Psalm 7

This morning we’re going to return to our recurring summer series where we explore the Psalms. If you’re new to Redeemer, we embarked on this tradition last summer, and yes we recognize that there are 150 Psalms, so this tradition will last quite a while. But the summer is a break from normal routine, and we thought it fitting to take a break from the lectionary texts in order to explore this important book in our Scriptures. So from now until August, we will hit one Psalm each week.

And here’s what I hope happens as we do this. Because you know what psalm we’re doing each week, I hope that throughout the week, at some point either at the dinner table or around the coffee table or in bed, you read these psalms as a family or a couple or just by yourself. Read these psalms as we go through them as a form of worship and prayer. These words have power, because they are God’s words spoken to you and for you, that you’d know him better. So open these psalms at home as we go through this together here.

Now, why are we walking through the psalms? For three reasons primarily.

First, the psalms teach us how to think rightly about God. It’s easy to forget, but this was the prayerbook and the songbook for the people of Israel, including Jesus! This was Christ’s book of prayer, and in it we hear some of the highest declarations of God’s goodness and greatness in all of Scripture. God is rightly depicted as being both transcendent and imminent. He is completely other, way outside of our wildest imagination, completely unfathomable in the greatness of his glory, and yet he is attuned to smallest detail of our lives, and with us in our darkest moments, guiding us step by step throughout the course of our lives, revealing himself to us as a loving parent, a wise counselor, a righteous judge, and a true friend. So as we study the psalms, we learn how to rightly think about God.

Second, the psalms teach us how to feel. And by that I mean that faith isn’t just about thinking the right things about God, because at some point our knowledge of who God is collides with our present circumstances in life, and we have to figure out how to respond to the truth of God and the reality of our lives. And the psalms teach us how to navigate that. The psalmists go through significantly dark moments in life, and we hear how they process through those moments in light of the truth they know about God. And so we’ll listen and learn how we can respond to God’s truth, even when things are not working out in our lives. We’ll learn how to feel, not just think.

And finally, the psalms teach us how to talk to God. As we said, this is a book of prayer. And a lot of us have a really wacked-out prayer life. We talk one way in our normal lives, and then we come to prayer, and before we talk to God we put on this veneer of holiness and righteousness. We hide behind religious language, and we use words and syntax is completely different than what we do normally. It’s like we try to become different people - better people - when we come before God in prayer. But the psalms teach us to get out of that habit, and to approach God honestly. They teach us how to pray.

So those are the reasons we’ve committed ourselves to studying the psalms in the summer, and I hope as we go through this over the years, the Lord works through his word to shape how we think and feel and pray.

So we’re kicking off the summer where we left off last summer, which is Psalm 7.

Psalm 7 begins with a personal plea and quickly moves to a universal conviction. This is something we can relate easily to, because we do it all the time.

This past week, Melanie and I took our 2 year old son and 2 month old daughter to Florida for a beach getaway, and I’m here to report that there was indeed a beach, but there was no getaway. You see, traveling with children that young precludes most forms off relaxation. But looking back on our experience, I recognize that our thought processes went from the personal to the universal, just like in this Psalm. We started off bewailing the fact that our son got sick on day 1 and our daughter’s witching hour occupied the same time-slot when we’d normally go patron our favorite restaurants. A very personal situation. But very quickly we moved to the conviction that Florida is a terrible place where dreams go to die, and children are a relaxation black hole - which are very universal convictions. This is a natural thing for us to do - we move from the personal to the universal.

So, in Psalm 7, the psalmist, who we are told is David, moves from the personal plea of a man who is wrongfully accused of some crime to the universal conviction that God is the righteous judge of all the earth. And this morning, I want to make just one point. God is our refuge because he is righteous. The fundamental reason that we are can take refuge in God is because he is righteous.

Let’s dive into the psalm.

The Psalm begins with David’s very personal plea, which we read in verses 1-5:

1 O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, 2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver. 3 O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, 5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.

