Psalm 70
"1 Hasten, O God, to save me;
come quickly, Lord, to help me.
2 May those who want to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
3 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
turn back because of their shame.
4 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
“The Lord is great!”
Having just returned from Houston, the town in which I was born and called home for 40 years (until we moved to Lubbock in 2000), I understand David's lament from the perspective of Houston traffic.
"Drive safely going back," I heard from the North Shore class of 1978 at our 45th Reunion. Safely? Me? It's the other guy in this city not driving safely I'm worried about. Defensive driving has gone out the window there and has been replaced by "Aggressive/Assertive/Offensive Driving" classes.
You make comments much like David when you are driving slightly above the posted speed (just to not look like you are driving in reverse), and they whiz by on either side of you and move into your lane with inches to spare between you and their car. "Drive on idiot, hell ain't half full" was a phrase a friend of mine's mom used to use when I was a kid as she drove us around the streets of our neighborhood.
Unlike my enemies on the streets and freeways in Houston, David's enemies may have been people seeking to steal his power or at least threaten to destabilize it and all of Israel along with him. Unlike my enemies on the streets and highways of Houston who weren't after me personally, David's lament about his enemies, turns into a hope and prayer that all who seek God find salvation and praise God. What a remarkable outlook!
We should pray for our enemies, spiritual and perhaps those who threaten our way of life (from a coworker seeking to do us harm to a neighbor to literal enemies of our way of life), much the same way. We should pray that they find salvation and God's message of forgiveness, hope and grace. We should pray that they find salvation in Christ through our prayers and the Holy Spirit's efforts to place faith on their hearts and lift their voices in praise to God.
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