PSALM 54 - When It All Falls Apart

Introduction

As we read through this set of psalms this summer, it makes us realize how much of David’s time was spent “on the lam”, doesn’t it? Psalm 52 was written after Doeg the Edomite betrayed him (and Ahimelech) to Saul, Psalm 56 was written after he had been captured by the Philistines, Psalm 57 when he fled from Saul in the cave, Psalm 59 when Saul had sent assassins to stake out David’s house, and Psalm 60 after one of the early battles of David’s reign. All in all, these psalms represent the most tumultuous years of David’s life—the “Outlaw Years”, if you will.

Our psalm this morning was written during one of those desperate escapes that David lived through—we read the account earlier in 1 Samuel 23. After Doeg the Edomite betrayed David to Saul in 1 Samuel 22, David went down to rescue the town of Keliah from Philistine raiders—Keliah was a town that belonged to David’s own tribe, the tribe of Judah. So David and his men go and drive off the Philistines (1 Sam 23:5), and save his kinsmen. Then King Saul finds out where David was, and gathered his forces to surround the city and take David captive.

David asks the LORD what will happen, and the LORD answers that the people of Keliah would surrender him to Saul (v. 23)—no good deed goes unpunished, right? So 1 Samuel 23:13-14 tell us

1 Samuel 23:13–14 (ESV)

13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. 14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

David had gone to rescue his own tribe from the Philistines, but they were ready to betray him to Saul, so he fled into the desert near the town of Ziph (another city that belonged to David’s tribe of Judah). And just like the previous town, this town then threatened to turn him over to Saul!

1 Samuel 23:19–20 (ESV)

19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? 20 Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.”

Saul, of course, is very pleased by their offer, so he tells them to get specific information about where David is hiding out in the desert. They pinpoint his location in the wilderness outside the town of Maon, where there was a large crag or rocky outcrop—large enough to be called a “mountain” in verse 26. Saul and his men were coming around one side of the mountain while David and his men were escaping around the other side. Saul heard a report that Philistine raiders had been spotted in the land, so he broke off his pursuit to go and fight them, allowing David and his men to escape.

During this whole chapter, all David wanted was to be left alone—he wasn’t trying to attack Saul or seize his throne. (In fact, David was doing everything he could to protect the kingdom—he’s fighting the same Philistine marauders in verse 5 that Saul is fighting in verse 28!) Every plan David made for his own protection and safety fell apart, didn’t it? He went to his own kinsmen for refuge, and they betrayed him. He fled to the wilderness to hide out, but Saul found him anyway—he only escaped because he was able to keep the mountain between him and Saul the whole time.

Imagine how David must be feeling at this point—nothing he does gets him any safety or protection—every plan he makes falls apart, every attempt to escape his pursuers seems destined to fail. You and I may never have been in the position of running for our lives from deadly enemies who are trying to kill us, but perhaps you have some idea of what David is going through?

You know what it’s like to have everything fall apart like this, don’t you? That no matter what you do, no matter where you go or who you turn to, you can’t “catch a break”. You try to get ahead financially, and just when you start to get a little cushion in your bank account the transmission seizes up. You are finally able to move your family out of that rough neighborhood to a new place, and then you find out that the house next door is getting raided for heroin busts every couple weeks. You’re counting on your cousin to put in a good word for you at the place where he works, but find out he actually told his boss you weren’t a good fit for the position.

It’s hard when things fall through like that—when people you’ve counted on let you down, when you’ve pinned your hope on some way of escape from hard circumstances only to watch all of your carefully-laid plans collapse like a sandcastle at high tide. It’s a time when a lot of people—Christians included—get frustrated at God: “Why can’t You just let me have one break from time to time??” If anyone had a right to feel that way, I imagine David certainly did—threatened with death by the king, betrayed by his own kinsmen, David might have looked up at the heavens and said, “Really, God? I can’t even have one moment’s peace out here hiding in the desert? Why are You making things so hard on me??”

There are other psalms where David expresses exactly that question, but here in Psalm 54 his reaction to all of these distresses and dangers is one of confidence in God’s faithful protection. 1 Samuel 23:14 says it specifically:

1 Samuel 23:14 (ESV)

“And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

So I think that’s the “big idea” of Psalm 54—that David had confidence in God even while he was busy escaping from his enemies. So what I want you to see here this morning, and what I want you to take away from David’s words here is that

When it all FALLS APART, God’s FAITHFULNESS remains

Even when you can’t trust in your family, your friends, your government, your plans and preparations for the future, you can still trust in God. When everything else falls apart, you can still have confidence in Him, because His faithfulness remains!

