Psalm 56

 

 

The Most High is merciful to us

 

0 To the chief Musician concerning the silent dove. A secret treasure of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath. 1 Be merciful to me, O God: for man would swallow me up. Fighting daily he oppresses me. 2 My enemies would daily swallow me up: for many fight against me, O most High. 3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you.

 

  • Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.
  • Psalm 36:5 Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and your faithfulness reaches unto the clouds.

 

4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do to me. 5 All day long they distort my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves; they mark my steps when they wait for my soul. 7 Will they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

 

  • Sometimes our enemies are invisible, waiting during our day to find some way to trick us into worrying or not trusting God with the problems of your life.
  • Ephesians 6:12 we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
  • Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare: but whoever puts his trust in the LORD will be safe.

 

8 You record my wanderings: you put my tears in your bottle: are they not in your book? 9 When I cry to you, then my enemies will turn back: this I know; because God is for me. 10 In God I will praise his word: in the LORD I will praise his word. 11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do to me. 12 Your vows are on me, O God: I will render thank offerings to you. 13 For you have delivered my soul from death: will you not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

 

  • Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?
  • Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Amen

 

 

                                           Psalm 57

 

 

The LORD is our hiding place who performs all things for us

 

0 To the chief Musician, Altaschith, a poem of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. 1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me: for my soul trusts in you: yes, in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by. 2 I will cry to God most high; to God that performs all things for me.

 

  • Psalm 95:3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
  • Isaiah 26:12 LORD, you will ordain peace for us: for you also have worked all our works in us.

 

3 He will send from heaven, and reproach him that would swallow me up. Rest on it. God will send forth his love and his truth. 4 My soul is among lions: and I lie among them that are set on fire, the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

 

  • 1Peter5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:
  • Hosea 7:4 They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceases from raising after he has kneaded the dough, until it is leavened.

 

5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst of it they have fallen themselves. Rest on this.

 

  • Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

 

7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. 8 Wake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. 9 I will praise you, O Lord, among the people: I will sing to you among the nations. 10 For Your love is great unto the heavens, and Your truth to the clouds. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens: let your glory be above all the earth.



  • Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, appearing like a sapphire stone: and on throne was the likeness of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins upward, and from the appearance of his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness around it. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain was the appearance of the brightness around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

 

 

                                          Psalm 58

 

 

0 To the chief Musician, You must not destroy, a poem of David. 1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men? 2 Yes, in heart you work wickedness; you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. 4 Their poison is like the poison of a snake: they are like the deaf asp that stops her ear; 5 that will not listen to the voice of charmers, charming ever so wisely.

 

  • Like a viper brings poison and death to the body, the words of the wicked bring death to the soul forever.

 

6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD. 7 Let them melt away as waters that run continually: when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. 8 As a snail that melts, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. 10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

 

  • God does not want to do this. He died to save all. He is not willing that any perish. But He is righteous and the wicked, by their actions, leave Him no choice.
  • 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.
  • Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.

 

 

God judges in the earth

 

11 So that a man will say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous: truly he is a God that judges in the earth.

 

  • The righteous are those that seek to know and follow God,their Maker. They are not perfect but they are willing.
  • 2Timothy 4:8 From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all those that love His appearing.
  • Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
  • Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

 

 

                                          Psalm 59

 

 

0 To the chief Musician, Do not destroy, a poem of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. 1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God: defend me from those that rise up against me. 2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. 3 For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD. 4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold. 5 You therefore, O LORD God of hosts/armies, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Rest.

 

  • God is the only One who is all-powerful.
  • He is the only One who is present everywhere at all times.
  • So He is the best One to rely on to deliver us.
  • God’s title, Lord of hosts reminds us that He rules over the countless angels of the universe.

 

6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. 7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who hears, they say? 8 But you, O LORD, will laugh at them; you will have all the heathen in derision.

 

  • The heathen are the nations that have turned their back on their Maker.
  • His word spoke creation into being says Psalm 33:6:9.
  • Therefore, His laughter must be wonderful—the joy of all creation.

