The Fugitive's Prayer

Bread of Life Fellowship

The title of the Psalm tells us that it was written by David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, "Is not David hiding among us?" This is a reference to events that take place in 1 Samuel 23. The immediate background for Psalm 54 had David inside the walled city of Keilah, which he liberated from the attacking Philistines. Though they benefited from David's protection, the Keilahites considered David a threat to the monarchy and sought to turn him over to Saul. Upon being warned by the Lord, David slipped out of the city, seeking refuge in the wilderness of Ziph. David was unsafe even in this remote inhospitable area as the Ziphites also sought to turn him over to King Saul. The treachery of Doeg the Edomite against David could be expected, but here David finds himself betrayed by his own people – the Jews in Ziph. Having nowhere to turn and hardly anyone he could trust, David turned to the Lord in prayer and wrote a song about it – the words of Psalm 54. This Psalm is for anyone who has felt abandoned, rejected, or publicly denounced by a friend. When one might feel as though, "no one cares," Psalm 54 reveals a God who not only cares but is powerful to deliver His people from their affliction. The Psalm serves as a model prayer: he calls on God to hear his lamentation (2-3); he encourages himself by remembering who God is (4); he makes his request (5); and he offers thanksgiving demonstrating a firm confidence that God would indeed deliver him. Having brought his anxiety to the Lord at the beginning of the Psalm, David is restored to quiet trust and confidence by the end of it.