Latest / Reformed Thinking / Deliver Me from Evil Men (Psalm 140) | Charles Spurgeon

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Deliver Me from Evil Men (Psalm 140) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there
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is this comforting expectation of, well, absolute precision.
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Right. Yeah, like you want a clear
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answer. Yeah, You go into a hospital,
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you sit in that sterile room and you wait for the machinery to do
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its job. I mean, you break your arm, the
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doctor takes an X-ray, puts it up on the light board, and there
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is a jagged white line. You can see it right there.
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Spot on. The doctor points to it and says
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there's the problem. It is binary reality.
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The bone is broken or the bone is intact.
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The blood test shows an infection or it does not.
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And it is comforting because it is visible.
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We like our problems to be categorized neatly.
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Oh, for sure. When a threat is physical, we
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can put a cast on it. We can prescribe an antibiotic.
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Or we can at least measure its dimensions.
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We know what we are dealing with, and that knowledge brings
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a sense of control. But then you step out of the
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hospital and into the world of human malice.
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You step into the realm of betrayal, character
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assassination, and slander, and suddenly that diagnostic X-ray
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machine is just broken. Completely useless.
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Right. You cannot put a Co worker's
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whisper campaign on a light board.
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You cannot take a blood test to measure the toxicity of a false
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accusation. We are looking at a diagnostic
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landscape that is incredibly murky.
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It really is. So welcome to reform thinking,
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where we take a deep dive into the source material to uncover
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the mechanics of things we usually cannot see.
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The landscape of human relationships, especially when
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malice is introduced, is notoriously difficult to map.
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I mean people smile to your face while laying traps for your
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feet. Yeah, that is the worst part.
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But the text we are examining today offers a startlingly clear
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anatomy of this very behavior. It takes the invisible poison of
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slander and the hidden machinery of sabotage and puts them under
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a microscope. Our mission today is to take a
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stack of 19th century commentary centered on Charles Spurgeon's
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exposition of Psalm 140 from the Treasury of David and figure out
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why an ancient King's blueprint for surviving malicious gossip
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is the precise diagnostic manual we need today.
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And we really have to set the scene for you, the listener.
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We are examining the cry of a haunted soul.
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The author is David and he is not sitting comfortably on a
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throne right now. Not at all.
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He is in exile. He is being relentlessly pursued
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by his predecessor, King Saul, by informants like Doeg the
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Edomite, and by an entire army of men who are hungering for his
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destruction. He is hiding in the wilderness,
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sleeping in caves, constantly looking over his shoulder.
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I mean wondering which of his friends might turn him in for a
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bounty. We have to understand the sheer
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psychological weight of that situation.
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David is not fighting a conventional war where two
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armies line up on a battlefield. It is not a fair fight.
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No, it is a war of attrition, an asymmetrical conflict where the
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enemy uses espionage, rumors and sudden ambushes.
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The tension is constant. Every snapping twig could be an
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assassin. Every rumor brought to Sol can
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mean another unit of soldiers dispatched to hunt him down.
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Now, if you are listening to this right now, you might be
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thinking that a literal ancient king hunting you with Spears in
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a desert feels a bit disconnected from your daily
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routine. But the experience David
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describes is a universal human reality.
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If you have ever been targeted by malicious gossip in your
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neighborhood, if you have faced workplace sabotage where someone
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is quietly torpedoing your reputation to a manager, or if
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you have dealt with deceitful individuals who feign friendship
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while plotting your ruin, you are experiencing the modern
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equivalent of David's wilderness.
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The weapons have evolved. Certainly we use emails and
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social media instead of Spears and swords.
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That is so. True, but the warfare is
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identical, the human heart has not changed, and the mechanics
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of malice operate on the same principles today as they did
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3000 years ago. What we see in this text is a
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distinct progression. We are going to track a
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trajectory that starts in the lowest, darkest valleys of fear
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and persecution. And it moves through some dark
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stuff. It does.
