Big Idea: When we encounter false accusations, through faith we hope to awake in the wonder of God’s likeness, which is true reality.

Understanding the Text

Some scholars identify Psalm 17 as a prayer of innocence, based particularly on 17:3–5.[1] Others, in view of 17:1–2 and 6–9, consider it an individual lament. While the categories of form criticism are helpful, the psalmists were not working with those categories as such, and they were sometimes inclined to mix genres. Obviously the psalmist is lamenting false accusations by his enemies (17:10–12), and although he does not receive the answer he asks for, he is confident he will (17:15).

We have already observed that Psalms 15, 16, and 17 are tied together with the thread of the verb “to totter, be shaken, stumble,” expressing the p…