Read Psalm 54 at Bible Gateway.
This psalm forms a chiastic structure:
Psa 54:1-7
1a) Psa 54:1, Save me, O God, by Your name + vindicate me by Your strength;
1b) Psa 54:2, Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth;
1c) Psa 54:3, For strangers + oppressors have risen up against me;
central axis) Psa 54:4, Behold, God is my helper + the Lord is with those who uphold my life;
2c) Psa 54:5, He will repay my enemies for their evil + cut them off in Your truth;
2b) Psa 54:6, I will freely sacrifice to You + I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good;
2a) Psa 54:7, For He has delivered me out of all trouble.
At the heart of whatever trouble and oppression and trials we face in life, is God who is my helper; God who is FOR ME and who is with those who uphold me instead of oppress me. The B pair shows that as our cry goes up to the Lord’s ears when we discover we are in trouble, His supernatural help will cause our praise to go up to the Lord’s ears when we see our desire carried out on our enemies.
And now is a good time to remember who our enemies are: our neighbor whom we are to love, is any human being, even if we were used to thinking of them as an enemy (the parable of the good samaritan, Luk 10:25-37). Our neighbor is not our enemy. Our enemy is not flesh and blood, but powers, principalities, and rulers of wickedness in heavenly places, whom the Lord had first defeated and stripped of weapons (Col 2:15), and then armed us with those things that prevail against them (Eph 6:10-18).
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