Psalm 109

Psalm 109 HCSB

For the choir director. A Davidic psalm. 1 God of my praise, do not be silent. 2 For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues. 3 They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause. 4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I continue to pray. 5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love. 6 Set a wicked person over him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. 7 When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer be counted as sin. 8 Let his days be few; let another take over his position. 9 Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. 10 Let his children wander as beggars, searching for food far from their demolished homes. 11 Let a creditor seize all he has; let strangers plunder what he has worked for. 12 Let no one show him kindness, and let no one be gracious to his fatherless children. 13 Let the line of his descendants be cut off; let their name be blotted out in the next generation. 14 Let his ancestors’ guilt be remembered before the Lord, and do not let his mother’s sin be blotted out. 15 Let their sins always remain before the Lord, and let Him erase all memory of them from the earth. 16 For he did not think to show kindness, but pursued the afflicted, poor, and brokenhearted in order to put them to death. 17 He loved cursing—let it fall on him; he took no delight in blessing—let it be far from him. 18 He wore cursing like his coat— let it enter his body like water and go into his bones like oil. 19 Let it be like a robe he wraps around himself, like a belt he always wears. 20 Let this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me. 21 But You, Yahweh my Lord, deal kindly with me because of Your name; deliver me because of the goodness of Your faithful love. 22 For I am afflicted and needy; my heart is wounded within me. 23 I fade away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. 24 My knees are weak from fasting, and my body is emaciated. 25 I have become an object of ridicule to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads in scorn. 26 Help me, Lord my God; save me according to Your faithful love 27 so they may know that this is Your hand and that You, Lord, have done it. 28 Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice. 29 My accusers will be clothed with disgrace; they will wear their shame like a cloak. 30 I will fervently thank the Lord with my mouth; I will praise Him in the presence of many. 31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who would condemn him.

When we get to a Psalm like this, we are often tempted to shrink back from some of the words.

Can we really ask God to give someone a short life and not forgive their sin?

Today we will consider the whole arc of a Christian who is experiencing intense injustice that leads them to cry out in anger.

We will first ask

A. Where does cursing and anger fit in the Christian life?

Then we will see

B. These are God’s words.

C. We embed our words in God’s when we pray a Psalm like this.

And then finally we will answer the question:

D. How to we move PAST anger and rage, and into forgiveness?

Where does cursing and anger fit in the Christian life?

Have you ever felt like there’s something you wanted to say to God but you didn’t think you could?

Or have you said something to God and wished you could take it back?

A pastoral question that I sometimes is “I said this to God, is that ok?”

It’s true that there are things you shouldn’t say to God,

for example, when Job’s wife advises him to “curse God and die”.

So there is there a middle ground between

“I’m so happy all the time I only have happy go lucky things to say to God”

and

“God I hate you, I don’t trust you, and I’m going to take my life because I don’t trust you with it.”

The Psalms give us a pathway and guideline for how we can approach God with our anger, pain, and questions.

John Calvin described the Psalms as an anatomy of all the parts of a human soul.

So what about the parts of the human soul that are torn into when everything goes wrong?

How do we pray when something has been taken from us that we cannot recover?

How do we pray when we come face to face with injustice?

This Psalm instructs us.

What does a Psalm like this remind us?

1. Vengeance belongs to God.

2. God’s righteousness demands justice.

3. God is faithful to his covenants.

4. We can trust God with our prayers and emotions.

A good parent is not one who demands obedience and happiness from their child without listening to them.

If you want your child’s heart, you will look for opportunities to HEAR them.

God doesn’t demand for us to be cheerful robots.

He made us full of emotion.

And our emotions are kindled when we see injustice.

Let it out.

Trust your words with God.

Trust your difficult words with God

A note: Maybe you don’t feel like you’ve ever had an appropriate reason to pray a Psalm like this.

Pray it for someone who needs it.

Praying on behalf of others is a huge part of our Christian life.

Even the very form of the Lord’s prayer has others in mind.

