Psalm 64: Lessons Regarding What Jesus Offers You When Evil People Conspire Against You or Attack You
Introduction: Here, David’s enemies conspired in secret to kill him. David responded by giving his burdens to God. From David’s example, the Bible reveals seven things that Jesus offers you when people conspire against you or attack you. These include: (1) answered prayers, (2) His protection, (3) omniscience, (4) sovereignty, (5) justice, (6) deliverance, and (7) joy / peace.
First, David cried out for God to hear his prayers. When you are attacked, Jesus can answer your prayers when you turn to Him in faith. Second, David lamented to God that evildoers had conspired together to cause him harm. When you are attacked, Jesus also offers you His protection. Third, David stated that the evildoers had deluded themselves into believing that no one would know of their plans against him. When you are attacked, you can take comfort that no evil can escape Jesus’ sight. Fourth, David claimed that his enemies had devised evil plots that would result in injustice if they were to succeed. But David knew that God’s will cannot be thwarted. When you are attacked, Jesus also offers you His sovereignty over evil. Fifth, David professed his faith that God would right the wrongs against him. When you are attacked, Jesus also offers you His justice. You never need to take justice into your own hands. Sixth, David celebrated a future date when God’s enemies would bow before Him. With God’s victory, He would deliver His people from evil. When you are attacked, you can also put your hope in the promise of Jesus’ future deliverance. Finally, David celebrated a time when God’s people would rejoice in His refuge. When you are attacked, Jesus also offers you His joy and peace.
1. Answered Prayers: When You are Attacked, Jesus Can Answer Your Prayers When You Pray in Faith for His Will to be Done. Ps. 64:1.
David cried out for God to hear his cries for protection. When unidentified enemies conspired together to try to kill David, he cried out to God to hear his cries for protection: “For the music director. A Psalm of David. 1 Hear my voice, God, in my complaint; protect my life from dread of the enemy.” (Ps. 64:1). David’s cry for God to hear his prayers was not a sign of a weak faith. It was instead a sign of David’s deep relationship with God. He regularly cried out the same way a child might cry out to his or her father.
God hears the effective fervent prayer of the righteous. As our example, David frequently prayed for God to answer his prayers for guidance and protection: “Let my cry come before You, LORD; give me understanding according to Your word.” (Ps. 119:169). God later made clear that those who pray in faith and confess their sins can accomplish great things through Him: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (Ja. 5:16). As an example of this, God heard Elijah’s prayers to both stop and later restart the rain in Israel (Ja. 5:17-18). God also heard Hezekiah’s prayers when he prayed for His intervention (2 Kgs. 19:20). God also wants you to pray fervently to Him to intervene when you need deliverance. When you are going through a trial, are you crying out to God for guidance?
When you are in need, pour out your heart to Jesus1
Out of love, Jesus advocates for believers daily. Today, Jesus sits on the throne looking to answer your prayers. He is your counselor (Is. 9:6) and your only mediator to God the Father (1 Tim. 2:5). He also advocates for you in the same heavenly court: “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” (1 Jo. 2:1b). “Christ Jesus . . . also intercedes for us.” (Ro. 8:34). “Therefore He is also able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” (Heb. 7:25). “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” (1 Jo. 5:14). Jesus is also looking to answer your prayers when you call out to Him: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8). Are you crying out to Jesus so that He may advocate for your needs?
Pray for Jesus’ will to be done, not your own. For those believers who pray in faith, Jesus has given you the legal equivalent of a power of attorney to pray in His name when you seek to do His will: “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (Jo. 14:13-14). “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (Jo. 15:16). “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.” (Jo. 16:23). Jesus’ name is so powerful that the archangel Michael was able to drive Satan away merely by rebuking him in Jesus’ name (Jude 1:9). Yet, to correctly pray “in Jesus’ name”, pray for His will to be done and not yours.
Praise God when he answers your prayers. In addition to turning to God during his times of need, David also remembered to thank God when God answered his prayers: “In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry for help before Him came into His ears.” (Ps. 18:6). Are you keeping track of God’s answered prayers and praising Him when He does so?
2. Protection: When You are Attacked, Jesus Offers You His Protection. Ps. 64:2-4.
David urged God to protect him from evildoers who secretly sought to harm him. When his enemies had conspired in secret to plot his destruction, David asked God to stop them: “2 Hide me from the secret discussion of evildoers, from the restlessness of the workers of injustice, 3 who have sharpened their tongues like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrows, 4 to shoot from concealment at the innocent; suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear.” (Ps. 64:2-4). David was the greatest military hero of his time. His defeat of Goliath made him a hero to the Jewish people. But David never let this go to his head. He still turned to God alone for protection and for his deliverance from evil.
