Psalm 59 - The War of Words

Introduction

We’re working our way through “The Outlaw Years” of David’s psalms this summer—this week’s psalm was written during the events of the passage that we read earlier together in 1 Samuel 19. Saul’s fearful hatred for David began when he killed Goliath, and continued to grow and deepen until the events of this chapter, when Saul sent spies to stake out his house so that they could capture him and take him to Saul to be executed.

And so David, true to form, writes a song about it--

Psalm 59:1–4 (ESV)

1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; 2 deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men. 3 For behold, they lie in wait for my life; fierce men stir up strife against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord, 4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready...

Throughout these “outlaw years” psalms we’ve seen David calling out to God to rescue him from his enemies—enemies who want to kill him. And in several places through these psalms there is a connection David makes between the violence that he is threatened with and the words his enemies speak. To put it another way, David seems to connect their physical threats with their verbal threats. Or again, their words are a form of their violence against him.

We see it in verse 7, when David says that his enemies have “swords in their lips”, and in verse 12 he talks about “the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips”, and “the cursing and lies they utter”. So I think it is clear here in this psalm that David says that the words that his enemies use against him is a form of violence against him—their lies and slanders and cursing are just as much weapons as their swords and javelins and bows..

It’s no different in our day, is it? Words are the primary weapons in the wars that are raging right now in our nation—accusations and charges and slander—bloodthirsty hatred dressed up in words flung back and forth at each other. And just as it did in David’s case, eventually those bloodthirsty words will spill over into bloody violence. Saul’s fearful hatred of David started with accusations and charges against him, and eventually spilled over into actual physical danger to David.

And, sad to say, but that same kind of fearful hatred and slander is beginning to pile up against Christians in the words that are being published right now. Politico.com ran an article on February 4th by Zack Stanton titled “It’s Time To Talk About Violent Christian Extremism” (accessed 8/12/2021), and in May Time.com posted an article by Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry ominously titled “The Growing Anti-Democratic Threat of White Christian Nationalism in the U.S.” (Accessed 8/12/2021). And if you think that those articles have nothing to do with real Christianity, and the authors are only trying to point out some fringe religious aberration while making careful and honest distinctions between that kind of “Christian Nationalism” and your beliefs as a Christian, then you really need to get out more.

And so what are we to do? How do we carry on in the face of slanderous lies that conceal real bloodthirst for violence? All too often our first reaction is to pick up the same weaponized words being used against us and fire right back—meet threats with threats, anger with anger, hate with hate. But as we have seen already, we are not to pick up the same weapons that are being used against us—and this is why David’s example here in Psalm 59 is so important for us today.

Because what we see here in this psalm—that David composed when his house was being surrounded in the night by assassins—is that David did not pick up their weapons against them. He never responded to those threats from his enemies by attacking them—instead, he fought against them by his worship of God’s steadfast faithful protection. And so for us, I want to see that

The war of words is WON with the WEAPON of WORSHIP

And so the first thing I want to do as we go through this psalm is look at the way David describes the attacks against him—let’s look at

I. The WEAPONS of your ENEMIES

Twice in this psalm, in verse 6 and verse 14, David says about his enemies

Psalm 59:6 (ESV)

6 Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city.

As one commentator observed, what David’s enemies lacked in coherence and truth, they made up for in volume! The weapons of your enemies are

INCOHERENT lies (v. 6)

One of the oldest tactics in the book is that if you don’t have the truth on your side, just increase the volume! David says that his enemies surrounding his home were like scavenging dogs that roam the city streets at night—and just about as logical.

When we are confronted with the incoherent lies thrown out against us, we are tempted to yell right back with some embellishments of our own—they lie about us, well, we’ll just throw some accusations right back at them, whether they’re true or not!

But Christian, you don’t have the right to answer lies with lies—the Scriptures tell us in Ephesians 4:14-15 that we are not to be

Ephesians 4:14–15 (ESV)

14 ...children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Your weapons in this war of words are never lies—your only weapon is the truth of Jesus Christ!

The weapons of your enemies are lies—and they are incoherent, senseless lies that can only stick if they are constantly and loudly repeated.

David also describes his enemies’ weapons as being full of

Prideful CARELESSNESS (v. 7)

Look at verse 7:

Psalm 59:7 (ESV)

7 There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips— for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”

Not only are they loud in their lies, but they are shameless in their lies! There is a bizarre disconnect that exists in the enemies of Christ and His Church—a “cognitive dissonance”, if you will, that is simply astounding to see, but completely invisible to the person exhibiting it. The people who say “Love is love” but scream their hatred of you, the people who promote “tolerance” but want to have you tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. They wave their “No Hate Here” signs while giving you the finger—and never once considering how incoherent and senseless they are being! They never think to themselves, “I’m not making any sense here!” They bellow with their mouths with swords in their lips thinking “Nobody will take any notice of how hypocritical we are being!”

