Slices
Prepare
God knows every word we say before we say it. Confess and repent of any negative thoughts you are having about people in your life. He is faithful in forgiveness.
Bible passage
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 My God, whom I praise,
do not remain silent,
2 for people who are wicked and deceitful
have opened their mouths against me;
they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
3 With words of hatred they surround me;
they attack me without cause.
4 In return for my friendship they accuse me,
but I am a man of prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my friendship.
6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.
8 May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.
9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labour.
12 May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the Lord,
that he may blot out their name from the earth.
16 For he never thought of doing a kindness,
but hounded to death the poor
and the needy and the broken-hearted.
17 He loved to pronounce a curse –
may it come back on him.
He found no pleasure in blessing –
may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing as his garment;
it entered into his body like water,
into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
like a belt tied for ever round him.
20 May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil of me.
21 But you, Sovereign Lord,
help me for your name’s sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way from fasting;
my body is thin and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, Lord my God;
save me according to your unfailing love.
27 Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, Lord, have done it.
28 While they curse, may you bless;
may those who attack me be put to shame,
but may your servant rejoice.
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
in the great throng of worshippers I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to save their lives from those who would condemn them.
Explore
Much of this psalm is made up of accusations against an enemy, followed by a wish list of choice punishments. At some points the revenge seems proportionate: he cursed others; let him be cursed (v 17). He’s been cruel, and not just to the psalmist, so maybe it is fair for him to be on the receiving end of cruelty.
But there’s something horrid about the desire for the man to die horribly and for his children to suffer ever after. You are not in a good place if you are praying that no one would take pity on fatherless children (v 12). This is a good example of the way rage and bitterness can distort us.
Jesus is the ultimate answer to any plea for God to ‘save me according to your unfailing love’ (v 26). But he doesn’t crush wrongdoers with punishment, proportional or not, for their awful deeds. He has taken the punishment himself on the cross (Isaiah 53:4–6). Good news for our enemies, yes, but also good news for us, because who among us has never wronged another person (Romans 3:23,24)?
Respond
‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting’ (Psalm 139:23,24). Amen.
Deeper Bible study
Forgiveness is difficult, but wonderful. Thank God for his forgiveness today.
This is an Imprecation psalm, in which the psalmist hopes that an evil person may be found guilty by ‘someone evil’, whom he also calls ‘an accuser’ (v 6). When oppression, evil and godlessness are cut down, the Lord is actively establishing his rule over the earth because of the built-in obsolescence of human structures. While forgiveness is possible, hardened sinners are beyond salvation. Unforgiven sins are ‘remembered’ (v 14); they ‘remain before the Lord’ (v 15).
How different is this from the testimony of Stephen who, while unjustly condemned and stoned, cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. 1 We who stand on this side of the crucifixion and resurrection are all called to love our enemies and forgive them, as Stephen did.
In Khandamal in Orissa in India, Christians were tortured and killed, pastors murdered and churches burnt by the Bajrang Dal in 2008. When the Christians went back to their villages in 2012 they had resolved to forgive those who harmed them and to share the love of Jesus with them. Churches have been rebuilt, evangelists are trekking into the hilly areas to preach and many new churches have sprung up. Two of those who were the most violent persecutors have found the Lord and have become ardent witnesses for him. The major Hindu persecutor accepted Christ and is preaching about him. He is called the ‘St Paul of Khandamal’. God is still performing miracles.
Forgiveness is the mark of a Christian. How can we show it in our lives? Jesus said, ‘But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins’.2 Our forgiveness is therefore conditional.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will give you grace and help you to learn to forgive those who have wronged you.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 1,2; Psalm 80
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for strengthened coordination in the SU structures in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), involving the regions and branches, so that the SU vision will be maintained. Pray too for God’s guidance and new direction for the provision, printing and distribution of SU Bible reading notes in schools.
