Verses 2-3: [2] And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. [3] For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
Verse 2 is another reminder that no one is right before God. We are all imperfect and in order to avoid God's judgment, our dependency must be upon His mercy and not our own ability to connive some way out.
David has a prayer request he is about to make to God that knows all things. David is contemplating that even though God knows all things, he can only approach God based on the fact he is forgiven. We ought to contemplate His mercy and thank Him for His forgiveness as we enter into prayer.
Remember we are asking, not requiring God to respond to our request for help. Therefore, we should approach Him on His terms, not ours. This simply means we realize we are in right standing before God solely because He has completely forgiven us of our sins, minus any works on our part.
In relation to David's immediate need, he prays. Remember David has spent the majority of his life dealing with enemies. He has spend many years of his life running from King Saul and fighting with the enemies of Israel as a General (Kings in those days were often army leaders too). Needless to say, David understood having to deal with people who wanted him dead.
For us today, we must remember this Psalm and this group of Psalms focus on the idea of desiring God's protection for our lives. It is about the realization that a perfect God knows all things and desires to guide our lives for His glory. While that may be all good and nice, we still may be facing our own issues.
Although we may not have enemies in pursuit of killing us at the moment, we must remember to never fail to trust God with our own lives. One reason we give praise to God is because of the fact we are still alive. We have all survived to reach a point where today we have the opportunity to show our gratitude for God not allowing us to be killed.
Think about it. We may or may not be facing real danger at the moment. The only reason we are still living right now is because God still has a plan for us and He is not finished with us. If He knows all things, then He knows how long we have to live. Therefore, He knows if, when, and how we will be victorious over whatever it is we have to face. We don't have to fear whatever our enemies may do to us, because we have God as a resource. He is greater than those enemies.
Verse 2 is another reminder that no one is right before God. We are all imperfect and in order to avoid God's judgment, our dependency must be upon His mercy and not our own ability to connive some way out.
David has a prayer request he is about to make to God that knows all things. David is contemplating that even though God knows all things, he can only approach God based on the fact he is forgiven. We ought to contemplate His mercy and thank Him for His forgiveness as we enter into prayer.
Remember we are asking, not requiring God to respond to our request for help. Therefore, we should approach Him on His terms, not ours. This simply means we realize we are in right standing before God solely because He has completely forgiven us of our sins, minus any works on our part.
In relation to David's immediate need, he prays. Remember David has spent the majority of his life dealing with enemies. He has spend many years of his life running from King Saul and fighting with the enemies of Israel as a General (Kings in those days were often army leaders too). Needless to say, David understood having to deal with people who wanted him dead.
For us today, we must remember this Psalm and this group of Psalms focus on the idea of desiring God's protection for our lives. It is about the realization that a perfect God knows all things and desires to guide our lives for His glory. While that may be all good and nice, we still may be facing our own issues.
Although we may not have enemies in pursuit of killing us at the moment, we must remember to never fail to trust God with our own lives. One reason we give praise to God is because of the fact we are still alive. We have all survived to reach a point where today we have the opportunity to show our gratitude for God not allowing us to be killed.
Think about it. We may or may not be facing real danger at the moment. The only reason we are still living right now is because God still has a plan for us and He is not finished with us. If He knows all things, then He knows how long we have to live. Therefore, He knows if, when, and how we will be victorious over whatever it is we have to face. We don't have to fear whatever our enemies may do to us, because we have God as a resource. He is greater than those enemies.