Psalm 59: Why God laughs when you are under attack.

by Peter Roxburgh

Psalm 59 (NIV)

Surprise, surprise, David's enemies are still out for his blood. In this case, Saul has sent men to stalk David's house in order to kill him.

As I think most of us would do, David asks God to protect and deliver him!

"Deliver me from my enemies of my God; protect me from those who rise up against me; Deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men." (v 1-2)

Most of us wont come under such severe attack, but many Christians around the world still do. We may come under attack from colleagues or even friends because of our faith. Recently very close family members who lead churches, have come under severe mental and emotional attack and have been threatened with physical attack from certain individuals within their churches!
David laments his predicament (v3-7) and then comes the big 'BUT'.


"But you laugh at them, Lord; you scoff at all those nations." (v8)

David, in fear of his life, looks up to God for help and sees God laughing! But this is a good thing because David sees God laughing at his enemies. And this gives David great reassurance!

You will see it in the movies - Hero is completely surrounded by the enemy. The main villain, with gun pointed at Hero, starts giving some unnecessary speech about how he has won and how he is going to see Hero 'in hell'. Hero just laughs. Why? Because Hero knows he's about to unleash a can of whoopass and go home with the pretty girl.

God laughs because He knows that our enemies can not do anything other than what God allows them to do. Their threats are empty because they can only move as much as God lets them move. In fact, they are only able to breathe to utter those threats simply because God allows them to do so! Isn't that reassuring?

In seeing God laugh at his enemies, Davids tone in the psalm changes entirely. From lamenting for the first seven verses, he now says, "..you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely. God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who slander me." (v 9 - 10).

Then he goes on to ask God to be gentle on his enemies! He realises that the 11-year-old school bully is matched up against The Hulk.

David then says, "In the morning I will sing of your love." (v 16) i.e. "Phew! I'm not going to get killed tonight." And finally David reiterates, that this Laughing God is "my fortress, my God on whom I can rely." (v 17)

Today if you are under attack, or should you come under attack in the future, come back to this psalm, look to God and see Him laughing. He laughs at your attackers because He knows that they are utterly under His sovereign control, they only breathe because He lets them, and that at any moment He can unleash a most giant can of whoopass.