The header of Psa 56:
To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A Michtam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath.

The Silent Dove is actually the tune for Psalm 56.

What image comes to our mind when we see this phrase? The imagery immediately evokes a sense of sadness, because the dove is known to constantly coo. If you want to keep the dove as a pet, you better be prepared for its constant coo-ing. Some people find it very noisy. Some find it very therapeutic. That’s it’s nature, the dove will constantly coo. Yet the title says that the dove is now silent. Why? Because it’s supposed to be at home, where it’s heart is. But it has been driven far away from his home in distant lands. The dove thus goes against its very nature; it’s silent.

The title also perfectly captures the mood of this psalm. David was the author. The exact meaning of Michtam is unknown. Some people think it’s golden, so the Chinese Bible translates it to be so. Some people think Michtam is a silent prayer.

Especially when you’re faced with overwhelming troubles like David, it was an innermost prayer of his heart.

The title tells us the Philistines captured him in Gath. When David was running away from Saul, there was twice he went to Gath.

1 Sam 21:10-15
When he ran to Gath, he was actually taken to Achish the king. David had not yet gathered his mighty men. He was all alone. Running all by himself to Gath, and captured.

The second time he was in Gath, he had already gathered 600 men with him. The Bible never says he was captured so Psalm 56 should be referring to the first incident.

1 Sam 21:13 says that David changed his behaviour before them. He pretended madness in their hands. The Bible describes him to be IN THEIR HANDS. Most likely this fits Psa 56, where the people captured him in Gath.

With this particular setting in mind, let’s turn back to Psa 56.

v1-2 Here David describes his enemies like a predator seeking its prey.
“For man would swallow me up”
“My enemies would hound me all day” like dogs hounding for bread!

His enemies weren’t few. There were MANY who fight against him. And his enemies don’t just disturb him once in a while. “Fighting ALL DAY he oppresses me”. They were so focused on David, they wouldn’t stop until David was killed.

v5-6
The psalmist sometimes employs poetic hyperbole. But we know the background of David and know he wasn’t exaggerating. This was the exact situation he had from the time he started to run. Run run run, captured in Gath.

1 Sam 19
We take a quick look at his life as a fugitive. Here records Saul attempting to spear David to the wall. David escapes and runs home. We might find it strange that he runs home after somebody tries to kill you. They know your home right? One reason was that his wife was the daughter of King Saul. Perhaps his wife could save him. Another reason is because this wasn’t the first time Saul wanted to spear him. “This is just like other times, he’ll return to normal.” But this time, it was different. Saul was BENT on killing David. In fact he sends his men to keep watch at his house.

That’s why Psa 56 says:
“They lie in wait for my life”
These people were lying in wait to kill him!

David escapes and the next person he runs to is Samuel. Perhaps he thought since Samuel anointed him, he might be able to protect him. He was safe for a while but his location was exposed because of snitches. He couldn’t hide there anymore. Where does he run to? Chapter 20: to Jonathan. Jonathan doesn’t know what his father has done so he promises David he’ll sound out his father. But Jonathan also can’t do much. So David had to run again. He runs to priests in Nob.

1 Sam 21:7
A man called Doeg, an Edomite, the chief herdsmen of Saul. An evil man. He snitched on David and got all the priests killed.

David continues to run.

v10 He runs to Gath. Why? Because Saul is definitely not going to Gath to find him there. People sometimes have this saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

David probably thought this. In reality, he was just going from one trouble to a greater trouble.

v11 The Israelites didn’t recognise David as king. But here says the Philistines recognised him! They saw him as king, not Saul!

Saul’s enemies saw David as a greater enemy!

v12 says he was very afraid. David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

He wasn’t afraid when fighting the lions and the bear. He wasn’t afraid when he fought Goliath. There were only two times the Bible says he was afraid. The other time was because Uzziah stretched out his hand and touched the ark of God. Uzziah was killed. So David was afraid of God.

But here says he was very much afraid of Achish, a man.

This is the background of Psa 56. He’s really the silent dove in distant lands. Imagine his sense of helplessness!

If you put himself in his shoes, God really helped.

