God is My Fortress

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Psalm 59

Psalm 59 is a Historical Psalm which is set during the lifetime of David.  Please notice the inscription in the heading of the 59^th Psalm.  It is written about the time “when Saul sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him”.  The full story is found in I Samuel 19:11-18.

Just as God protected and delivered David when the hostile forces of king Saul surrounded his home, so God will protect the whole nation of Israel from the many enemies surrounding them.

And just as God protected David and Israel from the multitudes of evil enemies in their day, so likewise God is able to protect and deliver His people in our day too!

1. David’s First Prayer to God in Verses 1-5
   1. Difficult to Relate? — Sometimes modern readers of the Psalms may find it difficult to relate to the perils which David faced.  We are surrounded by luxuries and amenities of modern American society.  There is often a disconnect between what we read in the Bible and our life experiences.
   2. Urgent Prayer in Verses 1-2 — There are 4 imperatives in these 2 verses: deliver me, protect me, deliver me, save me
   3. Articulate Prayer — In the midst of his urgency in prayer, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel presents thoughtful, well-reasoned petitions to God.  David says God should hear his case for 3 main reasons:
      1. The Danger David Faces in Verse 3 — While David knows God is omniscient, that knowledge doesn’t stop him from calling upon God and telling God of the danger he is facing.  Have you ever been in danger? Tell God all about it!
         1. Tell God about the danger of your medical condition
         2. Tell God about the danger of a marriage on the rocks
         3. Tell God about the danger of losing faith in Him
         4. Tell God about the danger of lacking wisdom
         5. Remember the words of the aged saint who told God when people were threatening him, “God, your property is in danger”.  This old saint knew God saw his problems, loved him, and was able to take care of him.
      2. David is Innocent in Verse 3-4 — “For no transgression or sin of mine, O LORD, for no fault of mine” Remember, David is not claiming to be sinless, but rather he is claiming his innocence before Saul.  Here is a powerful truth, if we are truly innocent of doing wrong to our fellow human being, we can pray boldly to God for our vindication.  If you are truly innocent, you can pray with David that there was “no fault of mine”
         1. David was so guiltless of wronging Saul that Ahimelech declared: “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house? — I Samuel 22:14
      3. The Character of God in Verse 5 — Did you notice the emphasis on the many names of God mentioned in this Psalm?  “You, LORD God of hosts, are God of Israel.”  
         1. Literally, “Yahweh Elohim Sabaoth” refers to both the visible fighting force of Israel and the invisible infinite armies of heaven which the Sovereign God has His disposal.  These were the same forces which God used on multiple occasions to save and deliver the children of Israel.
         2. Leupold says, “The writer recalls God’s unique power by employing the various most familiar names by which he was known in Israel.”
         3. He is right. When we can pray, “Lord God, Lord of hosts, God of Israel, my God,”
         4. David has presented a powerful argument as to why God should answer his prayer.
2. David’s Doggish Enemies in Verses 6-7 & 14-15
   1. Wild Dogs — When we think of dogs in our contemporary culture, we think of small domesticated animals; “lap dogs” or perhaps “hunting dogs”.  Dogs are “man’s best friend” in the mind of many people.  But, the dogs of the ancient near east were far different than what we know today.  Dogs in the time of David would roam the streets at night in search for food discarded by people during the day.
      1. Albert Smith — An English writer from the 1800’s described what it was like to visit Constantinople in his day: “The whole city rang with one vast riot.… The yelping, howling, barking, growling, and snarling were all merged into one uniform and continuous even sound, as the noise of frogs becomes when heard at a distance. For hours there was no lull. I went to sleep and woke again, and still, with my windows open, I heard the same tumult going on; nor was it until daybreak that anything like tranquility was restored.
      2. This gives us an idea of how David viewed the soldiers of Saul who sought to take his…they were like scavenging, ravaging dogs!
      3. Should we be afraid of roving bands of bloodthirsty dogs?  Not even a little bit because they pose no threat at all to God, David says in Verse 8 —” But you, O LORD, laugh at them”.  Psalm 37:13 “The Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming”
3. David’s Second Prayer to God in Verses 10-13
   1. An Imprecation — In David’s first prayer in verses 1-5, he describes what his enemies were trying to do to him.  In David’s second prayer in verses 10-13, David asks God to do something to his enemies.
   2. A Gradual Destruction — Notice the following phrases:
      1. “By your power, bring them down” in verse 11
      2. “let them be trapped in their pride” in verse 12
      3. “consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more” in verse 13
         1. What is so unique about this 2^nd prayer is David asks God to destroy his enemies…but not all at once…so other people will see and learn from their bad example that the True God is a God of Justice!
         2. Notice Verse 11: “But do not kill them, O Lord our shield, or my people will forget”
   3. A Question Answered — The Question — If there is a God, then why does He permit bad things to happen?  The Answer — God may allow evil to flourish for a little time so we might learn from it.  We learn at least 5 things from the Sovereign God allowing evil to continue temporarily:
      1. So we can see that sin and evil are always short lived
      2. So we can see sin carries the seeds of destruction within itself
      3. …judgement will always come upon the wicked in the end
      4. If God did not permit evil, we would never learn anything from it and would not grow away from it
      5. In Summary — Verse 13b says, “that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth”.  When evil emerges, God tolerates it for a time until it stagnates and falls to the ground because of its inner corruption, and finally it is decisively judged by God!  David must have understood this for a long time because these words mirror, almost exactly what David told Goliath the Philistine champion: “This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.… and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel” — 1 Samuel 17:46
4. Two Refreshing Refrains in Verses 9 & 17 — These 2 refrains are almost identical to one another save “I will watch for you” in verse 9 becomes “I will sing praise to you” in verse 17.  
   1. The First Refrain: The prophet Habakkuk also said “I will watch” in Habakkuk 2:1 — “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint”
      1. Just as David did not understand what the Lord was doing when God allowed him to be hunted by Saul’s doggish soldiers, Habakkuk did not understand why God would allow Israel to be destroyed by the Babylonians.
      2. But, both David and Habakkuk committed their ways to God and waited faithfully and expectantly on the Lord to be delivered by Him.
      3. We also will face many situations where we can do no more.  We cannot change or alter our situation, but we CAN wait upon God for a solution from Him. 
   2. The Second Refrain:  Is a great testimony because the situation in verses 1-2 has not changed.  This situation was so tumultuous it caused David to cry out to God.  The words, watch in verse 9and sing in verse 17 are nearly identical and have only 1 letter different in the Hebrew language, which is a way of saying, if we keep our eyes upon God we are only 1 letter away from singing His praises and rejoicing in Him.
      1. Do you lack joy, is it hard to sing God’s praises? — In Psalm 59, in order for us to sing to God we must have first watched and waited for Him.  Remember Habakkuk, who waited upon the Lord, to receive a Word from the Lord.  Habakkuk did indeed receive a Word from God and his short book ends with singing:

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to go on the heights — Habakkuk 3:17–19

These are words of someone who learned to wait upon God.