“Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt! Let them turn back because of their shame who say, ‘Aha, Aha!’ May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, ‘God is great!’ But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay!” (v1-5)
This Psalm has an interesting aspect to it – unlike most of what David writes, this one seems to be flawed. Let me explain.
The Bible has some verses exploring God’s timing of how and when He works: “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lam 3:25-26) “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecc 3:11) “He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.’ ” (Ac 1:7)
Scripture teaches that God has the authority, omniscience and sovereignty to choose His own timing, and in the same way, He has the option to choose how/when to respond to our prayers. In this Psalm, David conveys a sense of urgency – three times he “tells” God to “hasten” or “make haste.” There’s a saying floating around that goes like this: “Be careful about rushing God’s timing… You never know who or what He is protecting you or saving you from…”
Is David wrong to be requesting (or insisting) that God act quickly? Should David be imposing his own schedule and expectations upon God? Arguments could be made both ways.
Every time Jesus taught about urgency, it seems to be directed at the coming of the kingdom and our own finite lives – for example “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 3:2) “I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” (Rev 3:11) “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” (Mt 24:42)
In a way, David is asking for salvation in this circumstance – “I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer”. Since the valid examples of urgency Jesus provides are concerning salvation, it’s possible one could argue David’s urgent request for God’s salvation is acceptable.
If one chooses the other camp, that we should not impose our timing onto God, then an argument could still be made in David’s favor for his prayer, but with a twist. One could suggest that an imperfect prayer (requesting something we shouldn’t) is still good and acceptable in the eyes of the Lord in this way: we are still praying to Him. Scripture teaches that God would like us to come to Him, and make our requests known to Him, with little or no qualifications on what that looks like – meaning come just as we are, imperfect and broken, even if that means praying for the wrong things. “Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.” (Jn 6:37) “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ Let anyone who hears this say, ‘Come.’ Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.” (Rev 22:17) “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Php 4:6) “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Psa 34:18) “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” (Jas 4:8a)
In summary, this controversial request from David makes me ponder my own prayers, and wonder if I should have more urgency, or less… it gives me a lot to think about and it is a topic I will need to explore further.
Father God, we come before You today, acknowledging that You are righteous, holy and flawless, but we are not. Our request is for understanding and grace, that when we bring things to You in prayer, You would interpret those requests and take the posture of our hearts into consideration more than the words which we choose. Would You please accept any sense of urgency we imply as an earnestness of the request, and a symbol of trust in Your provision. We do ask that You don’t delay more than You mean to in Your responses, though we accept Your ways are higher than our ways and will not impose our timing on You. We praise You O Lord for Your wise and timely interventions, and fully entrust You with our well-being.
~ Conqueror in Training