Psalm 54:1-7 NKJV
54 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And vindicate me by Your strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen up against me,
And oppressors have sought after my life;
They have not set God before them. Selah
4 Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
Cut them off in Your truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice to You;
I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble;
And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.
We are given some insight into David’s thinking when he wrote Psalm 54. He composed it during that terrible time in his life when he was on the run, fleeing from King Saul, who had wrongfully concluded that David was his enemy and who was trying to kill him. Just when David thought he had found a good hiding place in the wilderness, he was betrayed by the people who lived there, the Ziphites. But the Lord protected David; He guided the events of the world so that, just as Saul was about to surround David and his men, a report came of a Philistine threat in another place, forcing Saul to break off his pursuit of David (cf. 1 Sam. 23).
Falsely accused, hated, threatened, betrayed, and pursued, David turns to the only One who can help. He calls out to God to save him and to “vindicate” him, to demonstrate to his enemies that David is in the right. David can’t save himself or vindicate himself from the godless people who are targeting him. He calls upon God to do it, by God’s own name and might.
This isn’t a prayer of desperation, though. David is convinced that the Lord will help him. There is conviction behind the words, “God is my helper.” And trusting that this is the case, David ends the Psalm with confidence, and with a commitment to give thanks to the Lord for the help he knows he will receive against his enemies.
The Christian is surrounded by enemies, more so now than in times past. They may not be trying to kill us, but they seek to pry us away from the Christian faith at every turn. When we are falsely accused, hated, threatened, betrayed, or pursued, let us confidently call upon the God who has already delivered us from sin, death, and the power of the devil through Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. He will save us and vindicate us, just as He did with David. He will guide the course of events in this world so that all things, even the world’s persecution, work together for good to those who love Him. Let us pray: I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good. Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your strength, for You are my Helper. Amen.