All these enemies went against him for no rhyme or reason. He was just a shepherd boy in Bethlehem. Such a carefree life. Sometimes there’s a bear but he’s not afraid. He was probably composing his own psalm under the starry night.

But now God chose him to be king and he was landed in this situation. He had to run like a fugitive in his own country. He runs to another country and is captured. He would’ve found it senseless: what’s the purpose of all these things.

God had promised him that he would be king. Now he was just a fugitive, and worse a captive! If we were in his shoes, or like him in any way, how should we respond?

Let’s take a look at how David responded.
Psa 56:3
“Whenever I am afraid I will trust in God.”
The first thing David does is to overcome his fear. He was very afraid. You would’ve been too. How does he overcome this fear that he had? He tells himself, “I will trust in you.” He trusted in God all his life. He tells himself he will continue to do so. In fact he’s so scared he tells himself two times, he keeps repeating himself.

This is a reminder to himself that with God with him, what can I be afraid of?

Very often when we meet with problems with life, our first response is to seek for help. It isn’t “I want to trust in God”. We tend to put a lot of trust in Man instead. It’s very often our common weakness. In fact, this is very natural. It’s a natural things from our upbringing.

Take a look at a child. A child is completely helpless. There’re very few animals as helpless as the human being. He is totally dependent on his parents for everything. Of course this is the natural order God has ordained. Naturally, his parents is his everything. Very often children think their parents are superman. Young children often like to gather to compare. Compare what? Their parents. What their parents have.

A long time ago, there were a few kids during YS comparing their parents’ car. They were very young kids. They were tapping and saying, “My car.” The speaker thought it was very funny “wah they nothing better to do”. The speaker went to the kids and said, “My car is very big too. Can sit 60 people! Sometimes Mercedes sometimes Volvo. Someone even drives me. The kids eyes were so wide. He proceeded to say “I take a bus”!

Young children like to compare parents. When they grow up they realise their parents aren’t that great. They start to say “my teacher said this”. When they’re older they say “my friend said this”. When they grow up in society, people tend to put their trust in people in power because they think these people can help them.

That’s the problem with society. We’ve been putting our trust in people all our lives. The question is: can these people help you?

Psa 146:3-4
Why is the prince of no help? Imagine you have the PM for help. Why would he be of no help? But the psalmist says as long as he’s a man, don’t put your trust in him.

The powerful man is just one step away from dying. He may be a very powerful person today, but tomorrow he will be just a corpse. That’s why the psalmist says if you put your trust in Man, your trust is misplaced. What should we trust in?

v5 Whoever puts his trust in God is blessed.

Initially David put his trust in men, Thad why he ran first. “Maybe my wife can save me” “maybe the man of God can save me”

Sidetrack:
A Christian’s friends would often tease him for his faith. During WW2 when the bombs started to drop, he realised once the siren went off, all his friends gathered around him. They tried to squeeze close to him because maybe they think he’s a holy man who can save them.

Perhaps David ran to Samuel because of that.

Then he ran to Jonathan, who’s really a prince. But Jonathan is helpless because the KING wants to kill David.

“Maybe I need to run to somewhere where my enemies’ enemies can protect me”
Ran to Gath and was captured there because he was seen as a greater threat.

He ran from the next man to the next man. But man couldn’t deliver David!

That’s why David keeps repeating “in God I will praise His word”. Because God had promised David he would be king. Since God had promised, what can man do to him?

It makes no difference who is against him. No man can kill him because God can overcome all opposition.

This is like a cassette recorder he uses to remind himself: God promised I would be king. I will trust in His word.

If we put our trust in God, we will have no fear.

What else does David do?
Psa 56
He’s been chased by his many enemies without cause, through no fault of his own. How is he to respond to such unjust treatment?

v7 He prays to God to take vengeance on his behalf. Are we allowed to do this? Paul tells us in the New Testament to bless our enemies, not curse them. But this is mentioned many times in David’s prayers. Asking God to mete out justice.

Of course the prayer recorded is also divinely inspired. How do we reconcile these kind of prayers with Jesus’ commands to love our enemies?

First we need to understand what these prayers are NOT about. These prayers are NOT about the conflicts we have with one another. This is inevitable, between brethren in church and siblings at home.

