Psalm 35

Psalm 35 (NCV)
v. 22-23: “Lord, You have been watching. Do not keep quiet. Lord, do not leave me alone. Wake up! Come and defend me! My God and Lord, fight for me!”

How often do you find yourself in the middle of a set of circumstances that seem to completely overwhelm you, and you don’t understand why they are the way they are? For example, people you treat as friends mistreat you, falsely accuse you, rejoice in seeing you falter or fall, yet you still care for them, pray for them when they are hurting, rejoice when they rejoice and cry when they cry. You find yourself unable to understand why they seem to be flourishing, flaunting their seeming successes at your expense. When they were in trouble you were there for them, helping them through it, yet when you face adversity, not only do they laugh and mock you, they often are part of the cause for that adversity. What would your response be in times like that?
In Psalm 35, that is exactly the situation David has found himself in and is crying out to God for deliverance from. David is feeling overwhelmed by the ferocity of his enemies (whom he treated as friends) and their desire to see him fail and fall. He describes them as desiring to see him shamed, ruined, he even calls them ravenous lions in their desire to see him torn apart, ripped to shreds. Their enjoyment at his trials baffles him, especially in light of how he cared for them when they were suffering, even praying and fasting for their relief from their troubles. What was his response to the treatment of these people? Did he call for their total and complete destruction for what they had done to him?
Actually, his cry was for God to come and fight for him on his behalf. He asked God to shame those who sought to shame him, ruin for those who sought to ruin him, for God to repay them for the evil they had done to him when he had done them good. David sought deliverance, salvation, from these enemies. Here’s what he didn’t do. He didn’t say, “God, I’m going after them for the way they’ve treated me. Go with me, fight with me, help me destroy them for how they have tried to destroy me.” David doesn’t go to God for vindication. He goes for deliverance. He goes to God and asks God to do all the fighting, all the delivering.
David knew that it would do no good for him to seek to solve the problem. By himself, he could accomplish nothing. However, he also knew that God cared for him and was more than capable of interceding on his behalf. So, rather than acting aggressively, he humbly cries out to God for help and salvation. He knew that God not only was able, but that by allowing God to do the fighting, two things would happen. First, the problem would be resolved totally and completely. Second, that by allowing God to fight his battles, God would receive all the glory for the victory. Throughout the psalm, David speaks of telling everyone of the greatness of God, of singing His praises to everyone around him. He knew that if his enemies defeated him, it would be more than just a personal defeat for him, but that his enemies would boast that they had defeated his God as well. David did not want that. He wanted God’s praises to be sung for and wide by all his friends, those who served his God with him and who would rejoice when God worked in their midst. Verses 27-28 close the psalm with this proclamation: “May my friends sing and shout for joy. May they always say, ‘Praise the greatness of the Lord, who loves to see his servants do well.’ I will tell of your goodness and will praise you every day.”
How does this apply to thoughts of worship? God desires to fight our battles for us. He knows that were we to fight on our own we would be defeated every time. He also knows that He is more than capable of winning every battle we will ever face. When we face a trial or problem, what solution gives God the greatest amount of glory, our slugging our way through, perhaps winning but completely worn down by the process, or if we were to go to God for deliverance, putting our trust in Him to fight the battle, then we carry on with our lives, giving Him all the praise and glory? David’s thought was for the greatness of God to be displayed first and foremost by God’s deliverance of him from his enemies. The same should be true for us. We don’t need to be living lives in fear of our circumstances or our enemies. Rather, we turn over the battle to the Lord. Now, before you think we have no responsibilities here, look more closely at David’s actions towards him enemies. He still treated them with the respect of friends. He didn’t rejoice when they were hurting or troubled, he didn’t treat them the way they treated him. Rather, he poured out the love of God toward them. Obviously, by the time David wrote this, he had been under attack for a while, given the amount of complaints against his enemies, yet never does he say that he had tried to attack them. He left the fighting to the Lord. He wanted God’s greatness and goodness to be on display.
Sometimes, living lives of worship means we go through times of great trial or attack, even from those we considered close to us. The worshipper knows, though, that God is his Shield, his Defender, and that living the life he’s been called to live, resting in the confidence of his faith in the Lord, brings the greatest witness, the greatest testimony, the greatest glory to God. So, turn the battle over to the Lord. Focus on giving Him praise and glory. Then you too can echo David’s prayer, “I will tell of your goodness and will praise you every day.”