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It moves into a meticulous examination of how human malice
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operates, transitions into a fierce plea for divine justice,
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and concludes on the highest summits of peaceful repose in
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the presence of God. Let's start right there in that
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dark valley, looking at the anatomy of malice.
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The text begins with a very direct, desperate plea.
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Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man.
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And Spurgeon points out a very clear progression here.
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Malice does not just appear out of nowhere, it moves
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systematically from the internal to the external.
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It starts in the heart. Right where the enemy imagines
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mischiefs. Then it moves to the gathering
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together for war. Finally it reaches the tongue,
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which is sharpened like a serpent.
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When David speaks of the evil man, we have to understand he is
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not complaining about a specific individual who offended him
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once. He is describing an archetype.
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He is outlining a species of unregenerate humanity.
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OK, unpack that a bit. Well, John Calvin offers a
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brilliant insight on the phrase continually.
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Or they gathered together for war.
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Calvin notes that in the original languages, the phrasing
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implies they gather wars. Gather wars like plural.
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Yes, they act as a human trumpet, constantly sounding a
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call to battle through the distribution of false
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information. A human trumpet gathering wars.
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I want to linger on that visual for a second.
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It means this is not a passive dislike.
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When someone truly harbors this kind of malice, they do not just
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sit quietly in their house disliking you.
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No, they launch a campaign. They launch an active
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recruitment campaign. They need other people to hate
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you as much as they do. That is the nature of a mob
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mentality, whether it is a literal mob or a corporate one.
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Spurgeon describes the heart of this archetype as a committee of
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opposition in permanent session. Wow, a committee in permanent
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session. Imagine a board of directors
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that never adjourns, perpetually considering the all absorbing
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question of how to do the most harm to the righteous man.
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They are a standing army, always ready for the fray.
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The malice is not a momentary lapse in judgement, it is a full
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time occupation. This brings us to the biological
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imagery the text uses, and I find this absolute chilling.
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Verse 3 says they have sharpened their tongues like a serpent.
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Hatter's poison is under their lips.
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Now I know you brought some fascinating Natural History into
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this from our sources. We are not just talking about
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any generic snake here, are we? We are not.
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The specific Hebrew word used for adder in this text is Akhub.
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Natural historians like JG Wood and John Kiddo have analyzed
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this specific term would suggest that Akshub is a historical
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synonym for the Naja Haj. For those outside the field of
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hepatology, that is commonly known as the spitting snake or
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the spitting cobra. The spitting cobra that alters
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the entire dynamic of a metaphor.
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I mean, a typical snake has to be right next to you to bite
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you. It has to make physical contact.
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Right, meaning you usually know the threat is right at your
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feet. Yes, but a spitting cobra can
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expel its venom from a significant distance.
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It aims for the eyes. It blinds its victim without
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ever coming into physical contact.
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Think about how slander operates in our modern world.
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Someone can destroy your reputation from across the
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office or across the Internet without ever having to look you
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in the eye. The venom is expelled from a
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safe distance, allowing the attacker to remain hidden while
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inflicting maximum damage. Furthermore, Joseph Roberts, who
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observed these serpents in their natural habitats, points out
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another specific detail. What did he see?
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When the cobra prepares to strike, it rears its head erect
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and its tongue begins to dart wildly.
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The rapid vibrating motion of the tongue makes it look as
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though the serpent is literally sharpening it against its lips
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in preparation for the strike. The tongue appears and
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disappears, a blur of motion prepping the weapon.
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It is the anticipation of the strike the enemy is winding up
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and the mechanics of this slander, the way the venom is
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actually delivered into a social circle or so insidious.
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Frederick William Robertson provides an analysis of how this
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functions in society, and reading his commentary
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completely shifted my perspective.
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It is. A great piece of analysis, he
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points. Out that true destructive
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slander rarely relies on blatant, easily disprovable
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falsehoods if. Someone invents a complete
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outrageous lie about you. It is often easy to refute.
