#20. May 18, 2015
2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.
Psalm 55:22
22 Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
The book of Psalms is a book of prayer and praise songs to God. Ps. 55 is a prayer of petition that is set to music and according to the title it is a Psalm of David. It is a very personal prayer that many of us identify with because it is about betrayal of a friend (v. 12-14). This is a serious situation because now David’s life is at risk, threatened by someone who at one time held him in high regard. Many have connected David’s suffering with the suffering of Christ when betrayed by Judas. By the spirit David is in some cases, identified with Christ in what are called the “Messianic Psalms”; Ps. 55 is not included in that list but a follower and former friend betrayed Jesus.
Certainly, there is nothing more painful than to have a friend turn on you with murder in mind and in this case a fellow believer making it most egregious. David wants to escape the reality of what is taking place, v. 6 “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest”. When preaching at the jail the song “I’ll fly away” was the most requested song by the inmates. We identify with it as well when overwhelmed and seem stuck in a bad situation; we simply want to fly away like a dove. Thank God we can do just that!
David describes the subtle ways of a former friend. He is an enemy we also face at times. David gives us a discription of Satan’s tactics: v. 20-21 “my companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant. His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords”. From such deception David and us fly away to Jesus: v22, “cast your cares upon the Lord and he will sustain you”: God’s promise in difficult times, He sustains us! David goes on: “he will never let the righteous fall” This is a general truth that applies to the righteous. Was David’s prayer about Absalom and Ahithophel’s betrayal? (2 Samuel 15:11-13) God sustained him, and physically restored his throne and kingdom. But we have to come to grips with the fact that righteous and innocent people do suffer and many have met death, many millions of innocent Christian women, children, and men even on this day. Even so, God’s promise is true for them as well; those who trust in God will not experience the spiritual death of the wicked but live forever! Praise is to God.
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