Thoughts for the Day

O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
or like a lion they will tear me apart;
they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.

O Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is wrong in my hands,
if I have repaid my ally with harm
or plundered my foe without cause,
then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
trample my life to the ground,
and lay my soul in the dust.

Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies...
The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.....

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

This Psalm of David was probably written at a time when King Saul seeks to kill him. The psalm is headed 'A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite'. The word 'Shiggaion' only appears in one other place in the Bible, and the experts are not sure what it means, possibly something like an 'emotional meditation'. We learn that the man 'Cush' is from the tribe of Benjamin, also King Saul's tribe!

In the whole of Psalm 7 we can see David changing - he starts with the personal cries of a man being hunted to death, to finally realising that God is there not just for him, but is judge over all the earth. With God as a Judge then justice and salvation will occur. But perhaps the most important thing is the contract he makes with God. Notice the three "If" clauses in the second paragraph, above. David challenges God to look at his life, and if he has committed sin then God should allow his death to occur.

Do we sometimes try to make a pact with God - you know the kind of thing - "If you do this... then I will do that..."? When we are this desperate though, it would be better not to make a pact with God but to rest in the knowledge that God does offers us judgement but also justice and mercy. We must learn to simply put all our faith in Him.

Heavenly Father,
when we are scared,
or when we feel the world
is pressing in upon us,
help us to turn to You
as our natural refuge,
knowing that You will treat
us with compassion
as well as judgement.
Amen.