Many of you, no doubt, read this psalm this week and thought to yourself, “What in the world is he going to do with this?” I say that because I read this psalm a number of times this week, continually asking myself, “What in the world am I supposed to do with this?” There is no doubt that some texts are more difficult to understand and apply than others, and then there are the imprecatory psalms – texts that it seems are in a class all by themselves. Imprecatory psalms are those psalms which include the author lamenting and expressing “free, unrestrained speech of rage seeking vengeance,”¹ such as in Psalm 137 where there is prayer for the utter destruction of the Babylonians and their children or in verses 9-10 of our psalm this morning in which David prays of his enemy, “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow! May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit.” These psalms quite possibly provide us most difficult in answering the questions, “How do we make sense of this?” and “How do we apply this to ourselves?” These, however, are questions that I want to attempt to answer this morning.

Before turning to those questions, however, let us first look at the structure and a summary of the psalm itself. Though you could make a few other smaller divisions, the psalm can basically be divided into three sections. In the first section (vv. 1-5), we see David cry out to God to vindicate him, pointing out that he has been unjustly treated. In the second section (vv. 6-20), David asks for God to bring ferocious judgment upon his enemies. And in the final section (vv. 21-31), David again asks God to vindicate him and judge his enemies and is assured that God will do that very thing.

So, now let us try to answer the questions, “How do we understand this psalm?” and “How does it apply to us?” Basically I think this psalm can serve us in providing an example as to how to deal with those times in which great sin is committed against us, our enemies persecute us, and/or we feel a deep and righteous anger against sin and death as they reign as God’s enemies in the world. I think this psalm should serve as a resource to which we can turn in order to see how we can handle ourselves in times when our circumstances seem to be quite similar to those of David, a man after God’s own heart. With that said, there are some things we will need to adjust from what David did to what we can and should do because of the difference between the time and situation he lived and the one in which we live, but generally speaking Psalm 109 can be a map for dealing with such situations.

Therefore, this morning, I want to look at how this psalm instructs us to go in a God-honoring manner when we find ourselves in difficult times of dealing with the enemies of God, clarifying things along the way. Then, finally, I want us to see how this psalm points us to Christ and the gospel, as I believe that to be the ultimate purpose of the psalm. Thus, let us first look at how this psalm helps us in knowing what we must do in difficult times when others wrongly accuse us, we go through times of persecution, or we are struggling to deal with the enemies of God.

We must entrust ourselves and our vindication to a God who judges justly (1-5)

What do you do when you are falsely accused, slandered, and men whom you have tried to love are making themselves your enemies? That was David’s situation. In verses 2-5 he describes his present circumstances. He has loved and befriended individuals who are now returning evil for his good and hatred for his love. They have begun to speak evil of David, attacking him with words without a cause. They are wicked, deceiving others with their lying tongues, so that David is falsely accused among his fellow men and slandered with the greatest of evil. So what does he do?

We find that answer in verses 1 and 4. In verse 4 he says, “In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer,” and in verse 1 we see the beginnings of that prayer as David cries out, “Be not silent, O God of my praise!” As David’s enemies turn against him, David (instead of turning against them to exact revenge) turns to God in prayer. David entrusts himself and his vindication to a God who judges justly.

But that is difficult. After all, one’s name is more precious than the most precious of treasures. So, how do you not exact revenge on those seeking to tarnish your name? It begins with entrusting yourself and your name and your vindication to God. This is what a Baptist writer of a couple centuries ago, P. H. Mell, suggests in his little manual Corrective Church Discipline which he wrote in 1860. In one section he was addressing what to do if you are disciplined out of the church for something in which you were innocent. Should you attack the church, argue for getting rid of discipline? Mell answers in a resounding, “No.” He writes, “An innocent man arraigned is anxious that God’s cause and Christ’s Church should suffer as little as possible, preferring to be [sacrificed] himself rather than that principles dear to his heart should be subverted. He values his reputation as dearer than life; but he is not willing that this should be vindicated at the sacrifice of the principles and the forms that Christ has prescribed to be operative in such cases. He desires earnestly to be acquitted, and to retain his place among God’s people; but even this high boon he will not accept at the price of the establishment of such principles in the churches of Christ as will make it impossible to discipline designing and wicked men. Far better, in his estimation, that he should unjustly be excommunicated, than that the churches should in effect give up the power to withdraw fellowship from all offenders … And if, after all his lawful efforts to relieve himself, he should be finally condemned, he meekly submits to the Lord’s will of purpose, knowing that He who has promised that all things shall work together for his good has some wise purpose to accomplish in him or by him.”²

Again, how do you follow that advice when it’s your name at stake, when you’re being unjustly accused and slandered? Mell answers us in his last line by telling us to submit to the Lord’s will of purpose. Or to say it as we have said it, “You entrust yourself and your vindication to a God who judges justly.” That’s our first step in dealing in a God-honoring way with such circumstances.

You turn to God in prayer and say, like David, “O God of my praise.” That is, I’m taking all my hopes for ultimate vindication and placing them in your hands.” This was also the practice of our Lord. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:23, “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.”

That is our beginning point. But I will also add another note here. We will only respond this way if we really know God and trust him. If you have not spent much time seeking to know God, his character, and his ways and learning to trust him, you will never be content entrusting your vindication to him.