OUR Father

Give US

Forgive US

Listen to the description of the wicked person and let that be your guide:

Psalm 109:16–20 (HCSB)

16 For he did not think to show kindness, but pursued the afflicted, poor, and brokenhearted in order to put them to death. 17 He loved cursing—let it fall on him; he took no delight in blessing—let it be far from him. 18 He wore cursing like his coat— let it enter his body like water and go into his bones like oil. 19 Let it be like a robe he wraps around himself, like a belt he always wears. 20 Let this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers, to those who speak evil against me.

The afflicted.

The poor.

The brokenhearted.

Pray it for Uighur people being systematically brutalized and murdered by China.

Pray it for the 14,000 children in the foster care system in Arizona.

Pray it for unborn children ripped out of their mother’s wombs.

Pray it for missionaries living in places with oppressive governments.

Pray it for refugees fleeing from tyrannical governments and religious persecution.

This isn’t a Psalm to pray when your friend offends you.

God has given you appropriate recourse for that.

This is a prayer for the serially oppressed.

A prayer for the poor.

A prayer for victims.

Other examples in the Psalms: Break the teeth in their mouths, happy is he who dashes little ones against the rocks, let them be erased from the book of life and not recorded among the righteous.

“We wish well to all of mankind, and for that very reason we sometimes blaze with indignation against the inhuman wretches by whom every law which protects our fellow citizens is trampled down, and every dictate of humanity is set at nought.” - Spurgeon

In a way this a cry against the demonic.

Even the beginning of the Psalm makes us think of Satan because David depicts being surrounded by accusers.

Which is what Satan’s name means.

Psalm 109:2–4 (HCSB)

2 For wicked and deceitful mouths open against me; they speak against me with lying tongues. 3 They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause. 4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I continue to pray.

These are God’s Words

“Open your mouth.”

The request from a Christian to God is that GOD would intervene on their behalf.

This is an excellent start to a Psalm that is full of words this heavy.

We are all like children in the face of great evil.

We CAN’T take on everything that comes our way.

A toddler needs protection from their Dad from everything under the sun!

David, even though he was powerful was wise enough to not take on every enemy under the sun.

In fact, for as violent of a man that David was, when it comes to personal attacks against himself and his character, he’s cool as a cucumber.

This happens over and over.

First with Saul.

1 Samuel 24:12–15 HCSB

12 “May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you. 13 As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness comes from wicked people.’ My hand will never be against you. 14 Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May the Lord be judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from you.”

Shimei:

2 Samuel 16:5–12 HCSB

5 When King David got to Bahurim, a man belonging to the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he was yelling curses as he approached. 6 He threw stones at David and at all the royal servants, the people and the warriors on David’s right and left. 7 Shimei said as he cursed: “Get out, get out, you worthless murderer! 8 The Lord has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul in whose place you became king, and the Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. Look, you are in trouble because you’re a murderer!” 9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut his head off!” 10 The king replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, do we agree on anything? He curses me this way because the Lord told him, ‘Curse David!’ Therefore, who can say, ‘Why did you do that?’ ” 11 Then David said to Abishai and all his servants, “Look, my own son, my own flesh and blood, intends to take my life —how much more now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone and let him curse me; the Lord has told him to. 12 Perhaps the Lord will see my affliction and restore goodness to me instead of Shimei’s curses today.”

Absalom:

David, when speaking to others, is calm, and not seeking vengeance.

In his prayers to God,

it is a different story.

This is hard to do, especially when you are being slandered.

Pastor/Twitter Story

How do you respond when you are getting shredded in the press?

Or in the group chat,

or behind your back?

You don’t. and this is Christlike

Isaiah 53:7 (HCSB)

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, He did not open His mouth.

Characteristic of cruciformity

This doesn’t mean we say nothing.

We speak to God, not our accusers.

We embed our words in God’s when we pray like this

These are God’s words first.

As we pray this prayer, we have requested God to open His mouth.

Remember that the Psalms tune our hearts and our words to what God says and does.

