Psalm 7

Psalm chapter 7. Let's go ahead and read the Psalm here. David writes, "

Now, if you notice at the very beginning of this Psalm, there's an intro that isn't actually part of the verses. It doesn't start with verse one. It's right ahead of it. And it tells us here that David wrote this Psalm concerning the words of a man named Cush, who was a Benjamite. And David also had, often had trouble with Benjamites, because those were the people from the tribe that Saul came from. And so, there were a lot of people that had bad vibes toward David. Because he took over after Saul was killed and so forth. Apparently this Cush person, whoever he was, was making false accusations against David. David felt very attacked by it. Again, what did he do? He took the matter to the Lord. He begins by saying, "O Lord my God, in you... I take refuge..." And that's a very important thing that we see right at the very beginning of the Psalm. Lord, it's in You that I take refuge. David is making it clear that the Lord, and the Lord alone, is the one that he is turning to for help. And that's so important. In fact, you'll notice he tells the Lord if He doesn't respond, these guys are going to tear me to pieces with no one to deliver me. And that's a fancy way of saying, if you don't help me, I'm dead. And I wonder sometimes how many of us pray and ask the Lord to help us in our issues. But secretly in our minds, I don't even know if we're even always aware of it, but we withhold back some secondary means of solving our problem. I mean, I wonder how many of us when we go to the Lord are all in with the Lord, or if we're holding something back. I can think of times in my own life when I've prayed and I've asked the Lord for help. And then the Lord has revealed to me that there was a little area in the back of my mind where I had a secondary alternate plan. Just in case God didn't come through in a way that satisfied me. Whatever David was being accused of, he's trusting the Lord with it. And you'll notice that he believes himself to be completely innocent in this situation. Notice what he says in verse 3. He even challenges the Lord. And he says, Lord, if I've done this, if I've done the things that this guy is accusing me to have done, if there's any wrong, he says, in my hands, and if I've done what he says, if I've repaid my friend with evil, or I've plundered my enemy without cause, he says in verse five, fine, then let him win. Let my enemy win. Let him overtake me. Let him conquer me. Let him trample my life to the ground, lay my glory in the dust, whatever it takes. And this is a bold prayer, by the way. And by the way, David is not saying he is without sin. What David is saying is he's not guilty of this charge. He's saying, I didn't do what this guy said I did, or what he's accusing me to have done. And he's going on and he's saying, Lord, I trust You to absolve me in this. Look at verse 6, "Arise, O LORD, in your anger; (and) lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;..." He's asking the Lord to respond in judgment, which he talks about there at the end of verse 6. And he's basically putting this thing in the hands of the Lord. He says, arise, Lord... Notice he doesn't say, I'm going to arise. And David was a warrior. And even while he was king, well, even before he was king, he had men at his disposal. If somebody got under his skin, he was not helpless to do something about it. And you'll remember he almost did in a very unrighteous sort of a way when a particular big time sheep herder, or sheep owner rather, rebuffed him when he sent some of his men to this guy to say, hey, it's sheep shearing time. It's a happy time. We've been out in the field with your shepherds watching over your sheep. We've made sure nothing happened, so why don't you send a little blessing our way? And you remember that was the man Nabal. Remember? (1 Samuel chapter 25) And Nabal, who was a surly, mean, old coot, sent a message back with David's men saying, essentially, forget it, buddy. You're not getting anything of mine. And you'll remember what David did. He said to his men, strap on your swords boys. We're going to go pay Nabal a visit.

