Today’s passage: Psalm 109
Helpful thoughts:
- This imprecatory psalm and lament is referenced by the Apostles in relation to Judas Iscariot in Acts 1:20.
- The request that another “take his office” (Verse 8) lets us know this person who had sinned against David was a leader in Israel. This was not a foreign king, but an Israelite who had become unfaithful to the covenant and sinful toward God and David.
- The specific sin(s) appear to be about false accusations (Verses 25, 29).
- In order to pray this to God, asking Him to bring about all of these consequences for the offender, the assumption must be that the offender will not repent.
- We tend to think about blessings in a very individualized manner. But the blessing of family was seen as a far greater (Or at least as good of a) blessing than any blessing of self. For a man to know that his family line was ending would bring much grief.
Questions to consider:
- David is asking for justice in the midst of this suffering as a result of others’ sin. God is always perfectly just. How does God remain just while showing us mercy for our own sin? (Romans 3:21-26)
- How do we rightly balance our own desires to see God’s justice against sin with a humility towards others, remembering that we too are sinners (1 Timothy 1:12-15)?
- What does David expect to see come to pass? What does He know about God and why does that give him hope? (Verses 30-31) Why can these truths give us hope even when we don’t see God responding in the exact way we might want Him to?