David’s situation evidently was perilous, serious enough for him to believe that, without divine aid, he would descend into the pit as a dead man. He pleaded that LORD God would not be deaf to his urgent request. For the Most High to be silent or not to respond would place David’s life in jeopardy.

Because his cry for help was directed solely to LORD God, he begged that his voice as a suppliant would be heard, resulting in a favorable response. There was no one else from whom he expected assistance. In an attitude of prayer, David raised his hands, probably with arms lifted up and open palms like a suppliant.

His concern was not to share the judgment against the wicked or those engaging in corrupt practices, experiencing a premature death. He described the “workers of evil” as persons who speak “peace” or feign friendship while plotting, in their “hearts” or within themselves, to harm their fellows.

David prayed that LORD God would repay these corrupt ones according to their “work” or conduct. His appeal was that retribution be according to their bad deeds and the work of their hands, which would have been corrupt activity that disregarded the welfare of others and resulted in harm. Rightly, then, David prayed that LORD God would meet out to them what they deserved.

He believed that they merited retribution because of failing to take note of LORD God’s works. These could include his saving acts and his judgments. The work of LORD God’s hands may also refer to creative activity, for which the wicked likewise showed no regard. On account of their deliberate failure in this respect, David was confident that LORD God would tear them down, with no possibility of their ever being built up or restored.

Although initially an expression of desperate need, this psalm continues with words of confidence rooted in faith. David blessed or praised LORD God for having heard or favorably responded to his supplications, his intense entreaties. To the Almighty, he looked as the source of his strength or strengthening aid and the One who would provide protection like a shield. In LORD God, David’s heart (he in his inmost self) trusted. That trust was rewarded, for LORD God came to his aid, prompting his heart or his inmost self to exult, and he expressed thanks or praise in song.

David appreciated LORD God as the source of strength and as a refuge or protective stronghold for him as the “anointed one” or king. He concluded with a petition that reflected abiding concern for God’s people. David prayed that LORD God would save or rescue them from danger, bless them as his inheritance, and tenderly care for them like a shepherd who would carry a weak or injured sheep.

In their book BOLD LOVE, Drs Allender and Longman talk honestly about evil in a fashion that requires me to depend on God's supernatural power if I hope to survive this life with joy. Too long, I have maintained a confidence in the power of God's Word by pretending that things aren't as bad as they are. Everyday I am called into battle, to engage with God's enemy, to either be killed or put in touch with God. When I merely take on those forces that work against my immediate comfort, and fail to engage the diabolical enemy who longs to rob God of all glory, then God never becomes a reality - because God is waging a war on a different front, where the battle is far more internse: God's consuming preoccupation is to destroy evil through the power of sheer good made known through His perfectly righteous love...and as every Christian knows, that takes some doing. God is relentlessly determined to erase every suspicion that He is not good and to bow every knee in confession that there is no glory greater than HIS. Until He returns in full revelation of the power of His uncompromising love, He commands me, as His follower to enter into the reality of life, to have the courage to struggle against evil with His weapon / power of bold love.

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