And you recall what happened. The Lord used Nabal's wife, Abigail, to intervene in the situation and make David aware of just how, of just what he was doing. Which is what? He was taking vengeance into his own hands. Right? And Abigail came with this beautiful, very wise plea to him to say, this is not you, David. This... And this is not, this is not how you want to solve your issues by taking matters into your own hands. Far be it from you to have this bloodshed on your hands. And David listened. And he was like, you are exactly right. Praise God for sending you here. Because had you not came and spoken to me right now, he said, I'm telling you by tomorrow not a man in Nabal's whole household would be alive. I was bent on conquest based out of revenge and I see how wrong it was. And you stayed my hand. What's the word have to say on this in a further sense? Let me show you. The Apostle Paul wrote, Romans 12:19 (ESV)

"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." But he's not fast enough. God takes too long. What if I have to wait till the judgment to see this guy pay for his crime? Oh, the dumb things we say. It doesn't matter, does it? You know why it doesn't matter? Vengeance isn't yours. It's His. That's what he's saying in that quotation that Paul is making there in Romans. "Vengeance is mine,..." This is God looking you and I in the face and saying, this doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Me! Hands off. Boy, that's hard, isn't it. When somebody attacks you. I mean, when somebody is dragging your name through the mud, saying things that are absolutely untrue about things that you said or claim that you said. And you're like, what in the world? What is going on with this person? And God's Word says, do not avenge yourself. Don't do it. Don't avenge yourself.

I love how David doesn't just stop there. He actually invites the Lord to judge him. First he asks the Lord to judge his enemy. Look what he says in verse 8, "The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me." You might say, well, that sounds like David's bragging a little bit. No, again, David is not suggesting that he's a purely righteous man and that he has no sin. What he's saying, again, is I'm not guilty of this charge. I invite you, Lord, to judge me over these charges that have been made by this man falsely about me. I invite you to do that. And he even says, Lord, You are the one who tests the minds and the hearts of men. You are a righteous God. And furthermore, he says in verse 10, You are also my shield. And You save those who are upright. And David believed that in this particular instance, he was upright. He believed and he knew he didn't... He wasn't guilty of what he's being accused of. And so, he makes that claim in verse 11 again. "God is a righteous judge," and he knows that God is going to take care of this situation. In verse 12, he says, "If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword." And that word "whet" means to sharpen a blade or a tool. And he says, "he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts...," referring to the judgment of the Lord. And he says concerning the wicked man, behold, he conceives evil. In fact, he even gives us this word picture of him being, pregnant with evil and then giving birth to lies. And it's just lies that come out of his mouth. In verse 15, he says this man makes a pit and he ends up just falling into it himself. “His mischief returns (on) his own head," and so forth. And so David is now speaking of the futility of the evil man's ways; trapped by his own dealings. Why do you think he's saying stuff like this? He's reminding himself that what a man sows, so also shall he reap. (Galatians 6:7) I don't have to be involved. I don't have to pull my sword out of its sheath and go out and hurt this man because he's hurt me. I don't have to. You know what? God is able to judge. God is able to deal with it. And you know what? These guys, they end up digging pits and falling into them themselves.

You know what? I'm going to let this thing play out. You know what else that takes? That takes faith too, doesn't it? I'm going to let this thing play out. I'm going to have faith and trust God and let this thing just play out. And this guy, you know what? He's going to end up getting into trouble and he's going to... It's going to be of his own making. I'm not going to worry about it. I know those are difficult words to live by. Maybe easy to say. One final passage to consider on this matter of leaving judgment to the Lord. Let me show you. Proverbs chapter 24. Check this out.

And this is the other side of the coin. I say, Lord, I'm going to leave it to you. I'm just going to leave it to you. You take care of it. And then I actually live long enough to see the Lord take care of it in whatever way. Whether it's just letting him go through the natural process of sowing and reaping and falling into his own pit. Or something else that the Lord judges. Whatever. What does the Lord say here in Proverbs? Listen, when you see that happen, do not rejoice. God wants our hearts to be right. We're not to mock and rejoice in the hardship that it befalls another, even if they've hurt us. Don't have a party and hoop it up and have a cake because your enemy, went bankrupt or whatever. Why? It says, the Lord will see it and be displeased and end up turning His anger away from your enemy. And the implication is, turning it on you.