Burunche’s Blog

Save Me by Your Name (1 Samuel 23:7-29)

For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. When the Ziphites went to Saul and said, “Is David not hiding among us?”

“Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your might! Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. For strangers rise up against me, and ruthless men seek my life—men with no regard for God. Selah

Surely God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my soul. He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.

Freely I will sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good. For He has delivered me from every trouble, and my eyes have stared down my foes.”

“A Maskil of David. When the Ziphites went to Saul and said, “Is David not hiding among us?” Once more, a crisis moves David to write a short but meaningful psalm. The Philistines are attacking the town of Keilah when David and his men come to the rescue. Are the people of Keilah grateful? Are you kidding? The town elders hustle off to King Saul and inform on David in hopes of a reward. But God warns David, so David and his men flee to the Wilderness of Ziph. The Ziphites are no better than the people of Keilah; they too rush off to King Saul, hoping for a reward. At one point, David and his men are very nearly caught; however, Saul gets word that the Philistines are invading. Saul must break off from chasing David and go to protect Israel from the Philistines. (1 Samuel 23)

““Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your might! Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. For strangers rise up against me, and ruthless men seek my life—men with no regard for God. Selah”  Even though David and his men have rescued Keilah and are probably protecting the people of Ziph, all these people can think of is currying favor with King Saul.

 “Surely God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my soul. He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.” Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, has carried an ephod with him during his escape from Nob, and now David and Abiathar use that ephod to consult God. God warns David that the citizens of Keilah and the Ziphites will betray him. Repeatedly, God delivers David and keeps him from despair. David realizes that only God can deliver him.  

“Freely I will sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good. For He has delivered me from every trouble, and my eyes have stared down my foes.” David is promising to worship and praise God, not to gain favor with God but because God is worthy of all praise.

APPLICATION: How is it that David can continue to fight on even as those he has helped are betraying him? David KNOWS that God has anointed him to become king. David has a divine calling on his life and he refuses to abandon that calling, no matter how desperate things appear to be.

As a missionary doctor, I have found myself in embattled situations many times. Lacking the support of competent administration, I have weathered several times of upheaval among hospital staff. But both my husband and I are convinced that God has called us to be where we are and to continue to work here. Once that calling is sure, we must press forward. Does it pain us when those whom we have helped turn on us in hopes of gaining more power or money? Absolutely. But when God called us to come, we didn’t lay out any conditions ahead of time. We didn’t tell God that we would only serve if everything ran smoothly. Once we have failed to negotiate those conditions on the front end, we must shut up and work.

Perhaps you find yourself in a similar situation. People are remarkably ungrateful and many are willing to turn on you just as did the men of Keilah and the Ziphites against David. The fundamental question is this: Are you doing the work God has called you to do? If you are convinced that you are in the center of God’s will, then nothing else matters. Trust God and work. He will bring you through.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, let this psalm speak to all of us and let us learn its lessons. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

This entry was posted on November 5, 2023 at 12:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.