September 19, 2023

Scripture: Psalm 7:6, 9 - “Arise, O LORD, in anger…End the evil of those who are wicked and defend the righteous.”

What it means

Psalm 7 is entitled “A shiggaion of David”, which probably just means a musical or literary term.  There is strong language in this chapter against those who participate in evil – and specifically, asking God to directly intervene and kick their tails and even the score so to speak… “Arise, O LORD, in anger.”  The time for you to step up and do something is NOW….just end this mess and we can all go on with our lives.  There is an element of humility and surrender in the preceding verses…verses 3-5 give God permission to allow the enemy to pursue and overtake him if he (King David) is the one at fault here.  I don’t believe that he thinks that is the case…but just in case he bears some fault here, then go ahead and punish me with what I deserve.  That’s a hard prayer to pray…and mean it.

What it means to me

We’ve all had opportunity to witness evil taking place right before our eyes and felt helpless to do anything about it…but at the same time, we still pray fervently to God to smite them and give them what they deserve.  The vast majority of the time, we don’t get what we ask/pray for…God typically doesn’t smite people on the spot at our command, so if you’ve ever prayed that on behalf of some bad person, don’t take it personally if God hasn’t acted in the manner in which we suggest.  God does tell us that “vengeance is Mine”, but on his timetable, not ours.  No bad deed will go unpunished, so if you’ve ever thought you pulled a fast one and got away with something…the day will come when we will all be held accountable for our actions, no matter who we are or what we’ve done.

I don’t tell you any of this as someone who doesn’t have anything to answer for – on the contrary, my list is long and embarrassing, but the trick here is to repent.  We all have the opportunity to apologize to the Creator of the Universe, ask Him for His forgiveness, and repent of our sin.  And thanks to His Son and our Savior…He will! At the end of the day, my long list of sins will be wiped clean by the solitary act provided by Jesus on the cross 2,000 years ago…and for that…I am most thankful.  I hope all of you are as well.

Love you guys, talk to you on Thursday!

In Christ,

Brian