God, Arise And Come To Your Servant’s Aid (Psalm 17)
There are times in our lives when we look around and realize that things are not going the way that we think they should. In fact, there are times when wicked people are trampling all over us. I am sure that you can think of times when this has been the case with you. And it is very likely that it will happen again. And you need to be prepared to deal with that situation when it comes.
I repeatedly say to you that I love the Psalms. And this one exhibits plainly the reason that I say that over and over. David is going through a real life difficulty and we get to see how he handled that situation. We get to see how he applied the nature and character of God to his situation. And we read this in the Book of Psalms so that we can put this into practice in our own life.
God, Hear My Cry (Psalm 17:1-2)
The psalm begins differently than I’ve ever begun a prayer. I know that. And it wasn’t until thinking deeply about this psalm that I realized this was something that I could and should do. I do not believe we think deeply enough about suffering, about being persecuted, about how we should respond when we are wronged. And so, this seems very out of place. And I am including myself in this discussion. As David often does, he is pleading with the Lord to hear his prayer. But the beginning of this psalm is a cry for the Lord to “hear a just cause” (Psalm 17:1).
I want to stop and ponder what this means. This is not simply a person saying, “God, please listen!”. This is a claim that some sort of injustice is being done. God needs to do something about what is happening in this moment. David is being wronged, or is about to be wronged and he is pleading with the Lord to hear him in this matter.
And the second line of the psalm declares boldly that he is in the right. He is pleading his own righteousness in this case as a reason for the Lord to answer his prayer. “Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!” (Psalm 17:1 ESV)
David is being wronged deeply and he desires that God would come and judge his case. Not only that, but he is pleading his own righteousness in this prayer as a reason for God to listen.
This will be a theme throughout the text. As Southern Baptists we are not quite accustomed to thinking in these terms. We must understand that God speaks to us in His Word repeatedly in this manner.
Notice what James writes about confession of sin and healing.
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16 ESV)
There is something special about the prayer of the righteous person. There is great power in it. Why would there be great power in the prayer of the righteous person? Well, it is because God hears the prayers of the righteous person.
You might think that’s a really weird thing to say. It might seem strange to you that the way you live might affect your prayers, but we find this idea elsewhere as well.
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12 ESV)
And we also read the Psalmist saying the same thing in Psalm 34:15.
“The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.” (Psalm 34:15 ESV)
And to make my case a bit stronger here I want you to note what Peter says to husbands who do not treat their wives well.
“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Peter 3:7 ESV)
So, a husband who is abusive or mean to his wife will have their prayers hindered because of their actions toward his wife.
And we also find that the prayers of the person in rebellion against the Lord “is an abomination” to God.
“If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” (Proverbs 28:9 ESV)
That seems like incredibly harsh language. But it is a concept that we need to understand as we go to God in prayer.
Now, there are two kinds of righteousness that we should be thinking through within this context. One is our standing with the Lord, that is our salvation. Are we one who has trusted in Christ? Has God made us pure and righteous through the finished work of Christ?
We were born sinners in rebellion against God. And it is only because God the Son came to Earth, lived a perfect life on our behalf, and died for our sins that we can be called God’s children. Those who have trusted in Christ have been given His righteousness and had their sins paid for. And now, we are counted righteous in Christ. But we are also changed people.
We went through the Book of 1 John when earlier this year. I loved and enjoyed that immensely. And one of the things that we see over and over in 1 John is that God’s grace changes not only our standing but our lives as well. Christians grow in holiness. This holiness is not perfect. And we will not be completely holy before we are with the Lord, but we will be a people who are to some extent righteous.
Both are important when discussing this text. Both our standing with God and the righteousness of our lives are important in this regard. Sin is a heinous offense against God. And if we want God to hear our prayers then we need to be people who are His and striving for holiness.
I want to stress that this text does not take away our need for the Savior or disregard salvation by grace alone through faith alone by the work of Christ alone in any way. There is only one way for us to have fellowship with God and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. But the Scriptures are also filled with commands to follow the Lord. And those who are seeking after the Lord, growing in holiness, are repeatedly treated differently in the Scriptures than those who are not.
All of this leads us to understand that we need to be people who care about holiness. We will not be perfect in this lifetime. That is abundantly obvious to us. But we need to be people who want to please and honor the Lord with our lives. That is the sort of people that Christians are. The work of salvation in our lives leads us to a desire to do God’s will.
God, Hear My Cry, Because I’ve Walked In Your Ways (Psalm 17:3-5)
David goes to the Lord confident that God will say that he is following God’s ways (Psalm 17:3). He is assured that God, who knows everything, has looked within his heart intently and found that his life is characterized by righteousness. I do not believe that David thought that he was completely righteous. But I do believe that David had set himself apart for the Lord and the Lord saw that David was striving after him.
I used the illustration of the video camera and camera a few times during our journey through the Book of 1 John. But it is helpful to restate today.
If I were working on the roof of my house and hit my finger with the hammer and let out a horrible cussword or string of cusswords and you caught that moment then you might assume that I am not a believer. But if you followed me around for the entire day with a video camera, then I would hope that what you saw was a life devoted to the Lord and that one moment was different from the rest of my life.
I don’t believe that David thinks that he is perfect. I do believe that David knows that he is living his life devoted to the Lord and his sin is not characteristic of his whole life. His life is characterized by holiness.
This seems strange to say doesn’t it?
