Psalm 64 : Incisive Bluntness?

By Dave Priest

Psalm 64 (NIV)

I’ve recently been watching 24: Season 7 with Karen and in the series the president of the United States is a very forthright person who accepts no nonsense. When her husband is shot and in a critical condition she tells the doctor to, “tell it like it is” because she appreciates bluntness. She doesn’t want to be shielded from the truth just because it’s her husband and the truth might hurt; she wants to know what is really going on.

David, in this Psalm is very blunt, once when speaking to God, and then later when speaking about Him. There are two things we can learn from David here:

God wants us to be frank with Him and tell Him how we are actually feeling about things
v1: Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint

God already knows what is going on in our lives and in our often muddled heads and He wants us to be real with Him. He wants to have a relationship with us and for us to talk to Him about everything. Often we can think that we couldn’t possibly complain to God, but just read through the Psalms and other parts of scripture and we see people in very difficult situations crying out to God asking why He hasn’t done something already! These complaints don’t diminish God, don’t question His sovereignty or authority, they just question why God hasn’t used His authority before now. David still addresses God as ‘my God’ and we need to take care, whilst being frank with God and telling Him how we are feeling, not to allow ourselves to doubt His sovereignty.

We must be frank with others about the consequences of sin v7-8: But God will shoot them with His arrows; they will suddenly be struck down 

How often do we really tell people the consequences of their sin? Anyone reading this Psalm would be under no illusion of the severity of the sin of those who plotted against David. Can the same be said of people we know? Do they honestly know the eternal consequences of what they are doing or will they be surprised when they stand before a holy God? Sometimes the truth can hurt, but ultimately, not knowing the truth will hurt infinitely more. God has put people in our spheres of influence and it is our responsibility to warn them of the consequences of what they do. A loving father would always tell his child of the danger of touching a hot stove, how much do we really love our friends if we aren’t prepared to be blunt with them about the sin in their lives?


Real relationships require honesty and bluntness. Let’s think about how real we are with God (after all, He knows it all anyway!) and how real we are with our friends. Sometimes we need to just tell it like it is.