"This I Know - God Is For Me"

If you've ever had a trusted friend suddenly, and for no real reason, turn on you as though you were a stranger, then you can relate to David's sad lament at Psalm 55. His prayer was probably written some time in the middle of his 40 year reign over Israel and later turned into a song for worship with stringed instruments. That's just a guess on my part but having studied his life and his Psalms for a long time, this is one of many that sound like they fit with David's struggles during that period.

"My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me and horror overwhelms me." V:4-5 ESV
"For it is not an enemy who taunts me - then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me - then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together, within God's house we walked in the throng." V:12-14 ESV
"My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. His speech was as smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords." V:20-21 ESV


We can be surprised by a long list of possible tragedies in this life. But betrayal of any kind is especially upsetting and difficult to get past. It's hard to trust anyone after an incident like David has described be it friend, employer, spouse, fiancee, relative or as David seems to intimate, a brother in the Lord. You just expect better from someone who has cultivated your confidence and given you every reason to trust them. But, it just doesn't always work out that way.

If you are struggling with ANY kind of tragic outcome from the breakup of a marriage or engagement to a seemingly irreversible breakdown of your health or someone you love, indeed if you are suffering in any way at all, David has a word for you that he too learned from bitter experience -

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." V:22 ESV
"You have kept my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. THIS I KNOW, THAT GOD IS FOR ME. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?" V:8-11 ESV HALLELUJAH!