Today, we get to work through Psalm 7. Let's start, by simply reading the first three verses (Hebrew numbering).
(7:1) A Shiggaion of/for David, that he sang to Yahweh concerning the words of Cush, son of Yemini.
(2) O Yahweh, my Elohim/God, in you I have sought/taken refuge,
save me from all the ones pursuing,
and deliver me,
(3) lest he tears as a lion my soul/inner being/life/neck,
dragging away, and there is no one to deliver.
My father-in-law used to have guinea hens. They were cute, in an ugly sort of way. But then they started to disappear over a period of a couple weeks. Some days, one would be missing. Other days, it was two or three.
One day, he was in the yard, and he finally saw what was killing them. A fox had a hen by the neck, dragging it off to the tall grass to kill and eat it. The hen was helpless. My father-in-law yelled at the fox, and chased it, and the fox let the hen go and ran off.
In psalm 7, the psalmist finds himself in a situation like the guinea hen. Someone, much more powerful than him, is his enemy. And things are hopeless for the psalmist-- UNLESS God steps up. Unless God saves him, and rescues him.
So it's very obvious what the psalmist needs, right? He needs help. And this help, needs to come from God.
The question is, how can he persuade God to help him? What type of appeal can he make, that would lead the God of heaven and earth to fight for him?
Sometimes, maybe, we think that God doesn't really like to help his people. We put a question after God's help.
Like, God will help?? Maybe?? Hopefully??
This question mark maybe doesn't seem to matter, practically speaking, at times when we have enough strength to defend ourselves. Sometimes, we'd like God's help, but we're pretty sure we will be able to scrape by if He doesn't.
But if you're a guinea hen, and a fox is after you... that question mark is crippling.
You raise your voice, and cry for help... and God does what?
Well, God will either help you, or you will dragged into the tall grass and die.
The psalmist NEEDS God's help. And this is a psalm that's designed to take the question mark out of this. When I turn to God, God----will-----help.
Let's reread verse 2 (Hebrew numbering throughout):
(2) O Yahweh, my Elohim/God, in you I have sought/taken refuge,
save me from all the ones pursuing,
and deliver me,
If you want God's help, it's important, first of all, that you actually take refuge in God. A lot of times we pray, asking for God's help, but we don't actually take refuge in God.
Maybe the easiest place to see this is with physical sickness. We ask God to heal us of our headaches, or backaches, or whatever, and then we immediately grab an advil. Or we are like a helpless guinea hen when it comes to seasonal allergies, and we pray for help while grabbing Claritin.
Maybe God will rescue you, if you do this. And maybe He won't. But if/when you do this, you're not really taking refuge in God, right? You're hoping something else will rescue you. And you will read these words, and know that you can't pray them the way the psalmist did.
The psalmist has genuinely sought refuge in God. God will either help him, or the psalmist will suffer and maybe die.
But if he suffers, and if he dies, he will suffer and die as one who is committed/consecrated to God. (Here, I'm echoing something from John G. Lake). His refuge is Yahweh.
This leads to the second point. If you want God's help, you need to let him know that you have taken your refuge in Him.
When you take this step of faith, let God know. You've thrown yourself on God, trusting Him to rescue you. Let Him know this.
For a couple weeks in June, my seasonal allergies got really bad again (God healed me from this two years ago, fwiw). My family walked on eggshells around me, not sure what to say. One day, in particular, life fell apart for me. Out of control sneezing, congested and runny nose. Sinus pressure. I was miserable.
I got home that night, showered, and still was suffering. I grabbed a jar of Vick's, and then put it back. I told God I was seeking refuge him, trusting him. And God would either heal me, or I would be miserable with allergies three months of the year, for the rest of my life.
I say this, not trying to make myself a big deal, not really liking talking about myself. And I know it's "just" allergies.
But when you take this step of faith, truly, that will change how you pray-- and how you can make your appeal to God. We can look to heaven, and say, "In you, I've taken refuge." ["In you" is focused in Hebrew-- that's why I'm making a big deal about it here].
Now, the psalmist here is not struggling with seasonal allergies. His enemy is another human being.
[But psalms, by nature, are flexible, and deliberately open-ended, so that people can turn to them in a variety of situations, without worrying that their problem doesn't perfectly match up with the psalmist's. So we should feel free to use their words/framework/theology to help us find our voice. We could, for example, turn to 1 Peter 5:8 here, and come at all of this from an entirely different angle: "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour."]
