Friday 14 December, 2018

1 My God, whom I praise, do not remain silent, 2 for people who are wicked and deceitful have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. 3 With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. 4 In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. 5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship. 6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayers condemn him. 8 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. 9 May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. 10 May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven[a] from their ruined homes. 11 May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. 12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. 13 May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. 14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord; may the sin of his mother never be blotted out. 15 May their sins always remain before the Lord, that he may blot out their name from the earth. 16 For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted. 17 He loved to pronounce a curse— may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing— may it be far from him. 18 He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil. 19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him, like a belt tied forever around him. 20 May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil of me. 21 But you, Sovereign Lord, help me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me. 22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 23 I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. 24 My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt. 25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads. 26 Help me, Lord my God; save me according to your unfailing love. 27 Let them know that it is your hand, that you, Lord, have done it. 28 While they curse, may you bless; may those who attack me be put to shame, but may your servant rejoice. 29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak. 30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him. 31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

As I read this Psalm, it’s easy to forget that David turns the words being spoken against him into a song. And it’s a pretty sad song. It’s a song about his total ruin, his death, the loss of all his possessions and the misery inflicted on his family.

But then the song takes a turn in verse 21. David calls out to God to deal well with him, not because of anything good that he has done, but because of God’s reputation.

God deals with us, he acts for us, not because of anything that we have done, but because of who he is.

If God only did things for me because of what I have done, then the danger is that I would start to believe that it is because of me. I would become proud, as if somehow I had earnt God’s goodness. The flip side to this is thinking that God is punishing me because of something I had done.

Both of these are totally wrong.

David is so right to ask God to act purely because of God’s reputation.

God loves me, not because I am worthy of it, but because God is love, and because he created me. He loves me because he chooses to love me.

He is good to me because he is a good God.

Father God, you are good, you are kind, loving, compassionate, generous, faithful to me because that is who you are. Thank you, you are amazing.

Written by Andrew Martin