The plot of many action movies or books is of a person or group of people who do something hurtful or malicious to another person, and then that person decides to take vengeance. Off he goes, alone or with some companions, to execute his wrath upon them. That may make for a good movie, but as Christians we have been taught to respond with love and to forgive. Then we come upon a psalm like our one today. As we read through it, we think, “Wow! Someone is really angry!” It seems a little out of character to even be in the Bible, God’s Word. Let’s take a closer look at this psalm and see what we can learn from it.
Psalm 35 was written by King David. As we read through the Old Testament, we see that David’s life was not an easy one. He had many enemies, both before he became king and afterwards, and he was frequently either fighting them off or on the run, fleeing for his life. He knew what serious danger was. Though we don’t know who it was attacking David, or the background situation for Psalm 35, it was something serious. Perhaps some of you have been in a desperate situation where the attacks of an enemy were strong and brutal. The natural response is to fight back, either right away if one has the means to, or to carefully plot out something that will bring them down.
As we see in this psalm, however, David did not take matters into his own hands, even when he was being completely unjustly attacked. He gave it over to God. As we see when we read today’s psalm, David may have sounded angry in his prayer to God, but God could handle that. God does not turn us away when we come to Him with our raw emotions. David knew that, and came to Him with everything that was going on in his life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Today he was angry and hurting from the unjust attacks he was experiencing. David presented his case to the Divine Judge to take care of rather than seek vengeance himself.
As we read through this psalm, we see that David goes from complaint about his situation (vs. 1-10), to prayer about the situation (vs. 11-26). Then, after God intervenes, David gives praise to Him (vs. 27-28). Though there were times when David’s behavior had brought on the trouble he found himself in, like when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, or when he took a census against God’s command, in this instance the attacks against him were unjustified (vs. 7). As a matter of fact, David reminds the Lord that he had at one time been their friend, and treated them as if they were a brother. He had helped them when they were sick, and prayed for their well being (vs. 12 - 16). Now they have viciously turned on him.
God reminds us in this psalm that He sees everything we are going through (vs. 22). If there is someone unjustly attacking us for whatever reason, He sees it and is aware of it. It is not hid from Him, nor is He oblivious. The Lord will answer our prayers in His timing and with His wisdom. We need to be sure that any seeming delay does not cause us to doubt or resent Him. Our prayers are powerful if we pray for what is right, good, glorifying to God, and beneficial to His people (vs. 24). The Lord delights in such prayers. His first priority is our spiritual well-being and growth. He loves us and will provide for us, even in hard times.
Just as David did, God wants His children to take a stand against evil and sin. He will help the persecuted, and will bring judgement to unrepentant sinners. Don’t fight our battles on our own. Turn to God, and have Him come to our defense. The Lord will hold bullies, abusers and worse accountable to Him. Fight them with prayer!
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