit” is that? It is the bottomless pit that shall be cast into the lake of fire forever. Concerning their life on this earth, it says “bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.” In other words, they that live by the sword shall die by the sword. There are many people who die before their time because of sin and wickedness. Serve the Lord Jesus and you will live the life that God chooses for you. Nothing will keep you from your destiny.

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