Rick McNally / April 2025

In this season of my life, I more fully understand the Psalms. 

I fondly remember one of my professors at Moody Bible Institute telling us that the Psalms would not mean as much to us 20-somethings as to older people—people who have been beaten up by the world.

I have always loved the Psalms, even as a young man, but now they are more critical than ever. I remember being a 19-year-old college student working as a camp counselor in northern Michigan. How the characters and stories of David and Saul captured my mind, and the poetry rang in my mind. It was a transformative summer — a large part of my growing up happened in the white pines that year.

Now, I am older — and the Psalms mean even more. But when I am talking to younger people, I encourage the Psalms, for they are the blueprint for being intimate with God. I believe they speak in the voice of the Messiah and show us how to know the Father the way he does. They also speak in the voice of needy men who are wrecked without God.

Psalm 56

My daughter recommended to me that I read Psalm 56 as direction and comfort for something we are going through in our personal lives. I thank her for that.

Psalm 56 was written during a time when David was on the run from the jealous heart and sharp spears of King Saul.  He ran away to Gath to avoid persecution and was on the run for his very life. He had been promised that God would provide for his future — profound promises of safety and success. Yet he feared. Yet he feigned madness.

The Text, a Few Observations

First, let’s begin with his troubles.  In the text, we see that David was…

• Actions Against David –
• trampled upon / pestered, bothered
• attacked / come to blows, figurative or real
• oppressed / squeezed, pushed from authorities
• injured / caused to stop moving, grieved
• thought evil of / bad thoughts
• the target of strife / quarreled, people gathered against
• lurked and followed / followed from hidden places
• watched constantly / under surveillance
• spied on for his very life / people were seeking to kill him

His Responses – 

• tossings / in flight for his life, wandering, living as an exile
• very tearful / crying for his life

David was being oppressed by powerful men who wanted him dead. The weight of his life was heavy on his shoulders, and the pain was ever with him. Most of us will never know the trouble that he was in and the pressures that he was experiencing. It had to be overwhelming. He was broken.

God responds by remembering his tears and collecting them in a bottle.  God hears, God cares, God writes down your sorrows. He is for us, not against us. We don’t do everything right and sin greatly, but he loves us still. What compassion. What a beautiful image.  

Reread that list and put yourself in the midst of it. Try to get a glimpse into his mental state. No wonder he feigns insanity. He was trying to scheme himself out of danger and into safety. Yes, he had promises from God that the future was somehow secure — but in the day of trouble, those words would have been quieter than the troubles he encountered.

Secondly, the “chorus” found in the center of each of these two stanzas points us toward the results of reflection on the fear that he was feeling. They point us toward God. The center of his life was still the center of his life.

In the first stanza, it sows up in verse 4, and in the second, it is expanded into two verses, 10-11.  Let’s compare them.

• In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust;
• I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me? (4)
• In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord,
• whose word I praise,
• In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.
• What can man do to me? (10-11)

Looking at the backdrop of all the terrors that he is experiencing — all dark, all-consuming — he sees a light in the distance. He speaks well of the Lord even in difficulty. He worships him in his troubles. God’s word is still precious to him. His Lord is still worth his trust. Instead of turning against God, he turns toward him. This is what makes David an individual worth emulating.

His fears drove him to the Lord and his protection. He concludes that people cannot really hurt him. 

Thirdly, please examine his service to the Lord. Not only does he still trust the Lord, but he does not shirk back from his responsibility to give God his rightful place in his life — he vows to give his “thank offerings” to God.  

A “thank offering” was an offering that a Jewish believer would give to God to thank him for some unexpected blessing that occurred in his life. Since God saved David’s life, God would thank him by offering him something in thanks. 

Not only was David saved, pulled out of trouble, but he was saved in such a way that his feet did not trip over his oppression and trails — rather, they led him into walking “before God in the light of life.”

Walking through the darkness led him into the light.

Some Application

You and I go through things too. Not so severe, I hope. But still, troubles.

I would encourage you all to consider afresh the promises that Christ Jesus has given us. He is the fulfillment of all of David’s promises given in the Old Testament. He is the fulfillment of Abraham’s promises. He is the fulfillment of Moses’ law. As the writer of Hebrews speaks boldly, Jesus is the superior reality of all the works of God mentioned in the back pages of Scripture.

And these promises are ours, if we but ask, if we but seek, if we but bow.

So, in our fear and brokenness — let us find the one who can actually heal us. Let’s not just turn to people, or substances, or distractions, or our own broken philosophies. 

Let us turn to the Son of David, to find the God of the Psalmist, who can lead us to the Light of Life — Jesus.  Not the Jesus of shallow understanding or Western shallow faith, but the Jesus of reality, the one who is humble, lowly, and powerful.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.