Psalms 55:16 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, David stays fixed in his resolve to call on God, sure that he will not seek God in vain (Psalm 55:16). “As for me,” he says, “let others take whatever path they choose to protect themselves. Let violence and conflict be their defense. Prayer will be mine.” This was his comfort, and he meant to keep to it: “I will call on God and trust myself to him, and the Lord will save me.” All who call on the name of the Lord rightly will be saved (Romans 10:13).

He also resolves to pray with both zeal and regularity. He will pray earnestly, saying, “I will pray and cry aloud.” The word can also mean “I will meditate.” In other words, he will speak to his own heart first, and the prayer will rise from deep within. We pray rightly when we pray with all that is in us, thinking first and then turning our thoughts into prayer, because true prayer lifts the heart up to God.

After meditating, he will cry out, and cry aloud. The strength of his spirit in prayer will be shown in the strength of his voice. He also means to pray often, every day, three times a day, in the evening, morning, and at noon. It is likely this had been his regular habit, and now he means to continue it in distress. We can come more boldly to God in trouble when we already know him well through steady prayer, instead of only beginning to seek him when danger comes. Then prayer is already moving, like wheels that are in motion.

Those who think three meals a day are little enough for the body should much more think three serious prayers a day are little enough for the soul. We should count prayer a joy, not a burden. As it is right to begin the day with God and end it with him, it is also right to stop in the middle of the day and speak with him. Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10), and noon was one of Peter’s times for prayer (Acts 10:9). Let us not grow tired of praying often, for God never grows tired of hearing.

He says that God will hear his voice and will not blame him for coming too often. The more often he comes, the more welcome he will be.

David is also confident that God will answer his prayers with peace in due time. He will himself be delivered, and his fears will be quieted. The fears that had shaken him so badly before, as seen in Psalm 55:4-5, are now silenced by faith, and he begins to rejoice in hope (Psalm 55:18). “God has delivered my soul in peace,” means that God will deliver it. David is as sure of it as if it had already happened.

His enemies were at war with him, and the fight was against him, yet God would bring him out in peace. That is, he would be brought through with comfort, as if he had never been in danger. If he was not delivered by outward victory, he was still delivered in inward peace. God preserved his soul in peace, and by patience and holy joy in God he held on to that peace.

Those are safe and at ease whose hearts and minds are kept by God’s peace, which goes beyond all understanding (Philippians 4:7). When David was frightened, he thought everyone was against him. Now he sees that many were with him, more than he had expected. He gives God the glory for that, because God raises up friends when we need them and keeps them faithful to us. Though his subjects deserted him and turned to Absalom, David still had God with him, along with the holy angels.

With eyes of faith, he now sees himself surrounded, as Elisha was, with chariots and horses of fire (2 Kings 6:16-17). So he can say, “There are many with me, more with me than against me.” David’s faith let him see what fear had hidden from him.

David then turns to the fate of his enemies. They had threatened him, but he now speaks in a way that should make them tremble. They had no true way to ease their fears, as he did through faith in God.

He describes their character as the reason he expects God to bring them down. First, they are godless and show no reverence for God, his authority, or his wrath (Psalm 55:19). “Because they have no changes,” meaning no hard times, no breaks in their steady prosperity, and no losses to humble them, “therefore they fear not God.” They live in constant neglect and contempt of God and religion, and that is the root of their wickedness. It also marks them out for destruction.

Second, they are treacherous and false. They cannot be held by the most sacred promises (Psalm 55:20). “He has put forth his hand against those who are at peace with him,” that is, against people who never provoked him and gave him no reason to quarrel. In fact, he had given them every reason to expect kindness from him. He has broken his covenant with God and with man, and such betrayal makes a person ripe for ruin.

Third, they are base and hypocritical, pretending friendship while planning harm (Psalm 55:21). “The words of his mouth” may point especially to Ahithophel, David’s counselor who betrayed him. His words were smoother than butter and softer than oil. He was polite, pleasing, and full of promises of respect and help. Yet war was in his heart, and all that friendliness was only a trick of war. His words were like drawn swords, meant to stab.

They smile in a man’s face while cutting his throat, like Joab, David’s commander, who kissed and killed. Satan is like that too, flattering people into ruin. When he speaks kindly, do not trust him.

David also foretells their ruin. God will afflict them and bring them into hardship and fear, giving trouble back to those who have troubled his people. This will be in answer to the prayers of the saints. God will hear the cries of the oppressed and strike terror into their oppressors, even he who lives from of old, who is God forever and ever, and who has ruled as Judge from the beginning of time. Mortal men, however strong they seem, are no match for the eternal God.

The saints have comforted themselves with this truth when the church’s enemies have threatened them. Habakkuk said, “Are you not from everlasting, O Lord?” (Habakkuk 1:12). God will not only afflict them, but bring them down, not just to the dust, but to the pit of destruction (Psalm 55:23), to the bottomless pit called destruction (Job 26:6).

He afflicted them first to see whether that would humble them and lead them to change. But since they were not changed by discipline, he will at last bring them to ruin. Those who are not corrected by the rod of affliction will surely be brought down into the pit of destruction.

They are bloody and deceitful men, the worst kind of people, and so they will not live out half their days. They will not live as long as people usually do, as they might have in the normal course of life, or as they themselves expected. The Lord of life, the righteous Judge, has fixed the length of every person’s life, and he has decided to cut them off in the middle of it.

They were bloody men, and they cut others down, so God will rightly cut them down. They were deceitful men, and they cheated others out of what was due to them, perhaps even half of it. Now God will cut them short, not of what they deserved, but of what they were counting on.

David then encourages himself and all good people to trust God with confidence. He himself resolves to do this: “I will trust in you,” in your care, power, and mercy, and not in my own wisdom, strength, or goodness. When bloody and deceitful men are cut off in the middle of their days, I will still live by faith in you.

He also wants others to do the same: “Cast your burden on the Lord,” whoever you are, and whatever the burden may be. Some read it as, “Cast your gift on the Lord,” meaning, whatever blessings God has given you, commit them to his care, especially the keeping of your soul. Or it may mean, whatever you want God to give you, leave it to him to give it in his own way and at his own time. The Septuagint reads, “Cast your care on the Lord,” and the apostle refers to this in (1 Peter 5:7).

Care is a burden, and it makes the heart bend down (Proverbs 12:25). We must cast it on God by faith and prayer, and commit our way and our work to him. Let him do what seems good to him, and we will be satisfied. To cast our burden on God means to rest on his care and his promise, and to be fully sure that everything will work for good.

If we do this, two things are promised. First, he will sustain us. He will support us and provide for us, carrying us in the strength of his power like a nurse carrying a nursing child. By his Spirit, he will strengthen our hearts so they can bear their weakness. He has not promised to remove at once the trouble that causes our fears, but he will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, and he will give us strength equal to the trial.

Second, he will never allow the righteous to be moved, that is, shaken so badly that they give up their duty to God or their comfort in him. He will not let them be moved forever. Though they may fall, they will not be thrown down completely.