Psalm 7:1 “O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Why does David use two names for God here? He is reminding himself of the character of God revealed in these two names. The first, “Lord,” is Yahweh or Jehovah, the mighty One whose glory is in His holiness, who hates sin and will punish it while providing a way to escape His wrath for all who will come.]
The second, “God,” is Elohim, the incredibly mighty One, who showed His power in creation, spreading out the heavens over trillions of light years, while making delicate and beautiful flowers; and the absolutely faithful One, who showed His faithfulness in keeping His promise and providing salvation for all at great personal cost.)
Because of His being Jehovah and Elohim, David (and we) can say, “I take refuge in you;”
[This, Lord is what you desire: our full trust, our consistently taking shelter in your great power, mighty wisdom and unending faithfulness. In doing so we bring great honor to you.
And this is what must be our first response to danger: fleeing to you, acknowledging our weakness and your power, our inadequacy and your total competency, trusting in you, not in ourselves.]
“save and deliver me from all who pursue me,”
[Before any other action, we need to come to you in prayer, Lord,–as David has done here–and seek your help, for salvation comes from you alone, you who only have the power to prevent anyone from pursuing and capturing us successfully.]
Psalm 7:2 “or they will tear me like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.”
[Our enemies, both supernatural and often human, are too strong for us; we cannot succeed against them–we would be destroyed if we sought to save ourselves. David was a mighty warrior, never defeated in battle (to my knowledge), yet he did not trust in himself, but fled to God here, begging for His help and intervention.
In Psalm 18:17-19 David said, “He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”]
Lord, help us to remember how desperate a battle we are in each day–fighting against the world, the flesh and the devil–and to turn immediately to you when difficulty, disappointment and danger enter our lives.
May our trust be in you, not in ourselves or others. May you be our Rock, our Fortress and our Defender. We praise you now for what you will do in our lives today.
