Embrace the Word for Monday, May 18, 2026
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Psalm 64 is a prayer in the context of a situation giving rise to dreadful fear. But a dramatic turnaround unfolds within this Psalm. The superscription acknowledges this Psalm to be from David, but offers no historical context: “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.” While we are unsure of the particulars, David is facing a terrorizing and terrifying situation. David is under hostile attack. Suggesting a sub collection within the Psalter, Psalm 61 and Psalm 64 open with the same words: “Hear my voice, O God” (61:1a; 64:1a). The focus of Psalms 61-64 is a strong longing for the presence of the LORD. Psalm 64 shares a close connection with Psalm 63. Speaking of the enemy, Psalm 63 ended with the line: "for the mouths of liars will be stopped” (63:11b); while in Psalm 64, the enemy’s words would be used against them (64:8). Sharing common endings, Psalm 63 states: “But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult” (63:11a); while Psalm 64 states: “Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD…Let all the upright in heart exult!” (64:10). Psalm 64 begins with an appeal to the LORD amid enemy plots (64:1-6), and closes with assurances from the LORD concerning judgment against the enemy (64:7-10).
Psalm 64 opens with an intense petition: “Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy” (64:1). David is facing a fearsome enemy who is posing a serious threat to him. David believes his life is in imminent danger from which he has no way, on his own, to remove himself. David’s immediate reaction to his situation is dread. Dread describes a horrifying and paralyzing fear. This is no mild, mundane apprehension; it is an acute, dire crisis. But David turns to the LORD calling upon Him to act on his behalf. David’s “complaint” is not against the LORD; his “complaint” pertains to those who seek to take his life. It is this “complaint” or the deep distress of his heart that David pours out to the LORD. David is not merely asking the LORD to hear him out, but to answer his petition. David offers up his anxious fears to the LORD. While some anxious fears may not be as severe as what David will go on to describe, we are directed to offer up any and all of our anxious fears to the LORD. If we trust that the LORD can handle the most dreadful of situations, we should be quick to grasp that He can also handle just the ordinary situations we face daily.
David requests protection: “Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers” (64:2). David’s enemies are “wicked” and “evildoers.” These wicked evildoers are described in somewhat contrasting terms. First, they plot in secret. David’s enemies operate with a covert scheming. David asks God to hide him from those who are developing their plans to harm him while in hiding. Second, the ultimate stratagems of David’s enemies seek to create an angry mob who would overtly rise up against David. The initial rounds of attacks against David are verbal: “who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless, shooting at him suddenly and without fear” (64:3-4). While David is blameless in the matters that would be brought forth, nevertheless, his enemies would manufacture a sudden and merciless attack questioning his integrity.
David’s enemies are confident that their plans will succeed: “They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see them?” (64:5). Resolute, David’s enemies cannot fathom their conniving ever failing, for they are convinced that no one knows what they are up to. But they are the ones who are unable to see, for David is aware of what they are up to, let alone is the fact that the LORD fully sees. David’s enemies believe that they have thought through every contingency and scenario: “They search out injustice, saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.” For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep” (64:6). Their plans have been developed with great attention to detail; they have done their homework. And they believe that their plots are so well concealed that David won’t know what hit him until after the fact. But they are wrong, and that will be made clear in just a moment.
Thinking their plans hatched in deep secrecy and with great determination were invincible, a great reversal unfolded: “But God shoots his arrow at them; they are wounded suddenly” (64:7). David is most likely describing what hasn’t actually taken place yet, but he is so confident that it will take place that he describes it as having happened. Perhaps it took days, weeks, months, or perhaps years to plot out the detailed schemes, but it would all come to an end in quick order: they would be “wounded suddenly.” The “bitter words like arrows” (64:3-4) that they were planning to shoot against David, are foiled as the LORD “shoots his arrows at them.” David describes, as he has previously, that evil simply destroys itself. Perhaps more precisely, the LORD brings evil to an end by reversing the direction of their own evil designs: “They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them; all who see them will wag their heads” (64:8). Their “own tongues,” which they plotted to be used against David, are, in the end, simply used against themselves. All that they have plotted in secret, will, in the end, be seen by all, who upon observing what unfolds, literally “wag their heads.” The careful, clever, confident conniving of the wicked evildoers will clearly reveal how unintelligent they actually are.
The real results of what was plotted in secret would become public news: “Then all mankind fears; they tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done” (64:9). When the LORD brings to a swift end the schemes of the wicked, their demise will be well known. And the response of what is publicly known will be universally displayed. When the wicked receive the justice that is due them, then those who see such justice will have a greater sense of what it means to fear the LORD. The downfall of the wicked will promote a greater awareness of how amazing and impressive the LORD truly is. Such awareness will be publicly talked about with much enthusiasm and wonder. But while there will be a universal response from the public at large, the response from the LORD’s people will be even more focused: “Let the righteous one rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!” (64:10). The response from the LORD’s people is divided into two segments. First, there is the stated response of a singular individual, that is, “the righteous one.” Perhaps this is David, perhaps it is forward looking to David’s son, or perhaps it is both. The individual who had been most directly under attack by the wicked evildoers is to rejoice. He has been heard by, as well as delivered by the LORD in whom he took refuge. But along with the individual who was rescued, all the upright of heart would join in and exult in the LORD. The king and the people aligned with the king will gladly praise the LORD, for the deliverance of the king spells deliverance for the people.
As we reflect on Psalm 64 we should consider the plots and attacks against the Lord Jesus Christ. Early in Mark’s Gospel account, after Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, we learn: “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him” (See Mark 3:6). The Pharisees and the Herodians were not natural allies; they most often differed on most things of any significance. But on the need to get rid of Jesus, the Pharisees and the Herodians agreed, forming a secret cartel for developing the plan to destroy Him. As Jesus’ ministry unfolded, so did the schemes of those who opposed Jesus: “It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.” (See Mark 14:1-2). Eventually, their scheme takes on the same angry mob alluded to in Psalm 64. Those who plotted secretly against Jesus worked the crowd so that they demanded Jesus’ life before Pilate: “But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” (See Mark 15:11-14). But Jesus knew what lay ahead for Him. Perhaps a large part of His understanding was formed by reading from the Scriptures such as Psalm 64. Jesus sought to help His disciples grasp what was not only before Him, but also what was to come hence: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” (See Mark 10:33-34). Jesus knew that in the final analysis, He would rejoice (See Hebrews 12:2); but also, because of His outcome, His followers would also rejoice: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (See Matthew 5:11-12).
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, May 18, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, May 20, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalms 65 and 66.