So what would it mean, to make God your refuge when a human is pursuing you, and harming you? That's the question I want us to think about at the end...
Verses 4-6:
(4) O Yahweh, my Elohim/God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong on my hands,
(5) if I have repaid my friend/ally with evil,
and (if) I have robbed the-one-showing-hostility-to-me-without-cause,
(6) may the enemy pursue my soul/life,
and may he overtake,
and may he trample to the earth/land my life,
while my glory/honor in the dust, may he cause it to dwell.
The psalmist here is describing a situation where he has been falsely accused of something.
Now, all of us at times have sinned against someone, and we have suffered dearly because of it. We have broken someone's trust, and they decided that we are untrustworthy people. We cheat them, or take advantage of them, or gossip about them, or backstab them. And when we do that, and we get caught, we aren't surprised to suffer for that. We accept that our sins often have very real consequences, and we plead for mercy and forgiveness.
In the end, we hope they forgive us, and that we didn't lose a friend/ally.
But sometimes, someone turns against you, and you know that you've done nothing wrong. Most damaging of all, is when someone falsely accuses you of something. Maybe you are a candidate to be a Supreme Court justice, and someone comes forward accusing you of a sexual assault at a party 30 years earlier. Maybe someone comes forward with a story about how they lent you five grand, and you stole from them. Maybe someone accuses you of racism, or sexual harassment.
How can you possibly defend yourself, when you know that the entire thing is nonsense? How can you repent, or make restitution, when you did nothing wrong?
Psalm 7 is for people who find themselves falsely accused-- who know they've done nothing wrong. Who know they've been living uprightly toward God and people.
And when you've lived this way, that lets you make appeals to God for help, that look like this.
If the psalmist had done wrong, he never would've prayed this. And if someone hates you, and wants to destroy you-- and you know, it's because of something you did-- Psalm 7 is not something you want to pray. And it's not something you have to pray. If you've done wrong, you confess your sin-- both to the person you've wronged, and to God. You make restitution, if necessary-- and you do it quickly.
This is a psalm for righteous people (so also, Psalms 17 and 26). And when the psalmist says all of this, it's a challenge to God. "God, look at my life. See my hands, my feet, my mouth. If this disaster is my fault, I accept my fate." The psalmist lifts his hands to heaven, and says, "Bring it. I accept it" (see also Job 31).
But he knows, in saying this, that God will find nothing. The psalmist has lived a clean life.
Starting in verse 7, the psalmist again asks God to fight for him:
(7) Rise up!, O Yahweh, in your anger;
raise yourself up against the fury of my enemies,
and rouse yourself!, my God/El;
a judgment you have commanded,
(8) while the assembly/congregation of the peoples, may they surround you,
while over it (=assembly) on the heights return!
(9) Yahweh judges the peoples;
exercise authority for me, Yahweh,
in accordance with my righteousness,
and in accordance with my integrity, over me.
God's will is not always done on earth, as it is in heaven. And the main reason this is the case, is because human beings are wicked. Let's read Genesis 8:20-22:
(20) And Noah built an altar to/for Yahweh,
and he took from each clean beast and from each clean bird,
and he offered a burnt offering on the altar,
(21) and Yahweh smelled the smell of the soothing/pleasing odor,
and Yahweh said to his heart/mind,
"I shall never again harm/curse the ground on account of the human,
although the imagination of the heart of the human [is] evil from his youth,
and I shall never again strike all of the living,
just as I did.
As long as all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease."
After the flood, God made a conscious decision, in his heart/mind, to tolerate evil from people. We, as a whole, are hopelessly wicked. And God had two choices at that point (keeping Jesus, and the NT, out of it for now)-- He could keep killing us all off, trying over and over to find someone righteous-- or, He could tolerate evil. And He chose the latter because of Noah. Noah's worship, and commitment, pleased God enough, that he made a decision to put up with other people's sin.
Now, what's the end result of all of this? God is in the heavens, and He lets lots of things go for now. He holds back his hand from exercising authority. He sits, for now, instead of rising to act. And when you're the guinea hen, being dragged away into the tall grass by your enemy, this doesn't work very well for you.
So what the psalmist is asking God to do here, basically, is rise up. Exercise the authority that's rightfully his. Take his throne, in power. "Judge" the peoples, in accordance with how they've acted. The righteous, get the help they deserve. The wicked, get the condemnation they deserve.
And the psalmist asks God to do this NOW, rather than at some point in the future. He knows God gets angry, when He sees evil. When he sees his people suffering.
[The idea is something like Revelation 6:10: 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”.]
Let's reread verse 9:
(9) Yahweh judges the peoples;
exercise authority for me, Yahweh,
in accordance with my righteousness,
and in accordance with my integrity, over me.
When you've been living rightly toward God, in covenant relationship with Him, that gives you a claim on God. God has promised that He will bless those who trust Him, who take refuge in Him, who are committed to Him. And the psalmist says, "THIS IS ME."
Verse 10-14:
(10) May it be ended, please, the evil of the wicked,
and establish the righteous,
and the One Testing the hearts and kidneys, O Righteous Elohim/God.
(11) My shield [is] upon God/Elohim;
The One Saving the upright of heart.
(12) God/Elohim is a righteous exerciser of authority,
and a God/El showing fury on every day.
(13) If he doesn't turn, his sword he shall sharpen;
his arrow he has bent,
and he has made it ready,
(14) while for him, he has prepared weapons of death;
his arrows for burning he shall make.
God doesn't want any to perish. He takes no delight in the death of the wicked. And so, in verse 13, it looks like God has been giving the wicked time to repent.
But this doesn't mean that God doesn't get angry, at times, with the wicked. The psalmist says, "God shows fury every day." Every day, God's patience snaps with someone, and He's angry with someone. Every day, God rises up and righteously exercises authority for someone who is righteous, over someone who is wicked.
Today, the psalmist needs to be that someone who God helps. He needs it to be his turn.
Starting in verse 15, the psalmist challenges God (I think?) to really see the hopeless wickedness of his enemy:
(15) LOOK! He conceives wickedness,
and he has become pregnant with trouble/hardship/misfortune,
and he has given birth to falsehood.
(16) A pit he has excavated,
and he has dug it,
and he has fallen in the hole he is making.
(17) His trouble/hardship/misfortune returns on his head,
while on his [own] scalp, his violence comes down.
(18) I shall praise Yahweh, in accordance with his righteousness,
and I shall sing to the Name of Yahweh, the Most High.
The psalmist ends with something that sounds a lot like the book of Proverbs. Sometimes, the wicked get wiped out because God rises up in anger over them, and crushes them. But other times, it's like the world has been set up in a way, that people naturally get what's coming to them. Violent people get killed. People who set snares for others, get caught in them. People who dig holes for others, are the ones who fall in. Evil doesn't pay.
And so the psalmist ends, in verse 18, with a note of confidence. I SHALL praise Yahweh, in accordance with his righteousness. I SHALL sing to the name of Yahweh, the Most High.
And why will he do all of this?
The psalmist has confidence that Yahweh is a God who acts rightly toward his people. He sees their suffering, and He exercises authority for them. Yahweh fights for his people. And the psalmist is part of God's people-- the psalmist is someone who walks with integrity, and righteousness, and who has sought refuge in Yahweh.
I think it's important to say that none of this is automatic. The psalmist has this confidence, because he has called to God for help. It would be a huge mistake to read this psalm, and say that all things automatically work out for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:31ff). That God knows what you need before you ask (Matt. 6:32), so you don't really need to ask.
Things "work out" for God's people, because God's people seek refuge in God.
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When we read psalms like this, we aren't quite sure what to do with them. Imagine that you've picked up an enemy in life, and it's not fair. You did nothing, but someone just has it in for you. Maybe they envy you, or they are just difficult, or selfish. Maybe they see you as someone they can take advantage of. There are two kinds of people in this world-- the strong, and the weak. And someone looks at you, and compares their strength to yours, and decides, you're a guinea hen.
When people are attacking you-- criticizing you, or trying to harm you-- what are you supposed to do? How should you respond?
Our instinctive reaction is to try to defend ourselves, especially when we've done nothing wrong. Someone criticizes you-- you argue back, or defend yourself, or criticize them. Or, maybe, someone does evil toward you-- and you repay that evil.
Let's turn to Romans 12:16b-21:
Don't be wise in your own sight,
no one, evil for evil paying back,
having insight into what is good in the sight of all people,
(18) if possible, on your part, with all people being at peace,
not yourselves taking revenge, beloved,
but leave room for [God's] wrath.
For it is written, "Mine, vengeance [is];
I will repay, says the Lord,"
but if your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
For this doing, fiery coals you will heap up on his head."
Don't be overcome by evil,
but overcome with/by the good, evil.
