Verse of the Day (February 3, 2020) #BMSeminary – David’s grasp of God’s redemptive plan provides a counterintuitive perspective on a terrifying siege by Saul’s men (1 Sam. 19:11). By faith David understands that his situation must be desperate in order to prove that God is the only fortress (Ps. 59:16–17). The utter evil of his enemies’ hearts had to be turned inside out to serve as a foil against which God’s steadfast love could be clearly displayed (vv. 1–3, 9–11). David compares Saul’s henchmen to a pack of ravenous dogs terrorizing a closely compacted city (vv. 6, 7, 14, 15). While dogs were useful in the ancient Near East, these had turned fierce because of hunger (Job 30:1; Isa. 56:10). Likewise, these fellow Israelites had abandoned their covenant fidelity and had become as bloodthirsty as Gentile aggressors (Ps. 59:5, 8 ) As such, they had joined the “nations” outside of Israel—those later to be identified as armies of the “kings of the earth” (148:11), whose ranks Christ is raiding today through the preaching of the gospel (Acts 4:25–29). David calls for God to display his grace by consuming his enemies with exhibitions of superior power, until all “know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth” (Ps. 59:13). The ultimate exhibition of such gospel power in Scripture are the “signs and wonders” of the New Testament, whose apex is the resurrection (Acts 4:30; 1 Corinthians 15). In union with Christ, believers may still suffer unjustly as they participate in the expansion of the kingdom (cf. Ps. 59:4, 12; Rom. 8:17). But their apparent weakness in suffering only provides further evidence of God’s infinite power to use the weakest instruments to “shield” them from harm and make a mockery of the Enemy (cf. Ps. 59:11; 1 Sam. 19:12–13; 1 Cor. 1:27; Col. 2:15). (Gospel Transformation Study Bible)
Baptist Ministerial Seminary 