Day 7 Searching the Psalms
Please share your thoughts in the comments below each day so that we can
learn and grow together as we seek to know God and live justly.
Psalm 7 (ESV)
1 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my friend with evil
or plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
and let him trample my life to the ground
and lay my glory in the dust. Selah
6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
over it return on high.
8 The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
10 My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.
12 If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.
14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
and is pregnant with mischief
and gives birth to lies.
15 He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
16 His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.
17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
It was really nice to hear others comment on Psalms 1 today. Hearing the input about being planted by the “waters” & waiting for the fruit to be produced was a blessing. This seems like the theme for now; waiting. Also, the theme of righteousness and justice resonated. I’m glad to see it in the Psalms. I’m glad to be in this study. -Allison
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ReplyDeleteDidn't mean to delete. Just wanted to add a line.
ReplyDeleteThere is a very confident tone to this psalm. And even though it speaks of violence, there is a calmness to it. The psalmist seems willing to take his own "just deserts" and is equally confident in God's ability to handle the punishment of the unjust.
Maybe that's something I can strive for.
In the old days we used the expression, "She's gonna get what's coming to her!" , especially when someone seemed to be "getting away with murder". These comments were usually made in anger and with an air of smugness that is unbecoming to anyone, especially a professed Christian. Certainly, we all need to work for justice as best we can, but we can go about it with a sense of calm knowing that God's arrows are ready (vs 13) and the sorrow caused to others by the unjust will one day be turned on the their heads (vs16).
And then instead of spending time gnashing my teeth, I can do as the last verse encourages
me...Praise His Holy Name!