Psalm 7

1 O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, If I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.
8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
10 My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.
11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.

Key Verse:
11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

Key Outline:
1. v. 1-9 The Petition
2. v. 10-17 The answer is received

Key Observation:
God does not neglect the prayers of his people; judgment of the wicked shall surely come in the future, but now frequently those who plan the demise of the ungodly are trapped by their own plans.

Memory Verse:
10 My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.

Devotion:
Haman in the book of Esther comes to mind readily here. Haman schemed against Mordecai by building a gallows high above all other gallows, and not being content with revenge on Mordecai, he schemed to attack all the Jewish people. God turns the scheme against Mordecai’s people by an edict allowing the Jews to kill their enemies. Not only was Haman hung on the gallows he himself had built, but his ten sons were hung also. Because the king himself was behind the edict, even the common people joined the Jews, and seventy five thousand of the enemies of the Jews were killed.

David says: “He made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he had made.” It pleases God to confound his enemies by taking their own schemes and allowing them to be taken by them. When we read Psalm 2, we found the Lord laughing at the counsel of the enemies of Israel, and we are told in Revelation that Christ was able to stop all the vast energies of all the kings of the world with one word.

Here David is praying to his God for the destruction of the wicked. Evidently he has been wrongfully accused by “Cush, a Benjamite”. David, when confronted with his sin, readily confesses his need for forgiveness (see Psalm 51). In this case, however, unspecified charges have been brought against David, of which he feels he is completely innocent.David strongly feels innocence here and he feels his very integrity is threatened, and his direct prayer is for the confusion of his enemies, that their mischief might return upon their own head.

I know from Hebrews 11, the chapter of the hall of faith, that righteous comes, not by works, but by faith. David seems to intuitively understand this at times, though the doctrine of justification by faith was not to come until much later. Reflecting on his view, I remember the words of Andrew Murray in his fine book titled, Absolute Surrender: “The condition for obtaining God’s full blessing is absolute surrender to Him.” David had that surrender. He had that faith. He had the hunger for righteousness demonstrated in his prayers. Oh that we might find and keep that deep faith of David, that our hearts might be surrendered to our Creator!