Psalm
64 is the psalm of the poisonous tongue. All we really know about this psalm is
that it was one of David's. Opinions differ as to when he wrote it. Some place
it during his youthful, fugitive days when he fled from Saul. David's
spectacular rise to prominence in the kingdom, after his conquest of Goliath,
earned him as many foes as friends. His marriage into the royal family likewise
evoked bitter feelings in the hearts of some. Doubtless there had been many who
had aspired to the hand of the king's daughter.
The
historical records confirm that Saul's ears were filled with lies about David.
Doeg, the Edomite, for instance, did David tremendous harm with his tongue. Not
even Jonathan's impassioned defense of David at court could offset the lies and
fuel with which David's foes constantly fed the fires of Saul's suspicions. In
more than one of his Psalms David pours out his heart to God about the
falsehoods being spread about him.
David
was probably serving in Saul's court when he wrote this psalm (1 Sam. 18-20).
He knew that Saul was his enemy and wanted to kill him and that most of Saul's
officers were in a conspiracy against him. Though he was the anointed king,
David had no authority to oppose Saul, and eventually he had to flee and hide
in the wilderness. Psalm 64 instructs us what to do in the battles of life.
People
give us all kinds of trouble, but our battle is not against flesh and blood,
but against Satan and his hosts. We are instructed in Ephesians 6:11-12 to, “Put
on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
We
have a great example of how the devil works to defeat us in Exodus 1. The people of Israel had been in Egypt for
almost 400 years and had grown into a mighty nation as God had promised Abraham
years earlier. Notice what happened in Exodus 1:8-11: “Now there arose a new
king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people,
"Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we;
come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the
event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go
up out of the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict
them with their burdens…”
Pharoah,
who is a picture or type of Satan, acknowledges that the people of God are more
and mightier than he and his armies, so he comes up with a plan to defeat them.
He basically says, “Let us deal deceitfully (shrewdly) with them lest they
realize how strong they really are and join in battle against us”. What a sad picture! God’s people allow
themselves to be deceived by the devil into thinking they are weak and with no
authority, and they become his slaves instead of serving and living for God.
My
friend, I’m convinced that our first response to the attacks and lies of the
enemy should be to realize who the real enemy is! He wants us to believe that
we are weak, hopeless and helpless, and have no defense as he constantly
bombards us with his lies.
Today,
like David, we need to call out to the LORD to hear us, protect us, and be our
defense!
God bless!
