Psalm 7: 1 – 17
Got Enemies?
1 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 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.
Who do you rely on? Do you rely on your own abilities? I have this brother in law who is a medical doctor. He is pretty well set for life financially. I have tried to point them to our Great and Holy God, Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – but they will not respond. The answer I always get is ‘why do I need God. I have accomplished all my success by myself.’
The bible says in the book of James chapter 1, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
People, like my brother in law, may think that it has been their own doing that has led them to success and prosperity but you and I know that ‘everything’ if from the Divine Will of El Shaddai – Almighty God.
David realized this fact also. Look with me at verses 1 and 2.
1 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.
David knew that not only his success was from Jehovah Hireh – The Lord our Provider – but, in addition, he knew our Holy Creator as El Roi – The Strong One Who Sees!’
Yes, our Great and Holy God is Omniscient. He knows all things. He knows all about our enemies. You might say, ‘I do not have any enemies’. If you can realistically and honestly say this, I would guess that you might not even be a Christian. Look at these two verses;
John 15: 18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you”
John 17: 14 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
Not trying to be mean folks, then how can you in any way say that you are exempted from what our Holy Lord and Master has said? You need to examine yourselves to see if you are really in the faith.
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
David is aware that our Father God, Adoni Yahweh, at least knows the truth, that he is innocent of seeking Saul’s death. He is guilty of no ‘iniquity’ in this regard. Iniquity is the opposite of ‘right’ and indicates what is crooked and distorted. Indeed he has never done evil against anyone who was at peace with him, and he has spared Saul’s life more than once, in spite of the fact that he is his enemy without genuine reason. Happy is the man who can say from an honest heart that he has treated fairly those who have treated him fairly, and even those who have treated him unfairly, as David could.
He declares that he is quite willing to be judged in this regard, and that if it be proved untrue, then he is ready to forfeit his own life to the violent men who seek him. Then let him be pursued and slain, his breath be taken from him, and his life trodden in the earth, and his glory laid in the dust.
His plight has moved David to a consciousness of the way sin triumphs and the righteous suffer. He is filled with a huge desire that righteousness might be established and that all sin might be done away, and that the world might become one in which righteousness prevails.
6 Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies; Rise up for me 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.
Conscious that he is not in the wrong and moved by his unfair treatment David calls on God to set up a court of judgment, both in anger at the behavior of his adversaries, and in order to justify him, and all those who are like him, for his misery has made him aware of all who are treated like he has been in an unfair world. He wants God as the commander of judgment, to ‘command judgment’ (set up the court for that purpose), gather an assembly of the peoples, while He Himself sits on high as Judge in the place of honor. Then He must pass judgment on all, giving David among others a fair trial, and weighing up his righteousness and his integrity. As a result wickedness will cease, and the righteous will be established, for it is the righteous God Who will test all out. His confidence is that God is his shield, his Protector, and that his own heart is upright, so that he has nothing to fear.
He thus pleads that wickedness might come to an end by God judging and dealing with the wicked, and that all who are righteous might be established, by the One Who tries the hearts and the reins. The heart signifies the mind and the will which produce man’s moral and religious character, the reins control man’s behavior. He desires that both will be fully tested.
Please notice David’s confidence in his own state of righteousness before God. He knows that although he is a sinner, he is a forgiven sinner. And he has offered with a righteous heart the appropriate sacrifices, and his conscience is clear before God. Indeed he can say. ‘My shield is with God who tries the upright in heart.’ It is the covenant God Who shields and covers him, and he has assurance that God will keep him.
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.
But while longing for that great Day of Judgment which will slay the wicked and establish the righteous, he wants all to know that even now God judges continually on earth every day. He is a righteous judge, and thus has indignation every day as He looks at the state of the world. For all things are open to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do, and He never overlooks anything.
God looks for men to repent, but if they will not do so He becomes a man of war against their sin. He sharpens His sword and has already prepared His bow, and makes ready His arrows, which He has already prepared as His instruments of death. His arrows are shafts of lightning.
It is noteworthy that even here David leaves room for repentance (‘if a man turn not’). He remembers what mercy God had had on him. But his picture is a warning to all who play with sin that God is not mocked. And that He is even now ever ready to deal with sin by death.
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.
While looking for a great act of judgment David does not over look the fact that God judges continually. The ones who exert themselves to what is worthless and evil, and especially to violence (verse 16), who plan and bring to birth mischief, and deceive men, laying traps for them, will find if they are not careful that they will fall into the hole of deceit that they are digging for others, will find their mischief returning on their own heads, and their violence crushing their skulls. Thus what they sow they will reap.
David is moved to praise God.
17 I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
It is only the righteous who recognize the importance of righteousness, who can rejoice that God is truly righteous.
Some of you may still be smarting over the challenge to taking your own inventory to see whether or not that you are truly a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. So, before you become my enemy take a look again at what was just painted out for you. [It is only the righteous who recognize the importance of righteousness, who can rejoice that God is truly righteous.]
Ask yourselves in truth whether you have been moved like David to rejoice in the Righteousness of our Most Holy God?
If not then let us pray to make sure you are His. Prayer is talking with our Holy Father, so just talk with Him. Tell Him that you want to be His son or daughter. Thank Him for forgiving your sins because of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ Whose shed blood washes away our sins. Ask Him to take full control of your life. Tell Him that you want to live the rest of your life pleasing to Him.
Amen.