This is at the root of Jesus’ obedience to His Father.

His words and actions were steeped in the Word of God.

And He was and is the Word of God.

So we must be people of the Word too.

And I don’t just mean people that carry around big bibles.

I mean a people that have been so shaped BY God’s words, that when an outside observer comments on us, they might say,

“They are a people of the Word.”

Or in other words, they are a people of Christ.

So when we pray like this,

it’s like we are cosigning God’s words.

But we need to be careful.

SNOWBOARDING BEFORE YOU HIT THE JUMPS.

BE FORMED BEFORE YOU FREESTYLE

WARNING: Only to the degree that our words are true.

We are asking for the natural consequences of wickedness.

Proverbs 21:7 (HCSB)

7 The violence of the wicked sweeps them away because they refuse to act justly.

Proverbs 22:8 (HCSB)

8 The one who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

Proverbs 22:16 (HCSB)

16 Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich—both lead only to poverty.

When we pray a Psalm like this, we are asking God to be who he is.

God does not need reminding of His holiness.

God does not need reminding of His justice.

God is not unaware of the schemes and actions of evil people.

But He allows AND wants us to remind Him of these things, because in so doing we are reminding ourselves.

This is a huge reason why we pray.

Calvinist circles and a low view of prayer.

Prayer is the birthright of the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve.

How do we move past anger and into forgiveness?

GOD. WILL. STOP. EVIL.

So core to the gospel.

Anger is not bad,

anger in the face of wicked men is good.

But we are in danger of BECOMING the wicked person if we only ever stay in this angry state.

Knowing how to regulate anger is a skill that requires wisdom.

Camping out in anger mode can lead to a bad place.

Proverbs 14:29 M:BCL

29 Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding; a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity.

Proverbs also speaks about the benefit of moving past anger and pain:

Proverbs 17:22 HCSB

22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

How do we recover a joyful heart?

Well let’s turn to our text...

After David has let it all out with God, where do we find him?

He’s like a child with the sup sups…

Psalm 109:21–25 (HCSB)

21 But You, Yahweh my Lord, deal kindly with me because of Your name; deliver me because of the goodness of Your faithful love. 22 For I am afflicted and needy; my heart is wounded within me. 23 I fade away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust. 24 My knees are weak from fasting, and my body is emaciated. 25 I have become an object of ridicule to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads in scorn.

This is a deeply personal prayer.

He wouldn’t say this to his enemies.

But he’ll bring it to his Father.

Psalm 109:26–28 (HCSB)

26 Help me, Lord my God; save me according to Your faithful love 27 so they may know that this is Your hand and that You, Lord, have done it. 28 Though they curse, You will bless. When they rise up, they will be put to shame, but Your servant will rejoice.

He reminds God of His covenant.

Which is really reminding himself.

And he is leaving it entirely in God’s hands so that God would be the judge, and not David.

Heinous things have been done in history by people who have decided to take God’s judgement into their own hands.

This greatly clouds the issue of justice.

When the cause of justice is given to God, then we have confidence to know that it will be God’s justice when it comes, and not our sinful version of it.

So where does that leave David?

Where does that leave us, if we follow his example?

At peace. At praise.

Psalm 109:30–31 (HCSB)

30 I will fervently thank the Lord with my mouth; I will praise Him in the presence of many. 31 For He stands at the right hand of the needy to save him from those who would condemn him.

When I hear,

He pursued the afflicted, the poor, the broken hearted, in order to put them to death, I think of two people.

Judas

2. Saul

Jesus wounded both of these men.

One sought forgiveness, the other gave up.

Our ability to forgive comes when we understand the enormity of our own forgiveness first.

Place your wounds in the wounds of Christ. (Anger is ok)

Don’t sit around and wait for your enemies destruction with a smile on your face.

Proverbs 24:17–18 HCSB

17 Don’t gloat when your enemy falls, and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles, 18 or the Lord will see, be displeased, and turn His wrath away from him.