Psalm 54 ~ O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might

Psalm 54


O God, save me by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.
2 O God, hear my prayer;
give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For strangers^{[insolent men]} have risen against me;
ruthless men seek my life;
they do not set God before themselves. Selah

4 Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord is the upholder of my life.          
5 He will return the evil to my enemies;
in your faithfulness put an end to them.

6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.


Psalm 54 is a Psalm of David.  A Psalm written by a man who saw war, homelessness, being overlooked by his father and brothers, marked as a criminal, a mercenary.  And he lived through victory, indulgence, defeat and into old age.

We live in time when the news generally isn't great.  People have doubts about their children's futures.  Most of us are amazed at least once a month by a new phone app or a computer application.  And we have so many debates about nutrition, carbs, the wheat supply being irradiated. Sometimes it helps to remember my grandmothers grew old after facing life's hardships. I know they had years life shook them like waves. They were not like the centenarian documentaries of self-reliance and hard core assurance. Yet they found they endured and looked forward to more with God in eternity. 

How are we saved? By the blood of Jesus. I wouldn't turn this down, especially at the Communion Table. By the cross of Jesus?  It is the symbol of victory of the LORD over the enemy of death, despair, false witness.  Yet David grasps something very important here. We are saved by the name of Jesus. The Christ. The Son of God. The LORD.

Philippians 2:10
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth

What shall we say about our JESUS?

Jesus

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.


Genesis 1:3-4
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.



Proverbs 8

The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
23 Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
26 before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.


Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”


Isaiah 55:11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Hebrews 6:13
When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself

Acts 2:21
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.



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