How To Handle Those Who Betray You?




1 Save me, O God, by your name;
    vindicate me by your might.

2 Hear my prayer, O God;
    listen to the words of my mouth.
3 Arrogant foes are attacking me;
    ruthless people are trying to kill me—
    people without regard for God.
4 Surely God is my help;
    the Lord is the one who sustains me.
5 Let evil recoil on those who slander me;
    in your faithfulness destroy them.
6 I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
    I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.

7 You have delivered me from all my troubles,
    and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

Here is the context of this psalm. "There were actually two times the Ziphites betrayed David unto King Saul, first in 1 Samuel 23 and the second in 1 Samuel 26. David escaped both times, but the circumstances of this Psalm seem to best fit the circumstances of 1 Samuel 23, when David learned of the Ziphite betrayal but before the deliverance of God was displayed (1 Samuel 23:26-29)

In both cases after God delivered him from these betrayals David had a chance to kill Saul, but he did not.  After realizing God had delivered him justly, he trusted God would handle Saul's own sin.  What strikes me in this psalm is how much trust David has in God.  Despite David's circumstances he knows God has delivered him before and he will deliver him again.  

David's attitude is best summed by this line in the psalm, 
"Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me."

The question we might ask ourselves is, "Where am I being treated unfairly?" Or, "How could those I trusted do this to me?" For David to be betrayed by both the Ziphites, who were Israelites descended from his house, and King Saul; was a pretty big deal.  But he had a big God to trust in and he knew that God would deliver him.

May we have as much confidence in God to deliver us in our circumstances and also to give a willing and free sacrifice of praise to us. A freewill sacrifice wasn't required in the Jewish faith it was done in gratitude for what God had done.    

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