October 28, 2025 - Psalm 56:3,4 - "Afflictions"

Psalm 56:3,4

"What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."

Psalm 56 is a song for the distressed. Though written by David, it points to our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ in His humanity when He was upon this earth. Truly, no man suffered as He suffered. He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). David was a type of which Christ is the fulfillment. David, as a sinner, deserved affliction and suffering; but our LORD, without sin, endured it all as the sin-Bearer of His people, that He might be the true and faithful High Priest (Hebrews 2:17).

David’s cry, “Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up” (Psalm 56:1), is both the cry of the LORD Jesus from the cross, but also, by the grace of God, is the cry of every elect child of God when regenerated by the Spirit. Man is the problem because of the fall of Adam. Take man out of this world and you take sin out of it. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). The curse upon this world is because of Adam's disobedience. Every affliction, upheaval, and sorrow can be traced back to him. Men make speeches and promise solutions, but the real problem is not addressed: we are all sinners, and we all ought to be flat on our faces before a holy God, crying for mercy. And it was for such that the Father gave Him out of all of fallen humanity, that the LORD Jesus came, lived, and died to redeem them, and from the cross cried out to the Father that He would be merciful to Him as the sin- Bearer in accepting His perfect Sacrifice and raise Him again from the grave (Hebrews 5:7, 8).

David, though anointed king, faced trouble upon trouble. Yet he turned where every believer must turn—“Be merciful unto me, O God.” As the publican cried, “God be merciful to me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13), so David cried in humility. Grace teaches us that whatever opposition or affliction comes, we would be no different from our enemies were it not for His mercy. This psalm was written when the Philistines took David in Gath (1 Samuel 21:10–15). The LORD shut him up to the point that all he could do was cry unto Him. Surrounded by danger, he confessed, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” This is not natural courage—it is God-given faith that looks away from fear to Christ. David’s heart was trembling, yet grace lifted him to say, “In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me” (Psalm 56:4).

The title of the Psalm is “Jonath-elem-rechokim” which means “the silent dove afar off.” The dove pictures meekness, harmlessness, and patience. Christ Himself was harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners (Hebrews 7:26). Our LORD said, “Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Even as with the LORD Jesus, the believer is called to flee to God like the dove seeking her refuge in the face of danger. When David feigned madness before Achish, spittle on his beard, it was not deception but divine deliverance. God provided a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). The LORD preserved His servant, for His purpose must stand (Daniel 4:35).

Yet beyond the physical danger, David saw a greater Refuge—his spiritual Refuge in God. He said, “This I know; for God is for me” (Psalm 56:9). Such was the faith of the LORD Jesus in His Father, and that Faith revealed in the elect child in Christ. The enemies may be many; they may gather themselves together and mark our steps (v. 6), but "if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

The Spirit of God reminds us that man by nature is a destroyer—ravenous, deceitful, at enmity with God. Scripture says, “The wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh” (Psalm 27:2). And if they did so with David, how much more when Christ Himself walked the earth? "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). Yet even when surrounded by hatred, He trusted His Father perfectly.

David’s experience mirrors that of the LORD Jesus. He fled from Saul, fell into the hands of the Philistines, yet found refuge in God. Christ, in His hour of affliction, was surrounded by enemies, yet He cried, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46). His confidence never wavered. Because He trusted, we can trust. Because He conquered fear, we are delivered from fear.

Thus, Psalm 56 is not only David’s testimony—it is Christ’s song. It is the golden psalm of the Redeemer, "For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?" (Psalm 56:13).

When fear comes, faith answers: “I will trust in Thee.” And in that trust we see Christ—the merciful, faithful Savior—our Refuge, our Deliverer, our Peace.