Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-056 Sunday 18 Mar 2001

Reading: PSALM 54 – SAVE ME – NOW!

(From ‘Encounter with God’ Bible Reading Notes)

How can we be confident that, when we need him, God hears our urgent requests? Thank him that nothing is beyond his knowledge or caring.

When David wrote this psalm, he was hiding from Saul who was trying to kill him. (1 Sam 23:14-29) His call to God is not an academic nicety nor a general acknowledgment of a known truth. This was a direct call for help in a specific situation.

This prayer is one among many that tell us about the dealings David has been having with God, in which he has learnt things and has followed different instructions according to the circumstances. The psalm arises, therefore, from his relationship with the Lord. This is no sudden discovery of God because things have got a bit difficult.

He explains the situation (v 3), although God must know it already. Why does God want us to talk to him, when there is nothing we can say that he does not know better than we do? It can only be because he wants us to deepen our relationship with him by laying our needs before him.

David names God as his help (v 4), making his reliance specific, tells how he feels (v 5) and makes clear his intentions (vs 6-7). I don’t think this is a bargain with God ‘If you get me out of here, I’ll offer a sacrifice’. Rather, I think it is a statement of intention: ‘You are great, and I will offer a sacrifice’. He plans to bring a free will offering, not to pay a bribe or a debt.

So, what do we learn from this urgent prayer? That God wants to hear our requests; that we are free to ask for what we need; that we ought to let God know how we feel; that we should be ready to praise God freely and, central to it all: it is because of the nature of God that we have hope (v 1).

Praise God for his goodness, for his greatness, and for wanting us to talk with him. Do your prayers in time of need come in the context of an ongoing relationship?

– Ken Edgecombe

Copyright Scripture Union, 2001