A Study by Scott Sperling Psalm 56 - In God I Trust   For the director of music.  To [the tune of] “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” Of David.  A miktam.  When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.   1 Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. 2 My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.   3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?   5 All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. 6 They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life. 7 On no account let them escape; in Your anger, O God, bring down the nations.   8 Record my lament; list my tears on Your scroll— are they not in Your record? 9 Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.   10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise— 11 In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?   12 I am under vows to You, O God; I will present my thank offerings to You. 13 For You have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. The occasion of this psalm was when “the Philistines had seized [David] in Gath.”  This most likely refers to the episode in I Sam. 21:10ff, when David pretended to be insane in order to escape the king of Gath.  David found himself in Gath when he was fleeing from Saul, who was himself trying to kill David.  So David found himself facing trial after trial. “When once God’s children are entered on their trials, they meet with new and unexpected difficulties, as David here flying from one enemy, falls into the hands of another” [Dickson, 334]. In this psalm, David picks up where the previous psalm left off.  Speaking to the Lord, David ended the previous psalm with:  “But as for me, I trust in You”  (Ps. 55:23).  As we will see, though facing trial after trial in this psalm, David sounds the refrain:  “In God I trust.” David begins his call for help with a cry for mercy:  “Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack.  My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride” (vss. 1-2).  David’s cry for mercy was both a general and specific cry.  In general, David sins, as we all sin, and so he was in need of God’s mercy.  Specifically in this situation, David himself unwisely fled to the land of his enemies, and so, David himself was in good part to blame for the trouble he was facing, so he asked for mercy. David prays to the Almighty God, for help facing mortal men, as he says:  “Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me.”  David highlights in his juxtaposition of the words “God” and “men” the great differences in the powers of the two.  When one has God on his side, as David points out a little later, “What can mortal man do to me?” (vs. 4). “It is idle to indulge engrossing fears of puny mortals” [Plumer, 591].  Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught us not to fear mortal man.  He said:  “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matt. 10:28). “We never act more unwisely than when we succumb to apprehensions arising from man’s wisdom or power.   Until our foes can cope with the Almighty, can ‘confront omnipotence’, or ‘check the stream of the divine benignity’, or ‘oppose the artillery of the skies’, a righteous man, having a righteous cause, has no ground of alarm” [Plumer, 591]. “As we must not trust to an arm of flesh, when it is engaged for us, so we must not be afraid of an arm of flesh, when it is stretched out against us” [Henry, cited in Plumer, 591]. The realization of God’s Almighty power is a great catalyst for faith.  David is confident God will come through for him:  “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.  In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid” (vss. 3-4).  This, as we have mentioned, is the refrain of the psalm, and in fact, the theme of the psalm:  Trust in God to save us from evil, mortal men.  For David, fear leads him to God:  “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.”  David’s confidence in God is based on his knowledge of God’s past deliverances, as documented in the Word of God.  So David says,  “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust.”  In praising God’s word, there is probably a reference also to the prophecy given to David by Samuel that David would accede to the throne (see I Sam. 16).  The Philistines could not kill David without nullifying God’s prophecy, and so, David knew that he would escape, for God’s word is true.  David’s trust in God ends up dissolving his fear:  “In God I trust; I will not be afraid.” David’s enemies worked hard at their evil:  “All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me.  They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to t`ake my life” (vss. 5-6).  For their hard- working evil, David wants God to bring them to account:  “On no account let them escape; in Your anger, O God, bring down the nations” (vs. 7).  David expresses the pain he feels, hoping God’s empathy will cause Him to act on David’s behalf:  “Record my lament; list my tears on Your scroll—are they not in Your record?”  David looks for a sign that his prayer is being answered:  “Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help.  By this I will know that God is for me” (vs. 9). David then returns to his refrain of trust in God, with praise, in the midst of his fear:  “In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise—In God I trust; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?”  (vss. 10-11). “As often as we are tempted, we must again and again profess and confirm our hope and confidence in Jehovah” [Plumer, on vs. 11]. This time, David uses two names of God when praising Him:  “God” (or “Elohim” in Hebrew); and “the Lord” (or “Jehovah” in Hebrew). “The first word, Elohim, is a name belonging to God as a judge; the second word, Jehovah, is a name of mercy.  I will praise God whether He deal with me in a way of justice or in a way of mercy, when He hath thunder in His voice, as well as when He hath honey under His tongue” [Charnock, cited in Spurgeon on vs. 10]. David finally sees his deliverance from trouble:  “I am under vows to You, O God; I will present my thank offerings to You.  For You have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (vss. 12-13).  Whether David is seeing here his deliverance by faith before it happens, or whether these words were written in retrospect after his deliverance, we cannot tell here.  Whatever the case, David plans to fulfill the obligation of vows he made to God when he was in trouble.  In our desperation, we are inclined to make vows to God, saying, “Oh Lord, if you get me out of this, I’ll do such and such…”  We must be careful when we make such vows, for we are under a definite obligation to fulfill them.  And indeed, we should cheerfully fulfill them, as we enjoy life without our affliction, “walking before God in the light of life.”   ----------- Bibliography and Suggested Reading Alexander,     Joseph     Addison.     The     Psalms     Translated     and Explained .  Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot, 1864.  Anonymous.        A    Plain    Commentary    on    the    Book    of    Psalms . Philadelphia:  Henry Hooker and Co., 1857. Barnes,    Albert.        Notes    on    the    Book    of    Psalms .        New    York:      Harper & Brothers Publishing, 1871. Bonar,   Andrew.   Christ   and   His   Church   in   the   Book   of   Psalms .     New York:  Robert Carter & Brothers, 1860. Calvin,   John.      A   Commentary   on   the   Book   of   Psalms .      3   Vols.     Oxford:   D.   A.   Talboys,   1840.   (Originally   published   in   Latin in 1557).  Clarke,   Adam.   The   Holy   Bible   with   a   Commentary   and   Critical Notes .        Vol.    III.        London:        William    Tegg    &    Co.,    1854.      (Originally published in 1831).  Cowles,   Henry.      The   Psalms   with   Notes,   Critical,   Explanatory and Practical .  New York:  D. Appleton & Co., 1872. Darby,    John    Nelson.        Practical    Reflections    on    the    Psalms .      London:  Robert L. Allan, 1870. Delitzsch,     Franz.          Biblical     Commentary     on     the     Psalms. Edinburgh:        T    &    T    Clark,    1892.    (Originally    published    in 1860). Dickson,   David.   An   Explication   of   the   Other   Fifty   Psalms,   from Ps. 50 to Ps. 100. Cornhill, U.K.:  Ralph Smith, 1653.  Exell,    Joseph    S.    and    Henry    Donald    Spence-Jones,    eds.    The Pulpit   Commentary .   Vols.   17,   18,   &   19.   New   York:   Funk   & Wagnalls Company, 1884.  Hengstenberg,   F.   W.      Commentary   on   the   Psalms .      Edinburgh:     T & T Clark, 1864. Henry,   Matthew.      An   Exposition   of   All   the   Books   of   the   Old   and New     Testament .          Vol.     II.          London:     W.     Baynes,     1806. (Originally published in 1710). Horne,   George.   A   Commentary   on   the   Book   of   Psalms.       New York:  Robert Carter & Brothers, 1854. Jamieson,     Robert;     Fausset,     A.     R.;     Brown,     David.          A Commentary:   Critical,   Experimental,   and   Practical   on   the   Old and   New   Testaments.       Glasgow:      William   Collins,   Queen’s Printer, 1863. Kidner,    Derek.    Psalms     (in    2    Vols.).    Downers    Grove,    IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008 (first published in 1975). Kirkpatrick,   A.    F.    The    Book    of    Psalms    with    Introduction    and Notes    –    Books    II    and    III     (from    The    Cambridge    Bible    for Schools    and    Colleges).    Cambridge,    UK:    University    Press, 1895. Lange,   John   Peter,   ed.   and   Philip   Schaff,   trans.      A   Commentary on    the    Holy    Scriptures:    Critical,    Doctrinal,    and    Homiletical .      New York:  Charles Scribner & Co., 1865.  Maclaren,    Alexander.    The    Psalms     (in    3    Vols.,    from    The Expositor’s    Bible,    ed.    by    W.    R.    Nicoll).    New    York:   A.    C. Armstrong and Son, 1901. Perowne,   J.   J.   Stewart.      The   Book   of   Psalms:      A   New   Translation with Explanatory Notes .  London:  George Bell & Sons, 1880. Plumer,   William   S.      Studies   in   the   Book   of   Psalms .      Philadelphia:     J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1872. Scott,   Thomas.   Commentary   on   the   Holy   Bible ,   Vol.   III.   London: James Nisbet, 1866. Spurgeon,   Charles.      The   Treasury   of   David .      6   Vols.      London: Marshall Brothers, Ltd., 1885. Tholuck,   Augustus.      A   Translation   and   Commentary   of   the   Book of Psalms .  Philadelphia:  Martien, 1858. Trapp,   John.      A   Commentary   on   the   Old   and   New   Testaments . Vol.   II   (Ezra   to   Psalms).      Edmonton,   Canada:   Still   Waters Revival    Books    (www.PuritanDownloads.com).    (Originally published c. 1660). VanGemeren,   Willem A.,   (Gaebelein,   Frank   E.,   ed).      Expositor’s Bible   Commentary ,   Vol.   5   –   Psalms   to   Song   of   Songs.      Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan, 1991. -- Most    of    these    books    (those    in    the    public    domain)    can    be downloaded,    free    of    charge,    from    the    Classic    Christian Library,  at: http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com