Land of the Living

DEVOTION

PSALMS

LAND OF THE LIVING

Ps 56

56:1 For the director of music. To [the tune of] "A Dove on Distant Oaks." Of David. A miktam.  When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. 2 My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.

3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

5 All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. 6 They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.

7 On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations. 8 Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll — are they not in your record?

9 Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise — 11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

12 I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you. 13 For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.  

NIV

It would seem our scholars have determined the exact time and reason for this song of David. It would appear he was alone and living in the land of the Philistines. According to 1 Samuel when David got there Saul stopped chasing him. Israel and the Philistines had battled before and it was Goliath, the Philistine who David as a youth had slain in front of Saul. A lot of history between these men. But David is now in a different situation and no matter what is situation or conditions he finds himself in he always is putting his trust in the Lord. He knows God is far more powerful and any man, or army of men. Although David is not exactly alone, as we also see, as recorded in 1 Samuel, that David has his own army of six hundred men. The truth we can glean for our lives from this song is the same. No matter what our situation in life, we can always rest assured God is mightier than any man, or army of men. Some Christians today in other parts of the world have men who are eager to take their lives. We do not live in that kind of situation, however in some sense we have men trying to take any reference to God out of the public square. We also have many who would replace God with science or try to incorporate God into their kind of thinking as to how everything came to be. There are some who would call themselves Christian who misuse the word of God to establish their own set of rules for life.  In that sense we are under an assault against pure faith in the Lord. We can and will always have faith in our Lord, not just for salvation, but for every day, every moment of each day. What can man do to us? They do not or cannot control of faith in God. Even those who misuse his word are not to be trusted for counsel or guidance. They slander our faith, they claim God is to be used to give us the “Good life” and provide us with fame and fortune.  There was a host of those prosperity preachers throughout the past years, slandering pure faith, true faith, using God rather than serving him. They used him as the reason, instead of their own greed and lust for materialistic goals for how they lived. Pure holiness is under attack from every aspect of life. But what can men do to us? Nothing! We are in the hands of the Almighty, all Holy God. We will continually give him thanks for all he has done in our life and all he is doing and will do. He has delivered us from all the falsehood which surrounds us on every side. He has delivered us from the jaws of death itself. He has delivered us from stumbling in the dark, or in the false doctrines or philosophies of man. He has delivered us so we can walk in the light of life, or as the Hebrew implies, the land of the living.