Prepared for Sunday, July 26, 2020
Dear Psalms friends,
Our focus tomorrow is LIFE, the life God creates and is renewing and redeeming.
Chapter: Psalm 54
Toni’s Title
Surely God Is My Help!
ESV Title
The Lord Upholds My Life
Literary Type
This is an individual lament.
Laments
More than 1/3 of the Psalms fall into the category of complaints to God in situations of limitation or threat. These laments were a form of prayer and praise based on the conviction that God is concerned about people and answers the human cry in ways surpassing human expectation or understanding. Israel’s laments out of distress were a way of praising God even when he seemed absent. The faith of the psalmists is founded on the good news that God intervenes in desperate situations to help those who are distressed. The psalmists share a deep confidence that God is compassionate, concerned, hearing his people and involved with them; God is faithful and trustworthy. A lament is an outcry to God from a responsive heart. Laments came from individuals or from the community.
Examples: Psalms 3-5, 22, 27:7-14, 42, 51, 69, 90, 130, 137 and many others
NT Prayer Guide
Eph. 6:10-20
Superscription
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”
54
Deus, in Nomine
1 Save me, O God, for your Name’s sake, *
and avenge me in your strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God, *
and hearken to the words of my mouth.
3 For the arrogant have risen up against me, *
and tyrants, who do not have God before their eyes, seek after my life.
4 Behold, God is my helper; *
the Lord is he who upholds my life.
5 He shall repay the evil of my enemies. *
O destroy them in your faithfulness.
6 A freewill offering will I give you, *
and praise your Name, O Lord, because it is good.
7 For he has delivered me out of all my trouble, *
and my eye has seen the ruin of my enemies.