Psalm 7 - How To Endure A Grudge Series

HOW TO ENDURE A GRUDGE

TEXT: Psalm 7:1-10

Psalms 7:1-17 KJV Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: [2] Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. [3] O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; [4] If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) [5] Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah. [6] Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded. [7] So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high. [8] The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. [9] Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. [10] My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. [11] God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. [12] If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. [13] He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. [14] Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. [15] He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. [16] His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. [17] I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.

I. INTRODUCTION—On Dealing with Grudges

Jimmy Carter ran for president of the United States against Ronald Reagan in 1980. According to David Wallis in the New York Times Magazine, prior to a televised debate between the two candidates, columnist George Will came upon Carter’s debate notes and sneaked them to the Reagan camp. Many pundits felt that Reagan won that debate, and he went on to win the election. Carter did not forget what George Will had done to him.

In a 1997 interview with Wallis, Carter said:

I was teaching forgiveness one day in Sunday school, and I tried to go through my memory about people for whom I had a resentment. George Will was one of those people, so I wrote him a note. I asked myself, What do we have in common, and I had known he had written a book about baseball which I had refused to read. I went to a bookstore and found a remaindered copy. Paid a dollar for it. So I wrote him a note and told him the facts: that I had a feeling of resentment toward him, that I had found his book delightful and I hoped that we would be permanently reconciled.

He wrote me back a humorous note. He said his only regret was that I didn’t pay full price for the book.

-Anyone can hold a grudge. It takes character to initiate reconciliation.

-To a man all of us had grudges we have had to deal with in our walk with the Lord. Some of those grudges we have held against another person. Some of those grudges were against us and those grudges fed the fires of slanderous and malicious tongues.

-This psalm speaks to that very matter. The Psalms are full of life, the ups-and-downs and ins-and-outs of life. When we read the Psalms we can see ourselves from the scope of the mountain top as well as the ventures that take us into the valleys of life.

II. PSALM 7

A. Introduction and Background

-If we were to begin in Psalm 3 and read all the way through Psalm 7, which we have to understand that Psalm 3 to Psalm 41 were penned by David, there are some things we would discover. There is a rising intensity in what David senses in his spirit. This is also the longest one of those that have been written to this point.

• Psalm 3—A prayer for deliverance from military or physical danger.

• Psalm 4—An evening psalm where David opens his heart to the distress he is feeling.