Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for his fresh grace and mercy, and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and ears as we read his Word.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 59
The Assured Judgment of the Wicked
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David When Saul Sent Men, and They Watched the House in Order to Kill Him.
1 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
Defend me from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
And save me from bloodthirsty men.
3 For look, they lie in wait for my life;
The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.
4 They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.
Awake to help me, and behold!
5 You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to punish all the nations;
Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors.
Selah
6 At evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
7 Indeed, they belch with their mouth;
Swords are in their lips;
For they say, “Who hears?”
8 But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;
You shall have all the nations in derision.
9 I will wait for You, O You his Strength;
For God is my defense.
10 My God of mercy shall come to meet me;
God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.
11 Do not slay them, lest my people forget;
Scatter them by Your power,
And bring them down,
O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for the cursing and lying which they speak.
13 Consume them in wrath, consume them,
That they may not be;
And let them know that God rules in Jacob
To the ends of the earth.
Selah
14 And at evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
15 They wander up and down for food,
And howl if they are not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 59.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
David asks God to judge wicked persecutors while resting in God's gracious favor; the imprecatory prayer ultimately belongs perfectly to Christ, the righteous King and Judge.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Psalm 59:16–17
but i will sing of your power yes i will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning for you have been my defense a refuge in the day of my trouble to you o my strength i will sing praises for god is my defense my god of mercy
Bryan and his co-host identify verses 16 and 17 as beautiful because they gather the psalm's themes of God's power, mercy, defense, refuge, and strength.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Rest in God as refuge and strength, thank him for mercy and compassion, and pray for his righteous kingdom to come even amid persecution.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
well good evening and welcome to coffee and devotions this is where every day we get together we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together and this year 2021 we'll make it through all the wisdom literature well tonight i'm with my best friend and uh we are at psalm 59 why don't we go ahead and pray and we'll get into god's word father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for the full day you've given us we thank you for your grace and your mercy that are new every day we pray now that as we read your word that you would by the power of your holy spirit open our eyes that we might see in our ears that we might hear in jesus name amen all right here we go psalm 59 to the chief musician set to do not destroy a mctime of david when saul sent men and they watched him or watched the house in order to kill him you know you wanted to deliver me from my enemies oh my god defend me from those who rise up against me deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from blood thirsty men for look they lie in wait for my life the mighty gather against me not from my transgressions nor from my sins o lord they run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine awake to help me and behold you therefore o lord god of hosts the god of israel awake to punish all the nations do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors at evening they return they growl like a dog and go all around the city indeed they belch with their mouth swords are in their lips for they say who hears but you o lord shall laugh at them you shall have all the nations in derision i will wait for you o you his strength for god is my defense my god of mercy shall come to meet me god shall let me see my desire on my enemies do not slay them lest my people forget scatter them by your power and bring them down o lord our shield for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them let them even be taken in their pride and for the cursing and lying which they speak consumed them in wrath consume them that they may not be and let them know that god rules in jacob to the ends of the earth and at evening they return they growl like a dog and go all around the city they wander up and down for food and howl if they are not satisfied but i will sing of your power yes i will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning for you have been my defense a refuge in the day of my trouble to you o my strength i will sing praises for god is my defense my god of mercy well we need to ask ourselves a what is this about b what's the best verse to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this so uh all right what do you think is about love um the wicked like god taking care of the wicked okay all right good so yeah god he's crying out for god to take care of the wicked right uh this is a imprecatory psalm right that's a big theological word for this a prayer that god would take care of the wicked take care of those who are evil um does that seem to line up with david's life though what do you mean well is david you know like a super upright dude no so how is david able to say this stuff because god has shown favor to him and grace yeah all right do you think that it's okay for christians to say this type of stuff yes really yes what about love those who persecute you i think you can still pray that god would take care of your enemies yeah yeah right that's part of your kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven as the stopping of of of evil and sinful enemies yeah um but we don't pray in our own righteousness and we prayed in the righteousness of jesus i i think david is praying here prophetically i mean this is david is able to take these words upon his lips because he's inspired by the holy spirit and i think jesus is the one who's able to say these perfectly what do you what would you underline in your bible as the best verse to summarize this section you can do verses if you'd like maybe 16 16 yeah i have uh all sorts of words written here in the margin of my bible uh sing sing of god power mercy defense refuge strength defense and mercy you know i think 15 and 16 or 16 and 17 are beautiful right god is our defense god is our refuge god is our strength god is our shield god is our power god is merciful um yeah so what do you think you're called in your life to do what impact should this have on you to rest in god good yeah to rest in god and thank him for his mercy on me yeah yeah to thank him for his mercy on you that yeah it's it's amazing we can fly past that but multiple times in verse 10 and in verse 17 he says god of mercy god of compassion that god is compassionate towards us and we can be thankful to him for it absolutely what about you what do you feel called in in this passage today how does this look in your life what would you underline in your bible let me know down in the comments but tonight why don't we go ahead and pray father we thank you so much for this day and we thank you for your word we thank you that you are a god who is a merciful god full of compassion and grace we pray that we would rest in you as our refuge that you would be the only harbor for our souls that we might find safety in your goodness towards us let your kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven in jesus name amen my lord give you a great night's sleep and we'll see you tomorrow she's going to bed bye