Then, having first entrusted ourselves and our vindication to the Lord …

We must entrust all vengeance to the Lord as well (6-20)

Verses 6-20 are almost hard to read. David focuses on one of his enemies and asks for the one committing evil to be punished by evil ones himself (6). He hopes that he will be found guilt in a system of justice so that another takes his office (7-8). He asks God that he might die, leave his wife and children behind, and that they might wander about with none pitying them (9-10). He prays that creditors come and take any family fortune that he might leave behind (11). He prays that none extend kindness to his widow or orphaned children and that their name is removed altogether (12-13). He prays that God will never forget the sin of the family (14-15). And he asks God to let everything his accuser wanted to happen to David actually happen to the accuser himself (16-20). If you’re looking to be offended by the Bible, look no further than Psalm 109:6-20.

So, what can we say about this? Well, first of all, we need to see the difference between ourselves and David in this text. In the Old Testament, the people of God were a geographically focused political nation so that the enemies of God were enemies of the nation. Therefore, as we saw in preaching through the book of Judges, the people were totally and utterly destroyed who dwelt in the land and opposed Israel and the God Israel worshipped. In addition, we need to see that David spoke, I believe, as the King of Israel and not simply as an individual who had been hurt by some people. That is to say, David prayed this not just because he wanted personal revenge but out of God’s honor. When one attacked the King of Israel, he was attacking God. He was falsely accusing and slandering God. Therefore, this prayer would have been similar to David saying to Goliath, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand” (1 Samuel 17:45-47). For it is not as if in the Old Testament, God’s people were excused from loving their enemies. No, even there they were told to love their neighbors as themselves. But this was a fight for God’s honor.

Therefore, seeing our differences from the time and situation in which David lived, we see that we should not imitate David’s prayer exactly. And we know from Ephesians 6:10-20 that our enemies are not flesh and blood but principalities and powers. Our enemies are Satan and sin and death.

However, in situations where we are tempted to take vengeance into our own hands or feel crushed by the fact that justice does not seem to prevail in a world where sin and death reign, we can entrust final judgment to God, knowing his judgment will be fitting and right. This is what we can imitate from David’s prayer.

How do you free yourself from the need to take vengeance into your own hands? It is by the same means you free yourself from demanding your own vindication before men in this lifetime, namely, by entrusting those things to a God who judges justly, even as was exampled by our Lord.

One more thing here as well. As we read through the Old Testament, it becomes clear that David loves his enemies. Saul could have been among some of the very enemies mentioned in this psalm, but note how David mourns his death. How does he do that? How does he genuinely show love to those who deserve such vengeance? I think it is because of what we see in this psalm. He entrusts ultimate vengeance into the hands of a God whom he knows and trusts and loves. Therefore, he is freed to love and forgive and pity those who come against him.

Therefore, we too, as we entrust our own vindication and final justice into the hands of the Lord, we will be freed to endure persecution and to love those who come against us.

Finally, we can then move on in obedience to the Lord, being assured that we will one day be vindicated and perfect justice will be displayed (21-31)

David ends this section crying out again for vindication. And note, as we mentioned, it is for his sake and for the Lord’s sake. He says in verse 2, “But you, O God my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!” And such praying for his own needs and the Lord’s name continues on through verse 27. Then, in verses 28-29 he again prays for justice to be done toward God’s enemies. And finally, he ends with words of assurance, proclaiming, “With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; I will praise him in the midst of the throng. For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death” (30-31). He ends being assured that God will vindicate him and finally judge the Lord’s enemies.

We can be assured of the same, and should (in dealing with such circumstances), after having prayed for vindication and perfect judgment against Satan, sin, and death, get up and continue to walk in obedience, being assured that God will one day vindicate his people and finally judge his enemies.

“However”, we might ask, “How can we be assured of this?” After all, David was the King of Israel and we’re not David. How can we know we will be vindicated and that one that those enemies which have caused us so much torment and grief (i.e. Satan, sin, and death) will be judged?

The answer to that question is found in the person and events to which this psalm ultimately points us, namely, Jesus Christ and the gospel.

You see, as we saw even just a few weeks ago, David is a figure in the Old Testament who is often used to typify, to picture Christ. Therefore, David as Israel’s King goes through much that his greatest Son will go through after him. Therefore, as he is a man afflicted with sorrows, so is David’s Great Son afflicted with sorrows. It is even David’s grief expressed to the Lord in Psalm 22 that Christ himself cries out from the cross as he says, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And just as David’s love is met with hatred, slander, and false accusations so is our Lord met with such so that he is unjustly condemned and murdered, being hanged on the cross. His name is tarnished as he is accused of blasphemy is seen as under God’s judgment. And the vindication that David cried out for was ultimately pictured in Christ. For three days after he had been unjustly sentenced to death, Jesus was raised from the dead and vindicated before men, and he was shown to have conquered God’s enemies, ensuring their final defeat – including death itself.

But what does this have to do with us? This is how we can rest in our final vindication and final judgment. For as we place our faith in Jesus, we are united with him so that what is true of him becomes true of us. And even as we see that he has been vindicated and justified and all his enemies conquered before him, so we can know that we too will be vindicated and justified and our enemies (Satan, sin, and death) judged as well. That is why Paul wrote in Romans 4:25 that he was raised for our justification. For we have been united with Christ.

Therefore, this morning, in a world where the enemy is great and is going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, let us be found continually entrusting our own vindication and final judgment to one who judges justly, and being assured of what we pray for (because of the work of Christ), let us move forward forgiving those who sin against us, loving our enemies, and walking in obedience to our just and holy Lord, for our good and his glory. Amen.

¹Walter Brueggemann, Message of the Psalms, p. 85, quoted by Willem VanGemeren in volume 5 of The Expositors Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 689.

²P.H. Mell, in Polity, edited by Mark Dever (Washington, D.C.: Center for Church Reform, 2001), 439-440.

THE SUFFERING KING AND THE VINIDICATED CHRIST

Listen to Audio