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Psalm 55:16-18  As for me, I call to God and the LORD saves me.  Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.  He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.

In this Psalm we see the esteemed Conquering King, David, in great distress because of the threat of active opposition within his own ranks.  He is so distressed by this situation that he feels tempted to take the course of action that Elijah took because of Jezebel’s threats after his victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel: to ‘flee like a dove’ to “[his] place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm” (verses 6-8)!

His own emotional state is exposed in verses 12-14, “If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshippers.” Perhaps he was also dealing with his own troubled conscience because of how he had treated his own ‘equal’, ‘companion’ and ‘close friend’, Uriah the Hittite, after he had committed adultery with his wife, Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11).

Realising the desperate nature of his present distress, he resorted to prayer  Over many years, and in many ways, the LORD had already proven to David that he was a God who faithfully hears and answers prayer and a God who saves.  His present ‘battle’ was really no different from the physical challenges of war.

David’s prayer battle in this Psalm also anticipates the prayer battle his ‘greater Son’, the Lord Jesus Christ would have in the Garden of Gethsemane as his erstwhile ‘close friend and companion’ with whom he had ‘enjoyed sweet fellowship’, Judas, approached to betray him to his death.

As we feel the pressure of the spiritual battle we are facing as we see our own culture become more actively opposed to God and the wonderful message of salvation he has commissioned us to proclaim, a message that he said would be rejected, and result in ridicule, persecution and death, are we following David’s lead, trusting in the Risen Ascended Lord Jesus Christ who saves, resisting the ‘Elijah’ option to flee to ‘a place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm,’ and instead, resolutely committing ourselves, personally and corporately, to calling out to him in prayer, ‘evening morning and noon’? 

– Bruce Christian