I think Psalm 7 fits in nicely with Romans 12. The psalmist is entirely trusting God for his rescue. He's not fighting back; he's not seeking vengeance. Instead, he's asking God to rise up and act. He's leaving room for God's wrath, understanding that there is a promise here: "I WILL repay, says the Lord."
Imagine that you and Mike Tyson are in a boxing ring. Mike Tyson is punching you. There's room for one single person in the ring to repay Mike Tyson for hitting you. EITHER, you will punch back. OR, God will punch back.
Paul says, leave that room-- that space-- for God [because God hits back harder.] And the psalmist models this. He does nothing to his enemy. He leaves what comes next to God. In Yahweh, he has taken refuge.
I say all of this, knowing that this is not how I've lived for years. This is one of those passages that's humbling, and embarrassing. People have criticized me, or attacked me, and I've modeled none of this. I haven't turned to God. I haven't sought refuge in God. Instead, I've tried to defend myself.
It's only in the last few months, really, where I've resolved to work on this. If/when people criticize me, or attack me, or spread false rumors about me, I'm just going to try to take it. I will accept that my name has been stained, that people maybe eye me with a certain amount of disdain.
I'm going to try to say nothing that I will regret later. I won't gossip about them, or complain about them. Instead, I'll turn to God, and ask for his help-- help in forgiving that person, in not holding it against them, in still trying to be a blessing for them. And in all of this, I will let God be the one who punches back, if they don't turn. I will keep my hands down, and my mouth shut, in front of them. I'll call on God for help, instead. In Yahweh, I have taken refuge.
Now, the OT tells the story about a man who modeled this. And I'd like to close by reading his story, Isaiah 53:1-9 (NKJV):
53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and [d]rejected by men,
A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our [g]griefs
And carried our [h]sorrows;
Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes[m] we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from [o]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And [p]they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
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Bonus quote, Peter Craigie:
"It is a curious feature of the experience of human living, that the public accusation of the sins or crimes which we have committed is easier to bear, emotionally and spiritually, than the false accusations concerning crimes of which we are innocent. When an evil act or sin is committed, there is at least justice in the accusation; there is a path of restoration and repentance possible. But the false accusation is harder to bear, partly because it brings with it the experience of injustice, and partly because they may seem to be no escape from its consequences. We cannot repent of something we have not done, nor can we make restoration, and it is in the nature of false accusers that they do not easily depart and leave us in peace" (Psalms 1-50, Word Biblical Commentary, 103.)
Translation:
(7:1) A Shiggaion of/for David, that he sang to Yahweh concerning the words of Cush, son of Yemini.
(2) O Yahweh, my Elohim/God, in you I have sought/taken refuge,
save me from all the ones pursuing,
and deliver me,
(3) lest he tears as a lion my soul/inner being/life,
dragging away, and there is no one to deliver.
(4) O Yahweh, my Elohim/God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong on my hands,
(5) if I have repaid my friend/ally with evil,
and (if) I have robbed the one-showing-hostility-to-me-without-cause,
(6) may the enemy pursue my soul/life,
and may he overtake,
and may he trample to the earth my life,
while my glory/honor, in the dust, may he cause it to dwell.
(7) Rise up!, O Yahweh, in your anger;
raise yourself up against the fury of my enemies,
and rouse yourself!, my God/El;
a judgment you have commanded,
(8) while the assembly/congregation of the peoples, may they surround you,
while over it on the heights return!
(9) Yahweh judges the peoples;
exercise authority for me, Yahweh,
in accordance with my righteousness,
and in accordance with my integrity over me.
(10) May it be ended, please, the evil of the wicked,
and establish the righteous,
and the One Testing the hearts and kidneys, O Righteous Elohim/God.
(11) My shield [is] upon God/Elohim;
The One Saving the upright of heart.
(12) God/Elohim is a righteous exerciser of authority,
and a God/El showing fury on every day.
(13) If he doesn't turn, his sword he shall sharpen;
his arrow he has bent,
and he has made it ready,
(14) while for him, he has prepared weapons of death;
his arrows for burning he shall make.
(15) LOOK! He conceives wickedness,
and he has become pregnant with trouble/hardship/misfortune,
and he has given birth to falsehood.
(16) A pit he has excavated,
and he has dug it,
and he has fallen in the hole he is making.
(17) His trouble/hardship/misfortune returns on his head,
while on his scalp, his violence comes down.
(18) I shall praise Yahweh, in accordance with his righteousness,
and I shall sing to the Name of Yahweh, the Most High.