I want us to look at David’s reaction here when his plans for his safety and escape from Saul fell apart. In verses 1-3 he shows us that when everything falls apart

I. You can CALL on God (Psalm 54:1-3)

Psalm 54:1–3 (ESV)

1 O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might. 2 O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth. 3 For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. Selah

The first thought on David’s mind, the first words on his lips, were not a complaint about how unfair it was that his plans fell through, that his kinsmen didn’t provide the security he needed—his first thought was to call on God for help!

“O God, save me by your Name!”—David shows you that you can call on God

To RESCUE you when no one else will (v. 1)

His kinsmen and family members turned their backs on him, the king to whom he had sworn loyalty was trying to kill him, all his attempts to rescue himself had fallen through, but he trusted that God would save him. When no one else would lift a finger to help him, David knew that God would not fail to rescue Him. He says to God, “Save me by Your name”—in other words, “God, You’ve got a reputation to protect!”

It’s what the psalmist who wrote Psalm 115 said:

Psalm 115:1–2 (ESV)

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

David had confidence that God would rescue him when no one else would, because God would not allow His reputation to be called into question—He would not allow onlookers to say that He was unable to deliver His people!

David shows us that you can call on God to rescue you when no one else will, and also that you can call on Him

To PLEAD YOUR CAUSE when no one else will (cf. v. 3)

God saves David for the sake of His Name, and he vindicates David by His might—the word there can have the sense of one who will “champion your cause”. David says in verse 3 that

Psalm 54:3 (ESV)

3 ...strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves...

The men of Ziph and Keliah were from Judah—David’s own kinsmen!—but they treated David as if he were a stranger. David was the king’s man—he had pledged himself to Saul, but Saul treated him as an enemy. There was no one on David’s side; the townspeople would rather turn him over to Saul than risk retaliation. But David knew that even if no one else would defend him, God would. And God would not only defend him, but David knew that God would prove him right in the end!

You can call on God to save you by His Name, to vindicate you by His might, and

To HEAR you when no one else will (v. 2)

David had no one left to ask for help—the cities of the tribe of Judah had turned their backs on him, his friend Jonathan was far away and unable to hear his call. But David knew that even when there was no one else to call on, God would always hear his prayers!

When everything falls apart, when all your plans fall through and everyone you counted on lets you down, you can do what David did in these verses—you can call on God to save you, to plead your cause, to hear you when no one else will! David shows you that you can call on God, and in verses 4-5 he says that

II. You can TRUST in God (Psalm 54:4-5)

Psalm 54:4–5 (ESV)

4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. 5 He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them.

In the first three verses, David expresses his confidence in what God will do for him—do you see? God will help him, God will vindicate him, God will hear him. But here in these verses, David doesn’t just talk about what God will do for him; he sings about who God is for him!

In other words, it’s one thing to say that someone will help you because he “owes you a favor”—it’s another thing entirely to say that someone is your Helper! David says that

God is your HELPER (v. 4)

He doesn’t just respond to David’s cries for help, like some superhero swooping out of the sky and rescuing him before bounding off on his next adventure. No, David is saying that God characterized by helping! He does it all the time for His children—he is an ever-present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46:1). He’s not a random Good Samaritan who helps you change a tire on a dark road somewhere; He is your best friend who is always just a phone call away with a star wrench and a flashlight! David says that you can trust in God because He doesn’t just help—He is your helper!

In the second part of verse 4, David goes on to say that not only is God your helper,

God is your UPHOLDER (v. 4)

Psalm 54:4 (ESV)

4 Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.

David knew that God was his helper, and he also knew that when Saul was pursuing him and trying to kill him that God was the one preserving his life! Not just from time to time, not just once in a while—God is the continuous, unflinching sustainer of David’s life! His every moment, every breath, every beat of his heart and every pulse of the blood through his veins was sustained and kept and governed and given by God Himself! As David sings a couple of pages later in Psalm 56,

Psalm 56:11 (ESV)

11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

God is the One who holds the days of your life in His hand—He is your upholder, and no earthly power can take your life from Him!

You can be confident that God is your helper, He is your upholder—and, in verse 5, that

God will WORK JUSTICE for you (v. 5)

Psalm 54:5 (ESV)

5 He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them.

Notice here how David links God “returning evil to his enemies” with His faithfulness? Think of that for a moment! We are accustomed to think of God’s faithfulness in terms of His saving us—we have utter confidence that He will save us from our sin:

1 John 1:9 (ESV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But David reminds us here that God’s faithfulness extends also to working justice for us! The steadfast faithful love of YHWH means that He will not allow injustice against you to stand! David had confidence in God’s faithfulness, that He would see and remember what David’s tribesmen had done to him, and that He would make it right! Not only would God someday make it right, but it would be impossible for God not to make it right, because His steadfast covenant faithfulness is at stake when His children are wronged!

