What’s in a Name?

Our Dependence on God

Psalm 54:4-5

One of the great mysteries of the earthy praying that God desires from his children is the way desperation for him seems to always breed dependence on him. In verses 1-3 David passionately brought himself and his enemies to God’s attention. Now, in verses 4-5, he abruptly turns his own attention toward God. Somehow God has wired prayer to work this way. If you and I can bring ourselves sincerely to cry out to God when we’re distressed, it will drive us to the doorstep of dependence on him. There we will find our confidence in his great name and all that it represents. Here the psalmist acknowledges God as the one who helps, sustains, and props up his children. Then he declares what God will do to bring justice to their plight.

Who God Is (54:4)

Psalm 54:4 appears to betray a sudden mood swing in the author’s disposition. This verse houses the big idea of the whole psalm—confidence in the God who shows himself strong to his children. David addresses the congregation, reminding them of the fundamental principle by which God’s people resolve to live their lives. David is acknowledging that God does for him what his children can’t do for themselves.

The next line of the song strengthens the claim. The Hebrew here seems to number God merely among the psalmist’s sustainers, an idea that seems unsettling to several modern translators. However, Kidner believes such a translation doesn’t belittle God but demonstrates his hand through human help (cf. 1 Sam 23:13; 2 Sam 23:8-39), an aspect of his faithfulness that served as David’s support and delight (Kidner, Psalms 1–72, 216). God is the helper and upholder of his children, even when he chooses to levy it through human instruments!

Here we find one of the beautiful pictures of the gospel in the Psalms. We’re reminded that Jesus Christ is our helper and upholder and that our gaze remains fixed on him. To do otherwise is to be overwhelmed by the cares and burdens of this life. Peter learned this lesson painfully. When he saw the one who had power over creation walking on the water, he wanted to go meet him by doing the same thing. As he miraculously made his way toward our Lord, everything was peachy until he started looking at the elements on which he was treading instead of looking at Jesus. That’s when he started to sink! So, like the psalmist, “he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught hold of him, and said to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (Matt 14:30-31). Jesus helps and upholds us when we cry out to him.

Hypocrites don’t do this, but God’s true children keep their eyes on the one who has saved them, trusting in his name and all that it represents. When we do, the stormy seas and tumultuous circumstances of our lives fade into the background as lesser concerns. When friends betray us (cf. 55:12-14), when our leaders fall (cf. 146:3-5), and when family members abandon or abuse us (cf. 27:7-10), Jesus helps us and holds us up. So the old gospel hymn got it right: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, / Look full on His wonderful face, / And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, / In the light of His glory and grace” (Lemmel, “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus,” 1922).

When people set their eyes on someone or something other than the Lord Jesus Christ, they don’t see the “glory and grace” of God as it is revealed in his Son. When Jesus came, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Keeping our gaze on him changes how we look at everything else in the universe. When we look at Jesus, we see a God of justice and equity; we see the righteous one who takes no pleasure in evil; we see the Creator God who cares for all of creation. When we look at God in Christ, we can’t take lightly his power and glory, and we can’t take a pass on being involved in his mission in the world (Wilson, Psalms, 803). The name of God as revealed in Christ compels us to reflect his character, nature, and values in this world.

What God Will Do (54:5)

God’s name suggests that he always acts according to his character, not only on behalf of his children but also toward those who oppose them. The psalmist acknowledges as much when he says that God “will repay my adversaries.” He knows that God’s nature is to right wrongs, and that includes rendering justice to his people’s enemies. Basically, David is confidently claiming here that God will cause his enemies’ plans to backfire on them.

The fate of these slanderers is specified as the psalmist speaks directly to God in the parallel statement of the Hebrew poetry. God will annihilate them, destroy their lives. The preposition at the beginning of this clause indicates a cause: “on the basis of what your faithfulness demands.” God’s faithfulness is the truth that characterizes him. On the basis of God’s truth, the psalmist prays that his enemies would be exterminated. He’s asking God to act according to his name, his character.

Praying for God to act according to his character is always right and good. And it’s the most potent praying we can do because we’re always appealing to what is true, to what God has revealed about himself. John said, “This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15). This is the assurance we have whenever we pray according to God’s will, and God’s will always issues forth from his character.

But let’s admit, it does seem a bit awkward for us to ask God to obliterate our enemies. If we’re honest, some of the prayers we find in the Psalms bother us a bit. After all, didn’t Jesus say, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:44-45)? And Paul seems to advocate the same sentiment: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Rom 12:14). As Christ followers, don’t we reflect the character of God by doing the opposite of what David is doing in Psalm 54? The gospel of Christ does seem to constrain us not to respond in anger toward our enemies or desire revenge for what they do to us but to forgive them, love them, bless them, and respond to their evil intentions with good (Matt 5:43-48; Rom 12:14-21).