But Christian, remember that you do not have the option of being careless or hypocritical or careless with your words, do you? You may not use that weapon in this war of words! Jesus warns you in Matthew 12:36-37:

Matthew 12:36–37 (ESV)

36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Your enemy’s weapons in this war of words are incoherent lies, prideful carelessness, and David goes on to point out that their lies are

Governed by their LUSTS (vv. 14-15)

In verses 14-15, in his description of his enemies like howling dogs, David says

Psalm 59:14–15 (ESV)

14 Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. 15 They wander about for food and growl if they do not get their fill.

Your enemies are governed by their lusts—all of the rage and hatred and bloodthirsty violence they threaten against you comes because they do not want to be denied the satisfaction of their lusts. They want freedom to satiate their desires however and whenever and with whoever they want—and anyone who suggests that God must govern the satisfaction of their desires will be hated and threatened. Like a dog that growls and snaps when its belly is empty, God’s enemies rage when their lusts are denied.

But Christian, you do not have the right to rage in hatred for those who are governed by their lusts in this way. You do not pick up the same weapons used against you in this war of words—the war of words is won by

II The WEAPON of your WORSHIP

As we read through the psalm we see the difference between the words the enemy uses and the words David uses, don’t we? Where the enemy uses weapons made of incoherent lies, David uses

BLAMELESS WORDS before God (vv. 3-4)

in verses 3-4 we read

Psalm 59:3–4 (ESV)

3 ...For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord, 4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready....

David can confidently say that he has not sinned with his life or with his mouth; that the attacks of his enemies are not coming because he has somehow sinned against them or against God. He uses three words for sin here—he is not guilty of transgression (he hasn’t “crossed a line” or sinned by doing something he shouldn’t), he is not guilty of sin (he hasn’t “missed the mark” or sinned by failing to do something he should have done), he is not guilty of fault (his life and heart are not twisted or perverted, there is no uncleanness or iniquity).

His enemies can lie and cheat and blaspheme and curse all they want—but David cannot use those twisted weapons—his words are blameless before God!

And as we look through David’s words here, there’s something else to recognize—he never addresses his enemies directly in this psalm, does he? Instead of directing his words towards his enemies, David uses the words of his mouth for

Calls for DELIVERANCE from God (vv 5, 11-13)

Psalm 59:5 (ESV)

5 You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

David does not threaten or revile his enemies—he leaves it to God to punish them! Look at verses 11-13:

Psalm 59:11–13 (ESV)

11 Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield! 12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, 13 consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah

As tempting as it might be for David to directly threaten his enemies, instead he entrusts God to work His vengeance! David trusts God to deliver him and to bring His judgment in His time on those who seek to destroy David.

As we saw last week, here is another example of an imprecatory psalm—a psalm where we call on God to work vengeance and justice on our enemies—as Paul writes in Romans 12:18-19:

Romans 12:18–19 (ESV)

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

We are called to live in peace with others as much as possible—but we are also taught that when enemies rise against us in the way David describes here it is entirely lawful for us to ask God to work His justice on them—His justice is purer than ours, His mercy is deeper than ours, His grace reaches further than ours, and so we trust Him to work justice and vengeance instead of our own!

David fought the war of words with the weapon of his worship—his words were blameless, he called on God to work vengeance and not himself, and he shows us that the weapon of our words is to be used in

Praising our REFUGE in God (vv. 16-17)

Psalm 59:16–17 (ESV)

16 But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. 17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

David’s enemies had focused all of their energy on destroying him—but David focused all of his energy in worshipping God’s faithfulness! Here is the way that you employ your words in this war, Christian—not by aiming them at your enemies so that they are defeated, but by aiming them toward God so that He will be magnified! When they lob their insults and slanders and threats your way, you turn your back on them and worship God for His faithfulness!

I say that because in the verses immediately before verse 16 David is describing the way his incoherent, savage enemies come prowling for him like ravenous dogs: They come back howling at me, ‘But I will sing of God’s strength!”

This is why we like to say that what we do here on Sunday mornings is an act of war—we are taking up the weapons of our worship to fight against the hateful, incoherent lies of the enemies of God’s people. And we fight not by responding in kind with yelling and threatening and shaking our fists at them—we fight by turning our backs on them and singing of the great steadfast love of God in Jesus Christ to deliver us!

The war of words is won by our weapons of worship—not by picking up the world’s weapons of slander and abuse and hatred and lies. And when we pick up those weapons of worship every week, when we carry them with us day by day, we learn as we sing about

III. The Nature of God’s DELIVERANCE

Scattered through this psalm we see David’s confidence in the way God will work His deliverance from the enemies that threaten him. First, in verse 5 we see that

God will execute PERFECT JUSTICE (v. 5)

Psalm 59:5 (ESV)

5 You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

When God works His justice against all those who are treacherously plotting evil against His people, there will be perfect justice, with no remainder, nothing left over, no wickedness left unpunished, no score unsettled, no vindication incomplete. This is more fuel for your worship, Christian, that God will leave no injustice unrectified! “All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well!” (Julian of Norwich)

And not only so, but David gives you hope here (as we saw last week as well) that

God will let you SEE your TRIUMPH (v. 10)

Psalm 59:10 (ESV)

10 My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Of course, we have that hope that in the Resurrection Day, the Day of Judgment, we will see God’s final, perfect disposition of every last one of His enemies. But here again David seems to hold out hope that even in this life we will see God vindicate His people. It has happened time and again, hasn’t it?