David shows us that when everything falls apart, God’s faithfulness remains—you can call on God, you can trust Him, and

III. You can WORSHIP God (Psalm 54:6-7)

Look at verses 6-7:

Psalm 54:6–7 (ESV)

6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. 7 For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

David is so confident in God’s faithfulness to him, he is so certain that God will hear him and help him that he is already planning on celebrating his deliverance—even while he is still on the run! David shows us in these verses that even while everything around you is falling apart

You can DELIGHT in God’s saving NAME (v. 6)

The “freewill offering” that David sings about here is not a prescribed offering that was required to be performed (like a guilt offering or ascension offering). It was a type of peace offering that was meant to be a symbol of intimacy and fellowship with God—a “just because” offering, if you will. (cf. Leviticus 7:16)

Here is David, currently on the run from Saul’s unreasoning hatred, all his plans for his own safety falling down around him, his own people letting him down, and he’s thinking about bringing a meal to the Tabernacle to share with YHWH! (Notice that this is the first time in the whole psalm that David uses the covenant Name YHWH in his song!)

David shows us that you can have confidence in God’s faithfulness to you, even when everything is falling apart and falling through—you can delight in God’s saving name, and

You can rest in God’s FUTURE GRACE (v. 7)

Even though it wouldn’t be written for thousands of years after David’s time, surely he would have loved the way John Newton expressed it in his hymn;

Through many dangers, toils and snares / I have already come

‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far / And grace will lead me home

All of the grace of God that has kept you so far, Christian, is the same grace that will take you the rest of the way! David was ready to thank God now for the grace that he hadn’t even seen yet! Even while David was running from Saul—David on one side of the mountain and Saul on the other—David was already thanking God for how He was going to deliver him from every trouble, and how his eye was going to look in triumph on his enemies!

There is a beautiful picture here in this story behind Psalm 54—David rejoicing in God’s faithful protection while he hid on the other side of the Rock from his enemies. Christian, what David experienced there in the wilderness of Maon you have every day! Jesus Christ is your Rock! He is the One who placed Himself between you and the wrath of God against your sin, and He is the One who places Himself between you and all of your distress, all your enemies, all your disappointments and failed plans and letdowns from people you trusted!

Church, there is no sense in trying to look to legislatures and courts and lawsuits to protect us from the trials coming our way—but we have something far better than a good legal team! We have Jesus our Rock of Escape! He stands between His Church and her enemies, and no weapon fashioned against His church can get past Him!

Christian, when you find that the people that you’ve trusted have let you down, that they cannot (or will not) give you the help that you need, you have something far better! You have your Savior Jesus Christ, who “came to His own, and His own received Him not” ( John 1:11). He was abandoned by His people, but you have this assurance: He will never abandon you! He is your Rock—He has your back, He is your helper and He is the One who gives you every breath in your lungs and every heartbeat in your chest, and He will keep you until the very end! You can call on Him to hear you and defend you and help you!

Maybe you’re here today and you’ve just come out of a week when everything has fallen apart around you and you’ve been let down by people you needed help from. God’s Word calls you to call on God, trust Him, and worship Him today. But the power to do that does not come from inside you—it comes by the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in you as you have come to Jesus Christ as your Savior. It is impossible for someone to rejoice in God in the middle of their troubles unless they have been born again by faith.

You can’t fake that kind of joy; you can’t manufacture it—it can only come as you have come to Him in repentance and faith in His death, burial and resurrection for your deliverance from your sin. If He is not the Rock of Escape from God’s wrath against your sin, He can never be your Rock of Escape from any of the other dangers, toils or snares in your life. If you’re not sure where you stand in your relationship to Jesus this morning, please come talk to me or one of the elders after the service; we’d love nothing more than to help you make sure that Jesus really is your Rock of Escape today.

No matter what storms or trials or disappointments or stresses are coming your way this week, you can not only call on God to hear you, you can trust in Him to defend you, bring justice for you and uphold you by His mighty right hand—so worship Him according to His steadfast promises to you; promises sealed with the blood of your Savior and Rock, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Jude 24–25 (ESV)

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Read through 1 Samuel 23:15-29 again. How does reading about David’s circumstances when he composed Psalm 54 help you see the ways that you can apply this psalm to your life?

Think of a time when you were let down by people that you should have been able to count on. Why can a Christian count on God to save them even when no one else will? Read the first half of Psalm 54:1 again for a clue.

What is the difference between someone who helps you, and someone who is your helper? How does that distinction give David confidence in God when everyone else has let him down?

Psalm 54 is seven verses long—starting today with verse 1, spend some time each day memorizing another verse of Psalm 54. You can have this whole psalm memorized by Saturday, and can spend this week meditating on the ways that Jesus is your Rock of Escape!