January 1
Reading: Psalm 60
To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.
1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
you have been angry; oh, restore us.
2 You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open;
repair its breaches, for it totters.
3 You have made your people see hard things;
you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.
4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
that they may flee to it from the bow.
Selah
5 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer us!
6 God has spoken in his holiness:
“With exultation I will divide up Shechem
and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
11 Oh, grant us help against the foe,
for vain is the salvation of man!
12 With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.
We forget that the victories that David was winning on every side meant that he was being threatened constantly. Imagine how that would have felt. The pressures of constant fighting would have been overwhelming. This is the situation David faced in 2 Samuel 8:1-14 when he wrote this psalm.
It is clear from the first three verses that there were moments when the battles were not going well. David and his forces were going down in defeat. This happens to us as well. We are struggling along, and terrible things begin to happen, and we feel like disaster is approaching.
The imagery in verses 4 and 5 is so encouraging. We are meant to think on it. Right in the middle of this image is a “selah,” a moment to pause and contemplate the words. In all the terrifying battle mayhem, we lift our eyes and see the banner of the Lord, where our great warrior is fighting on the field of battle. We flee to Him, and He fights for us and delivers us because no one can defeat Him.
Then God speaks in verses 6-8 and reveals His awesome greatness over all of Israel’s opponents. No one threatens Him. The final four verses recognize that our task is too great for us (a fortified city!). Therefore, we ask God for His help and discover that with God we achieve victory.
The blessing of this psalm is that David is experiencing defeat on the way to victory. We often forget, in those times when disaster strikes, that we are not at the end of the story. God still has more to do. Never forget this. One of my favorite books is written by Erwin Lutzer, Failure, the Back Door to Success. The title reveals the thesis of the book. Often God allows us to meet with failure to show us that the ultimate victory comes through Him.