Again, the psalmist expresses the full range of human emotion, sentiment, and prayers that can only truly be answered by divine, compassion, power, propitiation and absorption of reflexive wrath – wrath that boomerangs from God and back upon Himself. As offenders, we cannot bear it. As victims, we cannot be satisfied with what can be afflicted upon our enemies, nor healed by their suffering. God knows that and listens to us, answering more and less than what we ask – yet answering perfectly. The prayer may not reflect every beat of the heart of God, but it does reflect the heartbeat of humanity that is loved by God and God hears it patiently and affirmatively. The component that always brings it dead center is the reaffirmation of faith and the faith displayed by praying it in the first place. While we may be disappointed that God does not share our delight in the idea of the destruction of our enemies, He does understand our anger and pain and meets us in the midst of it to heal us and restore us.
To label the stanzas:
* God gives ear to our prayer.
* God knows our anguish.
* God frustrates the attempts of our enemies to destroy us.
* God shares our feelings of betrayal.
* We call to God and He saves us.
* Humans let us down.
* God never lets us down. We can cast every burden on Him.
* Everything will, ultimately, be made right. Trust God.
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"Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.''
''My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.”'
''Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they go around it
on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
do not depart from its marketplace.''
''For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God's house we walked in the throng.
Let death steal over them;
let them go down to Sheol alive;
for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.''
''But I call to God,
and the LORD will save me.
Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
He redeems my soul in safety
from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.
God will give ear and humble them,
he who is enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not change
and do not fear God.''
''My companion stretched out his hand against his friends;
he violated his covenant.
His speech was smooth as butter,
yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.''
''Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.''
''But you, O God, will cast them down
into the pit of destruction;
men of blood and treachery
shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.''
(Psalm 55 ESV)
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