Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. – Psalm 59:1

Today's Scripture Reading (April 15, 2022): Psalm 59

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas, Texas. The assassination of the American President sent shockwaves throughout the world, so much so that the details of Kennedy's assassination are still debated more than half a century after it occurred. Did Lee Harvey Oswald work alone? Is it possible that there was a second gunman? Who was behind the assassination? Was it a Cuban plot? The Soviet Union? Or had the CIA become uneasy with the young President? Did they come to believe that he needed to be removed? Was the assassination a foreign plot or a national rebellion? And so, the argument rages. And it seems unlikely that the mystery will ever be solved.

David is in trouble. He might have fought the bear and the lion in the pasture, and he defeated the giant in battle. But this was different. The inscription to Psalm 59 reads, "For the director of music. To the tune of 'Do Not Destroy.' Of David. A miktam. When Saul had sent men to watch David's house in order to kill him." David was the intended victim of a state-sponsored assassination plot. It wasn't just the enemies of Israel that now wanted him dead; it was the king that David had served. It was the soldiers with whom David had once fought that were chasing him. And now they lay in wait at David's home, and Israel's great general was on the run.

And so. David prays that God will deliver him from his enemies. It must have felt like his enemies were all around them, and what David asks for is that God would be his fortress, literally his safe place in a high tower. It is what David felt he needed right now. A high defensible place where he could find his rest.

It is what David needed God to be. And what we need of him. Jon Micah Sumrall and his friends grasped on to this idea when they wrote the Kutless song "Strong Tower."

I go running to your mountain
Where your mercy sets me free 

You are my strong tower
Shelter over me
Beautiful and mighty
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
Fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And Your face is all I see (Marc Byrd, Mark Lee, Jon Micah Sumrall, Aaron Sprinkle).

  Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 21