City life causes us to rub up close with other people.  City jobs often involve large workplaces with all the gossip and politics that entails.  City traffic can be stop and start with birds being flipped and F-Bombs being dropped.  It was little different in the time of the psalmists.  The psalmist longs to get away into the wilds and be alone with God.  A close friend in the city has betrayed him.  Someone who was a confidante has decided that they will be an adversary.  This is someone that the psalmist went to the temple with.  This is the equivalent of a best friend who you’d sit next to at church.

God however does not provide an escape from the city, but the psalmist trusts God to provide an escape within the city.  The solution is the working out of God’s justice.

Do you have a friend who seems to have turned on you?  Do you get weighed down by the responsibilities of urban and suburban life?  This psalm is for people like that.

Psalm 55

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil^[b] of David.

 ¹ Listen to my prayer, O God,
   do not ignore my plea;
 ² hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
 ³ because of what my enemy is saying,
   because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
   and assail me in their anger.

 ⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
   the terrors of death have fallen on me.
⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
   horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest.
⁷ I would flee far away
   and stay in the desert;^[c]
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
   far from the tempest and storm.”

 ⁹ Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
   for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
   malice and abuse are within it.
¹¹ Destructive forces are at work in the city;
   threats and lies never leave its streets.

 ¹² If an enemy were insulting me,
   I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
   I could hide.
¹³ But it is you, a man like myself,
   my companion, my close friend,
¹⁴ with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
   at the house of God,
as we walked about
   among the worshipers.

 ¹⁵ Let death take my enemies by surprise;
   let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
   for evil finds lodging among them.

 ¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
   and the LORD saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
   I cry out in distress,
   and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
   from the battle waged against me,
   even though many oppose me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned from of old,
   who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
   because they have no fear of God.

 ²⁰ My companion attacks his friends;
   he violates his covenant.
²¹ His talk is smooth as butter,
   yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
   yet they are drawn swords.

 ²² Cast your cares on the LORD
   and he will sustain you;
he will never let
   the righteous be shaken.
²³ But you, God, will bring down the wicked
   into the pit of decay;
the bloodthirsty and deceitful
   will not live out half their days.

   But as for me, I trust in you.

Questions

1. Why does the psalmist cry out to God?
2. How will God bring justice?
3. How are enemies within the city walls sometimes more bitter than enemies outside of them?
4. Do you have an enemy within the family, church or workplace?  Describe your relationship.
5. What kind of justice could you ask God for? How would mercy triumph over justice?

Going Deeper

Verse 22 says: “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you

•  What is the process of releasing fear and anxiety according to Philippians 4:

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.