Life-Study of Psalms, by Witness Lee

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VIII. THE PSALMIST’S PRAYER
FOR GOD’S SALVATION FROM HIS ENEMIES

Psalm 59 is the psalmist’s prayer for God’s salvation from his enemies.

A. The Psalmist’s Prayer
for God’s Salvation by Watching for God

The psalmist asks God to deliver him from his enemies (vv. 1-3). He prays that God would set him on high, secure from those who rose up against him (v. 1b). Verses 9 and 10 indicate that the psalmist prayed by watching for God. "O my strength, I will watch for You;/For God is my high retreat. /My God in His lovingkindness will meet me;/God will let me look triumphantly upon those who lie in wait for me."

B. Asking God
to Punish the Nations

In verses 4 through 8 and 11 through 15, the psalmist asks God to punish the nations. He asks God to awake (v. 4b) and to have no mercy upon any who treacherously perform iniquity (v. 5b). He goes on to pray that Jehovah will scatter them by His power and bring them down (v. 11b). Then he prays, "Consume them in wrath; consume them so that they are no more;/And men will know that God rules in Jacob/Unto the ends of the earth" (v. 13).

C. The Psalmist’s Praise to God

In verses 16 and 17 we have the psalmist’s praise to God. Here David says, "I will sing of Your strength;/And I will sing aloud of Your lovingkindness in the morning./For You have been my high retreat/And a refuge in the day of my distress./O my strength, unto You I will sing psalms,/For God is my high retreat,/My God of lovingkindness." This praise is quite good, but it is preceded by many verses involving accusation and condemnation.

(Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 25, by Witness Lee)