Loving the Lord - Psalm 17

“A Prayer of David.”

“Hear a just cause, O Lord, attend to my cry. Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from Your presence. Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright. You have tested my heart. You have visited me in the night. You have tried me and have found nothing. I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Psalm 17:1-3

David turned to the Lord for justice. King Saul his father-in-law was trying to kill him due to jealousy. His prayer was not from deceitful lips. He was telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. “Let my vindication come from Your presence.” Since God was with David, and David was with God, he expected a favorable ruling.

“Your eyes look on... You have tested my heart... You have visited me in the night.” Like a good lawyer, the Lord met with His client, looked at him in the eyes, and heard his heart. The Lord even met with David after business hours. The Lord knew that David had done nothing to deserve the kind of treatment that his governing authority was rendering to him.

“I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” David was not going to resort to any scheme that involved lying or speaking negatively about his king. Therefore, he absolutely needed God to show up. He needed his defense lawyer to win the case for him.

If we are abused, and misrepresented, by unrighteous men, it is a comfort that we have a heavenly defense lawyer to take up our case. In the New Testament, He is called our advocate.

“An advocate is a person who comes to our aid or pleads our case to a judge. Advocates offer support, strength, and counsel and intercede for us when necessary. The Bible says that Jesus is an Advocate for those who’ve put their trust in Him: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). In other verses, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit our Advocate (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). The English word advocate has been translated from the Greek word parakleton, which means ‘helper, adviser, or counselor.’” [1]

“In a human court system, an advocate speaks for the rights of his or her client. We call them lawyers because they have studied the intricacies of the law and can navigate through those often complicated statutes with accuracy and precision.” [2]

“Jesus stands as the Advocate between our repentant hearts and the law. If His blood has been applied to our lives through faith and confession of Him as Lord (Romans 10:9–10; 2 Corinthians 5:21), He pleads our case with the Righteous Judge. We may imagine the conversation going something like this: ‘Father, I know this one has sinned and violated Our commands. He is guilty as charged. However, You have said that My sacrifice is sufficient payment for the debt he owes. My righteousness was applied to his account when he trusted in Me for salvation and forgiveness. I have paid the price, so he can be pronounced not guilty. There is no debt left for him to pay’ (Romans 8:1; Colossians 2:14).” [3]

“An earthly advocate can only plead our case from external evidence or witness testimony. Our heavenly Advocate knows our hearts and pleads our case on the basis of what is there (Luke 5:22; Mark 2:8).” [4]

“Concerning the works of men, by the Word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer. Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip. I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God. Incline Your ear to me and hear my speech. Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand, O You who save those who trust in You from those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of Your eye. Hide me under the shadow of Your wings, from the wicked who oppress me, from my deadly enemies who surround me. They have closed up their fat hearts; with their mouths they speak proudly. They have now surrounded us in our steps. They have set their eyes, crouching down to the earth, as a lion is eager to tear his prey, and like a young lion lurking in secret places.” Psalm 17:4-12

In Revelation 9:11, the Lord reveals the name of the king over demon spirits. His name is Apollyon. “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue his name is Apollyon.” Abaddon and Apollyon mean destroyer. The devil is a nation wrecker, home wrecker and soul destroyer.

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul wrote, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” King Saul was a man, but he was being led by an evil spirit to pursue David. Jesus and the apostles also encountered spiritual forces of wickedness as they proclaimed the Gospel.

In 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul wrote, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” When we apply ourselves to being a disciple of Jesus who learns from Him and teaches others what He has taught us, the enemy will come against us. He does not want his captives set free. Therefore, I find it necessary to plead the blood of Jesus over me and others who go out into the world to be witnesses for Christ.

David provided for us some petitions that we can pray for ourselves and others who are witnessing for Christ. He prayed, “Uphold my steps in Your paths that my footsteps may not slip.” The enemy delights in tripping followers of Jesus. Pray for sure footedness.

“I have called upon You, for You will hear me.” Know that God hears your prayers in the midst of overwhelming trials. In due season, He shall turn the tide on those who oppose Your witness for Him.

“Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand.” Jesus sits at the righthand of the Father. He is our Advocate, Redeemer and Deliverer.

“Keep me as the apple of Your eye.” Please treat me as precious to You. The eye is sensitive. People naturally try by all means to protect their eyes. May Jesus do this for you and for me.

“Hide me under the shadow of Your wings.” He prays that God would keep him with as much tenderness as the hen who gathers her young ones under her wings. Jesus used this metaphor in Matthew 23:37 to express His desire to treat the people of Jerusalem so. This also alludes to the wings of the cherubim that overshadow the mercy-seat.

The mercy-seat is where the sins of people were atoned for, it is a type of Christ. After Jesus arose from the dead, Mary came into His tomb and saw angels sitting at both ends of the slab on which His body had been laid. He had resurrected already and wasn’t there, but perhaps, Mary made the connection of this scene with the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. She saw a flat surface with an angel at either end of it just like the cherubim on the lid of the Ark of Covenant with a flat surface between them.

1 John 2:2 says of Jesus, “He is the Mercy-Seat for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

“The ringleader of David’s enemies, Saul was like a lion that lives by prey and is therefore greedy of it.” [5] Quite often the enemy of God’s people is compared to a lion. For example, in 2 Timothy 4:17, Paul speaks of being delivered out of the mouth of the lion. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter compares the devil to a roaring lion, walking about, seeking someone to devour. We should take these words seriously and pray for Christians who are witnessing for Christ in evil nations.

“Arise, O Lord, confront him, cast him down. Deliver my life from the wicked with Your sword, with Your hand from men, O Lord, from men of the world who have their portion in this life, and whose belly You fill with Your hidden treasure. They are satisfied with children and leave the rest of their possession for their babes.” Psalm 17:13-14

In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus spoke of the last days before His return as being like the days of Noah. He said, “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The people were not doing anything that seemed particularly evil but in fact they were. They failed the first commandment. They did not love the Lord or honor Him. They were caught up in the affairs of this life to the neglect of their relationship with God.

David wrote of his enemies that they were men of the world, whose portion is in this life. They were focused on filling their bellies with earthly treasures. They wanted to lay up treasures for their children rather than seek God and His righteousness, and to trust God to take care of their children.

“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” Psalm 17:15

It is extremely satisfying to see the Lord and find that He has been transforming you into His likeness. To love as He loves! To be at rest in one’s soul as God is at rest! To forgive as He forgives! To know that you will be with Him forever!

In 1 John 3:2, the Apostle John expressed this same sentiment, writing, “When He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

God blessed David with a great love for Him. This love kept David ever looking consistently to be with the Lord. Paul loved the Lord. He went so far as to write in 1 Corinthians 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!” To know Christ is to love Him. To not know and to not love Christ is to be accursed. But the Lord can change this.

In Ezekiel 36:26, the Lord says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the Lord says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” In Romans 5:5, the Lord says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Before Paul knew Christ, he arrested Christians and consented to the death of Stephen the martyr, but after Jesus revealed Himself to Paul, Paul became like David. He was willing to go through any trial and hardship as an expression of his love for the Lord.

May the Lord help everyone who calls themself a Christian to love the Lord fervently.



[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Advocate
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Matthew Henry Commentary