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Weds 7 July - Psalm 7

Psalm 7

Lord my God, I take refuge in you;
    save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
or they will tear me apart like a lion
    and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

Lord my God, if I have done this
    and there is guilt on my hands—
if I have repaid my ally with evil
    or without cause have robbed my foe—
then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
    let him trample my life to the ground
    and make me sleep in the dust.

Arise, Lord, in your anger;
    rise up against the rage of my enemies.
    Awake, my God; decree justice.
Let the assembled peoples gather around you,
    while you sit enthroned over them on high.
    Let the Lord judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness,
    according to my integrity, O Most High.
Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
    and make the righteous secure—
you, the righteous God
    who probes minds and hearts.

10 My shield is God Most High,
    who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
    a God who displays his wrath every day.
12 If he does not relent,
    he will sharpen his sword;
    he will bend and string his bow.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
    he makes ready his flaming arrows.

14 Whoever is pregnant with evil
    conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
15 Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
    falls into the pit they have made.
16 The trouble they cause recoils on them;
    their violence comes down on their own heads.

17 I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness;
    I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

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Meditation on Psalm 7

We ended the last cycle with Psalm 150 – what a way to end that cycle – uncluttered praise and worship to our God.

Now we come to another of David’s heart-cries.

The title of this Psalm – ‘A shiggaion’ is found nowhere else in the Psalms. 

(The plural ‘shigionoth’ is found in Habakuk 3:1 as a prayer.)

It is thought to be a literary or musical term – ‘he sang to the LORD concerning Cush, a Benjamite.’  Who is Cush? We don’t know. Commentators are divided.
All we know is that ‘he was a Benjamite.’
That means he was from Saul’s tribe and we know from Bible history that Saul was very jealous of David and did all he could to destroy him. David was on the run from Saul. He came across all kinds of opposition from individuals and from people groups, some of whom cursed him verbally.

Verses 1-2 A prayer of confidence.
Notice the personal relationship – ‘LORD my God…’  We, too, can have that confidence in ‘my God.’

That confidence in God is real whatever the situation.
Here David is being pursued and he describes graphically how serious are those pursuits – ‘tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no-one to rescue me.’  

We see other references in the Psalms to the attacks of the enemy as that of a ferocious animal, especially, lions – e.g. Psalms 10:9; 17:12; 22:12-13, 16, 20-21; 35:17; 57:4; 58:6; 124:6

We come into the NT and remind ourselves that ‘your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’ (1 Peter 5:8)

Verses 3-5 Innocent?

David is not claiming sinless perfection – he is willing to admit his faults but, in this case, he is appealing to God for vindication. We get a clue as to the accusations – repaying evil with evil; robbery without reason. If David is guilty, he is willing to take the punishment.
How we need to keep to short accounts with God – ‘cleanse me from my sin, Lord.’

Verses 6-9 God’s judgment

He speaks of the LORD getting angry. This is not an ‘out-of-control’ anger – this is God’s righteous anger, His righteous wrath.
Jim Packer suggests there are five aspects to God’s wrath: 1) it is just; 2) it is to be feared; 3) it is consistent in both the NT and the OT; 4) it is His love in action and 5) it is satisfied in Christ.’

Thus David is appealing to a righteous and merciful God and he is willing to ‘let the LORD judge.’

When all is said and done, David longs that there will be an end to violence.
We, too, can look forward to that day when all violence and wickedness will end when Jesus returns as ‘King of kings and Lord of lords.’ 

Verses 10-13 God will answer prayer

God is supreme – ‘God Most High’.

God is righteous.

God acts on a daily basis.

God is a warrior. He acts in defence of His people and in judgment against His enemies.
Exodus 15:3  ‘The LORD is a warrior.’

Poole says of these verses:  ‘the only thing that holds back the immediate judgment of God against the sinner is the undeserved mercy of God.’  

Verses 14-16 Evil doesn’t pay
These verses can be summarised in the phrase, ‘the trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads.’

Verse 17 Confidence in God

‘I will give thanks…’

‘I will sing…’ 

We, too, will give thanks.
We, too, will sing.

We will praise the name of the LORD.

(Roger Purdom)

 

Daily Readings

Thursday 8 July - Psalm 8

Friday 9 July - Psalm 9

Saturday 10 July - Psalm 10

Sunday 11 July - Psalm 11

Monday 12 July - Psalm 12

Tuesday 13 July - Psalm 13

 

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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