However, the kind of praying the psalmist does here isn’t actually out of harmony with the gospel. First, this prayer lifts the lid off of our own hearts and reveals our need for the gospel. We really need to press pause before we start feeling too high and mighty and think that David was a lesser human being than us because he lived during Old Testament times. Think about the last time you heard of someone abducting a child, raping a woman, or walking into a public building and gunning down a mass of innocent people. Reflect for a moment on the most recent news report of a terrorist bombing a Christian church building in some part of the world or even the threat of a dictator to launch a nuclear missile. Consider how you felt—including the outcome you desired—as you followed the latest high-profile trial of a mass murderer. Ponder for a moment what you were feeling when you first read the testimonies of Nazi Holocaust prisoners, victims of apartheid in South Africa, or survivors of the killing fields of Cambodia. Didn’t your heart long for justice? And what about the last time someone unjustly attacked you, whether physically or otherwise? Wasn’t there a part of you that wanted them to get what they deserved?

This is why I love the earthiness of the Psalms and the prayers that fill them. They are so me! While it’s easy for me to feel superior to the people of God who lived on the other side of the cross, I often hate those who hurt me and want them to get their due. The emotion of the psalmist in this prayer causes me to see myself and acknowledge the wickedness of my own heart. It causes me to see my desperate need for the gospel. Additionally, the heart cry of David always reminds me of the people in our world who are suffering to the point that they, too, want to pray this way. Bible prayers like this can actually raise our awareness of our own hearts and the hearts of others in seasons of suffering. And when we see our own wickedness, we see our need for the gospel.

This kind of praying is gospel praying for another reason. We should pray like this, not because it’s right for us to hate our enemies and desire their demise but because God wants us to be honest and intimate with him. The psalmist had such a genuine relationship with God that he could express his deepest feelings, even those that didn’t necessarily reflect citizenship in the kingdom that was to come. And guess what—God can handle that! He knows we live in a world infected by sin, and he knows the pain this world can prompt in us. As a good Father, he wants us to crawl up in his lap and express the deepest groaning of our heart, even if in the moment it’s the desire for our enemies to be zapped! When we are willing to come to God and pray this way, he always welcomes us and loves us, just as a father does with a child. And as we commune with him in such unguarded honesty, he responds to us with the gospel. And that gospel refines and tweaks and redeems our childish passions, motives, and desires.

Another reason Psalm 54:5 is gospel praying is because the God of both the Old Testament and the New Testament is actually a God of justice and judgment. We know God ultimately is going to set things right, vindicate the righteous, and punish the wicked. He wasn’t kidding when he said all that stuff about fire and brimstone, eternal condemnation, and the wicked being damned to hell. So any time you pray for his kingdom to come and his will to be done, you’re actually praying for him to destroy the wicked. Wilson insightfully points out that

it is a bit naive of us to believe in a holy and righteous God who is incompatible with evil and to ask him to enter our world decisively in order to end the effects of evil, and to ignore the fact that such a clean-up would have negative consequences for anyone and everything infected by wickedness. (Wilson, Psalms, 803–4)

If that’s true, then the flip side is equally valid. Whenever we pray for God to destroy the wicked, as the psalmist is doing here, we’re praying for him to act justly, stop evil, make things right, and vindicate the righteous.

Finally, praying for God to destroy our enemies is gospel praying if we trust him with it. Vindication is never our assignment. David was clear: “Because of your faithfulness, [you] annihilate them” (emphasis added). He wasn’t asking to do it himself, and neither should we. Vindication is never our assignment or responsibility. It’s God’s. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:43-45). Paul agreed:

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,” says the Lord. “But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.”

Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. (Rom 12:17-21)

When we cry out to God and ask him to vindicate us, we trust him to do it, to do it his way, and to do it in his time. And we follow our prayer for such justice with gospel-driven actions that involve loving our enemies, praying for them, blessing them, living peaceably with them, and doing good deeds for them. That’s what Jesus did (Luke 23:34), and that’s what the gospel demands of us.

Our Devotion to God

Psalm 54:6-7

Our trust in and dependence on God is the seedbed for worship. The demonstration of confidence in his great name issues forth into uninhibited devotion to him. The progression in this psalm is astounding. The distressed servant of the Most High pours out his heart in desperation. That desperation ushers him right to the confident assurance of God’s strong help. And the reminder and awareness of that help compels him to worship this one in whose name he trusts. As is the case with many of the laments in the psalms, this one concludes with sacrifice and praise. David describes what we do in response to God’s great name and then why we do it.

What We Do (54:6)

In response to God’s strong name and the anticipation of his vindication, the psalmist spontaneously promises to worship him. He vows to make a sacrifice of praise when his God comes through with deliverance. David’s intended worship provides a worthy model for us as we respond to God’s faithfulness and the confidence that he will deliver us. Consider three applications.

