My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
Psalms 54, 55, and 56 are largely psalms of personal experience that should take strong hold on the hearts of devout readers. Psalm 55:4 expresses the anguish and fear of one overwhelmed by the prospect of death. It reflects anguish caused by human wickedness and treats deserved divine retribution against the incorrigible wrongdoer as just, while its account of God's anger against sin also speaks of His mercy and loving-kindness.
Death is presented here as a terrible enemy, not a gateway to glory nor evidence that people possess immortality, supporting that humans are mortal and need Christ's gift of life through the resurrection. The verse prophetically portrays Christ's inner experience, with David feeling in vision something of the life-and-death struggles Christ endured with the enemy, revealing a suffering that enables Christ to help those who are tempted. It shows Christ in humiliation as substitute for man, taking human weaknesses, infirmities and sins upon Himself and identifying with people in all failings and sufferings, weighed down by them until He cries out to God for help and is brought very low, thus revealing the greatness of His sacrifice.
Jesus' promise that believers will live even though they die answers its terror with hope of life beyond death. In its grief, pain, and soreness of heart, it calls the sufferer to cling to God.
Psalms 54, 55, and 56 are largely psalms of personal experience that should take strong hold on the hearts of devout readers. Psalm 55:4 expresses the anguish and fear of one overwhelmed by the prospect of death. It reflects anguish caused by human wickedness and treats deserved divine retribution against the incorrigible wrongdoer as just, while its account of God's anger against sin also speaks of His mercy and loving-kindness.
Death is presented here as a terrible enemy, not a gateway to glory nor evidence that people possess immortality, supporting that humans are mortal and need Christ's gift of life through the resurrection. The verse prophetically portrays Christ's inner experience, with David feeling in vision something of the life-and-death struggles Christ endured with the enemy, revealing a suffering that enables Christ to help those who are tempted. It shows Christ in humiliation as substitute for man, taking human weaknesses, infirmities and sins upon Himself and identifying with people in all failings and sufferings, weighed down by them until He cries out to God for help and is brought very low, thus revealing the greatness of His sacrifice.
Jesus' promise that believers will live even though they die answers its terror with hope of life beyond death. In its grief, pain, and soreness of heart, it calls the sufferer to cling to God.