Suffering Passed Through in God Brings the Deepening of Faith
David is currently in a place where every way out is blocked. He fled to escape Saul, only to be captured in Gath, the land of the Philistines. His enemies would daily swallow him up and oppress him. They wrest his words, gather themselves together and hide, and mark his steps. It is a threat to his very life. There is nowhere to flee, and no one to appeal to. This is the background of Psalm 56.
Fear is the Starting Point of Deepening
David does not hide his fear. The word for fear in verse 3, yira (אִירָא), is not a simple psychological anxiety. It is a dread that shakes one's entire being in the face of overwhelming power—a level of fear where the survival instinct takes over. Yet, instead of suppressing or ignoring that dread, David brings it exactly as it is before God. When fear is directed toward God, it is already the first movement of reverence. "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee."
Here, the word batach (בטח), translated as "trust," is crucial. This is not an intellectual assent to a truth. It is leaning one's entire being upon God, just as one would cast their full weight onto a handrail while standing on a shaking bridge. Even in the midst of fear, David immediately confesses this trust. And upon this trust, the first praise breaks forth: "In God I will praise his word." Fear has become the starting point for the deepening of his faith.
Experiencing God’s Protection in the Midst of Suffering
Yet, even after the praise, the suffering continues. His enemies wrest his words, gather themselves together, and watch his steps with hostile intent. The threat to his life is unceasing. However, right in the thick of this suffering, David discovers something definitive.
It is verse 8: "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle." His enemies watched his steps to harm him. But God counts and records his wanderings one by one. It is a contrast between surveillance and recording. The enemy's eye watched to destroy, but God's eye watched to preserve. Furthermore, the expression of putting tears into a leather bottle reflects the Ancient Near Eastern practice of storing the most precious things. Not a single tear of David is wasted; every drop is preserved as something precious to God.
While the world was surrounding and keeping watch over David, God was counting his tears. This experience settles into an unwavering assurance in verse 9: "this I know; for God is for me." The yira (אִירָא, to fear) of verse 3 transforms into yadati (יָדัעְתִּי, I know) in verse 9. This is the certainty gained by one who has experienced God's protection in the midst of adversity.
Deepening is Perfected After Passing Through Suffering
In verse 10, a second praise breaks forth. Its structure is identical to verse 4. However, a single word change alters everything. Verse 4 confessed Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) alone. Verse 10 confesses Jehovah (יהוה) alongside Elohim (אֱלֹהִים). If Elohim is the name that reveals God’s power and sovereignty, Jehovah is the covenant name revealed in Exodus chapter 3. It is the proper name of God, who made a personal covenant with Israel, and with David.
The David of verse 4 knew the God of power and sovereignty. But the David of verse 10—only after passing through the wresting of words, the ambushes, the tears, and the wanderings of verses 5 through 9—came to truly know that this God is Jehovah, the One who enters into a covenant with me and counts my tears. It is an understanding that can only be reached by someone who has experienced God's protection within suffering.
Therefore, the declaration in verse 11 uses the same language as verse 3, yet carries a completely different weight: "I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." The yira (אִירָא) of verse 3 finds its fulfillment in the lo yira (לֹא אִירָ아, I will not fear) of verse 11. The Psalm that began with fear concludes with a bold declaration.
A Deepened Faith Expands into Life
Yet, Psalm 56 does not end there. There are verses 12 and 13: "For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?"
The cave crushed David's soul. However, there was a reality greater than the cave: Hesed and Emet—the character of a God who loves according to His covenant and never changes. In the cave, David meditated on and trusted in this character of God. This is how a crushed heart became a fixed heart. It is the same for us. Trusting God does not make the cave disappear. Yet, even if the cave remains, we have a God who is entirely trustworthy. And that is how our hearts are established.
Questions for Reflection
What is it that is discouraging you right now? Like David’s cave, is it something that surrounds you through words, glances, and atmospheres rather than causing direct physical harm?
Inside that cave, what is your heart "established" by? Is it something you are holding onto through your own will, or is it established by something that existed before you and is far more secure than you are?
Do you regard Hesed and Emet—God’s unchanging, loving character—as a reality even inside this current cave? Or do you only consider it a reality when you are outside the cave?
David sang before the dawn arrived. Are you currently putting off your song while waiting for your circumstances to change, or can you sing today by holding fast to what is changeless?