David cried out over his enemy’s successes. David sometimes confessed to God that a part of his anxiety stemmed from his enemy’s successes and his feeling of humiliation: “How long will my enemy be exalted over me?” (Ps. 13:2b). David frequently cried out when his enemies oppressed him: “I will say to God my rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”’ (Ps. 42:9). When you feel overwhelmed, God also wants you to give Him your burdens.
God is a shield to the righteous. Despite having enemies everywhere, David knew that God alone was his protection. He professed that God was his “shield,” “who saves the upright in heart.” (Ps. 7:10). He is a shield to anyone who takes refuge in Him: “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my savior, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. . . As for God, His way is blameless; the word of the LORD is refined; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.” (Ps. 18:2, 30). He can also be your shield when you depend upon Him.
Be patient for God’s timing. David confessed his trust that God never forgets those in need: “For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the needy.” (Ps. 9:12). God would let David feel His comfort, and protection. But this would all happen in God’s timing. To build his faith, God taught David to be patient during his trials: “You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.” (Jam. 5:8). “By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Lk. 21:19). When you face a trial, God also wants you to be patient and to trust in His timing.
3. Omniscience: When You are Attacked, No Evil Can Escape Jesus’ Sight. Ps. 64:5.
David’s enemies falsely believed that no one would know of their evil plans. David proclaimed his faith that God would expose the secret, evil plans that his enemies: “5 They make firm for themselves an evil purpose; they talk of setting snares secretly; they say, ‘Who can see them?’” (Ps. 64:5). Because his friends worried that they might be secretly attacked, David reassured them that nothing escaped God’s eyes: “His eyes see, His eyelids test the sons of mankind.” (Ps. 11:4b). You can take comfort that no evil can escape Jesus’ sight. He will never allow Satan to attack you unless it is part of His will.
No sin can be concealed before the omniscient Creator. God is omniscient (all-knowing). This includes the Father (Ps. 147:5), the Son (Jo. 16:30), and the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10). Like David, Job also declared that God is infinitely wise and knows each person’s actions: “For His eyes are upon the ways of a person, and He sees all his steps.” (Job 34:21). Solomon also proclaimed that nothing could be hidden from God: “then hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive and act, and give to each in accordance with all his ways, whose heart You know—for You alone know the hearts of all mankind—” (1 Kgs. 8:39). “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good.” (Prov. 15:3). “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”’ (2 Chr. 16:9 (a)). “For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes.” (Jer. 16:17; Ps. 130:3). “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.” (Heb. 4:13). Are you living life knowing that nothing is hidden from God?
Praise Jesus for using His omniscience to guide and help you. In His perfect knowledge, Jesus has given you His Word to guide your steps: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Ps. 119:105). If you study the Word, the Holy Spirit can then cause you to remember it to light the right path for you: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.” (Jo. 14:26). You can trust that Jesus uses His perfect knowledge out of love to protect and guide you: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Prov. 3:5). “Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” (Ps. 37:5). “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” (Ps. 62:8). “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.” (Is. 12:2). Are you trusting in Jesus and praising Him for watching over you, guiding you, and answering your prayers?
4. Sovereignty: When You are Attacked, Jesus Offers You His Sovereignty Over Evil. Ps. 64:6.
David’s enemies falsely believed that they could succeed in stopping what God decreed. David’s enemies had deluded themselves into believing that they could prevent God’s prophecy from coming true: “6 They devise injustices, saying, ‘We are ready with a well-conceived plot’; for the inward thought and the heart of a person are deep.” (Ps. 64:6). God promised that David’s descendants would reign “forever” (2 Sam. 7:12-13). David had the faith to know that God would never allow evil to overturn His plans.
In dark times, place your hope in Jesus to cause all things to work together for His good. God’s plans are frequently beyond our limited comprehension: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is. 55:9). Yet, even when you lack the ability to understand the reasons for a trial or why God allows evil to happen, God wants you to have faith that He has a greater plan for you: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Ro. 8:28). When evil seems to be everywhere, do you still trust that God has a plan for you?
During your trials, trust that the enemy can never prevent the fulfillment of God’s Word. David had no reason to doubt God’s many promises to him. There is nothing that the enemy can do to prevent God’s Word from being fulfilled: “Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; everything came to pass.” (Josh. 21:45). “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel in accordance with everything that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant.” (1 Kgs. 8:56). ‘“I declared the former things long ago, and they went out of My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.”’ (Is. 48:3). God’s many promises to you are also irrevocable. But you need to learn God’s Word in order to trust in His promises.
