Christ Lutheran Church

O Lord, how many are my foes!
    Many are rising against me;
 many are saying of my soul,
    “There is no salvation for him in God.”
But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
    my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I cried aloud to the Lord,
    and he answered me from his holy hill. 
I lay down and slept;
    I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of many thousands of people
    who have set themselves against me all around.
Arise, O Lord!
    Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
    you break the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the Lord;
    your blessing be on your people!

Meditation:

This psalm was written by David during the period in which his third-eldest son, Absalom, was attempting to usurp his rule and kill him. But as David wrote this psalm under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote not just about himself, but he also wrote about the Lord Jesus, because in Christ the entire Old Testament has its fulfillment. 

Christ himself faced the rage of many souls. He was the recipient of the mockery of the Jews, who said of Christ that there is no salvation for him in God. You will recall at the cross what the chief priests and the scribes and the elders said of Christ, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself. He trusts in God, let God deliver him now!” Those were the taunts that were heaped upon our spotless Lord as he hung for the salvation of the world. 

But the Father was a shield about Christ, and crowned him with glory and honor. For although Christ was laid down in his tomb and slept the sleep of death, he was sustained by the Father and raised from that sleep through the Father’s glory. 

You see then how Christ is here present in this psalm, not only the troubles of David himself. For Christ did not fear, though an army encamped against him. Even though many thousands of people set themselves against Christ, He did not give into fear but underwent his passion with a willing and eager spirit, in order to save a world which hated and rejected him. 

The Father indeed heard the cries of Christ, and did not abandon his soul or let him see corruption. The Lord arose on the third day, and dealt the final blow to death. He struck the enemy, Satan, on the cheek and broke the teeth of the wicked. Why was he able to do this? Because salvation belongs to the Lord. It is his, and in no one else are we to find it. Salvation is his, and his blessing is on his people, to whom he has delivered this salvation. 

God go with you. Amen.