
Psalm 109:1–4
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.
I read about a man that attended a bagpipe competition and witnessed something that he thought was very odd, the judges had their fingers in their ears. He said that one would expect those judging bagpipes to enjoy their music and yet here they all were, plugging up their ears and looking as though they hated the very sounds they were there to hear. Why? Here is what he discovered.
Inflated bagpipes naturally make a steady droning noise. The actual music is played over and above that. In covering their ears, the judges shut out some of the low pitched noise while still hearing the higher pitched melody.[1]
I admit I don’t know anything about bagpipes. I do have some Scottish ancestors and I have been called a windbag on a couple of occasions. I am however a student of Scripture and quite experienced in being the target of criticism and gossip. I confess that while much of what has been said concerning the Bald Believer is true, there have been lots of lies. I have learned that when the false accusations are leveled against me it is best to try to plug my ears and try to focus on the good and God.
Today’s Psalm gives us an example of tuning out the windbags and finding a higher note.
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 were on a mission to damage David’s reputation and were not speaking the complete truth. Someone has well said, there are three sides of the story, yours, theirs and the truth.
"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 Lord 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 more 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, 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 truly give ourselves to God.
Tune out the wind bags and find a higher note!
[1] Dave McLaughlin, in the 3-26-10 entry for the devotional guide Men of Integrity (March/April 2010)
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