March 9, 2021 -- Psalm 7:1-5 -- The LORD our Refuge

O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge;
    save me from all my pursuers and deliver me,
2 lest like a lion they tear my soul apart,
    rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

3 O LORD my God, if I have done this,
    if there is wrong in my hands,
4 if I have repaid my friend with evil
    or plundered my enemy without cause,
5 let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it,
    and let him trample my life to the ground
    and lay my glory in the dust. Selah

Psalm 7:1-5 English Standard Version

Okay, it was very tempting just to skip over this Psalm—I mean, not another lament?! Then I realized a couple of things. One. It is the order of the Psalms and I want to respect this. Two. In these Covid times there are many people who are suffering greatly and the words of this prayer can give voice to something that might otherwise go unnamed. Three. This deals with the betrayal of a friend, or literally as it says at verse 4 in the Hebrew “one with whom I am at peace”. It is as if someone I trusted, who I could have expected kindness from or at minimum no harm, has turned and unexpectedly snarled and snapped at me causing pain.

Note that the LORD is the refuge of the Psalmist. He is first off expecting, as the Promise-Keeping God, the Covenant-Keeping LORD, a safe place to be protected, to bare his soul and to find mercy when no one else has a word of kindness for him. That is the important point, when you are wounded, do you turn to the LORD, your refuge, the One Place of Healing?

Notice that the psalmist, after claiming protection from God his Refuge, then examines his own conscience and actions. He is prepared to confess his own sins and the things he might have done which caused such betrayal. This is too important to just skip over. It is easy to know all the wrongs others have committed and rehearse these endlessly without ever considering one’s own complicity, or sinfulness. In this self-examination the psalmist is prepared to be humiliated and exposed.

Friends, people with whom there is peace because of Christ, what a glorious lesson is given here. Jesus is our peace. He alone was sinless. He alone had the right to cry out against all people who betrayed Him. Yet, He prayed for for all who wounded Him, who cheated Him and sinned against Him. It is the lesson of the cross. We are all debtors to the cross of Christ therefore, as such, we are freed to offer and receive from one another forgiveness and peace. Evil must still be redressed. Wrongs among the people of God must be righted. But it begins with forgiveness and then restoration of the relationship where possible, and will finally end with the now-reconciled giving praise to the LORD, the Most High God

Correct me, Spirit of God, so that I can see my own faults and failures. In view of the cross of Christ, give me a generous heart, ready to forgive. God of Salvation, restore among us fellowship with those whom I’d pegged as betrayers (whether they were so or not) so that together we can praise You, the LORD of Righteousness. All this is prayed on the basis of the powerful, accomplished work of Jesus. Amen.

https://youtu.be/ijsjA5Yf8XA