satisfied

DEVOTION

PSALMS

SATISFIED

Ps 17

Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea; listen to my cry. Give ear to my prayer — it does not rise from deceitful lips. 2 May my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.  3 Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. 4 As for the deeds of men — by the word of your lips I have kept myself from the ways of the violent. 5 My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not slipped.

6 I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. 7 Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. 8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings 9 from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.

10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. 11 They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a great lion crouching in cover.

13 Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your sword. 14 O LORD, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life.

You still the hunger of those you cherish; their sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children. 15 And I — in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

NIV

Praying from deceitful lips is not a good thing, that is to mean when we pray, there is nothing hidden from God. He sees what is right, he probes our heart and examines us at night. That is when we lie in bed, we may be asleep and our thoughts are quite, our mind is still, we are not endeavoring to keep anything from anyone. He sees our heart as it truly is and tests it for purity as gold is tested. God does test us, but it is not a trial type test, or a tempting test to see if we will fail. He tests our heart to see how pure it is, even as we sleep. But, he will find nothing of the ways of the world is what David is saying. Can we say the same thing? Is our heart bent toward God and thus bend away from the world? It cannot be bent both ways, which goes back to trying to serve two masters. He has resolved that his lips will not sin. Can we say the same thing? There are so many ways in which our lips could sin. But this appears to be in prayer to God, which is conversations with him. We cannot ever believe we could talk to God with anything other then pure honesty, not hiding or trying to hide anything or keep anything from him. This might also apply in our times of public prayer, as when we open a Sunday school or small group, or bible study with prayer. Are we really worthy of asking him to bless our time together when we might have unworthy attitudes in our heart toward someone? Should we not first cleanse ourselves in prayer before we arrive, asking forgiveness for any offense we might have within our heart? Then it comes to our deeds, our work, or our labor among this world. Have we kept ourselves from their ways? Do we live in the same manner the people of the world? Have we kept our feet from slipping, have we held to the path God has laid out before us? Have we gotten caught up in living to please ourselves, to live as the world lives, gathering as much as we can, filling our bellies so to speak, storing up stuff, wealth for our children to squander. We can see this idea in the last stanza. We look to God instead, we know that we are the apple of his eye, we are under the shadow of his wing. He protects us from anyone who would assail us, and that has to mean Satan and his demon cohorts. Satan and his are referred to as the lion roaming about to see who he might destroy. He might even use men in an effort to diminish our faith, to argue so intellectually against the existence of God, trying to cast doubt in our minds. They speak with such arrogance against God, we are surrounded by the world and its philosophy. But God is with us, he has rescued us from that life, he has brought us out of the darkness into his light, and given us life eternal. Their reward is this life. This translation gives a twist which perhaps gives the idea the righteous store up for their children.  However, the original text and as well as other translations imply they fill their bellies with children, they being the wicked, they store up wealth for their children. This bears out as David then says, but I, when I awake I will see your face. We will be satisfied, not as the world is satisfied, but by seeing his likeness, seeing Jesus.