 

 

The Lord is our shield and defense

 

9 Because of his strength I will wait on you: for God is my defense/high place. 10 The God of my love will hurry to meet me: God will let me see my desire on my enemies. 11 Do not kill them, lest my people forget: scatter them by your power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. 12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them be taken in their pride: for the cursing and lying that they speak. 13 Consume them in wrath, consume them so that they may not be: and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. Rest on it.

 

  • Jacob symbolizes man before God humbles him and teaches him to trust Him.

 

14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go around the city. 15 Let them wander up and down for food, and stay out all night if they are not satisfied. 16 But I will sing of your power; yes, I will sing aloud of your love in the morning: for you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. 17 To you, O my strength, I will sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my love.

 

 

 

                                          Psalm 60

 

 

0 To the chief Musician on the trumpet of the assembly. A Poem of David to teach; when he went out against Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and struck twelve thousand of Edom in the valley of salt. 1 O God, you have cast us off, you have broken us, you have been displeased; O turn yourself to us again. 2 You have made the earth to tremble; you have broken it: heal its breaks for it shakes. 3 You have showed your people hard things: you have made us drink the wine of astonishment.

 

  • The people had cast God off first by worshipping idols.
  • God only destroys evil—and that only after much warning and longsuffering.
  • Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father does not correct?
  • James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
  • Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed in us.

 

4 You have given a banner to them that fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Rest. 5 That your beloved may be delivered; save with your right hand, and hear me.

 

 

Through God we shall do valiantly

 

6 God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of my head; Judah is my lawgiver; 8 Moab is my washpot; over Edom I will cast out my shoe: Philistia, shout in triumph. 9 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? 10 Will not you, O God, who has cast us off? And you O God, who did not go out with our armies? 11 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 12 Through God we will do valiantly: for it is he that will tread down our enemies.

 

  • All belongs to God.
  • Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and its fullness; the world, and they that dwell in it.
  • Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?
  • Romans 8:37 in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

 

 

                                            Psalm 61

 

 

God is our shelter and hiding place

 

0 To the chief Musician on stringed a instrument. A Psalm of David. 1 Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth I will cry to you, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3 For You have been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

 

  • God is always available.
  • There is no place that God cannot hear us.
  • Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
  • Psalm 97:9 LORD, you are high above all the earth: You are exalted far above all gods.

 

4 I will abide in your tabernacle forever: I will trust in the hiding place of your wings. Rest.

 

  • Psalm 23:6 Definitely goodness and mercy will pursue/chase me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

 

 

He has given us the most amazing inheritance

 

5 For You, O God, have heard my vows: You have given me the heritage of those that fear Your name. 6 You will prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations. 7 He will abide before God forever: O prepare love and truth to preserve him. 8 So I will sing praise to your name forever, that I may daily perform my vows.

 

  • Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
  • Psalm 91:16 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

 

 

                                            Psalm 62

 

 

0 To the chief Musician, to praise, A Psalm of David. 1 My soul waits in silence only to God: from him comes my deliverance. 2 He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I will not be greatly moved.

 

  • The Maker of the universe, the LORD of all, is our stability, our deliverance, and our protector.
  • Isaiah 30:15 For this is what the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel says; In returning and rest you will be delivered; in quietness and in confidence will be your strength....

 

3 How long will you attack a man? You will be killed all of you: You will be as a bowing wall, and as a tottering fence. 4 They consult to cast him down from his high position/excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Rest. 5 My soul, wait in silence before God for my hope is from him.

 

 

God alone is our stability, our glory, our refuge, and our defense

 

6 He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I will not be moved. 7 In God is my deliverance and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

 

  • Romans 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?
  • Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

8 Trust in him at all times; you people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Rest on it. 9 Surely men of low degree are empty, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than breath. 10 Do not trust in oppression or vainly hope in robbery: if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 11 God has spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongs to God. 12 Also to You, O Lord, belongs love: You repay to every man according to his work.

 

  • God’s power is infinite. His power is so great that to create the universe, He only had to speak.
  • He gives each person according to what they have done.
  • Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 9 he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

 

 

                                              Psalm 63

 

0 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. 1 O God, you are my God; I will seek you early: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and weary land without water;  2 To see your power and your glory as I have seen you in the sanctuary.

