The Divine Protection in Psalm 118:6-7

Psalm 118: 6-7 NKJV

The Lord is on my side;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?

The Lord is for me among those who help me;
Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me.

My Thoughts

It is not written that we won’t suffer, but it is plainly understood that when we have the Lord on our side, we should never fear men or what they might do to us. The only fear we should have is to reverently fear the Lord. When we have the Lord on our side, we know that nothing will prevent God’s plan for us from being accomplished.

Psalm 118:6-7 emphasizes the reassurance found in having the Lord as a supporter. The text reassures believers that, despite potential suffering, they should not fear human adversaries since God is an unwavering protector, ultimately achieving His divine purpose. The writings of commentators like Spurgeon and Evans highlight that, with God’s favor, one can confront enmity with confidence. The idea is that those opposed to believers have no ultimate power, as God’s will prevails, equipping individuals with courage and strength against persecution and times of trouble in our lives….Bill

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Commentaries:

Charles Spurgeon

“The LORD is on my side,” or, he is “for me.” Once his justice was against me, but now he is my reconciled God and engaged on my behalf. The Psalmist naturally rejoiced in the divine help; all men turned against him, but God was his defender and advocate, accomplishing the divine purposes of his grace. The expression may also be translated “to me,” that is to say, Jehovah belongs to me, and is mine. What infinite wealth is here! If we do not magnify the Lord, we are of all men most brutish.

“I will not fear.” He does not say that he should not suffer, but that he would not fear: the favor of God infinitely outweighed the hatred of men, therefore setting the one against the other, he felt that he had no reason to be afraid. He was calm and confident, though surrounded with enemies, and so let all believers be, for thus they honor God.

“What can man do unto me?” He can do nothing more than God permits; at the very uttermost, he can only kill the body, but he hath no more that he can do. God having purposed to set his servant upon the throne, the whole race of mankind could do nothing to thwart the divine decree: the settled purpose of Jehovah’s heart could not be turned aside, nor its accomplishment delayed, much less prevented, by the most rancorous hostility of the most powerful of men. Saul sought to slay David, but David outlived Saul and sat upon his throne. Scribe and Pharisee, priest and Herodian, united in opposing the Christ of God, but he is exalted on high nonetheless because of their enmity. The mightiest man is a puny thing when he stands in opposition to God, yea, he shrinks into utter nothingness. It were a pity to be afraid of such a pitiful, miserable, despicable object as a man opposed to the almighty God. The Psalmist here speaks like a champion throwing down the gauntlet to all comers, defying the universe in arms; a true Bayard, without fear and without reproach, he enjoys God’s favor, and he defies every foe.

“The LORD taketh my part with them that help me.” Jehovah condescended to be in alliance with the good man and his comrades; his God was not content to look on, but he took part in the struggle. What a consolatory fact it is that the Lord takes our part, and that when he raises up friends for us, he does not leave them to fight for us alone, but he himself as our chief defender deigns to come into the battle and wage war on our behalf. David mentioned those that helped him, he was not unmindful of his followers; there is a long record of David’s mighty men in the book of Chronicles, and this teaches us that we are not to disdain or think little of the generous friends who rally around us; but still our great dependence and our grand confidence must be fixed upon the Lord alone. Without him, the strong helpers fail; indeed, apart from him in the sons of men there is no help; but when our gracious Jehovah is pleased to support and strengthen those who aid us, they become substantial helpers to us.

“Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.” The words, “my desire,” are added by the translators; the Psalmist said, “I shall look upon my haters: I shall look upon them in the face, I shall make them cease from their contempt, I shall myself look down upon them instead of their looking down upon me. I shall see their defeat, I shall see the end of them.” Our Lord Jesus does at this moment look down upon his adversaries; his enemies are his footstool; he shall look upon them at his second coming, and at the glance of his eyes they shall flee before him, not being able to endure that look with which he shall read them through and through.

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Enduring Word

The LORD is on my side: The never-ending mercy of God was shown by God’s open favor and help to the one who called upon Him. Knowing God was on his side, he could live free from the fear of man, knowing what can man do to me? (Guzik)

i. The LORD is on my side: “We know very well the great anxiety shown by men, in all their worldly conflicts, to secure the aid of a powerful ally; in their lawsuits, to retain the services of a powerful advocate; or, in their attempts at worldly advancement, to win the friendship and interest of those who can further the aims they have in view…. If such and such a person be on their side, men think that all must go well. Who so well off as he who is able to say, ‘The Lord is on my side’?” (Power, cited in Spurgeon)

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Albert Barnes

What can man do unto me? – Any person; all people. They can do no more than God permits. They cannot destroy me when he means to save me; they cannot defeat his gracious designs toward me. I am safe if God is my Friend. Compare the notes at Romans 8:31.

The Lord taketh my part with them that help me – The psalmist had friends. There were those who stood by him. He relied, indeed, on their aid, but not on their aid without God. He felt that even their help was valuable to him only as God was with them. There was direct dependence on God in reference to himself, and there was the same sense of dependence in respect to all who were engaged in his defense. This might be rendered, however, simply “for my help,” and is so rendered by DeWette. The Septuagint and Latin Vulgate render it, “The Lord is my helper.”

Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me – literally, “I shall see upon those that hate me;” that is, I shall look upon them according to my wish; I shall see them overthrown and subdued. See the notes at Psalms 54:7. Compare Psalms 92:11; Psalms 112:8.

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John Gill

The Lord [is] on my side,…. Or “for me”; he was on the side of David, hence all his prosperity and victories, the wonderful things done by him, his exaltation to the throne, and the establishment of it; and so he was on the side of Christ, he was near unto him, at his right hand, to guide, direct, and assist him as man; and he is likewise on the side of his people, to fight their battles for them, to support them under all their afflictions, to supply all their wants, to deliver them from all evil, to carry on the work of grace in their souls, and to bring them to glory, The Targum is, “the Word of the Lord is for my help.”

I will not fear: what can man do unto me? David did not; he was not afraid of ten thousands of men, no, not of a whole army that encamped against him, God being for him, the strength of his life, and his salvation, Psalm 3:6; nor did the Messiah; he was not afraid of Herod when he was told he would kill him; nor of the high priests, Scribes and Pharisees, though he knew he should fall into their hands, and they would deliver him to the Gentiles, to be scourged and crucified; nor of Judas and his band of men, who came to take him; nor of Pilate his judge, who had no power against him but what was given him. Nor have the saints any reason to fear what man can do unto them, when grace is in exercise; for what is man to God, who is but flesh, and that flesh grass? Nor can he do anything without a divine permission; is often frustrated in his attempt, and what he is suffered to do is overruled for good; and the utmost he can do is to kill the body; he cannot destroy the soul, or hinder the happiness of it; see Psalm 56:4.

The Lord taketh my part with them that help me,…. With the four hundred men that were with David, and stood by him in his troubles, 1 Samuel 22:2; see Psalm 54:4; and with those who ministered unto Christ as man, Luke 8:3. Or, “the Lord [is] for me, with” or “among my helpers”; he is the principal helper, he is one for all; he is in the room and stead of other helpers; having him, there is no need of any other: the Lord is the only helper of his people, vain is the help of man; he helps them out of all their troubles and difficulties, in the exercise of every grace, and in the discharge of every duty; he helps them to all their mercies temporal and spiritual, to grace here, and glory hereafter. The Targum is, “The Word of the Lord is to help me.”

therefore shall I see [my desire] upon them that hate me; see “vengeance” on them, as the Targum; which was desired by David, by the Messiah, and by the saints; not for the sake of that itself, but for the glory of divine justice. David saw this, Psalm 54:7; so will the Messiah, when all his enemies, that will not have him to reign over them, will be slain before him; and so will the people of God, when antichrist is destroyed.

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Matthew Henry

He triumphs over his enemies. Now shall his head be lifted up above them; for,

First, He is sure they cannot hurt him: “God is for me, and then I will not fear what man can do against me,” v. 6. He can set them all at defiance, and is not disturbed at any of their attempts. “They can do nothing to me but what God permits them to do; they can do no real damage, for they cannot separate between me and God; they cannot do anything but what God can make to work for my good. The enemy is a man, a depending creature, whose power is limited, and subordinate to a higher power, and therefore I will not fear him.” Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die? Isa. 51:12. The apostle quotes this, with application to all Christians, Heb. 13:6. They may boldly say, as boldly as David himself, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me; let him do his worst.

Secondly, He is sure that he shall be too hard for them at last: “I shall see my desire upon those that hate me (v. 7); I shall see them defeated in their designs against me; nay, In the name of the Lord I will destroy them (v. 10-12); I trust in the name of the Lord that I shall destroy them, and in his name I will go forth against them, depending on his strength, by warrant from him, and with an eye to his glory, not confiding in myself nor taking vengeance for myself.” Thus, he went forth against Goliath, in the name of the God of Israel, 1 Sa. 17:45. David says this as a type of Christ, who triumphed over the powers of darkness, destroyed them, and made a show of them openly.

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Tony Evans

When the psalmist was in distress, God delivered him (118:5). If you have access to this kind of divine aid, what is there to be afraid of? What can a mere mortal do to us (118:6)? Or, as the apostle Paul puts it, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom 8:31). When God is your helper, those who hate you do not have ultimate power over you (118:7).

Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019), 566.

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Cross-References

Hebrews 13:6 (KJV )

⁶So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Romans 8:31 (KJV )

³¹What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Psalm 56:11 (KJV )

¹¹ In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid

What man can do unto me.

Psalm 54:7 (KJV )

⁷ For he hath delivered me out of all trouble:

And mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.

Psalm 27:1 (KJV )

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

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Geneva Bible 1560

Psalm 118: 6-7

6 The Lord is with me: therefore I wil not fear what (c) man can do unto me.

7 The Lord is with me among them that help me: therefore shal I se my desire upon mine enemies.

(c)Being exalted to this estate, he assured himself to have man ever to be his enemy. Yet he doubted not, but God would maintain him because he had placed him.

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Closing Thoughts

If you are in a constant fight with fear, meditate on the Word and strengthen your heart with it. Whether you find yourself overwhelmed by debts, if the doctors are saying you have a terminal illness, or if you are constantly anxious about the safety of your children, look to God for the answer, look in his word for guidance…..Bill

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 NASB1995

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:18-21 NASB1995