Praying the Psalms: Psalm 64

On a first read, this Psalm seemed a little irrelevant for me. I haven’t got too many enemies and none of them have a bow and arrow. However, because I needed to write something about this Psalm, I gave it another chance.

First up, I notice that David talks to God. David talks to God at all times – Spurgeon puts it nicely, ‘We shall act wisely if we make prayer to God our first and best trusted resource in every hour of need.’ Prayer is good, always!

The Psalmist continues, describing the variety of ways that we can be assaulted in our faith walk.  He then offers a timely reminder of how we can add faith to our prayers and believe in God’s protection from the harm of slander, back stabbing and conniving. We can rest in peace knowing that one day God will ensure justice is achieved. David reminds us that ‘all men shall fear’ at this judgment because what is done in secret will be brought into the light. A day of reckoning will come.

My thoughts are that this Psalm can be read from two perspectives. On first read, I’m reassured by the knowledge that God is my protector – my ever present help in times of need – Deliverer and Defender. I don’t need to invest time and energy into retaliation. God will take care of me. And then upon reflection, I had another perspective – a healthy fear of our just God. A God who hears the words/jokes/gossip/stories spoken in secret, leaving no trace, yet slanderous. A God who hears the conversations we seek with friends/allies when we want reassurance for our wrong doings.  Our Holy God sees, hears and knows all things. And while He is my protector, he is yours too. He will judge me when I’m hurting you. We would do well to fear Him. And if the fear of the Lord inspires us to live justly and walk humbly then we have every reason to join with David and ‘be glad in the Lord’ (v10).