 

  • Everything in the tabernacle and later in the temple taught the people truths about God.
  • John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me will never hunger; and he that believes on me will never thirst.
  • Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 9 For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
  • Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, appearing like a sapphire stone: and on throne was the likeness of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins upward, and from the appearance of his loins downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness around it. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain was the appearance of the brightness around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

 

The Lord’s loving kindness is better than life

 

3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 I will bless you while I live: I will lift up my hands in your name. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips: 6 When I remember you on my bed, and meditate on you in the night watches. 7 You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.

 

  • God’s love is not just better than food, or power, or love, or children, or fame, or wealth or anything in life.
  • God’s loving kindness is better than all of them combined because it is better than life.
  • Psalm 121:2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

 

 

His right hand upholds us

 

8 My soul follows hard after you: Your right hand upholds me. 9 But those that seek my soul, to destroy it will go into the lower parts of the earth. 10 They will fall by the sword: they will be a serving for jackals. 11 But the king will rejoice in God; every one that swears by him will glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies will be stopped.

 

 

 

                                              Psalm 64

 

 

0 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 1 Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. 2 Hide me from the plots of the wicked; from the insurrection of evildoers: 3 Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: 4 That they may shoot in secret at the complete: suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. 5 They encourage each other in evil: they plan how to set their traps; they say, Who will see us? 6 They plot their crimes; they say, We have devised the perfect plan: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.

 

  • Colossians 2:10 And you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power:
  • Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
  • Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Therefore take to yourself the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:



God will shoot at them

 

7 But God will shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly they will be wounded. 8 So they will make their own tongue to fall on themselves: all that see them will flee away.

 

  • Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.

 

9 And all men will fear, and will declare the work of God; for they will wisely consider his doing. 10 The righteous will be glad in the LORD, and trust in him; and all of the upright in heart will glory.

 

  • The righteous ones are those who bow before their Maker and seek to follow Him. They are not sinless (Romans 3:23). They love God because they have grown to know Him. They love the Giver of all things rather than the things He has given.
  • Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

 

 

 

                                            Psalm 65

 

 

0 To the chief Musician, A Psalm and Song of David.1 Praise waits for you, O God, in Zion: and to you the vow will be performed. 2 O you that hear prayer, to you all flesh will come.

 

  • Zion is the place where the last enemy has been conquered (2 Samuel 5, Psalm 2).

 

 

The Lord purges away our transgressions

 

3 Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, you will purge them away. 4 Blessed is the man whom you choose and cause to approach you, that he may dwell in your courts: we will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, even of your holy temple.

 

  • God satisfies the hunger of man’s heart.
  • Only He is infinite, Only he can fill forever.

  • John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me will never hunger; and he that believes on me will never thirst.
  • Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple in it: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

 

5 By awesome things in righteousness you will answer us, O God of our salvation; who is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off on the sea:

 

 

He clothes with power; He crowns the year with goodness

 

6 Who by his strength set fast the mountains; being clothed with power: 7 Who stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. 8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts stand in awe at your signs: you make the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. 9 You visit the earth, and water it: You greatly enrich it with the river of God, which is full of water: You prepare them grain, when you have so provided for it. 10 You water its ridges abundantly: You settle its furrows: You make it soft with showers: You bless the springing of it. 11 You crown the year with your goodness; and your paths drop fatness. 12 They drop on the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side. 13 The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing.



  • The morning and evening rejoice with the songs of birds and crickets, sunlight glistens through soft shadows and deep colors.
  •  Psalm 8:1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who has set Your glory above the heavens.

 

 

 

 

SUMMARY: Psalms 56-65

 

  • The Most High is merciful to us
  • He is our hiding place
  • He performs all things for us
  • God judges in the earth
  • The LORD is our shield and defense
  • Through God we will do valiantly
  • God is our shelter and hiding place
  • He gives us the most amazing inheritance
  • He alone is our stability, our glory, our refuge and our defense
  • His loving kindness is better than life
  • His right hand upholds us
  • He will shoot at the wicked with an arrow
  • The LORD purges away our transgressions
  • He is clothed with power
  • He crowns the year with goodness