Psalms 56

Be gracious; man tramples; attacker oppresses all day. Title: Philistines seized him in Gath—sheep between wolves. Wesley’s outline: complaint, mercy begged, help against enemies.

Grace is pleaded because oppression is true. The daily trampling does not nullify the ask; it deepens it.

Calvin: merciful—for man swallows me up; fighting daily oppresses. Indefinite man: whole world combined, no humanity among men, last necessity of divine help. Shaaph = swallow up—insatiable rage.

Wretchedness of numerous barbarous adversaries drives to mercy alone. All-day oppression, plea for grace.

Enemies trample all day; many attack proudly. Pressure multiplies—proud many, not a single foe.

Naming the proud attack keeps prayer concrete. Grace sustains under majority malice; the oppressed still look up.

Calvin: enemies daily swallow; many fight—O Most High. Mistake to read many fighting with me as angel-helpers here; the verse is complaint throughout.

Numbers against him magnify need of the Most High. Both traditions hear: proud trampling is confessed.

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. Fear and trust in one breath—not denial of fear.

Fear is not softened; trusting is the grace-enabled turn the believer must make in the day of fear. The verse trains a habit: when afraid → trust.

Calvin: acknowledges weakness—sensible of fear—yet denies having yielded. Dangers distress but do not surrender hope. True proof of faith: resist solicitations of natural fear. Fear and hope not incompatible; hope elevates under dejection.

He feared and yet trusted. Common reading: afraid, yet trust.

Wesley: Will praise—praise the Lord for his word, promises of protection and deliverance. Flesh—infirm mortal men, called flesh by way of contempt (Ps 78:39; Isa 31:3). In God I trust; shall not be afraid.

Praising the word and refusing flesh-fear are lived responses. Promises are for a people who actually trust and praise.

Calvin: glory in God by praising his word—even if help seem withdrawn, rest on the naked promise. Despise threatenings; contest is between enemies and God. Men termed flesh to show madness of fighting above their strength. Triumph over apprehensions, not absolute absence of fear.

Limiting God’s power rates the creature above the Creator. What can flesh do?

All day they injure my cause; thoughts against me for evil. Words twisted; counsel for harm.

Evil thought-life of enemies is brought to God. The righteous may suffer injured cause without surrendering trust (vv. 3–4).

Calvin: my words vex me / they wrest my words—double complaint: abortive plans and enemies’ united counsels for ruin. Faith overcomes anxiety it cannot wholly remove.

Lack of foresight confessed alongside malice of foes. Both confess: all-day evil intent.

Wesley: They gather—after severally employing thoughts against me, meet to compare and execute. Hide—lurk to pry into private actions. Steps—find occasion to reproach. Soul—or life, to take it away. Stir strife; lurk; watch steps.

Coordinated ambush is named so vigilance and prayer stay awake. Life is the target; grace does not forbid prudent watchfulness.

Calvin: gather, hide, watch heels—subtile devices to surprise; pressed on every side; nothing would satisfy but his death.

Implacable hatred explains the pursuit. Lurking watchers wait for life.

Wesley: Escape—shall they secure themselves by injurious and malicious practices? The people—mine enemies. In anger cast down the peoples.

Rhetorical challenge—crime must not buy escape. Prayer asks wrathful casting down, not private revenge plots.

Calvin: wicked think to escape in iniquity under license; God will cast them down. Plural peoples fortifies mind against fear of arrayed enemies—God’s prerogative to cast down not one nation only but the world.

Audacity under assumed immunity meets the anger of God. Either reading: no escape by crime.

Wesley: Wanderings—how hunted from place to place. Put—regard and pity them. Are they not—why pray God to do what he hath already done? Tossings counted; tears in bottle; book.

Tears matter to God—ask him to keep them, and trust they are already written. Prayer and assurance meet in one verse.

Calvin: abrupt prayer—consider tears; then declares they are written. Whole life one continued wandering. Put tears in bottle—keep as precious deposit. Faith in providence that numbers hairs (Matt 10:30); if tears honored, blood shed is not erased from God’s register.

God notices each affliction; otherwise we could not pray thus. Bottle and book hold tears.

Then enemies turn back that I call. I know: God is for me.

Calling is the hinge—enemies turn in the day of cry. Knowledge that God is for me steadies the next prayer.

Calvin: boasts victory confidently—specifies the moment of turning back. No sensible evidence but firm reliance on the promise; waits with patience. Does not pray hesitatingly; once at faith, sets devil and host at defiance.

God never frustrates his children’s prayers. God is for me.

In God / in the LORD, I will praise his word. I praise (doubled). Praise of the promise again under pressure.

Repeating praise of the word is deliberate practice. Gratitude for promises continues while circumstances still pinch.

Calvin: pronoun implied from parallel—repetition emphasizes: though God delay sensible favor and give only the word, glory in it undiminished. Honor the word when deprived of present experience—set seal that God is true.

Never-failing praise from the naked promise amidst worst trials. Word praised in God and LORD.

In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Echo of v. 4 with man for flesh.

Trust renewed is not redundancy—fear returns, so trust must be taken up again. Man’s power is limited before the God you trust.

Calvin: repetition of hope—men agree God protects, yet distrust under slight temptation. Set God opposite assailants; view mightiest without dismay. Contest is with God when they shake our faith in promised help.

Do not measure God’s success by numbers against him. What can man do?

Wesley: Thy vows—I had made vows to express gratitude, and resolve to perform them. Thank offerings to render.

Vows of praise are debts of gratitude to keep. Deliverance expected or tasted binds the tongue to thank offerings actually brought.

Calvin: vows of God upon him—bound to pay; thanksgiving as after signal favor. Sacrifices of praise as outward symbols; God values design and spirit, yet David would not neglect Law’s solemn gratitude.

Obligation contracted when prayers heard—not papist vowing, but promised thanks paid. Both sides agree: perform vows, render thanks.

Wesley: Walk—that I may serve and glorify thee. The light—in this life. Delivered soul from death; feet from falling; walk before God in light of life.

Rescue aims at walking—service and glory in the land of the living. Grace that delivers also calls for a life before God.

Calvin: life received from God’s hands; destruction inevitable but for miraculous preservation. Kept back when on eve of rushing headlong. Walk in light of the living = enjoy vital light; before God marks the righteous aiming at God versus wicked turning the back.

Retain recollection of the peril after escape; too ready to forget fears and goodness. Both traditions see: delivered to walk before God.