Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Lord, Judge the Enemy! (Psalm 109:6-20)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2012 7:20:51 AM



My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  Psalm 109 PT-2



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Psalm 109:6-20



            Message of the verses:  Two days ago we looked at the first part of Psalm 109 and we stated that it was written by David, and that it is the last of the imprecatory psalms.  It is also a Messianic psalm for we see in this psalm verses that speak of Judas, who betrayed Jesus.  As I read this psalm I can see that David was very angry with someone, and it was a righteous anger that David had for he was the anointed king of Israel and to do harm to him meant that his line would be stopped, and it was in his line that the Messiah would be born.  We know that God’s anger is always a righteous anger and Psalm 109 is a part of God’s Word which shows His righteous anger.



            Lord, Judge the Enemy! (vv. 6-20):  “¶  Appoint a wicked man over him, And let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7  When he is judged, let him come forth guilty, And let his prayer become sin. 8  Let his days be few; Let another take his office. 9  Let his children be fatherless And his wife a widow. 10  Let his children wander about and beg; And let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes. 11  Let the creditor seize all that he has, And let strangers plunder the product of his labor. 12  Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him, Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children. 13  Let his posterity be cut off; In a following generation let their name be blotted out. 14  Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, And do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. 15  Let them be before the LORD continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth; 16  Because he did not remember to show lovingkindness, But persecuted the afflicted and needy man, And the despondent in heart, to put them to death. 17  He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him. 18  But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, And it entered into his body like water And like oil into his bones. 19  Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, And for a belt with which he constantly girds himself. 20  Let this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, And of those who speak evil against my soul.”



            As I read these verses I can see why they could be said of Judas, for Judas spent three years with the Lord Jesus Christ while He was on earth teaching, preaching and healing many thousands of people demonstrating that He was indeed the Messiah and Judas betrayed Him to the Jewish leaders so that He might die.



            Dr. Wiersbe states that there are some who would try to take the barbs out of this prayer by making the words from 6-20 spoken by the enemies of David, but this is not the case for this prayer was prayed by David against his enemies.  In the book of Jeremiah chapter 18 we read the following, “18 ¶  Then they said, "Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words." 19  Do give heed to me, O LORD, And listen to what my opponents are saying! 20  Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good on their behalf, So as to turn away Your wrath from them. 21  Therefore, give their children over to famine And deliver them up to the power of the sword; And let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men also be smitten to death, Their young men struck down by the sword in battle. 22  May an outcry be heard from their houses, When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet. 23  Yet You, O LORD, know All their deadly designs against me; Do not forgive their iniquity Or blot out their sin from Your sight. But may they be overthrown before You; Deal with them in the time of Your anger! 

            We do not see any rebuke from the Lord for this prayer that Jeremiah prayed.  There is another portion of Scripture that is part of the Law and perhaps David was praying this prayer in conjunction with it (Lev. 26:14-39). 

            People love to look at the love of God, and God is love, but God is also just and so it is because of God’s justice that things like this happen.  Sin is offensive to God and the wages of sin is death, and so a person has to decide whether they are going to trust the death of Jesus Christ as payment for their sins of pay for their own sins by their death.  We know that David was trusting in God for the forgiveness of his sins and that someday future from David a Messiah would be born who would care for David’s sin problem and ours too.



            There is a progression in who David is talking to in this section for the shifts from they and them to he, him and his in verses 6-7.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “David focused his prayer on the leader of the evil band that was attacking him, and he asked God to appoint a judge or prosecuting attorney as wicked as the defendant himself!  After all the way we judge others is the way we ourselves will be judged (Matt. 7:1-2).  Or perhaps he wanted Satan himself to be there (Zech. 3:1-ff).  David expected the Lord to stand at his right hand to defend him (v. 31; 16:8).  Our Savior is enthroned at the right hand of God and intercedes for us (110:1; Acts 2:25, 34; Rom 8:34).”



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at this prayer that David prays and how he prayed for the entire family of this cruel person I can’t help but think of what happened to our family yesterday in the opposite way of this family David speaks of.  It was yesterday around 12:15 PM that our family gathered around our dying mother and began to pray for he as she was ending her time here on earth and while we gathered around her she breathed her last and very peaceably proceeded to pass on into glory.  I think that as she did this she may have been able to see us praying for her as she so very often prayed for us.  To God be the Glory great things He has done!



My Steps of Faith for Today:  Believe that God will give us the grace as we mourn the loss of our mother.



Memory verses for the week:  2Peter 1:1-8



1.        Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, by the righteousness of our

God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3. seeing that His divine promises have granted to us everything pertaining to life and righteousness, in the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.  4.  For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you can become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.

            5. Now for this reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge, 6. and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7. and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness love.  8. For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing, they render your neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”



7/31/2012 8:46:02 AM     

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