Instead of our normal Psalms method, Stephen has written some reflections for today’s psalm.
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 O God of my praise,
be not silent.
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me;
they speak against me with lying tongues.
3 They surround me with hateful words
and attack me without cause.
4 In return for my love they accuse me,
but I am a man of prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6 Set over him a wicked man;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayer be regarded as sin.
8 May his days be few;
may another take his position.
9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children wander as beggars,
seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
11 May the creditor seize all he owns,
and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May there be no one to extend kindness to him,
and no one to favor his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off;
may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
and the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the LORD,
that He may cut off their memory from the earth.
16 For he never thought to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy and brokenhearted,
even to their death.
17 The cursing that he loved,
may it fall on him;
the blessing in which he refused to delight,
may it be far from him.
18 The cursing that he wore like a coat,
may it soak into his body like water,
and into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a robe wrapped about him,
like a belt tied forever around him.
20 May this be the LORD’s reward to my accusers,
to those who speak evil against me.
21 But You, O GOD, the Lord,
deal kindly with me for the sake of Your name;
deliver me by the goodness of Your loving devotion.
22 For I am poor and needy;
my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am fading away like a lengthening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak from fasting,
and my body grows lean and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O LORD my God;
save me according to Your loving devotion.
27 Let them know that this is Your hand,
that You, O LORD, have done it.
28 Though they curse, You will bless.
When they rise up, they will be put to shame,
but Your servant will rejoice.
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace;
may they wear their shame like a robe.
30 With my mouth I will thank the LORD profusely;
I will praise Him in the presence of many.
31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from the condemners of his soul.
REFLECTIONS
This is a Psalm in which King David asks God to judge justly and condemn the person or people who have falsely accused him and repaid his love with evil. It’s quite confronting to read, but there are a few things that help us to understand why it’s in the Bible.
This is a Psalm of King David, who was the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah, and in this case it’s especially important to understand that this psalm is about Jesus, it’s not directly about us. The “wicked man” in this psalm was not attacking a random person, he was committing treason against God’s anointed king and opposing God’s purposes. The New Testament sees this psalm fulfilled in Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus and then killed himself (verse 8 is quoted about Judas in Acts 1:20).
There may be situations in which it is right to feel the things this psalm expresses and bring your pain to God, but Jesus is the only one who could pray this prayer with a completely pure heart and pure motives. Jesus is also the one who prayed, from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Only Jesus knows when rejection is hardened blasphemy that will never be softened. Only he knows when to pray Psalm 109, and when to pray, “Father, forgive them.”
Only Jesus can lead us in praying this prayer – and we must never pray it against specific people who are our enemies. We are taught to pray for our enemies and bless our persecutors (Matthew 5:44; Romans 12:14). But we also know that in the end, Satan and all those who refuse to submit to Jesus must be stopped and brought to justice, so that all things will be brought under Christ’s lordship.
In the end, as Jesus taught us, we pray, “Your kingdom come” – where possible, by unbelievers being brought from death to life, and where not, by Jesus returning and putting “all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).
