God Speaks
A psalm of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush of the tribe of Benjamin.
1 I come to you for protection, O Lord my God.
Save me from my persecutors—rescue me!
2 If you don’t, they will maul me like a lion,
tearing me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
3 O Lord my God, if I have done wrong
or am guilty of injustice,
4 if I have betrayed a friend
or plundered my enemy without cause,
5 then let my enemies capture me.
Let them trample me into the ground
and drag my honor in the dust. Interlude
6 Arise, O Lord, in anger!
Stand up against the fury of my enemies!
Wake up, my God, and bring justice!
7 Gather the nations before you.
Rule over them from on high.
8 The Lord judges the nations.
Declare me righteous, O Lord,
for I am innocent, O Most High!
9 End the evil of those who are wicked,
and defend the righteous.
For you look deep within the mind and heart,
O righteous God.
10 God is my shield,
saving those whose hearts are true and right.
11 God is an honest judge.
He is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If a person does not repent,
God will sharpen his sword;
he will bend and string his bow.
13 He will prepare his deadly weapons
and shoot his flaming arrows.
14 The wicked conceive evil;
they are pregnant with trouble
and give birth to lies.
15 They dig a deep pit to trap others,
then fall into it themselves.
16 The trouble they make for others backfires on them.
The violence they plan falls on their own heads.
17 I will thank the Lord because he is just;
I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: As Patrick Henry Reardon states in Christ in the Psalms* “To pray this psalm properly is to enter into the mind of the Lord in the context of His redemptive Passion. It is not to give expression to our own personal feelings, but to discover something of His. It is to taste, in some measure, the bitterness and the gall.” In light of this, I ask the reader to prayerfully reread Psalm 7 with Jesus during Holy Week in mind; however, I do believe this psalm can be applied to those whom Christ has declared innocent because of their faith in His suffering, death, and resurrection on their behalf, especially when we are praying for others who are suffering for some unjust reason.
- Reardon, Patrick Henry, Christ in the Psalms, Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 2000, p. 14. This book has directed much of my thinking about the Psalms.
Prayer: Dear LORD God–Father, Son, and Spirit, thank You for creating human beings and for loving us despite our propensity to sin. Thank you for making it possible for us to come before You once we have been cleansed by faith in Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection on our behalf. Only as we live out that faith on a daily basis can we stand confidently before You and request protection, O Lord our God. Please save us from our persecutors and oppressors. Help! Rescue Your children. If You don’t, they will tear us apart. I don’t appeal to You on the basis of my own righteousness, but on Christ’s. He never did anything wrong. He was never guilty of injustice. He never betrayed a friend. He never plundered an enemy without cause. Because Christ Jesus paid the penalty for all my sin, for His sake don’t let my enemies capture me, trample me to the ground, or drag my honor in the dust. Arise, O LORD, and defend Your people. Wake up, O God, and bring Your justice to bear. Come, Lord Jesus, gather the nations, overrule them, judge them for how they have treated the ones You have made righteous and declared innocent. Defend the righteous by putting an end to evil and wickedness. You know who is right before You because You look deeply into every mind and heart, O righteous God. Thank You for shielding those whose hearts You have made right and true. Thank You that You are an honest judge who is angry at the wickedness You see every day. In Your time and in Your way, You will deal with those who refuse to repent. The wicked are going from bad to worse. Their evil ideologies are growing like a child in the womb, coming forth as lies and great deception and violence. Please thwart the plans of the wicked, causing them to fall into the pits they have dug to trap others. Make their schemes backfire and their violence fall back on them. I thank You, Lord, because You are just and mete out true justice. I will forever sing Your praises, O Lord Most High. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
• I will trust in Christ’s righteousness instead of my own when speaking with God and/or asking for His protection, provision, or guidance.
• I will thank God for specific ways He has rescued me from the plans of the wicked.
• I will help someone who is being oppressed or bullied. (Someone specific.)
• I will write and/or sing a personal praise song to the Lord.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with _____________.