Catholic Commentary on Psalm 56

"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, I trust and am not afraid." (Psalm 56:3-4)

The Prayer of the Hunted

Psalm 56 is connected in its superscription to David's capture by the Philistines at Gath (1 Samuel 21). He is in enemy hands, surrounded by people who twist his words and plot to harm him. The reality of the threat is not minimised: All day long they press their attack; in their pride many are attacking me. From the physical danger of being held by the Philistines to the psychological danger of enemies who misrepresent everything he says, the threat is real and multidimensional.

In the midst of this danger, one of the most honest and most useful confessions in the Psalter: When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. The psalm does not say: I am not afraid, because I trust in you. It says: when I am afraid, I trust in you. The fear is real. The trust is not the absence of fear but the response to it. The Catechism teaches that the experience of fear is not incompatible with faith: what is incompatible with faith is the surrender to fear, the letting of fear govern the response rather than trust (CCC 1765).

God Keeps My Tears

Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll, or are they not in your record? This is one of the most moving verses in the Psalter. The believer asks whether God is keeping a record of every tear. The implicit answer is yes: every tear is noticed, recorded, known to the one who made the eye that weeps. Not one tear is wasted, not one cry goes unheard. This is the intimacy of the God who knows the hairs of your head: he also knows the number of your tears.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, admit when you are afraid. The psalm does not ask you to pretend. It asks you, in the moment of fear, to make the choice of trust. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Say it in the moment of fear: not as a denial of the fear but as a direction of the fear toward the one whose word is trustworthy and whose record of your tears is complete.

Prayer

Lord God, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In you, whose word I praise, I trust and am not afraid. Record my tears. Know my misery. And deliver my soul from death, my feet from stumbling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

56
Be Merciful to Me, O God
(1 Samuel 21:8–15)
For the choirmaster. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” A Miktam * 56:0 Miktam is probably a musical or liturgical term; used for Psalms 16 and 56–60. of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
 
1 Be merciful to me, O God,
for men are hounding me;
all day they press their attack.
2 My enemies pursue me all day long,
for many proudly assail me.
 
3 When I am afraid,
I put my trust in You.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust.
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
 
5 All day long they twist my words;
all their thoughts are on my demise.
6 They conspire, they lurk,
they watch my steps
while they wait to take my life.
7 In spite of such sin, will they escape?† 56:7 Or do not let them escape; MT does not include do not.
In Your anger, O God, cast down the nations.
 
8 You have taken account of my wanderings.‡ 56:8 Or sorrows
Put my tears in Your bottle—
are they not in Your book?
9 Then my enemies will retreat
on the day I cry for help.
By this I will know that God is on my side.
 
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
 
12 Your vows are upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to You.
13 For You have delivered my soul from death,
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

*^ 56:0 Miktam is probably a musical or liturgical term; used for Psalms 16 and 56–60.

†56:7 56:7 Or do not let them escape; MT does not include do not.

‡56:8 56:8 Or sorrows

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