Tehilim Perek 54

Welcome to NachDaily, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, and today we’ll be discussing Tehilim, Chapter 54.

Anyone who is yearning for God to rescue him from his position in life will find this a good perek to say.

It corresponds to what happened to Dovid in Shmuel Aleph, perek 23. Check out the NachDaily archives for further information.

The background on this chapter is as follows;

Dovid, while being chased by King Shaul, ran to hide in the mountains of Ziph. Dovid was a master of deception and had many hiding places. King Shaul had the people of Ziph spy on Dovid and reveal his location. When the King was finally about to catch and kill him, Shaul received word that the Plishtim were attacking his home in Eretz Yisrael. He chose to tend to the national security instead of killing Dovid. Once again, Hashem had saved Dovid from another close encounter with death.

In Sefer Shmuel we see the external events of Dovid’s life, while In Tehilim we learn of his personal experiences and emotional states. We can learn a lot from Dovid. Despite all of the threats to his life, Dovid wasn’t ridden by anxiety or stricken by fear. He didn’t completely fall apart. He increased his emunah by calling out to God through thick and thin, truly trusting in His goodness.

The perek begins with a description of the Ziphites informing Shaul of Dovid’s location. Dovid calls out to Hashem, recognizing that only He can save him. Dovid beseeches Hashem to listen to his prayer because strangers want him dead.

He calls upon God to kill those who want to harm him and give them what they deserve. Dovid ends by declaring that he’ll continue to thank God, no matter what, and affirms his belief in God’s goodness.

In verse 6 it says,

הִנֵּ֣ה אֱ֭לֹהִים עֹזֵ֣ר לִ֑י אֲ֝דֹנָ֗י בְּֽסֹמְכֵ֥י נַפְשִֽׁי׃

See, God is my helper; God is with the supporters of my soul.

The Metsudos explains that Dovid recognized that he didn’t have the power to save himself, and was therefore relying on God to save him.

This is an amazing thing that we see throughout Tehilim: Dovid truly trusted in God’s goodness, believing that Hashem wanted to help him.

This is a giant step in its own right. Of course we believe in God, but do we believe in His goodness, that He actually wants to help us? Do we believe that God listens to the tefilah kol peh – prayer of every individual?

So many times we think, “What’s the use? I’ve davened so much, but I feel that nothing ever happens with all my tefilos.”

This essentially discourages us from davening, and we begin to place our energy into other areas of our lives.

Dovid, on the other hand, trusted in God’s desire to only give him good. God is not out to get us; He is not cruel. He only wants to give each and every single one of us the best of everything.

When we turn to God in personal prayer, we draw down the shefa, divine bounty, that’s waiting for us. As we daven, we become a greater keili, vessel, to receive His light. With each and every word we utter, we become greater containers, allowing us to receive more light.

We need to constantly strengthen ourselves in this area, believing that God actually cares about us and listens to our tefilos. Yes, us. No matter what we have done in our lives, from wherever we may find ourselves, God cares about us and listens to our tefilos.

We need to believe in ourselves, and believe that God cares about us and listens to what we have to say. We have to believe in the power of our personal prayers, that in their merit God will actually change the world for us.

Let us learn from Dovid to trust in the goodness of God, Who listens to the tefilas kol peh, prayer of every single individual.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.