“When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.” (Psalms 56:9)
Psalms 56 was written during the time David fled from Saul and went to Gath. He was recognized as the one who had killed Goliath and was taken by the Philistines, but David feigned he was crazy and let his spittle run down his beard. Achish the king of Gath wanted nothing to do with him, so he was released. (1Samuel 21:11-15) God gave him the wisdom to know what to do in that situation. Only God knew what Achish’s reaction would be to a madman.
David is sure and confident in the Lord. He is sure that when he calls on the Lord because of his enemies, God will help him. He writes, “this I know.” There was no doubt in his heart that God was for Him. Because of sin in our memories, we balk at the Truth that God is for us. But God has always been for us since the before the creation of the world. We were always in His mind. God knows the end from the beginning. And in eternity He sees us in heaven with Him. He hears our praise and sees our worship in eternity. To put it in perspective, let’s say you could see that in the end your child who was disobedient, rebellious, a law breaker and abusive, would one day repent, change his ways and be your loving caregiver. Because he is your child, you patiently wait for him to change, and you forgive because you know he will change. This is God a million and more times better.
He knew Adam’s betrayal would change humanity. Still God created him and gave him a beautiful place to live. He enjoyed Adam while He could. The Lord had a redemption plan in place already because He is for us. To us here on earth, it seems that God’s plans take years, decades, generations, and even centuries to come. But God is not limited by our time. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2Peter 3:8) God has His perfect time for all things.
In the Garden of Eden, God reveals that He has a redemptive plan because He is for us. “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15) Man is fallen and becomes corrupt, yet because He is for us, God has a redemptive plan. He rescues Noah from the destruction of the world by flood. Then He calls Abraham out and gives him the promise of salvation for all nations, saying, “... and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) And in spite of man’s failing and corrupt nature even in Abraham’s family, the “seed” and promise of the Messiah would come through Jesus because He is for us.
And the people God had chosen to take His oracles to the world failed Him again and rejected God as their king, desiring a human king to lead them instead of God. But God knew this and even made provision written in Deuteronomy when Moses spoke God’s law and statues to the people after he brought the second set of the Ten Commandments. “When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me... (Deuteronomy 17:14).
Even David, who communed with the Lord and loved the Lord sinned terribly. But God was faithful to His promise of an eternal kingdom which was the promise that the Messianic kingdom would come from Him. “And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.” (2Samuel 7:16) Only the divine is eternal. This could only refer to the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of kings and Lord of lords. And because God is for us, He keeps His promises even though David sinned, and Solomon sinned. It’s more than a thousand years before the birth of Jesus. And because He is for us, Jesus gives Himself to take God’s wrath, sheds His blood and takes death for us. He lives and Jesus will return to reign on the earth as king and because He is for us, He will come.
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