Psalm 109:1-9, 16-18, 21-22, 26-28, 30-31 NIV
My God, whom I praise, do not remain silent,
for people who are wicked and deceitful have opened their mouths against me;
they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause.
In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.
They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.
Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser stand at his right hand.
When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him.
May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.
May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
For he never thought of doing a kindness,
but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.
He loved to pronounce a curse—
may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing—
may it be far from him. He wore cursing as his garment;
it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil.
But you, Sovereign Lord, help me for your name’s sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
Help me, Lord my God; save me according to your unfailing love.
Let them know that it is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it.
While they curse, may you bless; may those who attack me be put to shame,
but may your servant rejoice.
With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save their lives from those who would condemn them.
Wow! Psalm 109 is for someone who's really angry at his or her accuser. Like many psalms of lament the language does not seem like something a Christian would pray. Christ told His disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Psalm 109 is an example of praying against an enemy.
Of the 31 verses of Psalm 109, 17 verses are against the accuser in this person's life. I've only copied a portion, but here's a link to the entire psalm.
In the first five verses we find out that someone is speaking against the psalmist. She feels wrongly accused. People are lying about her. She feels betrayed for these are her friends who attack her.
She prays against her accusers. She asks God to appoint an evil person as their advocate so that they might be misled into disgrace. She wants her lying friend to die. That's pretty angry. Not only does she desire an early grave for them, she prays a curse on their family. She prays the orphaned children are left as beggars and homeless, with no one to show them kindness. She prays that all her accusers descendants die too, so that no one will remember her enemy. Even his name will be blotted out of existence.
She describes how her accuser is a man of cursing. He wears cursing like a garment. His curse words seep into his bones. That is an eye opener! A mouth that spews profanity is a heart filled with doom. The hostility and cursing becomes a sad condition of the soul. Beware of becoming a man of cussing. The curse falls back on you.
The psalmist intercedes for herself seeking help from God. She thinks of herself as poor and needy. Yet this psalm is attributed to King David who was anything but poor. Perhaps this is a poverty of the soul, a heart in great need. The psalmist wants vindication along with her prayers for retribution. She wants God to clear her name so that everyone knows the truth.
She looks forward to her vindication so that she can praise the Lord for His deliverance. She trusts God as the One who stands close to those in need like herself. God is at the right hand of the poor who cry out to Him. To be at the right hand is to be in a favored position. A trusted counselor is at the right hand of the king. Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father. But here in Psalm 109 it is God who is at the right hand of the needy.
To whom do you turn immediately in times of need? When your heart is wounded, who is the first person you speak to?
Even though Psalm 109 is filled with curses against one's accusers, there is a grace in knowing that the person who prays bears their hearts to God. There is no hiding anger, no matter how visceral. It's a good thing to bring our hostility and pain to God, and leave it with Him, trusting God to work justice. Then we are freed to let go of our indignation and enabled to love.
May the Lord deliver us from our enemies and from our destructive anger. May we quickly turn the other cheek as we turn the the One at our right hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment