In Psalm 35 David is going through an extremely tough time in his life. A lot of people are treating him unfairly.

He says that there are malicious witnesses that testify against him and accuse him of crimes about which he knows nothing. He has done good to him but they are repaying him with evil.

David knows that this is very unfair because he had not treated them in this way. He talks about how when they were sick, he grieved for them. He even denied himself and prayed and fasted for them. He looked upon them as members of family or friends. His grief was like that of grief for his own mother.

Oftentimes in life we do good things for people and they respond in a bad way. Many people can identify with David. He didn’t deserve what he was getting. His friends and enemies did not reciprocate how he had treated them.

He continues by stating that their response is to attack him. They are glad when he is in trouble. They mock him and call him names. They tell untruths about him.

Instead of retaliating against them, David goes to the source of his strength – God. He does invoke God to use His power to fight against those who are fighting against him. He turns this over to God and asks God to give the victory. It is God who can turn them back.

This is a very human cry of David when he is being mistreated. The truth of this Psalm is that all of us get mistreated by people whom we have helped. I once heard someone say, “The employees that I tried to help the most were the ones who were the quickest to do harm to me.”

I have noticed that being pastor of a church that some of the people to whom you try to give the greatest benefit of doubt and spend more time trying to help are the very ones who will turn away from you and be critical of you. Probably most of us have experienced this.

David’s remedy is to always turn to God. He concludes the Psalm by saying that he knows God will raise up people who will come to his defense. He is able to vision victory. While the situation looks dark now, he knows ultimately that God’s justice and mercy will prevail.

Oftentimes in life we find ourselves in a situation that it is hard to see much hope for the future. It is easy to get depressed about how the circumstances are now. When our trust is in God we always know that He is going to be with us through this situation and will use it to carry out His plan and purpose for our lives.

David concludes by saying, “Great is the Lord who delights in blessing His servant with peace then I will proclaim your justice and I will praise you all day long.” (Psalm 35:27, 28)

Sometimes it is awfully dark when we are in the tunnel. The light at the end of the tunnel might seem small. When we turn to God and follow His plan we will notice that the light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter. David’s prescription is our prescription today.

David lived hundreds of years ago, yet we today go through similar circumstances. God is our ultimate hope!! Turn it over to Him!