Now, we are not sure exactly what is the situation that faces David, but evidently, he has been accused of betraying an ally or friend - a charge that he adamantly denies.

We can probably all think back a time when we were wrongfully accused of something. Maybe it was something as trivial as being charged with misplacing something in the house, or maybe it’s something more significant, like improper business practices or cheating. Whatever the case, we know the injustice that David is feeling. There’s a burning in the chest and cheeks and a clenching of the fist and teeth. You know that feeling, when your character has been called into question for unfounded reasons.

But look at what David does with his burning sense of injustice. He turns to the Lord for help. How many of us have stayed in that place of inner turmoil after our character is questioned? Playing the accusation over and over again in our minds, and plummeting deeper and deeper into cycles of angst and bitter rage. How many of us have been consumed by our burning sense of injustice so that it paralyzes our heart and mind?

David doesn’t fall into that trap. He doesn’t dwell in that dark place. Instead, he takes that feeling of injustice and presents it to the Lord.

And the way that David present his injustice to the Lord is fascinating. David has been accused, and in response, he summons the Lord to the courtroom to hear his case. Verse 6-8:

6 Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you; over it return on high. 8 The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.

Why has David turned to the Lord? Why has he called the Lord to preside over his case? Because David believes that the Lord is a righteous judge. And because he is a righteous judge, the Lord is a refuge for all who feel the weight of injustice in the world.

Important note here: David is not claiming universal righteousness for himself. He’s not saying that he’s never sinned. When he says, “Judge me according to my righteousness,” he’s not saying that he can stand before the Lord on his own righteousness in all cases, but rather in this specific instance, David says that he is blameless. He is confident that he has not done what his accusers suggest, and therefore he is confident that the Lord will judge in his favor, because David trusts that the Lord's judgments are just. His hope is founded in the reality that God is a good judge. A righteous judge.

Does the idea of God as a righteous judge bring you comfort? It brings David great comfort. He takes refuge in the righteousness of God. But in our day and age, God’s righteousness is not frequently thought of as comforting. We’d much rather focus on God’s love, his mercy, and his grace - God is Father, he is Savior, he is Redeemer - all of which are fantastic and important, but if we leave it at that, our understanding of God is incomplete. If we are to know God, we have to know him as a righteous judge.

And here is why that is good news.

In verse 9, David puts words to our greatest desire as human beings:

9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!

“Oh let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous.” Is this not the deepest and most persistent longing of our hearts? That God would finally all put away all evil? That he would remove injustice from the face of the earth? That the stain of sin would be wiped away once and for all? That the mantle of authority be taken away from corrupt leaders who steer the world for their own advantage, and instead that the nations would be governed by those who serve according to the just ways of the Lord? “Oh let it all come to an end. Establish the righteous, O righteous God.” Isn’t this our deepest and most persistent longing?

Why does David take refuge in the God who is righteous? Because if God is a righteous Judge, than he will not let evil just pass by unopposed. David finds refuge in God specifically because he knows that the Lord will not let evil have its way. David trusts that God’s righteousness will compel him to act in such a way as to remove the evil and remove the sin remove the injustice, and restore the beauty and goodness of his creation. That is why David begins his psalm as he does, “Oh Lord my God, in you do I take refuge.”

When we come together in worship, we worship God because he is loving, we worship God because he is gracious, we worship God because he is merciful, and, yes, we worship God because he is righteous. And because he is righteous, he is our solace when our hearts burn due to injustice. He is our refuge. Because he is righteous.

There is so much more that we could say about this incredible text. We could go on to talk about how in verses 12-13, David finds comfort in the image of God, dressed as a warrior, who finds victory over his enemies. Or how in verses 14-16, we see how sinfulness is self-defeating. But for now, I want us to sit with the conviction from which David finds strength to continue on: God is our refuge, because he is righteous.

Verse 17:

17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

The next time you feel that burning sense of injustice, whether it’s a wrong done to you, or just a visible manifestation of this world’s brokenness, do what David did. Find refuge in the Righteous one.