Have you ever prayed to God, wondering why He was taking so long in answering your prayers, and asked Him to hurry up? I believe that most of us could say we’ve done that, probably more than once. We are in good company, too, as this is the prayer of King David in our psalm for today. Let’s take a look at this very short psalm from Scripture.
As we read through the Bible, studying the life of King David, one thing that will really stick out is that he was always having to contend with enemies, both before he became king and afterwards. These enemies weren’t just some folks who didn’t like him, who called him names or told some lies about him. These enemies were fierce, and who caused him to have to fight or flee for his life. David wrote at least 73 of the psalms in the Bible. In many of these psalms he prayed and cried out to God for His help against these enemies. He prayed for protection, for help, and sometimes even for God to bring these enemies down, bringing His righteous judgment upon them.
When we are faced with our problems in life, whatever they may be, as believers in the Lord Jesus we turn to Him in prayer. Like King David, though, we may feel that He is not answering as quickly as we might like. Perhaps we have a health crisis or a financial one, and feel that time is of the essence. Or maybe, like David was here, we are facing some attack from an enemy, either a literal or a spiritual one, and we need His help now. At the beginning and the close of our psalm, David pleaded with God three times to “make haste”, and to “not delay”.
When our problems seem urgent, we wonder why God seems to be delaying. We need to remember that we are looking at the problem from our own, human perspective. God sees the whole issue from start to finish, from His heavenly perspective. He knows exactly what to do, and when to move on our behalf. We may be praying “hurry, hurry, hurry!”, but God will move when the time is just right. Like David, we need to trust in Him.
From David’s early childhood days of caring for his father’s sheep, his battle against the giant Goliath, many years fleeing from the attacks of King Saul, and then later as king, he knew that his true help came from the Lord God (vs. 5). His friends and companions may help, just as our friends may help us in our time of need, but they can’t always be relied upon. There were times when David’s friends and family deserted him. There are times when people will break our trust or disappoint us. They may even threaten us. This may break our spirits. It is at this time that we need to pray to God to come to our aid. He, alone, can rescue us and fill our lives with joy. David knew that God, alone, was his true help and deliverer.
Even in his moments of panic David never forgot to praise God (vs. 4). Praise helps to remind us of who God is. As believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we should never forget to thank God for what he has done, and worship Him for who He is. We should never take God for granted, or treat Him as if He’s only there to give favors to us.
When David was afraid, he always remembered to praise God. Here he was, in the middle of some unspecified attack by his enemies, praying for God to rescue him, yet he pauses in his prayer to give God praise and glory. During our time of prayer, no matter how urgent and desperate it may be, we need to do the same. Pause and remember to give God praise and glory. When we do, it will be a testimony to others that we know He is our help and our deliverer.
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