Psalm Seven: I Take Refuge in You

Psalm Seven

O LORD my God, I take refuge in you;

save and deliver me from all who pursue me,

or they will tear me like a lion

and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

O LORD my God, if I have done this 

and there is guilt on my hands - 

if i have done evil to him who is at peace with me

or without cause have robbed my foe - 

then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;

let him trample my life to the ground 

and make me sleep in the dust.

Arise, O LORD, in your anger;

rise up against the rage of my enemies.

Awake, my God; decree justice.

Let the assembled people gather around you.

Rule over them from on high;

let the LORD judge the peoples.

Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness,

according to my integrity, O Most High.

O righteous God, 

who searches minds and hearts,

bring to an end the violence of the wicked

and make the righteous secure.

My shield is God Most High,

who saves the upright in heart.

God is a righteous judge,

a God who expresses his wrath every day.

If he does not relent

he will sharpen his sword;

he will bend and string his bow.

He has prepared his deadly weapons;

he makes ready his flaming arrows.

He who is pregnant with evil

and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment.

He who digs a hole and scoops it out

falls into the pit he has made.

The trouble he causes recoils on himself;

his violence comes down on his own head.

I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness

and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High (NIV). 

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Verse six of this chapter says, "Arise, O LORD, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies". As I was reading this, this really caught me off guard. It seems strange that David would ask God to rise in anger! Does that seem strange to you? Well, I read some of the notes in my study Bible and look at what they say there:

"David wanted action - some kind of a response from God. From David's perspective, his enemies had gone unchallenged; nothing was being done about the injustice around him. It may have seemed to David that God wasn't doing anything, so he tried to stir up God's wrath against sinners." 

Well, I don't know about you, but I have felt like that many times. I have felt like God wasn't doing enough; wasn't doing what I thought needed to be done and I wanted some action from him. It is comforting to see that David, a man after God's own heart, felt that way too. However, there is a challenge here too because look at how he ends his song. He says that he will give thanks to the Lord. At the end of the day, that needs to be our response. When we feel like God isn't doing what we think needs to be done, we must still worship him. We can be honest with God and tell him how we feel, but we must also understand that he is ultimately in control! And, we can worship him because we know that his plan is the best plan, even if we don't feel like it. He is always faithful and good! Always!

What stood out to you in this Psalm?

Do you ever feel like David did here? Like you just want God to move?