David's Prayer

Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,

The world was rocked by more than an explosion this week when terrorists carried out their well orchestrated attack on New York City and Washington, DC, on Tuesday, September 11. The media called it an Attack on the USA; President Bush called it an attack on freedom. Whatever one calls it, this horrific event rivetted our attention on this frightening display of devastation. In a callous attack, first by hijacking four planes and then by flying two of these planes into the two tallest skyscrapers on the Manhattan skyline and a third one into Washington’s Pentagon, the terrorists killed thousands of innocent people whom they used as pawns for their evil cause.

While the authorities are trying to unravel the logistics behind this attack, and are putting the pieces of the puzzle together, a shaken world is trying to regroup and get back to normal. Many prayers were raised to God and the prayer we want to raise today is the prayer David prayed long ago and is recorded in Psalm 140: “Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men; protect me from men of violence”

But does it make sense for us to pray this prayer of David? Where was God when this despicable and cowardly attack took place? Is God really in control? And so, the world was rocked by more than an explosion. The world is also rocked by the question: Does God care?

I am sure that David also must have seen and heard things in his life that could have shaken people’s faith and trust in God. But no lack of confidence is found in Psalm 140. In fact, after he has prayed God to rescue him from men of violence, he confirms his confidence in God: “O Lord, I say to you, “You are my God” (6), and then he prays God not to grant the wicked their desire and not to let their plans succeed.

Let us listen together to God’s Word about

David’s prayer for deliverance from unscrupulous enemies

1. David began his psalm with a cry for help. Evil and violent men were making his life miserable. But he went with his needs to the right source. He knew where to go for protection. He went to the Lord and sought solutions for life’s difficulties from his Lord.

What gave him such confidence that the Lord us a strong deliverer? There can only be one answer to that question, and that is faith. David had an unshaken trust in the Lord because he truly knew his God. His faith was not only a sure knowledge but also a firm confidence that all God’s promises or help and deliverance are true.

Now, if David already knew God as his source of help on whom he can rely, how much more should we! For we know the Lord God in and through the redeeming work of his Son Jesus Christ. In our Saviour, God has truly shown himself to be the ultimate Rescuer and Deliverer of his people.

David prayed for God’s mercy. But many people struggle with the question whether God is merciful. How can an almighty God allow innocent people to suffer and die? How can he allow four planes to be hijacked and let three of them to be flown into buildings where tens of thousands of people were at that moment. The death toll is far from complete, but 30,000 body bags are kept ready. How can God let such evil happen? Why did he not prevent it from happening? The pressing question is: If God is good, why does he allow evil? If God is almighty, why does he not make an end to war and terrorism?

If we look strictly at the questions people ask, we will never find the right answers for them. But if we look at Scripture, then answers begin to come. The prophet Jeremiah, e.g., says that the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure (17:9). And in his second letter to the Thessalonians Paul writes about the man of lawlessness who is at work in this world (2:3-12).

Some theologians offer another solution to the questions why God does not prevent evil from happening. God is seen as one who is not in control of all things. Instead, they say, it appears from what is happening in the world that God himself is a victim of circumstances. He is caught up in the events as they unfold. And in these events not only people suffer; God suffers with them. And so the conclusion must be that a God who himself suffers from the events in the world, is really unable to stop suffering from happening.

But if that is so, is there then ever good reason to look to God for help? Why, then, should people be asked to pray for families of the victims and for the nation?

Thus we see how far modern thinking has strayed from trying to understand God biblically. David cried for mercy because he saw the sin of man as the underlying cause of evil in men and in the world. While David pointed to the sinful heart as the cause for evil and that we all need God’s mercy, today the evil in the world is basically investigated and evaluated in terms of God’s ability and might. God is no longer Sovereign, but someone who has lost control.

However, let us learn our lesson from David. He did not think of God as someone who had lost control, but as the only one who can be his protector. Rescue me, he prayed. When some-one needs to be rescued it means he cannot get out of his predicament on his own. And is that not true, especially when it come to evil plans that others plot.

Evil is plotted in secret. David calls it hiding a snare and setting a trap. Hiding a snare and setting a trap is like making plans for an attack on unsuspecting people. Whether it is evil done with words of poisonous slander, as David relates, or whether it is evil done by terrorists with weapons or planes, the end result can be deadly. And sometimes slander and terrorism come together. Militant rhetoric often is transformed into deadly acts.

As to the question why God lets certain tragic events happen, we have no answer that will satisfy our reasoning. But from a biblical perspective—which calls the hear incurably deceitful and speaks of the man of lawlessness at work—from that biblical perspective it becomes clear that a world without God becomes a hopeless place. And if these acts against humanity were perpetrated by religious zeal, it is a zeal that is misplaced and horrifying. What the world needs is a return to God in Christ.

It was rather striking that at the memorial service held in Ottawa on Friday, God’s name was not mentioned even once. In fact, there was no reference to religion or faith at all, even though the leadership of this nation had asked people to pray. How different it was in the service held in Washington, DC. God’s name was freely called upon, and prayers were raised up to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And rightly so, for that is where we must go in order to get reaffirmation of the faith in hurting and troublesome times like this. We need to turn to God for help and direction. That is what David did. He began with a cry for help but he concluded the psalm by stating his conviction of faith: Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright will live before you. Praising God’s name is the task of the righteous. There was no prayer to God in Ottawa, let alone praise of his holy name.

