1O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
3O LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,
4if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause,
5let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust
Selah
6Arise, O LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high.
8The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
9Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!
10My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
11God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
12If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow;
13he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.
14Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.
15He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.
16His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.
17I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.
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It’s been kind of a long day and so I’m just going to write off the cuff here. I love the Psalms because of how passionate David gets with some of his writings, especially when he’s lamenting something and turning to God as his shield. Sometimes though I have a hard time completely understanding it because we don’t often hear of or see/feel this aspect of God these days. I don’t often pray prayers regarding this military-esque aspect of God. There were a few things that were just striking when reading this psalm though. The first was how well David understood God’s righteousness. The just and righteous aspect of God are often overlooked compared to his loving and grace giving nature. He pretty much drives it home almost the entire psalm, especially in the verses regarding what awaits those who do not repent. What’s amazing is that even when talking about this, that loving nature comes through too because it seems like the flip side of that is what happens with repentance is rest and refuge with our God. It’s so comforting that our loving God is also a righteous God in times of hardship. At the same time, however, this Psalm also kinda is terrifying because I’m not sure I can quite say all of the things that David is praying here. It’s amazing that despite what seems like intimately knowing the righteousness of God, he’s still able to say to judge him and act accordingly! He knows that God knows everything about our minds and hearts and yet he is able to pray these prayers. How God-centered must you live your life to pray this? Whenever I think of this I grow more and more thankful for the cross that God would see the righteousness of Christ when he looks upon me. To strive towards that righteousness, though, does need to be a greater desire. Lastly, despite how horrible things appear to be going for David, I love how almost all of his psalms end with such thankfulness and praise. I don’t think I do this nearly enough. I so often appeal to God for various things and it often just ends there. David appeals to the righteousness of God and thanks him for it and will sing praise to His name. Nothing’s been done yet. He hasn’t even finished praying. No answer’s been given. But he still ends it all with songs of praise just because of who God is. Not because of what he’s done or will do or anything else. That’s awesome. Simply well put. I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.
