Deliver Us From Evil (Psalm 64)

¹ Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint;
protect my life from the threat of the enemy.

² Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,
from the plots of evildoers.
³ They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.
⁴ They shoot from ambush at the innocent;
they shoot suddenly, without fear.

⁵ They encourage each other in evil plans,
they talk about hiding their snares;
they say, “Who will see it?”
⁶ They plot injustice and say,
“We have devised a perfect plan!”
Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.

⁷ But God will shoot them with his arrows;
they will suddenly be struck down.
⁸ He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
⁹ All people will fear;
they will proclaim the works of God
and ponder what he has done.

¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will glory in him!

 __________

Today as I reflected on this psalm my thoughts were drawn to spiritual warfare.  Although David no doubt had in mind his earthly enemies who were conspiring against him, I am seeing this psalm for me as a prayer for God’s deliverance from spiritual enemies.  As I’ve pointed out before in these devotions, this is a very appropriate New Testament way to read psalms like this.  After all, as Paul teaches in Ephesians 6, our enemies are not people, but rather spiritual beings.  We are called to love our human enemies and pray for deliverance from our spiritual ones.

So that is my focus in reading this Psalm today, especially David’s words about the conspiracy and plans of the enemy.  We aren’t to think of spiritual evil being focused solely on very transparent temptations to commit obvious sin.  And it’s more than just causing disasters in our lives or the lives of others that are aimed at bringing suffering.  If we take seriously the cunning and ferocity of the evil one as depicted in Scripture, then we should expect an evil intellect beyond ours, capable of devising brilliant schemes to trip us up and distract us from our Savior.

If you haven’t read C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, I highly recommend that you do so.  The book is presented as a series of letters from a senior devil to his apprentice.  Although it is pure fantasy, it is a brilliant meditation on the breadth of the workings of evil in our lives and in our hearts.  Although not directly Scriptural, it flows from what Scripture says about evil’s desire to lead our hearts away from faith.

So my prayer today is essentially what the Lord has enjoined us to pray daily: “Deliver us from evil.”  I pray that I may not be influenced and led astray, no matter how subtly, in my thoughts and in my words today.  I pray that I may faithfully give evidence in my life that in Christ, the victory over evil has been won.

NOTE:

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