Psalm 7: A Request for Justice

O Lord my God, in You I put my trust;
Save me from all those who persecute me;
And deliver me,
² Lest they tear me like a lion,
Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

³ O Lord my God, if I have done this:
If there is iniquity in my hands,
⁴ If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,
Or have plundered my enemy without cause,
⁵ Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
Yes, let him trample my life to the earth,
And lay my honor in the dust. Selah

⁶ Arise, O Lord, in Your anger;
Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies;
Rise up for me^[b] to the judgment You have commanded!
⁷ So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You;
For their sakes, therefore, return on high.
⁸ The Lord shall judge the peoples;
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness,
And according to my integrity within me.

⁹ Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
But establish the just;
For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
¹⁰ My defense is of God,
Who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹ God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
¹² If he does not turn back,
He will sharpen His sword;
He bends His bow and makes it ready.
¹³ He also prepares for Himself instruments of death;
He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.

¹⁴ Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity;
Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.
¹⁵ He made a pit and dug it out,
And has fallen into the ditch which he made.
¹⁶ His trouble shall return upon his own head,
And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.

¹⁷ I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

We come to the part of David's story where he is overcome with his intense feelings.  He cries out for vindication from his enemies harsh injustice to him.  Again, his worship of prayer to the Lord continues.  One prayer alone does not an issue fix.  Sometimes things get worse before they get better but we must persist in our petitions.  David is teaching us that God is just.

What are we to do when attacked falsely.  Don't level the playing field by responding in kind.  Don't retaliate at all that only helps to fan the flame.  David demonstrates how he takes these claims to God.  We can appeal for justice.  Romans 3:10 declares, "There is no one righteous, not even one."

Verses 3-5 expresses his innocence of the crime for which he is charged.  David does not take vengeance into his hands, and he very well was capable of doing that being king and all.  Instead he submitted his case before the Lord.  I think we have become somewhat indifferent to the need for justice.  We focus on the importance of forgiveness in this life to the detriment of actually working for justice.

There are three great needs of our day:
1.  Be champions for the poor and disadvantaged.  Who will help them, they are unable to help themselves.  When God places these people in you path, respond!  
2.  Have upright conduct.  We cannot honestly pursue justice for others if we do not  practice it ourselves.
3.  Vindicate the righteous.  We must see that those who do good are acknowledged to be good and that the wicked are identified as such..

To ignore these needs is to abandon the poor, disgrace our calling, and encourage the wicked.  Have a passion for earthly justice.  Walk away from comments like, "You think you are better than everyone else. or Why don't you show a little more of the forgiving spirit of Christ?"  Right is right and wrong is wrong! Period!

The 7th psalm is a great testimony of David seeking his God.  We don't know whether he was in fact vindicated, we only know that David came into such a knowledge of God that he could accept his lot.

Live righteously because goodness and integrity are their own rewards.

Coram Deo,
E.W.