Psalms Reading – 4.12.2022
Psalm 109
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 labor.
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 brokenhearted.
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 forever around 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 worshipers 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.
This imprecatory psalm focuses on individuals, not nations. One person in particular appears to lead the attack. David is not just threatened by the nations but must also contend with accusations of an enemy whom David has offered friendship but receives hatred in return. The calling down of curses is a request of retributive justice: that God would do to David’s accuser what he wanted to do to David. This was interpreted in Acts 1:16-20 as Jesus being the Lord’s anointed and Judas, the accuser.
In verse 21, David calls out for help for God’s name’s sake. Because he knows of God’s unfailing love, he asks that God would deliver him. As we have seen before, David speaks of himself as being poor and needy. He concludes with the promise to praise God among the worshipers for he knows that God is at the right hand of the needy to help them.
If you do not always receive quick answers to your prayers, then you know how David felt, yet he persevered and refused to give up the thought that Gods loving presence was with him and would never end. The challenge of faith is to keep believing this in spite of our darkest circumstances.
Memory Verse: Psalm 115:1, Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.
Question(s) to Consider: Are you tempted to give up on God when your prayers go unanswered? Will you follow David’s example and persevere in faith and trust in God’s love anyway?