The Righteous One’s weary soul resting in the certainty of what the Lord will do

Again David’s life portrays the experience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider the enmity and the malice that was directed against Him over the three years that he ministered. He, who had brought light and life into a dead and darkened world, was subject to the opprobrium of evil scheming sinners. Paul’s sufferings were great, as he recounts to the Corinthians; and so were David’s, which shows that the believer, like the Master, will have tribulation in this world. 

What was the secret of David’s, Paul’s and the Lord’s resilience when they were tried in this manner? Each one of them was betrayed by a close companion, namely Absalom, Demas and Judas. To have sweet counsel, to attend worship together, and then to have someone turn and bite the hand that fed, is a bitter pill to swallow. These men and our Lord Himself, committed their grievances and burdens unto God. Our Lord did so in His expiring breath, “Into thy hands I commit my spirit.” 

Pastor Jeff O’ Neil

Recommended Tune: St Andrew, Culross

Psalm 55

¹Lord, hear my pray’r, hide not thyself
From my entreating voice:
²Attend and hear me; in my plaint
I mourn and make a noise.

³Because of th’ en’my’s voice, and for
Lewd men’s oppression great:
On me they cast iniquity,
And they in wrath me hate.

⁴Sore pain’d within me is my heart:
Death’s terrors on me fall.
⁵On me comes trembling, fear and dread
O’erwhelmed me withal.

⁶O that I, like a dove, had wings,
Said I, then would I flee
Far hence, that I might find a place
Where I in rest might be.

⁷Lo, then far off I wander would,
And in the desert stay;
⁸From windy storm and tempest I
Would haste to ‘scape away.

⁹O Lord, on them destruction bring,
And do their tongues divide;
For in the city violence
And strife I have espied.

¹⁰They day and night upon the walls
Do go about it round:
There mischief is, and sorrow there
In midst of it is found.

¹¹Abundant wickedness there is
Within her inward part;
And from her streets deceitfulness
And guile do not depart.

¹²He was no foe that me reproach’d,
Then that endure I could;
Nor hater that did ‘gainst me boast,
From him me hide I would.

¹³But thou, man, who mine equal, guide,
And mine acquaintance wast:
¹⁴We join’d sweet counsels, to God’s house
In company we past.

¹⁵Let death upon them seize, and down
Let them go quick to hell;
For wickedness doth much abound
Among them where they dwell.

¹⁶I’ll call on God: GOD will me save.
¹⁷I’ll pray, and make a noise
At ev’ning, morning, and at noon;
And he shall hear my voice.

¹⁸He hath my soul delivered,
That it in peace might be
From battle that against me was;
For many were with me.

¹⁹The Lord shall hear, and them afflict,
Of old who hath abode:
Because they never changes have,
Therefore they fear not God.

²⁰’Gainst those that were at peace with him
He hath put forth his hand:
The covenant that he had made,
By breaking he profan’d.

²¹More smooth than butter were his words,
While in his heart was war;
His speeches were more soft than oil,
And yet drawn swords they are.

²²Cast thou thy burden on the LORD,
And he shall thee sustain;
Yea, he shall cause the righteous man
Unmoved to remain.

²³But thou, O Lord my God, those men
In justice shalt o’erthrow,
And in destruction’s dungeon dark
At last shalt lay them low:

The bloody and deceitful men
Shall not live half their days:
But upon thee with confidence
I will depend always.