First, our worship should be shared. The kind of sacrifice referenced here was to be offered in the sanctuary and accompanied by a peace offering. They opened the door to God’s presence through atonement, expressed the love of the worshiper, and assembled the congregation so they could hear the story of God’s work (cf. Deut 12:6-14). David knew that God’s deliverance was intended to inspire praise from those he helped and to build up the faith of everyone else who heard the report of his actions. We frequently ask people to join us in praying for God’s help with some crisis in our lives, but too often we forget to circle back around and report when he comes through for us. God’s deliverance is something to be shared with our brothers and sisters so they can join in worshiping him.

Second, our worship should be sincere. The word freewill indicates the psalmist would make this sacrifice willingly, not under compulsion or obligation. This would be no religious routine to follow or lame liturgical box to check off. It would be a heartfelt response of public praise that acknowledged what God had done. Our worship of the God who delivers must be the natural outflow of hearts moved by his actions on behalf of his people. We can’t afford to get caught up in the routine of weekly worship and never have our affections stirred by God’s gracious work for us.

Third, our worship should be substantive. David vows to worship God’s name, a name he describes as “good.” This theme now comes full circle in the psalm and features God’s identity as helper and upholder. The psalmist’s worship would be prompted by the character and nature of his God who is for him, the one who is good because he protects and provides for the life of his people. God’s name—his divine character and very person—is good. So, like the psalmist, we need to vow never to hoard the celebration of the demonstration of God’s good name but to share it willingly with the community of faith.

Why We Do It (54:7)

Why do we worship as a natural response to God’s deliverance in time of trouble? The little word For flags the reason. When we find ourselves in the midst of struggle, it’s important for us to remember and acknowledge God’s track record of all the times he’s delivered us in the past. That should lead us to praise him because we know he will be consistent and comprehensive in his help—past, present, and future.

The verb tense used in the phrase he has rescued appears to support this understanding. The construction is common in vows of praise and likely indicates the anticipation of an outcome as opposed to the reflection on a completed act. Perowne says, “The [perfect verb tenses] in this verse denote not that the deliverance is already accomplished, but the confidence of faith that it will be, and give the reason for the thanksgiving of the preceding verse” (Perowne, Psalms, 434). So the psalmist worships, not just because God has delivered him in the past but because he has complete confidence that he will deliver him in the future as well. We worship our God with such an assurance of his faithfulness that we actually view what we anticipate he will do in the future as an accomplished fact! It’s as good as done!

The psalmist finishes his prayer with a declaration of victory. The Hebrew places “my enemies” at the front. Why? Because this is his reason for praying in the first place: to ask God to do something about his enemies. And the verb tense is the same as above, confidently anticipating a victory. The psalmist will take great delight when he sees his enemies ultimately overcome. This won’t be exultation over their misfortune but the celebration that God’s righteous judgment has been administered and the satisfaction that his good name has been vindicated (Gesenius’, 380). Anticipating the defeat of the wicked is actually an anticipation of our vindication as those who trust in God. Whenever that happens, it always calls attention to and prompts praise for his great name!

Conclusion

What do we draw from this psalm? I offer two takeaways, one for believers and one for unbelievers. For believers, let’s learn that we can pray with confidence in Jesus’s name for deliverance that will vindicate our faith when people threaten and attack us. Satan always will work through ungodly people to undermine the gospel and those who embrace it, but we can rest in the assurance that God promises he ultimately will crush the threats and deliver his children. Sometimes his deliverance will be immediate (e.g., Acts 12:1-19; 16:16-40). Sometimes it will be delayed (e.g., Acts 21:27–28:31), even until the other side of death (e.g., Acts 7:54-60). Regardless of the timing, Jesus taught us to keep praying, “Deliver us from the evil one” (Matt 6:13). And when we do, we can pray confidently in his name (John 14:13-14) because we know that one day God ultimately and finally will end the threat of evil people and give eternal victory to his children.

For unbelievers, Psalm 54 is such a beautiful and simple picture of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation we find only in him. We are all in a desperate situation because of our sin. The assault of our enemy, the evil one, has left us in a situation we can’t do anything about. We can’t save ourselves. That’s why God left heaven and came to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. He came to live a life we couldn’t live and to die a death we should have died. And he overcame that death by rising again and defeating our enemy. Now he stands ready to deliver us and give us back the life we were created to have. So, what do we do? We cry out to his strong name—the name of Jesus—to save us, to help us, to uphold us. After all, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12; cf. 10:43; Matt 1:21). In repentance and faith, we express our desperation for him to do for us what we can’t do. And we trust him and depend on him to do it. And he does! In return, we give him our devoted lives as a sacrifice of praise to his great name.

What’s in a name? Well, if it’s Jesus’s name, there is help for all who are desperate for him, who depend on him, and who are devoted to him.

Reflect and Discuss