“Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin!” Psalm 109:1-7
Devotional Thought For The Day
Here we are confronted once again with an imprecatory psalm, a prayer in which the psalmist calls down the wrath of God upon his enemies. These should always evoke a certain sense of dissonance within us – and we wonder how the same was not true of David, the author. As we go through this psalm we will see David describe the wickedness of his foes, accusing them of hideous behavior and wretchedness of inner being. However, anyone familiar with the life of David will remember that some of his actions and behaviors were also extraordinarily wicked – and Christian scholars have debated for years what conditions prevailed in his heart at the time of his evil plotting and planning and executing of these grotesque sins. We assume David would have remained aware of his former guilt and would have had ongoing feelings of deep remorse. So unless there is some distinction for us to understand between his own sinful behavior and that of his enemy, it seems that there may be some hypocrisy in his words in this psalm.
There is a distinction, and while the difference may appear to be rather slim to some, it is actually a huge difference. The difference really has to do with the condition of one’s heart, where one’s commitment really lies, and this reflects the relationship between the person’s heart and his sin and also determines the effect of the sin on one’s being and character. In the case of the psalmist, his sins were generally sins of weakness [except perhaps in the matter of Uriah, the cause of the scholarly and pastoral debate about the condition of his heart], and when confronted with his sin he repented and experienced tremendous remorse and sorrow. We can read of his deep repentance in Psalm 32 and Psalm 51. That he continued on in life with faith and trust in God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness for his heinous crimes makes him a great hero of faith. But his commitment and orientation, because of his experience and knowledge of God’s love, was to love, to do good to others – except in the tragic circumstance of his murder of Uriah. But the psalmist was a man of integrity and truth. His enemy, by contrast, was a deceitful and deceptive person, who was committed to the psalmist’s destruction, in betrayal of the psalmist’s love for him. The enemy revealed himself as one who had no repentance, no integrity, no love, no decency, and no real respect for good whatsoever, and a deep-seated and incorrigible commitment to wickedly destroying others. His betrayal and malice made all of this clear.
It is one of the deepest wounds when people we love and care about, people who we have helped, supported, been loyal to, and have given our deep commitments to, turn on us and lie about us and to us with the aim and goal of doing us great harm, perhaps even destroying us. It is an utterly stark, weighty, and sorrowful thing to consider: “In return for my love they accuse me.” I suppose most of us have had to endure this at one time or another, perhaps multiple times over the course of a lifetime in this fallen world of sin. Anyone who has faced this understands well the psalmist’s sentiments and desires, and agrees that God should grant such prayers. However, there is the matter of our own sin, our own unfaithfulness to others, our own deceptions and malice – and we certainly want mercy rather than justice for ourselves. In reality, our every sin is a betrayal of God, and our every excuse is an accusation against Him. So there is inner dissonance when we contemplate praying God’s wrath and punishment upon those who betray us with great guile and malicious slander. Yet we understand that God’s destruction of our enemies – those who are deviously and fully committed to destroying us – is just and reasonable, and will surely come upon them unless they repent. But for the unbelieving, those who have no integrity or love, this is highly unlikely – and so we should more fear for our enemies than fear them, for we know what is coming to them.
Note that the psalmist, rather than avenging himself upon his treacherous “friends,” turns to God in prayer. This must also be our course of action. In the verses to come the psalmist will pray God to shower many difficulties, judgments, and even destruction upon his recalcitrant enemies who are fully committed to his destruction. The same will come upon those who seek to destroy God’s dear children today. Our response should be similar to that of Jesus, relief in God’s justice but also sorrow for the fate of our enemies; you remember He cried over Jerusalem shortly before His crucifixion, when He knew they were already plotting His death, which they accomplished by slander, lies, and treachery. Yes, we have personal sorrow and indignation as well when our love and loyalty to others is repaid by malicious treachery and slander; but we should also sorrow for them and sorrow for all that is lost to impenitence and unbelief. God will speak for us and vindicate those who live in repentance and in His gracious forgiveness and love; He will defend us against “lying tongues.” Let us make sure that we watch our own hearts carefully, so that we do not fall into lies or impenitence.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, all of the deep sorrows, disappointments, and betrayals that we experience have been multiplied to You. Forgive us for our sins of weakness, the times in which our thoughts and deeds have betrayed You and Your love for us. Protect and preserve us from those who are incorrigibly wicked, who plot and scheme how they may betray our love and goodness toward them with lies, deceptions, and slander. Keep our hearts from harboring wicked vengeance; do not allow our love to grow cold. Keep us humble in repentance and firm in faith until You deliver us from this vale of tears. Amen.