November 1 was the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Around the world, Christians gathered to worship, but also to pray for believers in places where Christians face persecution and discrimination for their faith. They prayed for strength in Christ and deliverance from opposition by God’s power.
Discrimination and persecution has been one of the Devil’s tolls in the box for millennia. Even David faced opposition and persecution during his life, such as when he was fleeing King Saul’s attempts to put him to death (1 Sam 23). In Psalm 54, David cried out to God in prayer and praise for God’s power in the face of opposition. This psalm includes a prayer for vindication, an affirmation of faith, and praise for deliverance. It reminds us that though we and other believers may face opposition in life, God will deliver.
Psalm 54 begins with David asking God to “save [him] by your name, and vindicate me by your might” (v.1). To save by God’s name means to save by God’s presence, and one key attribute of God is his might. David is asking, in other words, that the powerful presence of God would rescue him. He believed that God could rescue him, no matter the opposition, and so spoke hoping that God would hear and answer (v.2).
In the latter part of 1 Samuel, King Saul is constantly trying to kill David, who is a rival to his throne. The title of Psalm 54 tells us that this psalm was written when the Ziphites betrayed David’s presence to Saul (1 Samuel 23:15).
David was being attacked by godless men who were violent in intent. Strangers (or possibly insolent men) had betrayed David, and the ruthless henchmen of Saul sought David out. They did this because they did “not set God before themselves” (v.3). They lived foolishly (Psalm 53), as if God was not present, so felt they could act like they wanted.
Despite this opposition, David did not waver from his trust in God. David was confident, knowing that God was with him. He could declare “behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life” (v.4)
Deliverance for David was still to come. The vindication David sought was not a present reality for him. In the meantime, David could rely on God’s power to sustain him and uphold him while he waited for the day of deliverance.
Because of this, David could give praise for the deliverance he knew would come. David understood that God would cause the ruthlessness and violence of his enemies to bounce back on themselves. “He will return the evil to my enemies, in your faithfulness put an end to them” (v.5). This is not in a mechanical sense like a boomerang, but that God typically uses the ordering of Creation to cause people to reap what they sow.
David’s confidence was expressed in a vow to make a “freewill offering” to God, as an expression of his thanks for the goodness of God’s name (v.6). God is not only mighty, but good, and so not just to be reverently feared but also to be thanked.
This goodness is such that even though David was still in the middle of great opposition, and would remain so for years yet, he could confidently proclaim that God “has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies” (v.7).
In a world of instant fixes, waiting for deliverance is hard. We want the struggle over now. But sometimes God requires us to walk through opposition for a season because he wants us to grow in our reliance on him.
One of the ways we grow in reliance on God is in trusting he will deliver us. That does not stop us from taking practical steps; after all, David continued to flee Saul’s presence for years. But it does mean that we grow in our ability to confess with faith that God is our helper and upholds our lives.
For David, God’s power to deliver was experienced through preserving his life even as Saul and his henchmen sought to end it. For Jesus, God’s power to deliver was experienced through being raised from the dead, vindicating his sinless sacrifice for our sins. That same great might is now available to us as believers; the same might which raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20).
Psalm 54 reminds us that God will deliver us, and every believer, from opposition. It might not happen in this life, but it will happen. We will be delivered by God’s power to his eternal kingdom, where every tear is wiped away, where every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The evil of death, and its henchmen will one day be defeated entirely when we, like Jesus has been, are raised from the dead to eternal life.
This is so certain we can praise God for a deliverance that is already ours. God will deliver.