The Hebrew children watched Pharaoh’s chariots be dashed into the sea, Mordecai watched Haman swinging from the gallows meant for him, The armies of Israel watched as David slew the giant who had been slandering and taunting and blaspheming them and YHWH—and in fact, David himself would live to see his enemies here in this psalm defeated, and he would look in triumph over his enemies as he ascended the throne of Israel. And so we may pray and sing with hope in our day that we will someday get to see the enemies currently prowling against us “brought down for the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, trapped in their pride for the cursing and lies that they utter, consumed in His wrath until they are no more!” (vv. 11-13)

But here we must understand how easily our own hearts can slide into sin over this promise: Yes, God says that we can hope to see our enemies defeated here in this life—but we must never take that as an opportunity to gloat or be puffed up in ourselves! We must always remember that, if we see our enemies fall it is not so that we may feel good about ourselves—it is so that

God will get GLORY in their FALL (vv. 11-13)

Verse 13 is crucial for us:

Psalm 59:13 (ESV)

13 consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah

The word selah there is most likely a musical notation reminding the singers to pause, or to take an instrumental interlude. It’s a way of saying “Listen to what was just sung; contemplate the meaning of it, take note.” David wants to make sure that the prospect of the downfall of your enemies is not an occasion for pride in you—it is not a moment for you to glory in! The downfall of your enemies is so that they may know that God rules! That He governs His people, that He governs, in fact, to the ends of the earth!

David’s song here in this psalm—composed while assassins from Saul were hiding in the hedges outside his house!—demonstrate how we are to respond in the war of words we are engaged in. The angry, loud, incoherent and hateful voices clamoring against you, Christian, are not a reason to fear or hide. And they are not a reason to respond with anger, threats and hatred of your own! When you are attacked, you turn your back on those attackers and direct your response to God Himself, the God of steadfast faithful covenant love for you purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ your Savior!

First of all, take these weapons of worship and praise as your personal weapons in the attacks against you. When those inner enemies of fear and doubt and anxiety assail you, growling like a pack of hungry street dogs, you turn your attention to praising God for His faithful protection! Commit verses 16-17 of Psalm 59 to memory—write it out on a postcard and keep it with you like a concealed carry weapon! And whenever those attacks come, you deploy that weapon:

Psalm 59:16–17 (ESV)

16 But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. 17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.

And secondly, Christian, remember that this battle is one that you are meant to fight alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ. We don’t just sing songs in church because it’s an old tradition, we sing because songs are the traditional weapon of the people of God! When attacked by slanderous, hateful enemies who sought to destroy him, David responded with song. And that is why we sing today!

That is why we sing psalms, that is why we sing hymns and spiritual songs—because it is through these songs that we worship God for His steadfast love and faithfulness through Jesus Christ, it is through these songs that we sing of the triumph of Jesus Christ over sin and death and Satan, it is through these songs that we declare the victory of Jesus over our enemies! No soldier worth his salt will stand awkwardly staring down at his rifle during company weapons training—so pick up that hymnal, pick up that psalm sheet and go to war with your enemies like a man.

And when you take up those weapons of worship the way David did here in Psalm 59, when you stand up and sing and add your “Amen” to the psalm and affirm with God’s people the steadfast love and faithfulness of God to you through faith in Jesus Christ, do it in such a way that when the world looks in on us here they will know that God rules over His people here! That they will see and understand that God in His perfect wisdom, power and love will triumph over all His enemies because He has already triumphed over the sin and rebellion in our lives!

Beloved, you know it first-hand, don’t you? That if God could deliver you from sin and bring you into a saving relationship with Him through Jesus, then there is nothing He cannot do! No enemy He cannot defeat! No rebellion or hatred or wickedness He cannot turn into obedient submission and holiness! Because you used to be His enemy, didn’t you? And if He could turn you from His enemy into His child, then He can do the same for them! And so leave vengeance to Him, leave it to Him to consume or deliver, to save or judge, to reconcile or condemn. Pray that He will either defeat your enemies by consuming them until they are no more, or by turning them into your brothers and sisters in Christ—but either way, pray that He will be glorified for His justice, His mercy, and His grace through your Savior Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Read verses 7 and 9 of Psalm 59. Why does David describe his enemies as having “swords in their lips”? A sword is used to cut or divide or separate something—how do we see words being used to cut or divide or separate in our society today? How does David respond to these attacks?

How do enemies of God and His people use words in ways that a Christian may not? Read through Psalm 59 again and take note of all the ways David describes his enemies’ words, and also the way he responds to his enemies. What can you learn from David about how you should use your words?

What does it mean that we should “turn our backs” on the words that attack us and direct our words about our enemies to God? Where are some examples in this psalm of David doing this?

Read verses 5 and 13 again. Why is it so important for our spiritual health to recognize that the defeat of our enemies is meant to bring glory to God? Spend some time praying this week that God would defeat the enemies of His people by overcoming their wickedness with His grace and bringing them to salvation in Jesus!