Psalm 7[a]
A shiggaion[b] of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning Cush, a Benjamite.
1 LORD my God, I take refuge in you;
save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
2 or they will tear me apart like a lion
and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
3 LORD my God, if I have done this
and there is guilt on my hands—
4 if I have repaid my ally with evil
or without cause have robbed my foe—
5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
let him trample my life to the ground
and make me sleep in the dust.[c]
6 Arise, LORD, in your anger;
rise up against the rage of my enemies.
Awake, my God; decree justice.
7 Let the assembled peoples gather around you,
while you sit enthroned over them on high.
8 Let the LORD judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity, O Most High.
9 Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
and make the righteous secure—
you, the righteous God
who probes minds and hearts.
10 My shield[d] is God Most High,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
a God who displays his wrath every day.
12 If he does not relent,
he[e] will sharpen his sword;
he will bend and string his bow.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he makes ready his flaming arrows.
14 Whoever is pregnant with evil
conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.
15 Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
falls into the pit they have made.
16 The trouble they cause recoils on them;
their violence comes down on their own heads.
17 I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness;
I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.
There are times in our lives when we feel like all the world is against us. We have done nothing wrong to deserve all the bad things that are coming our way. It feels like everyone is out to get us and we are backed into a corner.
we have all felt like this in some way or another in our lives. It may be that someone stole the girl you liked or that job you applied for was given to someone less capable of it. It feels like someone is out to get you. We feel like evil is all around holding us back. These times come as a test to see where we are in our spiritual life. It is in these times that character becomes important. David does two things here that seem very important to me.
First he puts the focus on God being his salvation in this time in verses 1 and 2. He uses the images of someone preparing for war to put a perspective on who could actually change this situation. Second he repents of anything he might have done. He wants to make sure that he has not caused this through sin. If it is brought about by his sin then he wants to make amends right away in verses 3-5. Now there is more in this passage but I feel like these two points directly influence the rest of the passage. These are the only two actions that David can perform, everything else is done by God.
So this begs the question……”Am I following this model when I am feeling oppressed?” Do we run to God and repent to make sure that in our ignorance we have not been the root cause of this problem? I know that I don’t do this enough. I struggle with taking refuge because I want to be independent and self-sufficient. Because of this I tend to become prideful and ignorant of what part I might have played in the cause of this problem. Seems like we could all use a little more refuge and repentance and maybe just maybe we will be lucky enough to receive help from god in finding ways to end our problems and oppressions (depending on what the situation might be).
