A Devotional from Psalm 109:1–7
Psalm 109:1–7
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
1 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me:
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred;
And fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries:
But I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have rewarded me evil for good,
And hatred for my love.
6 Set thou a wicked man over him:
And let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned:
And let his prayer become sin.
Wow, I am amazed at how often my daily reading from the Word of God is just what I need at the right time, such is today’s. David opens this Psalm by asking God to not sit silent during a period of persecution. People are saying hurtful things about David, words that are unfair, untrue and undeserved. To make the insults even more hurtful, they are coming from individuals for whom David cared and had benefited from his affection. Those talkers were unthankful takers of his generosity, rewarding evil in exchange for good, hatred in response to his love. How does David reciprocate? Does he give them a piece of his mind? Does he use the power of his throne to deliver royal retribution? Does he just absorb the pain and let it fester within him? We find the answer in verse 4, “…But I give myself to prayer”. In this Psalm, David will pray some things that certainly need explanation, some might say that the prayer is pretty harsh, but his speech is at least aimed in the right direction. Here are a few observations concerning this portion of Scripture.
1. Don’t Believe Everything You Hear.
These folks that were on a mission to damage David’s reputation were not speaking the complete truth. Someone has well said, there are three sides of the story, yours, theirs and the truth. We all have a tendency to justify ourselves, to leave out the details that don’t support our viewpoint so be careful about believing something based on incomplete information. If we must develop an opinion then surely we should hear from all sides before making a judgment.
2. God Want You to Bring Everything To Him
One of my favorite verses in Scripture is
1 Peter 5:7
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
Our Father wants it all, all the worries, all the hurts, all the wants. Tell the Father what you think about that person that you believe has wronged you. Be honest, he knows you both better than you know yourself and he is the only one that really knows the whole story. The Father has no bias and nothing to else to gain. Open up to the Lord and he can comfort your hurts and correct your hard feelings.
3. Develop the Habit Of Prayer
David is a man who regularly gives himself to prayer. I believe the idea here is that prayer is a lifestyle not just a response to a single crisis. He is in the habit of talking to God, a man given to prayer, so when wrongfully treated or threatened, he prays. I heard a preacher say one time that we often treat prayer like our spare tire in the trunk of our car. Recently, while riding with my parents we had a flat tire and when we went to use the spare tire we discovered that for unusual reasons it was not accessible. Prayer can be that way for us too, we can be so out of the habit that it requires a while to get reacquainted with the practice when crisis comes. If we don’t give ourselves to prayer habitually we may even forget to prioritize prayer in the critical time of need. I know of many times that if I had gone to God first, I would have been better off. Oh, if only I had been in the habit of giving myself to prayer!
Let’s determine to give ourselves to prayer because that is way we can truly give ourselves to God.