In Psalm 59, as usual, David is in trouble. Do you not find it odd that David, this man after God’s own heart, is so often in difficult straits? It would appear that he cannot make good decisions, or he isn’t much of a “people” person, or he’s just one of those people folks love to hate.
David’s wife has urged him to flee for his life, and he has done so. But as I read this psalm, I picture David not far away. Hiding, but watching Saul’s forces descend on his home. Concerned for his wife, concerned for his life, he prays for deliverance. He’s already been delivered through the trickery of his wife.
It’s interesting that David does not ask for the immediate destruction of his enemies in this case. Instead, he wants their punishment to be public, and drawn out, so that they will be exposed for the frauds and violent men they really are, and so that everyone can see what happens to those who live in this way and take warning.
But there is another reason: David wants God to act in such a way that the witnesses of these events will come to trust God as much as David has. Have you ever prayed this? That God would use his work in your life, even in the bad times, to encourage others to follow your lead in trusting the Lord?