Psalm 54 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 54 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Save me, O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
Verse 2Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
Verse 3For the insolent have risen against me, the ruthless seek my life; they do not set God before them. Selah
Verse 4But surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
Verse 5He will repay my enemies for their evil. In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
Verse 6With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
Verse 7For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.
Devotion
Retribution and revenge—these are often the hardest parts of Old Testament laments for us as 21st century Christians. We want to model forgiveness, the turning of the other cheek, as Christ has commanded us. Words of God repaying our "enemies for their evil" and "[putting] an end to them" (v. 5) unsettle us; this is not how we want God to be. We don’t want to look "in triumph on [our] enemies" (v. 7); we want to set things right with our enemies so that we can all get along. But this is sugar-coating reality enemies are around us: personal enemies, national enemies, and non-entity enemies that we may personify (like cancer, or death). The triumphalism may also sugar-coat reality—sometimes the enemies do win. Yet, ultimately the lament psalms (and Psalm 54 specifically) do not focus on the battle, but on calling out to God and seeking God’s sustaining presence.
Prayer
Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth (v. 2). We call upon you, O Lord, in times when we are in pain and in times when we are joyful, for you are our whole life. Hear my cries of pain. Comfort me by your presence, and deliver me from my affliction at the hands of my enemies (especially...). Hear my shouts of joy (especially for...). Give ease to our troubled spirits, and peace when we would cry out for vengeance, knowing ultimately that judgment and vengeance are yours alone. Be faithful to our cry; hear our prayer. Amen.