Psalm 54

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”

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
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.
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.

“In a world of violence and cruelty, it is hard to be confident that God will make it right. This psalm invites each reader to affirm its words and to share in the confidence of the one praying. The psalm opens with cries lifted to God’s character—the power of God’s name and the belief that God will judge the world and make it right. The psalm ends with more confidence that God will do exactly as God has done in the past. The last line, which may be unsettling, reminds us of God’s care of the least of the world and how Jesus promises to lift the lowly and humble the haughty. There are many powers in this world that try to thwart the purposes of God’s kingdom of justice, and those same powers have taught Christians to be docile and polite because Jesus loved his enemies. Yet Christians throughout the centuries have risen up against those powers for the very sake of God’s kingdom. Justice may be delayed, but justice is the end result. Those who live to harm others will eventually have to face up to how they have chosen to live their lives.”—Beth Tanner