Psalm Devotional
Waiting Silently
We see David once again beset with adversity, but the fruit of his trial is the deepening of his convictions. David’s patient faith and confidence in the salvation of God are exemplary to the saints in all ages, but we must also see this psalm as a historical picture of the “sure mercies of David” which finally fell to Christ (Isa. 55:3; Acts 13:34).
This psalm begins with a confession of faith in the face of opposition. While his enemies curse and lie, David exhibits a patient resolve to wait upon God’s sovereign resolution of the matter. The first two verses are neither prayer nor praise; they are the confession of a man who has come to understand the sovereignty of God as an experiential reality.
In contrast to this quiet patience and assurance of faith, the wicked are full of sound and fury (vv. 3-4). They are tenacious in their sin (v. 3a) and ruthlessly competitive (vv. 3b-4a). They will try to topple a vulnerable man, as if giving a final push to a leaning wall, in contrast to the Christlike impulse to spare the bruised reed and smoking flax (Isa. 42:3). In spite of good words, the heart of the wicked always makes itself known (v. 4b).
