Psalm 55 – O God, Listen to My Prayer

Yesterday I was thinking about what Psalm to post for today. I went to Biblegateway.com to read a few before deciding. It was already open in a tab of my browser because I had used it to copy and paste the Isaiah 55 passage that I included in my Saturday post. In fact, it was still on the page with Isaiah 55. I decided to take a look at Psalm 55 as an option for today and was pleasantly surprised by how well it fit with my Saturday post on prayer.

This Psalm was written by David as he was fleeing from his friend Jonathan who had betrayed him. He calls upon God to listen to his prayer and to answer him. He is struggling with one of the worst times of his life because it is not just his enemies he must seek protection from but his best friend. In verse 16, David states that God saves him, God answers his prayers. And I love verse 18 as it foretells of the sacrifice of Christ to ransom His people from the battle waged against us by our worst enemy, the devil. He is the perfect ransom. God, who knows the hearts of all people, will sustain the righteous and humble who trust in Him, but will bring down the wicked and arrogant who give Him no thought.

Psalm 55

    For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.

 ¹ Listen to my prayer, O God,
   do not ignore my plea;
 ² hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
 ³ at the voice of the enemy,
   at the stares of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering upon me
   and revile me in their anger.

 ⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
   the terrors of death assail me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
   horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest—
⁷ I would flee far away
   and stay in the desert;
                         Selah

⁸ I would hurry to my place of shelter,
   far from the tempest and storm.”

 ⁹ Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech,
   for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
   malice and abuse are within it.
¹¹ Destructive forces are at work in the city;
   threats and lies never leave its streets.

 ¹² If an enemy were insulting me,
   I could endure it;
if a foe were raising himself against me,
   I could hide from him.
¹³ But it is you, a man like myself,
   my companion, my close friend,
¹⁴ with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
   as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

 ¹⁵ Let death take my enemies by surprise;
   let them go down alive to the grave,
   for evil finds lodging among them.

 ¹⁶ But I call to God,
   and the LORD saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
   I cry out in distress,
   and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He ransoms me unharmed
   from the battle waged against me,
   even though many oppose me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned forever,
   will hear them and afflict them—
                         Selah

men who never change their ways
   and have no fear of God.

 ²⁰ My companion attacks his friends;
   he violates his covenant.
²¹ His speech is smooth as butter,
   yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
   yet they are drawn swords.

 ²² Cast your cares on the LORD
   and he will sustain you;
   he will never let the righteous fall.
²³ But you, O God, will bring down the wicked
   into the pit of corruption;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
   will not live out half their days.

   But as for me, I trust in you.