Psalm 55:16,17, 22 – IN TOUCH
Psalm 55:16-17 – As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
Psalm 55:22 – Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
It is important that we be in touch with God in prayer. We need to remember just how much prayer can help and encourage us.
The context of Psalm 55 is that of David being in trouble.
David’s problems are summarized in Vss. 1-5.
David is so troubled with his problem that he wishes he could just flee! Psalm 55:6
To make matters worse, David had been betrayed. Psalm 55:12-14
We can relate to David’s misery. There have been times when we wished that we could escape our problems. There were other times when people we loved and trusted have harmed us or turned on us.
In the midst of David’s problems, David kept in touch with God.
And Psalm 55:16, 17 and 22 encourage us to keep in touch with God especially when we come upon troubled times.
CALL – Vs. 16
David begins this verse with some very important words, As for me.
In the preceding verses David tells us about his troubles.
In this verse he begins to tell us what he’s going to do about them.
Others had not lived righteously and would be punished.
Others had chosen to be deceptive and to stick a knife in David’s back, so to speak.
Instead of choosing to behave himself in an inappropriate way, David is choosing to do what is right, so he says, as for me I will call upon God…
David is saying, “I chose to reach out to God when I hurt!”
This, of course, is a good choice and a Biblical one. Jeremiah 33:3, Psalm 91:1-2, Psalm 46:1, Matthew 11:28-30
Like David, your decision should be to call upon God. The results are always good. Philippians 4:6-7, Jeremiah 32:17,27, Hebrews 4:15-16
We should call upon God because He along can save or rescue us. Psalm98:1
CONTINUE – Vs. 17
The Jewish day began in the evening. That’s why the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday night, and also why evening is mentioned first here.
Although David may have had three set times for prayer in a day (the prophet Daniel did), I think referring to the three times of day means that David would be in a continual habit of prayer.
So often we pray about something and forget it. That’s the wrong approach. We should be talking to God continually, and we should continually bring the same requests to God, until He answers them. 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Luke 11:5-20, Luke 18:1-8
CAST – Vs. 22
Psalm 55:22 – Cast thy burden upon the Lord…
Imagine walking down a road carrying a heavy load.
A friend in a pick-up truck stops and offers you a ride.
You gladly accept.
The first thing you will do is throw that heavy load into bed of the truck.
You won’t hold it on your lap, you’ll let the truck carry the load.
In Vs 22, we are told to cast our care on God. Whatever the load we bear we are to give it to him. If we give it to him we need to let him have it continually and permanently.
We give it to him continually as we have already said, continuing to pray over it.
We give it to Him permanently. Although we talk to Him about it, we leave it in His hands to worry over. And of course, he will not worry. He’ll act in His time.
This verse reminds me of a similar verse in the New Testament.
1 Peter 5:7 – Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
As we cast our burdens upon the Lord, we must realize that God cares about us and what happens to us.
CONFIDENCE – Vs. 22
Psalm 55:22 – Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
If a baby is born very small, say 3 or 4 pounds, what will the hospital do? They will put that child in an incubator to sustain him until he is big enough to make it on his own.
If a person has a serious accident or a heart attack or stroke, and are not able to function on their own, they very often are placed on life support. They are sustained by machines.
As a Christian, I can be confident because the living God has promised to sustain me no matter what my problem. As I bring my problem to God He takes care of me. And the Lord sustains me even when He doesn’t directly deliver me from the problem. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. John 10:27-30
CALL – Vss. 16
CONTINUE – Vs. 17
CAST – Vs. 22
CONFIDENCE – Vs. 22