Give an example. Purely an example the speaker came up with.
Suppose someone gives negative comments about you. “Why didn’t you wash the toilet in church? Why’re you so lazy?” You get very angry. “Wah I do so much in church and you call me lazy?!” Then in prayer “shall they escape by iniquity, in anger cast down the peoples O God!” No, doesn’t apply in this case.

In David’s case, his enemies were twisting his words and wanted to kill him. How did David treat his enemies before they mistreated him? Did he mistreat them, causing them to mistreat him?

Psa 35:13-14
This was how David prayed for the people coming after him. Are there anyone of us who pray like this for the names on the wall?

This was how David prayed for people he thought were his friends. Sackcloth. Pacing about. Like praying for his own parents! He had treated them like his best friends and this was how they repaid him. They turned around and tried to kill him.

These people repaid Jesus goodness with wickedness.

These people were directly going against the will of God. God had anointed David as king. These people were trying to kill the king God anointed. In every objective sense, they were evil people, evil doers. They weren’t just enemies of David, but also enemies of God.

So this isn’t talking about personal disputes.

Psa 56
This prayer is really David trusting God to mete out justice. He’s not going to take matters into his own hands. Some people get very angry when they’re mistreated by other people. “Who’s gonna avenge me?” So they take matters into their own hands.

David leaves room for God to take vengeance. In his entire life, David never avenged his personal enemies. He killed many, but that was in war against the enemies of Israel. He also killed rebels in Israel, but they weren’t his personal enemies. He almost killed Nabal, but didn’t.

If we look at his prayer, it seems very severe here. But in his action, David was very very gracious to all his enemies. Twice he could kill Saul, twice he let him off. He repaid Saul’s evil with goodness.

General Abner supported Saul’s son. David didn’t kill him. Shimei kept cursing him when he already king and had the authority to kill him. David didn’t kill him in his lifetime.

Throughout his life, David never took matters into his own hands. He never avenged himself with his own hands. With this in mind let us understand the New Testament command doesn’t tell us to repay evil with evil. The New Testament command is to love our enemies. But that doesn’t prevent us from calling evil evil. Jesus’ command doesn’t prevent us from desiring there be justice. Because God is both love, and also just. This is both the divine nature of God. Even if you love your enemies, also pray to God for justice. In fact the same prayer is found in Rev 6.

Rev 6:9-10
A prayer of the martyrs praying for justice and for God to kill them. Understand this prayer isn’t a prayer of vindictiveness.

Another example: Stephen
He was stoned to death. Then he cried out, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.” Stephen was also a martyr. So he’s also praying this prayer to heaven. “How long o God till you avenge our blood on this earth?”

Sometimes we think they’re contradictory but love and justice are BOTH attributes of God.

Before we start saying this prayer regarding our enemies, there’re 4 things we need to take note:

1. Are we really as innocent as David? Did we hurt the opposite party?
2. Are those who hurt us really God’s enemies? Is it just a normal conflict that’s inevitable, that just happened. Both of you are children of God, not enemies
3. We should treat even the enemies of God with grace like David. Throughout his life, David didn’t take matters in his own hands
4. This prayer must be anchored on the justice of God. Most importantly, the prayer is to entrust everything to God and is a reminder that God will mete out His justice, nor ours

Psa 56:8
Whenever we feel our suffering are senseless (David would’ve felt his sufferings were senseless), “You number my wandering, put my tears into Your bottle, are they not in Your book?”

A German philosopher Nietzsche said, “What really raises one’s indignation against suffering isn’t suffering intrinsically. It’s actually because people feel it’s senseless.” This was because he didn’t believe in God.

But we who believe in God. We like David know our sufferings are never in vain. David says, “He has numbered my wandering.” God knows every time he has to run and run and run away.

We need to read both v7-8 together. David was one who went to God for comfort in sufferings. Because God is so very concerned about our misery. In fact our tears are so precious, He stores them up. He has recorded everything in His book.

This verse really depicts the beautiful relationship we have with God. God allows sufferings to come upon us but He’ll never forget what we have suffered.

When we’re very much afraid, when we feel we’re unjustly treated, that our sufferings are senseless, let us remember the prayer of David in Psa 56. Let us remember David’s suffering as the silent dove in distant lands.