Psalm 64 – A Prayer for Protection

To decide which Psalm to post today, I asked my son to pick a number between 1 and 150. He picked 64. I don’t think he knows a single Psalm by number so this was truly a random choice.

I was not surprised, however, to find how perfectly it fit with my week. This Psalm voices a complaint about those who use words to injure, and is a cry to God to protect the Psalmist from them. Often it is the evil one himself who uses words and ideas to injure us, and we must rely on God to deliverance. I love this Psalm because the focus of the Psalmist is not on vengeance, but on protection. The solution to the problem of those who plot and lie, devising a plan against us, is to trust that God will “shoot them with his arrows” because He knows exactly where, how, and when to strike. And the result of trusting in God to intervene is that all “will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done.”

Psalm 64

  For the director of music. A psalm of David.

 ¹ Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint;
   protect my life from the threat of the enemy.

 ² Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,
   from the plots of evildoers.
³ They sharpen their tongues like swords
   and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.
⁴ They shoot from ambush at the innocent;
   they shoot suddenly, without fear.

 ⁵ They encourage each other in evil plans,
   they talk about hiding their snares;
   they say, “Who will see it?”
⁶ They plot injustice and say,
   “We have devised a perfect plan!”
   Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.

 ⁷ But God will shoot them with his arrows;
   they will suddenly be struck down.
⁸ He will turn their own tongues against them
   and bring them to ruin;
   all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
⁹ All people will fear;
   they will proclaim the works of God
   and ponder what he has done.

 ¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice in the LORD
   and take refuge in him;
   all the upright in heart will glory in him!

Psalm 64 (NIV).