We have gone through situation sin our own lives in which we saw that our cause was righteous and that the person on the other side was incredibly wicked or had done something incredibly wicked to us. But I never once thought to plead my own righteousness and their wickedness as the reason that God should answer my prayer. But I should have. And that is what we see in this text.
Was David perfect? No. Was he following God’s Law perfectly? No, he was not. But he knew the Lord was with him and that he was following the Lord. He knew the Lord was pleased with him. He also knew that this was not the case in those that were persecuting him.
It is good and right for you to plead with the Lord on your behalf that He should hear your cry because you are His and you are living devoted to Him, especially if your problem is that the wicked are causing you trouble. But you’d better be living devoted to the Lord when you do so otherwise you are lying to Him.
God, I Am Sure That You Will Hear And Defend Me (Psalm 17:6-12)
There is a dramatic change in tone from this point on. Starting at verse 6 there is an incredible trust that the Lord will hear and answer his prayer.
“I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words.” (Psalm 17:6 ESV)
David has gone from a place of pleading to complete trust that the Lord will hear and defend him. And he asks God to reveal his steadfast love in his rescue (Psalm 17:7).
Then David proclaimed the thing that gives him so much confidence in this moment. He is loved by God.
“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings,
from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.”
(Psalm 17:8-9 ESV)
The apple of the eye is the pupil. It is the very wonderful, beautiful, and special part of the eye. In Hebrew it is literally, “the lady of the eye”. David understood that God loved him. And then asks to be hidden like the young of a mother eagle, “in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 17:8). The people who are surrounding him are evil, wicked, and seek to do him great harm. But David here understands that the Lord loves him immensely and he trusts the Lord to protect him from the wicked who seek to kill him.
David understood that God loved him. And it’s something that we, as God’s people, need to have firm within our understanding. You are special to the Lord.
These people, “close their hearts to pity”, they care nothing for those who are poor or are in harm’s way and they “speak arrogantly” (Psalm 17:10). And it gets worse. They have him surrounded and are seeking his destruction (Psalm 17:11-12). The imagery is violent. His enemy is “like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush” (Psalm 17:12 ESV). But all the while David trusts in the Lord’s love for him.
Two things seem to be growing at the same time. And for both of them to grow side by side just does not make sense at first. David’s confidence in the Lord is growing even as the danger he is in seems worse and worse.
His danger is real, it is overwhelming, and it is imminent. And if God does nothing he will be destroyed. So, why does David feel safe?
He understands that God is with him and for him and that he is precious to God.
We are God’s adopted children. We are those for whom Christ lived and died. We are His people, the apple of His eye. Christian, you are precious to God.
Zephaniah 3:17 is about you. Read it.
“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17 ESV)
God has tremendous love for His people. He cares deeply for us. And because of this we can proclaim loudly with Paul,
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39 ESV)
And so, we face the struggles of this life knowing that God loves us and cares for us. We take on the hardships knowing that we are God’s adopted children and that He is for us.
God, Arise And Take Care Of This (Psalm 17:13-14)
In David’s mind now is the time for action and he asks for God to act in this moment. We do not know exactly what was going on, but we do know that like other psalms David has suffered enough. And he believes it is now time for God to act.
We should notice another aspect of David’s confidence in the Lord. For David, it is not a matter of whether God can act, but when He will. The moment God arises to take care of this it will all be over. God is all powerful and will eradicate this trouble as soon as He jumps in to action.
Again, this is a matter of justice for David. The deliverance that he asks for is by the sword of the Lord (Psalm 17:13). It is a call for justice and righteous judgment from people “whose portion is this life” (Psalm 17:14 ESV).
These people are seeking their fill in the things of this world and they are doing so at the expense of others, here it is David. This is interesting to consider in light of what we read last week at the end of Psalm 16. The Christian has his portion in the Lord and not the things of this world. And as you see in the text, he understands that these people are getting their fill on this world. They are getting their heart’s desire. But he also sees that God is about to bring judgment upon them and give that treasure to their children.
David called for righteous judgment in the face of extreme evil against him. He understood that those who were headed his way and had him surrounded were being made wealthy and getting their fill of treasure in this life. But he also understood that this wealth was temporary and would be given to someone else when God’s judgment fell.
This is difficult. It is difficult to look at those who are against you, see their blessing, and understand that their blessing is temporary.
Are you able to look at those who do evil to you and say with David, “They are getting all they will get, God’s judgment will fall upon them and someone else will get their wealth.”?
We are not people who look at the world and our interactions only with regard to this life. We are to see things in light of eternity. And when I view things in light of eternity, the wicked doesn’t have it as good as thing currently seem.
And, for David, there is something greater that he is looking forward to and it is something that he will receive whether he lives or dies.
God, Live Or Die, Beholding You Is My Greatest Satisfaction (Psalm 17:15)
David is different than those who have him surrounded. They have their reward in this life and they will meet God’s justice. But the thing that David most desires in this life is to see the Lord. And whether this trial ends in his living or dying he will get his heart’s great desire and that is to see the Lord.
This is how you face down hardships in this life. When beholding the Lord is your heart’s greatest desire then you can face down whatever comes your way.
Conclusion
Life is not going to be easy. There are going to be tremendous difficulties along the way. And there are going to be times when we have to work through a situation in which the wicked seem to be overtaking us. But our trust is in the Lord who loves us and cares for us so very much. And our great hope is in seeing the Lord face to face. So we trust the Lord with our lives, that He knows and will do what is best for us. And we trust that He will defend us because we are His and we follow after Him.
R. Dwain Minor