5. Justice: When You are Attacked, Jesus Offers You Justice. Ps. 64:7-8.
David proclaimed his faith that God would thwart the evil plans of his enemies. Instead of taking matters into his own hands, David had faith that God’s justice would prevail: “7 But God will shoot an arrow at them; suddenly they will be wounded. 8 So they will make him stumble; their own tongue is against them; all who see them will shake their heads.” (Ps. 64:7-8). As one commentator observes, God’s justice cannot be thwarted: “The evil men opposing David acted as if they had all the arrows, but David knew that God was his defense, and God was well-armed. God had an arrow of His own, and suddenly they shall be wounded. David’s enemies shot at him like snipers, from hidden and high positions. David’s friend was God, in a higher and more hidden position. They shot their poisonous words at David unexpectedly, without warning [suddenly, Psalm 64:4]. God would shoot back at them unexpectedly, without warning – suddenly. God had them in His sights. Suddenly they shall be wounded reminds us that often the judgment of God comes upon the wicked unexpectedly, without any warning. They think everything is fine until they are wounded.” (David Guzik Ps. 64) (emphasis original).2
6. Deliverance: When You are Attacked, Jesus Offers You Deliverance. Ps. 64:9.
David professed faith that God’s enemies would one day bow before Him. Although he did not know when it would happen, David had faith that evildoers would one day bow before God. “9 Then all people will fear, and they will declare the work of God, and will consider what He has done.” (Ps. 64:9). God would in turn ensure the deliverance of His people from all evil. Thus, you can trust that God will one day prevail over all evil, and evildoers “I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.” (Is. 45:23; Ro. 14:11). “so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,” (Phil. 2:10).
Praise God for His deliverance. As our example, David always praised God for his deliverance: “I will sing a new song to You, O God; upon a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You, who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David His servant from the evil sword.” (Ps. 144:9-10). “He rescues me from my enemies; You indeed lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from a violent man . . . He gives great deliverance to His king, and shows lovingkindness to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.” (Ps. 18:48, 50; 2 Sam. 22:51). “O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle.” (Ps. 140:7). “The LORD is their strength, and He is a saving defense to His anointed.” (Ps. 22:8). “Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your words.” (Ps. 119:161). “Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies.” (Ps. 119:157). “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Tim. 4:18). When God delivers you, do you also give Him the full credit?
7. Joy / Peace: When You are Attacked, Jesus Offers You Joy and Peace. Ps. 64:10.
David proclaimed the joy that awaits those who put their faith in God. Even though his trial had not yet ended, David sought to encourage others that God’s joy and peace are available for anyone who turns from evil to God and takes refuge in His protection: “10 The righteous person will be glad in the Lord and take refuge in Him; and all the upright in heart will boast.” (Ps. 64:10). If you take refuge in Jesus, He will give you His joy and the peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7).
Find joy and peace by placing your trust in Jesus3
Trust in Jesus to restore your lost peace. Jesus offers a peace that is not like the peace that the world offers: “Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.” (Jo. 14:27). He instead promises something better. He promises peace that surpasses worldly understanding: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7). Is your happiness tied to your wealth and status? If so, your peace is only temporary. It will likely disappear in the next crisis.
Trust Jesus to also bless you with joy. Like David, you cannot avoid moments of tragedy, sorrow, loss, or trials. But Jesus offers you “abundant” life: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” (Jo. 10:10). The Psalms can help you to find joy by turning your focus away from yourself and back to God where it belongs. When Saul was trying to kill David, David wrote in one of his many psalms that he would always praise God (Ps. 34:1). Moreover, David and other psalmists were joyful in their praises: “I will rejoice and be jubilant in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” (Ps. 9:2). “But rejoice, all who take refuge in You, sing for joy forever! And may You shelter them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You.” (Ps. 5:11). “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to You; and my soul, which You have redeemed.” (Ps. 71:23). “I rejoice at Your word, like one who finds great plunder.” (Ps. 119:162). Thus, if you are going through the motions when you worship, you should stop and examine your heart.
The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ down payment on your eternal joy. You don’t need to wait until you get to heaven to experience Jesus’ joy and peace. The Holy Spirit as a down-payment on your salvation (Eph. 1:14; 2 Cor. 1:22). The fruit of the Holy Spirit includes joy and peace (Gal. 5:22-23). If you are lacking joy, pray for Jesus to remove the things of the flesh that impede your ability to receive His blessings. “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Ro. 14:17).
When you trust God and live according to His will, you never need to fear evil. When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He takes your sins upon Himself. In the process, He makes you blameless (Phil. 2:15). If you live according to your blameless nature, you never need to fear evil people or their wicked plans: “The principle that may be drawn from this passage is this: The righteous, those who live blamelessly before the LORD, need not live in terror of the wicked if they trust the LORD for protection and relief . . . Therefore believers are not to fear what people can do to them physically, but rather they should fear the Lord (Matt. 10:2-8) . . . the gospel also promises that the righteous will enjoy eternal life through the resurrection, and there is nothing the wicked can do to prevent that; the wicked will face eternal judgment, and there is nothing they can do to escape if they do not repent (John 5:29).” (Allen Ross, A Commentary of the Psalms: Volume 2 (42-89), Kregel Academic (2013) p. 409-110) (italics original).
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