Psalms 54:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we can notice, first, the great distress David was in, which the title explains. The Ziphites came on their own and told Saul where David was, promising to hand him over. One might have thought David would be safe in the country, hidden in the wilderness, and protected in his own land, but he was betrayed there too. A good person should never expect full safety and ease until heaven. How treacherous and eager these Ziphites were! It is a comfort that God is faithful, because people are not to be trusted (Micah 7:5).

Second, David prayed to God for help and rescue (Psalms 54:1, 2). He appeals to God’s strength, because only God was able to help him, and to God’s name, because God had bound himself to protect him. He asks God to save him from his enemies and to judge him, meaning to defend his cause and decide for him. David had no other plea than God’s name and no other power than God’s strength, and he made both his refuge and confidence.

This would be the answer to his prayers (Psalms 54:2). Even while fleeing, when he could not always give God careful, formal prayer, he kept lifting his heart to heaven. “Hear my prayer,” he says, meaning prayer that comes from the heart, “and listen to the words of my mouth.”

Third, David gives his reason, and it comes from the character of his enemies (Psalms 54:3). They are strangers, as the Ziphites showed themselves to be, unworthy of the name of Israelites. They treated David more basely and harshly than the Philistines would have done. The worst treatment often comes from people who have broken the bonds of family, friendship, or loyalty and have made themselves strangers.

They are also oppressors, like Saul, who as king should have used his power to protect good subjects, but instead used it to destroy them. Nothing is more painful than oppression in the place where justice should be found (Ecclesiastes 3:16). Paul had his greatest dangers from his own countrymen and from false brothers (2 Corinthians 11:26), and David faced the same kind of trouble.

They were also very dangerous and threatening. They did not only hate him and wish him harm, they rose up together against him and joined their strength to hurt him. They were full of malice too. They sought his soul, they hunted for his precious life, and nothing less would satisfy them. In faith, we may pray that God would not let such cruel and bloody people succeed, so that it would not seem as if he approved their actions.

They were also ungodly and practical atheists, and for that reason David thought God was honored to act against them. They have not set God before them, that is, they have cast off all thought of God. They do not remember that God sees them, that in fighting against God’s people they are fighting against God himself, or that such a fight can only end in ruin. From people who do not set God before them, no good can be expected. What evil will they not do? What bonds of nature, friendship, gratitude, or covenant will hold people who have broken through the fear of God? Selah means, mark this. Let us all be sure to set God before us at all times, because if we do not, we are in danger of becoming desperate.