Psalm 17

SLIDE 1 Turn with me to Psalm 17. This is one of five psalms that are identified as a prayer. They are: SLIDE 2

David 17, 86, 142

Moses 90

An afflicted man 102

That doesn’t mean that more of the psalms aren’t also prayers, but these are the only ones specifically identified as such. It would be hard not to call many of the psalms we’ve looked at so far prayers when they start out calling to God. SLIDE 3

Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! (Psalm 3:1)

That sounds like a prayer to me. How about Psalm 4? SLIDE 4

Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)

The first verse of this psalm even includes the word prayer. And what about Psalm 72, a psalm attributed to Solomon.

This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse. (Psalm 72:20)

Considering there are many more psalms in the Book of Psalms attributed to David that seems a strange way to end this psalm. Since most of the psalms contain prayers to God it seems strange that any of them should be singled out as prayers.

Perhaps this can give us some insight into these five psalms. There are at least a dozen words for prayer in the Hebrew language. The word used at the heading of these five is word can also mean “to intervene.” Except for Psalm 90, written by Moses, the other four describe the writer in dangerous situations and crying out to God for deliverance. Perhaps too, the title told the temple musicians what melody to play when using these psalms in public worship.

Psalm 17 has definite connections with the psalm we looked at last week – Psalm 16. Here are some of the similarities.

Keep me (16:1 / 17:8)

The night (16:7 / 17:3)

“El” as the name for God (16:1 / 17:6)

The hand (16:8 / 17:7, 14)

God’s presence (16:11 / 17:15)

While there are suggestions of danger in Psalm 16, the atmosphere is much calmer than what we find in 17. In this prayer, David deals with three pressing concerns and makes three major requests to the Lord. Each section opens with David addressing the Lord.

SLIDE 7 First, David asks God to examine him.

1 Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer – it does not rise from deceitful lips. 2 Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. 3 Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. 4 Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded. 5 My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled. (Psalm 17:1-5)

David starts and ends this prayer with an insistence on his righteousness. He claims that he doesn’t have “deceitful lips” and that in the end he will be vindicated. As a result, David wants God to examine him. That’s because David wants God to prove before his enemies that he is innocent of whatever they are accusing him of doing.

Many think that all three of the prayer psalms attributed to David were probably written while he was being pursuing by Saul. Saul considered David an enemy. He first became jealous of David when people started writing songs about David’s military victories that made David look better than Saul. Knowing that God was with David, Saul became afraid of him. And then, encouraged by an evil spirit, Saul tried to kill him. David had done nothing to intentionally harm Saul or make him look bad. He knew that if God examined his relationship with Saul that it was Saul who would come out on the short end of the stick. That’s because God knows what no one else knows about us.

Weatherman Bob Harris had a storm of his own making he had to endure in 1979. Harris had studied math, physics and geology at three colleges, but he left school without a degree. Wanting to be a weatherman he called a local station for a job saying that he had a Ph.D. in geophysics from Columbia University. The phony degree got him in the door. After a two-month tryout, he was hired as an off-camera forecaster for the station. For the next decade his career flourished and he became widely known as “Dr. Bob.” He was later hired as a consultant by the New York Times, the Long Island Railroad, and then by Major League Baseball. He was living his dream until an anonymous letter encouraged the new station to investigate his academic credentials. He was promptly fired by the station and the New York Times. However, the railroad and Major League Baseball allowed him to stay. Harris later admitted he’d made a dreadful mistake saying, “I took a shortcut that turned out to be the long way around, and one day the bill came due. I will be sorry as long as I am alive.”

We think we can get away with our sin. And even if no one else knows, God does. That’s what makes it interesting that David would ask God to examine him. Because of their sin, most people would prefer God not to examine their lives. But David knew that God would give him a fair hearing. King Saul and his leaders believed and circulated all kinds of lies about David, but David and God knew the truth.

So in this prayer David asks God to hear his cry for help, examine his life, and declare his integrity by giving him victory over the forces of Saul. Then everybody would know that God was with David.

This prayer does not mean that David was without sin. However, he was blameless in his relationship with Saul. David hadn’t done anything to deserve Saul’s anger. In this regard David was blameless. You’ll remember that on two occasions Dave had the opportunity to kill Saul and refused. Because he took the higher road he was able to refute the lies told about him. David had a good conscience toward God so he asks God to examine him.

SLIDE 8 Second, David asks God to keep him.

6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. 7 Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. 8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings 9 from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. 10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. 11 They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover. (Psalm 17:6-12)

Twice, David talks about being surrounded by him enemy.

my mortal enemies . . . surround me (v 9)

They have tracked me down, they now surround me (v 11)

Being surrounded, there was no place for David to hide so he called out to God to protect and keep him. He knew he couldn’t escape without the Lord’s help. God is not only a righteous judge, he is also a powerful defender of those seek him for shelter.

As I noted earlier, David used the Hebrew name “El” as he addressed God, a name that emphasizes God’s great power, for the Lord is “the Mighty God.”

In Exodus 15, Moses leads the Israelites in a song to God after he delivered them from the Egyptians and through the Red Sea. They sing of God’s great strength. SLIDE 9

9 The enemy boasted, “I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.” SLIDE 10 10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who among the gods is like you, Lord? SLIDE 11 Who is like you – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? 12 You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies. (Exodus 15:9-12)

If God could deliver his people from Egypt, surely he could deliver David from the hand of Saul. So David asked for “a marvelous demonstration of God’s love” in the defeat of his enemies.

SLIDE 12 In verse 8, David used two images to describe what he meant to God: the eye and wings. David asks God to keep him as the apple of his eye. It was thought that the pupil was solid and shaped like an apple and essential to sight. It came to be used in reference to someone who was important to you. Also, when you look into someone’s pupil you see your own reflection. So David is saying, “Protect me just as you protect your eye.” The idea is first found in Deuteronomy. Talk about Israel’s relationship to God, Moses wrote: SLIDE 13

In a desert land [God] found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye. (Deuteronomy 32:10)

The second image David uses to describe how he wanted God to protect him is that of a wing – “under the shadow of your wings.” This is often used as a picture of a mother hen protecting her young. Jesus used this same picture when describing the relationship he would like to have had with Jerusalem. SLIDE 14

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. (Matthew 23:37)

It can also refer to the wings of the cherubim that sit on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. David asked God to make his hiding place into a holy place protected by the angels of God.

Did God answer David’s prayer for help? Psalm seems to suggest that he did as in it David celebrated a victory given to him by God. We’ll look at it next week, but in verse 3 David says: SLIDE 15

I called to the Lord , who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:3)

We have an intriguing story from 1 Samuel 23 that might describe this deliverance for us. David was hiding in Ziph which was about twenty-five miles south of Saul’s palace in Gibeah. Some of the men from Ziph reported to Saul that David was hiding there. After receiving a little more information about David’s whereabouts, Saul took his men to Ziph to find David. Then we read: SLIDE 16

26a Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. (1 Samuel 23:26a)

It sounds pretty similar to the situation David was describing in Psalm 17. So what happened? SLIDE 18

26b As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” SLIDE 19 28 Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth. (1 Samuel 23:26b-28)

By the way, the name means “The Cliff of Escapes.”

SLIDE 20 And third, David asks God to rescue him.

13 Rise up, Lord , confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked. 14 By your hand save me from such people, Lord, from those of this world whose reward is in this life. May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones. 15 As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. (Psalm 17:13-15)

This is a vivid picture of what David wants as punishment for his enemies. Note however that David is not the one planning on carrying out the punishment, he’s asking God to do it. It is by God’s hand that they will be destroyed.

David describes two kinds of people: the people of this world and the people of God. The people of this world live only for this world and their reward is only found in this life. There is no reward for them after they die. Except for Jonathan, this described Saul and most of his men. They were not spiritually minded but thought only of the things of this world which won’t last. They lived for their own glory and not for the glory of God. As for these enemies, David wants God to bring them to their knees. The picture is of a wild animal that has been tamed and now yields in submission. David wants the consequences of their sin to be inherited by their children and by their grandchildren.

David contrasts the people of this world with the people of God who live for a reward greater than this world can offer. The author of Hebrews, after naming a few people known for their faith in God, said about them: SLIDE 20

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. SLIDE 21 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. SLIDE 22 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

Because they understand that this world is not their home, the people of God live for a reward that awaits them beyond the grave.

A world-class women’s runner was invited to compete in a road race in Connecticut. On the morning of the race, she drove from New York City, following the directions – or so she thought – given her over the telephone. She got lost, stopped at a gas station, and asked for help. She knew that the race started in the parking lot of a shopping mall. The station attendant also knew of such a race scheduled just up the road and directed her there.

When she arrived she was relieved to see in the parking lot a modest number of runners preparing to compete. Not as many as she’d anticipated; an easier race than she’d been led to expect. She hurried to the registration desk, announced herself, and was surprised by the race officials’ excitement at having so renowned an athlete show up for their race. No, they had no record of her entry, but if she’d hurry and put on this number, she could just make it before the race started. She ran and, naturally, she won easily, some four minutes ahead of the first male runner.

Only after the race – when there was no envelope containing her sizable prize money – did she confirm that the event she’d run was not the race to which she’d been invited. That race was being held several miles farther up the road in another town. She’d gone to the wrong starting line, run the wrong course, and missed her chance to win a valuable prize. She was looking for a much bigger reward than she received. The race we run determines the prize we win.

There are two races being run today with two completely different prizes. Some run a race where they receive a reward in this life. Others, like David and those mentioned in Hebrews 11, run a race where the prize isn’t received till after they die. Paul wrote to the Corinthians about these same two races and the difference between those who live for this world and those who live for God. SLIDE 23

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. SLIDE 24 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)

SLIDE 25 David was sure that he would one day see the face of God. He knew there was more awaiting him beyond the grace. He knew that even death would not separate him from God. Remember what David wrote in the previous psalm:

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. (Psalm 16:9-10)

In Psalm 17, verse 15 David talked about when he woke up. He was referring to his resurrection from the dead. There are only three psalms that talk about the future life – Psalms 16, 17, and 73 (a psalm by Asaph). David knew his greatest reward will be God and being in his presence.

What race are you running? For what reward are you striving? Is it, like Paul wrote about, a temporary crown given in this life, or is it an eternal crown given in the life to come?