Psalms 7:1-17
A Meditation of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.
1 O LORD my God, in You I put my trust;
Save me from all those who persecute me;
And deliver me,
2 Lest they tear me like a lion,
Rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this:
If there is iniquity in my hands,
4 If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,
Or have plundered my enemy without cause,
5 Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
Yes, let him trample my life to the earth,
And lay my honor in the dust.
Selah
6 Arise, O LORD, in Your anger;
Lift Yourself up because of the rage of my enemies;
Rise up for me to the judgment You have commanded!
7 So the congregation of the peoples shall surround You;
For their sakes, therefore, return on high.
8 The LORD shall judge the peoples;
Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness,
And according to my integrity within me.
9 Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
But establish the just;
For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
10 My defense is of God,
Who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he does not turn back,
He will sharpen His sword;
He bends His bow and makes it ready.
13 He also prepares for Himself instruments of death;
He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.
14 Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity;
Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit and dug it out,
And has fallen into the ditch which he made.
16 His trouble shall return upon his own head,
And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.
17 I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
This is a song of praise and a prayer for deliverance from enemies. It begins with and is founded on trust in God; without solid faith in God’s righteousness, character, and working on behalf of those who are His, prayer and praise are ineffective, if even possible. David prayed for God to be saved from his persecutors who continually attacked him in various ways. There was no man to deliver him, to save him, only the Almighty. He then confessed any hidden or unrepentant sin to God or against another (1 John 1:9, James 5:16) in verses 3 and 4 while confessing that he deserved punishment at the hands of his enemies if he so failed to fulfill the first and second commandments (Luke 10:27). Stop to consider that. Then God’s servant asked Him to enact vengeance and due judgment on his enemies who pursued him who was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22) in pursuing following Him as best he could. He acknowledged that judgment comes to us all as commanded by the LORD, and asked for righteous judgment for all His people with spiritual integrity of the heart, not just for himself. He also prayed for establishing the just in Him and the end of those opposing God in evil works, knowing that this is based on God’s assessment of the hearts and minds which He tests for faithfulness to Himself (2 Chronicles 16:9, 1 Chronicles 29:17, 1 Samuel 16:7). His defense is the direction of his life and heart, knowing the goodness and severity of God (Romans 11:22). This does not imply that David trusted in his own righteousness, but that accounted to Him by the righteous One as seen in other Psalms. He knew the inevitability of judgment on the wicked and also his deliverance from that judgment, and so he ends the Psalm with praise according to God’s righteousness, lifting up His name and not his own. This entire psalm is an example and pattern for our own prayers and the direction of our hearts in following Christ. We pray for our enemies, exalt our Savior, and trust His working of providence in sovereign grace as His people in the righteousness of Christ.
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