Today’s Reading: Psalms 108 & 109
What is your response when others attack
or criticize you? Sometimes they come at you with lying tongues or words of
hate. They may even accuse you of wrongdoing or repay evil for good. It is not
unusual for the follower of Christ to be maligned or slandered. The question
is, how do you react when it happens to you?
That is the idea behind Psalm 109. In
this Psalm, David is grieving over the way others have treated him. He feels
betrayed and hurt by their lies and deceit. He describes his hurt by saying, “I
loved them and now they slander me... they return my good with evil.” You
can sense his sadness and distress in the words of this Psalm. Keep in mind
that, as king, David had the power and authority to take decisive action
against these people. He could have taken matters into his own hands and rooted
out his detractors and had them punished severely. But that’s not what he
does! Instead, he takes to his knees and
seeks God’s intervention. There is a tenderness in his voice when, in verse 4,
he says, “I give myself to prayer.”
Instead of responding to their attacks with
confrontation or by striking back, David wisely places the matter in God’s
hands. He seeks the Lord and asks Him to respond to these cruel detractors. His
heartfelt prayer is that God would not sit by silently while these people
continue to attack him. His plea is, “be not silent, O God of my praise.”
Unfortunately, the prayer that follows
is a rather rotten prayer. In fact, Psalm 109 has been called “the most
terrible psalm in the whole psalter.” David prays that the people who hurt him
would be hurt in return. Rather than pleading with God for their forgiveness
and blessing, David takes the “low road” and prays that the Lord would ruin
their lives for their hurtful attacks.
He asks God to dispatch evil upon their lives, shorten their lives, take
away their jobs and their families, give them financial misfortune, and let
curses rain down on them. Wow!
David’s response to pray rather than
strike back is a wonderful example for us to follow. The content of his prayer,
however, should not be the content of our prayers. Jesus taught us to love
our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Our prayer
should not be one of revenge or hurt, but of blessing and salvation. As the
Apostle Peter said, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling
for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you
may obtain a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9) What should be your response when
other attack or criticize you? Get to your knees and pray God’s blessing and
salvation upon their lives, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:45)
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