The fact that we so often ask why God allows this or that to happen is because we all too often have a too narrow view of Scripture. We tend to see the Bible as being exclusively a text book about personal salvation. We brows through its pages, and as soon as we read about salvation in Jesus Christ we are satisfied. Of course our personal salvation is one of the central themes in the Bible. But it is by no means the only theme. The work of God in Jesus Christ has its effect on all of life. He came to save; but he will also come to judge.

Listen to what David affirms in the vv. 9-13, but especially verse 12: :I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.” He will uphold justice by being the judge of all the nations, people, and evil powers that ignore him. Therefore the Bible puts our questions about God and our life with God into a larger context than personal salvation only.

What we learn from David’s prayer is not that God has lost control but rather that he is Sovereign.

David was sure that God would not grant the wicked their desire even though he allows terrible events in life to happen. Tragic and horrible events happen for reasons unknown to us which make us ask: Why this carnage? Why this hate? I don’t have answer that will satisfy reason or relentless questioning. And yet there is a biblical purpose: God uses even terrible events to make people aware of him.

Billy Graham, in his sermon to the American people, was talking about rebuilding the faith of the nation on the ruins of this week’s tragedy. I hope that many Canadians listened because our nation’s faith needs to be rebuilt as well. This tragedy was not just a wake-up call for people south of the border, but also for Canadians and the whole world. And in that way this tragedy can be used by God as a blessing. If it turns the hearts and minds of people to him, then God has rescued many in a special way. He has rescued them from the greatest devastation that can come upon anyone, and that devastation is eternal death.

Therefore what happened in Washington, DC, and New York City this week must serve as an alarm bell that sounds across the world to call people back to God. And we all need to realize that the Sovereign Lord does not stop to consult you or me on what he should do or how he should act. God can even use evil powers for his own purpose.

Psalm 140 reminds us to keep in mind God’s Sovereignty. As the dramatic scenes unfolded before the eyes of millions of people, many invoked the name of God. The President and the Prime Minister asked people to pray for the victims and their families. And many did, as all of us have done in our family prayers, I am sure, and as we will also do in this service.

And that raises the question: Will this tragedy also make people pause and think and turn to God? Or will the many prayers dissolve and disappear with the rubble that is being cleared? Our society is economy driven and so little religiously guided. Will this terrible tragedy make everyone realize that the economic powers that drive the world can be stopped in an instant and that the fall-out is long lasting in terms of personal loss and hurt as well as in economic impact?

Yes, God still gives people opportunity to return to him. God gives all the witnesses to this tragedy the opportunity to live truly as people who not only know of God, but especially as Christians who expect and seek all things from his Fatherly hand. And so this psalm points us all to the need to encourage each other to remain steadfast in the faith and to a turning to God.

For the Lord God does not close his eyes and ears to wickedness and evil. Just the opposite. God sees and hears and will punish it. David is so convinced that he says: “I know that the Lord secures the justice of the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.” And then we do not have to think exclusively of those who are financially poor and needy, but in the context of this psalm we can think of anyone who needs God’s rescuing hand.

David prayed God not to grant the wicked their desire and not to let their plans succeed lest they become proud. What a powerful prayer this is in light of what has happened.

A daring and proud display of defiance and brutality has shaken the world. Perhaps God will secure justice in the coming weeks through a declared war on terrorism. But it won’t be a pretty sight, and it won’t be a bloodless event. For as long as the incurably deceitful hearts of men continue to plot, there will be no lasting peace.

Why then our prayer for justice to our Sovereign Lord? So that you and I will praise God’s name. David understood that whoever lives in the right relationship with God, who loves God from the heart and wants to serve him with all his might, that person has life in the true sense of the word.

Psalm 140 reminds us about the necessity to have faith in order to weather life’s tragedies. David’s conviction that the upright will live before God is the good news that frees us from the frightening powers and effect of evil around us. It helps us focus on God’s sovereignty and his ability to deliver us from evil.

That is the riches of this psalm. David’s prayer for help put life in the proper perspective. It provides us with renewed hope and confidence in God. For this psalm reminds us that the Bible really is the book of light and joy; it is the book of life. It is God’s revelation from which radiates the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.

Do you have this peace of God, my brs/srs? We do not have to ask what the ongoing evil and violence around us means. It means that the deceitful heart is very busy. It also means that we need to listen to the footsteps of the Sovereign Lord who is on the way. Are you at peace with his coming? Are you ready?

More than 50,000 people went to their daily jobs in the World Trade Center or the Pentagon on Tuesday. Others boarded aeroplanes. None of them thought of life being snuffed out that day. How many are gone? And were they ready to meet their Maker? Are you ready?

Faith in the Sovereign Lord is the only way by which we can make some sense of God’s ways. Therefore faith is the only trustworthy companion that helps us in and through life. Because faith takes God at his word and rests upon his promises of deliverance and justice we have in Christ.

Faith looks to God as the only source who has the real answers to our questions. Through faith believers trust God and are at peace with God and the way the Sovereign God rules and guides the world.

In that faith we can pray with David: Rescue us from evil men; protect us from men of violence. And, like David, it must be a faith that has unshaken confidence that God secures justice for all.

Then our many questions about God’s dealings will make way for the conviction: “Surely the righteous will praise your name and the upright will live before you,” so that we affirm with David in another Psalm:

Through this week’s tragedy God has arisen and sent his wake-up call into the world.

And we pray: Lord, show those who sow terror that they are but men before you. And keep on showing us and the world that you are the Sovereign Lord who has not lost control, but that you are our great deliverer in Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead.