Psalm 7

In Psalm 6 we received instruction concerning how we are to repent before the Lord when we have sinned against Him and/or others.

In Psalm 7 we are given a glimpse of how we are to pray when we are innocent of sin and yet we are receiving persecution.

Superscription:

• "Cush the Benjamite"
• We do not know who Cush was
• The name means "black"
• Some say "Cush" is a poetic name for King Saul.  At the very leasty the name infers that this man was a kinsman, or at the very least a tribesman, of King Saul.
• Whether "Cush" is Saul or someone close to him is irrelevant.  What matters is that David is speaking of a villain who is constantly speaking vile and false things against him.

vs.1

• "Oh LORD [YHWH] my God [Elohim], in Thee do I put my trust:" - In my opinion this may be the most powerful way to begin prayers of praise or petition.
• "Oh LORD" - David calls on the Covenant God
• "my God" - David calls on Creator and Controller of all things.
• "in Thee do I put my trust" - if an individual means this than it will drastically change the words of the prayer that follows.

vs.3-5

• What a great thing to have such a clear conscience.  What a bold thing to come before God and be able to pray, "If I'm guilty of the things I'm being accused of then hand me over to my enemies.  If not, then let my innocence be known."
• The only reason that David was able to pray like this was because David was indeed fully innocent before the Lord concerning not only this matter, but other matters as well.
• I think that it's important to understand that this is not a prayer that should be prayed if someone has simply got a few of the details of the story wrong about you.  This prayer should only be prayed if the individual is completely innocent in terms of the accuser and the accusation.
• Slander is one of the most difficult things to fight.  An individual's only hope is to be able to ask the Lord to vindicate you and justify you.  It is impossible to do so for yourself.

vs. 6-8

• Notice that David asks God to act in judgment, to judge first the wicked and then to also judge the just.
• The fact that David asks God to judge the just is, perhaps, the key to honestly praying this prayer.
• Are we really willing to give God free reign over our church, our families, our religious friends, or ourselves.
• What does an honest examination of the righteous in the LORD bring to light?  Sin.  Sinners who are not yet perfected in the Lord.  Which means that God might show us things that we need to get rid of, things that we need to cast off in order to put on Jesus.
• But understand how dangerous this prayer actually is... because people do not like to be told to change or move or that their not perfect.
• Think about it for a moment in terms of yourself.  I am very quick to accept something that I may not have known before when some sort of new information comes my way.  However, I am extremely hesitant to accept that I have been wrong about something that I felt I was informed about or justified in believing.
• However, if we are unwilling to ask for the all knowing God to judge us it would stand to reason that we are unwilling to do the hard work of personal and corporate spiritual growth.
• This alludes to something that we mentioned in our study on Psalm 6... the judgment and the punishment that is doled out by a loving parent is almost always a blessing.
• We should pray for God to judge His children (i.e. those who can claim His righteousness), but we must first be willing to invite the burning eye of God to turn on ourselves first.  This is an extremely bold prayer.
• Do you want to grow spiritually?  Do you feel like you aren't being challenged by your church or by your reading?  Do you feel like you've hit a plateau in your maturation process?  Pray this prayer.  No excuses.  No one else's to blame.

vs.9

• "O, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end."  I love this part of David's prayer.  What David is asking for here is for the evil that has been done and is being done by the wicked  to  bring about the wicked persons own end.
• Perhaps this might help us to understand how God can be both loving and at the same time holy when it comes to the eternal judgment of the unsaved.
• Understand that the request that David makes here is the exact way in which God's judgment of both the lost and the saved works.
• It is God's will that none should perish but God does not force His will upon humankind.
• In the end it will all be judged on our own righteousness and on our own misdeeds.  All will be found guilty but those who have admitted their guiltiness and have asked for justification and redemption from God through the Son will be absolved of their guilt.
• Judgment and punishment are not the results of an incredibly unloving God... they are the result of our own wickedness.  Salvation in spite of our wickedness, the very fact that God will allow any into His Kingdom is the result of an incredibly loving and merciful God.
• In his commentary on the Psalms author John Phillips expands on this idea saying, "Thus we see Haman being hanged on the gallows that he prepared for Mordecai.  We see Jacob being cheated by his uncle in the same ways that he had cheated his father and his brother.  We see David, later on in life, laying down with his own hands the paving stones along which the retribution of God followed.  The principle of God's judgment is summed up in the sobering words: 'Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.'  It is the law of the soil; it is also the law of the soul."

vs.10

• This verse lends itself nicely to the above principle in that it tells us where our defense will lie when we face our ultimate judgment.
• It is God who saves and it is God who makes us upright in heart.

vs.11-13

• These verses should serve as a comfort and as an urgent call to do the work of evangelism for the believer as we realize that God is not asleep at the wheel. 
• Even now God is preparing for the final destruction and judgment of broken humankind.
• God will judge, God must judge, and because He is the only One who is worthy to judge, He must bring about the time of all humankinds judgment..

vs.14-16

• In the concluding verses of this Psalm David describes and explains God's moral government of the universe.
• vs.14 - The process of an individual's sin is like the process of giving birth.
• Sin is first conceived of in the mind, it is then created through our actions, and it is finalized by what our actions bring forth.
• vs.15 - The premeditated nature of sin is like a trap which is set by the individual hoping to rob, ruin, or revile someone or something for their own benefit.
• This alludes to the fact that most sin isn't accidentally stumbled into.
• This type of sin happens but it must be understood and prevented in other ways.
• However, this type of sin happens rarely and most often cannot be prevented without a firm grasp on how to prevent premeditated sin.
• The picture that David paints here for us tells us that premeditated sin will inevitably be just like falling into a trap of our own creation.
• While sin might seem and feel like a good idea at the time, while it may appear to serve our best interest, it will always lead to our fall.
• David is explaining to us that God allows us to basically dig our own graves.  We are the source of our own destruction.
• vs.16 - The inevitable punishment or our sin is like a boomerang.  By our own power and our own actions we throw it out only to have it return to us.

vs.17

• "LORD" - YHWH: David concludes this Psalm by calling out to the God of covenant who's righteousness demands judgment.  But it doesn't end there because David continues by saying that He will praise the God of Covenant because of His power and control over sin and judgment.
• "LORD Most High" - YHWH Elyon: Covenant Controller.
• This closing designation for God informs the reader that our God is the one who blesses as well as judges and because He is just, and because He is merciful, and because He is good... we should lift our hearts, hands, and voices in praise and thanks to Him.

   


 

Psalm 6

In Psalm 3 and 4 we’ve repeatedly seen the theme of David’s peace and rest through the night.
Here in Psalm 6 David is unable to sleep because he is so distraught from what he views as hopeless and helpless circumstances

The opening superscription, or title, of this Psalm calls for “sheminith,” which, to the best of our knowledge, is a musical notation that lets the reader and performer know that the Psalm is to be played in a low octave using an 8 stringed harp.
This is a dark Psalm surrounding impossibly difficult circumstances accompanied with a broken and beaten down heart.

vs.1

• The opening verse of this Psalm informs us that this is David’s penitential response to some unknown sin in his life.
• This is a Psalm of return and repentance.
• Here we find a pattern for our own repentance before God.
• “Your anger” is a reference to the Holy justice and Righteous anger of God.
• “Your hot displeasure” is a phrase that expresses God’s emotional state toward David.

vs.2,3

• David is apparently aware that he is in need of chastening from the Lord.
• Sin without punishment is often an unjust response. Without some form of punishment from the Lord an individual is more likely to return to their sin without fear and an awareness of God.
• Just like it would be unjust for a parent to spare the rod from their child, it is unjust for God to spare us some form of chastisement when we live in sin.
• Plus, it is also important for us to understand that if we petition God to forgive us without chastising us and He answers our prayers we miss out on the blessing that accompanies punishment.
• So it is here that David asks for God to respond to his sin as a loving parent as opposed to an angry one.
• “I am weak... my bones are troubled... my soul also is greatly troubled.” Notice the effect that sin has on David.
• David is so conscious of his sin that it is effecting every aspect of his being.
• Here we witness David returning to the Lord without excuse or explanation for his sin but with total brokenness and helplessness because of it.
• This too should be our response to sin.

vs.4

• “deliver me... save me for Your mercies’ sake!” it’s this phrase that gives us a glimpse into the reason that God forgives His wayward children.
• It’s not for the good of the individual because it would be so much better for a child of God to be taken out of this world and to be delivered into the presence of God.

vs.5

• Instead, forgiveness is for the sake of God’s glory.
• We are restored into a right relationship with our Heavenly Father so that we might bring more glory and honor to him having come through our sin to the other side of forgiveness.
• It’s like a battle wound that should have been fatal but miraculously is healed. The scar will never go away... but the scar tells a story. A story of salvation through failure, a story of grace and mercy from hopeless circumstances.
• When we are forgiven from our sin we are equipped with a very specific message of God’s power and goodness.
• Our lives will stand as a testimony to the fact that God forgives. And this forgiveness is not something to hide away.
• While it may seem prudent to cover the scar of sin and continue on as if nothing had ever happened so as not to draw attention to yourself, we must understand that God forgives so that the healed wounds may be seen by those with fatal open wounds.

vs.6,7

• These verses speak to David’s sleeplessness... tears replaced his rest.
• “All night I make my bed swim... my eye wastes away...”
• I think that it’s important to recognize that private nature of David’s brokenness and repentance.
• It is not all day and all night, is is merely all night that David is reduced to incapacitating tears.
• Repentance begins privately and is made public once the individual has been restored.
• God is not glorified in the public nature of an individual’s sin... He does not demand that the person be morally burned at the stake.
• When an individual is in need of forgiveness from any sin, whether public or private, whether it involves only them or any number of others, it is the biblical pattern to first petition and receive forgiveness from the Lord and then to go and seek forgiveness from others that have been sinned against.

vs.8

• Apparently news of David’s broken condition had reached his enemies. This suggests that David had traitors serving in his own court.
• Being that David wept in private and even though his personal anguish must have been, on some level, transparent during the day it’s apparent that news had leaked outside of the kingdom walls to David’s enemies.
• Here there is a sudden shift in David’s strength and in his prayer.
• The focus changes from hopelessness to confidence. The explanation is simple, God answered David’s prayer.
• This, in my opinion, is what forgiveness and restoration from God is like. It’s immediate, it’s unconditional, it’s refreshing.
• This seems like a totally foreign concept from our human perspective.
• Often when sin is committed against us the process of forgiveness is long and arduous... it is often conditional and partial.
• Intellectual forgiveness is often the first step. We have heard the request for forgiveness from the individual, we acknowledge the request and understand that it is our duty to God to forgive the person for their sin against us.
• However, emotional forgiveness does not frequently accompany intellectual forgiveness.
• Emotional forgiveness, for us, takes a significant amount of time and often may never fully take place.
• This is not right but it is reality. We tend to separate forgiveness from trust... however, true forgiveness is never complete until trust is restored.
• Because we do not have the divine knowledge and heart of God it is imperative to understand that total forgiveness (including the restoration of trust in a relationship) will and should take time... this is, often, the only wise way to live.
• It would be foolishness to fully trust a person without proof of their true repentant nature and their divine restoration.
• Since we do not have access to the spiritual state of an individual’s heart than without time there is no way to know if they have truly repented before the Lord and have made the 180 degree turn from their actions required by true repentance.
• To that end, forgiveness is a process that must be actively pursued by both the guilty party and the party sinned against.

vs.9

• Notice the immediate nature of God’s forgiveness. The Lord heard, the Lord received (or accepted).
• God made Himself known to David once again and restored his confidence and this had immediate results.

Closing note.

• Did you notice how often in this Psalm, even in the midst of his greatest anguish, David calls upon YHWH?
• Five times in the first four verses... three more in the concluding verses.
• If there is a key to the power of repentant prayer this is it... it is the name of the God of our covenant promise.
• Understand that forgiveness is essentially the restoration of a broken covenant.
• It is not that we have lost our ultimate salvation, this is not at risk in the New Covenant, it’s that we have lost the openness and blessing of a relationship with our Creator.
• The reality of a severed relationship with God should physically, emotionally, and spiritual reduce us to weeping. Where is hope, peace, and mercy without an ongoing, unfettered relationship with the Almighty God?

    

Psalm 5

vs.7

• David is a successful warrior and king, but he doesn’t attempt to draw on his accomplishments to earn God’s favor.
• This verse indicates that David realizes that it is only by God’s divine mercy that anyone is able to approach the Lord, so he maintains an attitude of reverence and humility.
• I believe this has it’s greatest application in times where we are hopelessly lost.  Rarely does a human being approach God when they are full of pride and self-aggrandizing thoughts.
• On the reverse side of that, rarely does a human being approach God when they feel like they are too deeply rooted in their sins and/or deserving of the brokenness that they are experiencing.
• David reveals to us that both mindsets are foolish and inaccurate.  We lie to ourselves in both scenarios.

vs.8

• David states that even the assaults of his enemies make him stronger because they drive him to seek God’s strength.
• Do you ever pray for opposition?  D fail in their pursuit of evil intentions and o you ever ask God to put you into a situation where you will be forced to rely on His power and attributes?
• Maybe a more common request is one for spiritual growth.  Understand that, often, these requests will produce the same results.
• These are dangerous prayers because they are high risk for personal distress and brokenness.
• However theses are also high reward prayers for those whose can focus their perspective on God and make it through to the other side.
• What does this perspective look like?

vs.9-10

• A God focused perspective sees those who have set themselves against you for what they really are in the sight of God... namely, foolish in their every action and rotten from the inside out.
• How would this perspective aid the believer?  It should break our hearts for those who are so lost and hopelessly.
• Understand that the lost are slaves to our broken cultures false assumptions and ideals.

vs.11-12

• In contrast, David now describe those who seek God and who have gained a godly perspective towards their circumstances.
• Look at vs.11.  Notice any repetition or theme.  The God given response to adversity is joy.
• It’s not joy that is found in the adverse circumstances... but joy that is found in the comparison.  You are the recipient of God’s favor.  This knowledge will serve as your shield.