Daily Devotional Sunday 5th March 2023

by William Moody

Psalms 64–65

Hide Me from the Wicked

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

64:1   Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
    preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
  Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
    from the throng of evildoers,
  who whet their tongues like swords,
    who aim bitter words like arrows,
  shooting from ambush at the blameless,
    shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
  They hold fast to their evil purpose;
    they talk of laying snares secretly,
  thinking, “Who can see them?”
    They search out injustice,
  saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”
    For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.
  But God shoots his arrow at them;
    they are wounded suddenly.
  They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;
    all who see them will wag their heads.
  Then all mankind fears;
    they tell what God has brought about
    and ponder what he has done.
10   Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD
    and take refuge in him!
  Let all the upright in heart exult!

O God of Our Salvation

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

65:1   Praise is due to you,1 O God, in Zion,
    and to you shall vows be performed.
  O you who hear prayer,
    to you shall all flesh come.
  When iniquities prevail against me,
    you atone for our transgressions.
  Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
    to dwell in your courts!
  We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    the holiness of your temple!
  By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
    O God of our salvation,
  the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas;
  the one who by his strength established the mountains,
    being girded with might;
  who stills the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples,
  so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
  You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
  You visit the earth and water it;2
    you greatly enrich it;
  the river of God is full of water;
    you provide their grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
10   You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
  softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
11   You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
12   The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
    the hills gird themselves with joy,
13   the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
    the valleys deck themselves with grain,
    they shout and sing together for joy.

Footnotes

[1] 65:1 Or Praise waits for you in silence
[2] 65:9 Or and make it overflow

(ESV)

Psalm 64 has two parts. There is a cry for help to overcome the wicked (v1-6) and then there is confidence in the victory that the Lord secures (v7-10). In our praying we need to bring our concerns before the Lord, but our praying needs to move from asking to faith in the Lord and what He can do. In many of David’s Psalms we can see this move from despair to hope as David’s focus moves from the problem to the Lord he is praying to.

Psalm 65 ends with thanksgiving for the blessing of harvest (v9-13). This shows acknowledgment that it is the Lord who provides all that is needed for such a bountiful harvest. We need to see the Lord’s hand at work in all the good things that come into our life and be thankful.

For me the more important part of the Psalm is the first half (v1-8) in which David speaks of great sense of awe at the God of his salvation (v5) and the God of creation (v6-8). What particularly amazes him is that God has so looked down on a lowly man like him, atoned for his sin and brought him near in worship (v3-4).

We need to pray that we always maintain a sense of wonder at our salvation and the amazing privilege of coming into the Lord’s presence. Does this still thrill and excite you? (see Psalm 51 v12).

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.