Psalm 55:6

New International Version

I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest.

For Meditation

Where do you turn when you come under constant and fiery attacks from people around you? What do you do when your enemies assail you relentlessly? What if one of those enemies turns out to be your close friend? How hurtful is that? But how do you deal with such a situation?

David teaches us through one of his experiences in Psalm 55. The attack on him was so violent and sustained that he wished he had wings to fly away and hide somewhere far from them (Psalm 55:4-8).

“Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

I would flee far away

and stay in the desert;

I would hurry to my place of shelter,

far from the tempest and storm.”

However David did not have wings, but he had God Almighty to turn to, and to Him, he turned to seek protection (v.9). What hurt David most was to see his best friend leading the assault.

“If an enemy were insulting me,

I could endure it;

if a foe were rising against me,

I could hide.

But it is you, a man like myself,

my companion, my close friend,

with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship

at the house of God,

as we walked about

among the worshipers.”

How is that for betrayal? Humanly, David wished for a surprise visit from death to those enemies. But we know better from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:44-45).

David called on the Lord for rescue, the Lord who is enthroned forever and does not change for rescue (Psalm 55:17-19). From his pain, he counsels us to:

“Cast your cares on the Lord

and he will sustain you;

he will never let

the righteous be shaken” (22).

This counsel comes from the assurance that God will deal with those enemies in His own way (23), a vindication only His children enjoy. Then David closes it with the best thing for all of us to do in the face of such wicked attacks.

“But as for me, I trust in you.”

Can you trust the Lord as David did and follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered the worst betrayal from His friends but prayed for them (Luke 23:34)?

You are more Christlike if you do that in your pain.