Somebody Else’s Mail (14)

The apostle Paul once wrote about his desire to know Christ and share in his sufferings, becoming like him. In doing so, he was responding to God’s own desire that those closest to him understand his heart. In both Old and New Testaments, we find the Lord putting his most faithful servants through hard experiences to teach them how God thought and felt.

Accordingly, we find the Lord testing Abraham in order than he might understand what it is like to give up a beloved son, testing Ezekiel in order that he might know what it’s like to lose one’s beloved, or testing Jeremiah so he would know the cost of telling the truth. I believe such trials were never arbitrary, and never inflicted on anyone who couldn’t handle them. They were expressions of trust and intimacy from friend to friend. Perhaps you have been through similar trials and come out with a better understanding of our heavenly Father and his beloved Son.

In Psalm 7, David describes being tested by circumstances that teach him what it is like to be slandered, envied and unreasonably hated. I can’t help but think the Lord did it so that he might better understand the character and experience of the Messiah whose life and work David was privileged to foretell.

Psalm 7:1-2 — God My Refuge

“O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.”

David’s language here is similar to that of his song in 2 Samuel 22, which was apparently written when he was delivered from Saul. “You save me from violence”, he writes there. The vendetta against David began with one man, but Saul’s entire tribe turned against David in solidarity with their king, as we discovered in last week’s post. Accordingly, David speaks of “all my pursuers”. He found himself vastly outnumbered, with enemies everywhere. Many believed the slanders against him.

It’s in this context and against overwhelming odds that he commits himself to the Lord. That Hebrew word translated “refuge” is frequently translated “trust”, and David uses it dozens of times throughout his psalms. In doing so, he serves to model the dependence and trust of the Lord Jesus in his time on earth. Peter writes, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

Psalm 7:3-5 — Judgment Begins

“O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, 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. Selah”

An Exercise in Self-Examination

Peter tells us judgment begins with the household of God. Paul writes that if Christians first judged themselves properly, they would not experience God’s judgment. The Lord Jesus taught that anyone who presumes to correct another’s error should first “take the log out of his own eye”. New Testament teaching did not inform David’s spiritual instinct for self-scrutiny when under fire, it came much later, but it certainly confirms he was on the right track: when accused, the first question a righteous man asks himself is “Is there any truth in this?” We are both wise and realistic in allowing for that possibility. So David examined his own heart and actions.

The psalmist is not looking for a pass from the consequences of his actions. He’s not unwilling to look carefully at himself or to have others examine his motives. He writes, “If I have done this”, then let the chips fall where they may and the consequences come, even if they are completely humiliating. His primary concern is that justice be done. However, it’s also quite obvious he is convinced there is no truth to Cush’s accusations about him. He’s not claiming perfection here, but rather refuting a specific false charge, possibly conspiracy.

David and Saul

As I pointed out last week, there’s not a lot of hard evidence in the psalm to place it historically. Most commentators set it during David’s period on the run from Saul, assuming Cush was either the name or nickname of one of Saul’s advisors who confirmed Saul’s false suspicions that David was out to seize the kingdom from him. If this is the case, then perhaps Saul is both the “friend” and “enemy” of verses 4-5.

In fact, the king was both at different times in their relationship. Whenever Saul was thinking rightly, he recognized David had dealt with him fairly (“You are more righteous than I”). When he became irrational and suspicious, he threw spears at him and chased him around the countryside. If you’ve ever had somebody suffering from bipolar disorder or manic depression in your immediate family, you may understand the confusion and disorientation such unpredictable behavior produces in those who have to live with it. You never know what’s coming, no matter what they tell you.

I’m not suggesting Saul was bipolar, but the harmful spirit that regularly afflicted him seems to have produced similar symptoms. In any case, whether Saul’s persecution or that of others inspired Psalm 7, we can see that like the Lord Jesus, David knew what it was to be hated without cause. Like David, Jesus too was the object of irrational envy.