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You can provide evidence to the contrary, and the liar is
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exposed. But half truths, as Robertson
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notes, are far more venomous because they contain just enough
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truth to be plausible. He.
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Paints this this picture of idle people dropping slander as they
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go about their day. But you cannot put their words
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into a Crucible and extract A measurable falsehood, no.
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The poison is in the delivery, yes.
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A dropped lip, an arched eyebrow, a shrugged shoulder, or
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a skeptical expression can do the damage of 1000 explicit
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lies. He even highlights the concept
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of emphatic silence. Emphatic silence is brutal.
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Think. About a hypothetical scenario in
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a corporate board meeting, a manager brings up a candidate
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for a major promotion. I think Sarah has done excellent
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work this quarter. What does everyone think now?
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Sarah's rival does not need to say Sarah is incompetent that.
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Would look petty, right? Instead, the rival just leans
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back in their chair, across their arms, looks down at the
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table, and stays completely, emphatically silent.
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And. That silence floods the room
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with doubt. It acts as the venom.
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It works and wrinkles in the minds of the other board
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members. They start thinking, well, what
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does he know about Sarah that we do not?
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Yeah, the. Seed is planted it.
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Inflames hearts and fevers human existence.
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It poisons human society right at the fountain springs of life.
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The genius of that kind of malice is that the perpetrator
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leaves no fingerprints. They can always say I never said
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a single bad word about her. Yet the victim is still blinded
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by the venom. This raises an intense question
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about human nature itself. We like to think of this evil
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man as someone out there, a criminal, a tyrant, A uniquely
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toxic Co worker. But the apostle Paul, writing in
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his letter to the Romans, takes his exact verse from the Psalms.
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Adder's poison is under their lips and he applies it to
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everyone. Paul.
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Argues that by nature, every single human being has his
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greatest store of venomous words, as a cobra has of poison
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it has. A tough pill to swallow it.
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Is the potential for this malice is universal.
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It is not limited to a specific class of villains.
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Given the right circumstances, the right provocation, or the
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right amount of envy, that venom can be brought to the surface in
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anyone there. Is a historical analogy provided
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by William Crayshaw to explain how this poison operates within
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us, and I want to spend some time on it because it is so
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counterintuitive. He references Cleopatra, the
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queen of Egypt, who famously chose to die by the bite of ASPs
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rather than be taken captive by the Romans.
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Kreishaw focuses on the specific physiological effects of the
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ASP's bite as understood in history.
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According to accounts, the bite of the ASP does not cause
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violent convulsions or excruciating agony Which?
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Is what you would expect from a deadly snake fight, right?
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But instead, it brings on a gentle sweat and a sweet, heavy
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sleep. The initial pain is negligible,
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almost unnoticeable. The victim feels relaxed,
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perhaps even euphoric, but beneath that mask of comfort,
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the vital spirits are decaying. It just.
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Shuts the body down the. Body weakens until the person
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quietly dies. The deadly venom creeps toward
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the heart completely undetected because the sensation is
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actually pleasant sin. And slander act in that same
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way. Let's be honest about human
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nature. Gossiping feels good.
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Oh, people. Love it it.
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Feels like a sweet sleep when someone shares a juicy rumor
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with you, or when you get to vent your frustration about
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someone you dislike, there's a rush of dopamine.
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It is deeply satisfying to the flesh.
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You feel bonded with the person you are gossiping with.
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It feels. Like community building, but.
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Krisha is arguing that this is spiritual poison.
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It enters the individual, creating a culture of bitterness
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that it diffuses through the family unit eventually runs like
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wildfire through a whole town, a church or society.
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It aims for the heart, and once it possesses that sovereign part
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of a person, it rains and rages like a tyrant it.
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Creates a culture where suspicion replaces trust and
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where destruction replaces edification.
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The sweet sleep of gossip inevitably ends in the death of
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community. So.
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If we all have this venom in our nature, as Paul suggests, how do
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we prevent ourselves from becoming the evil man when we
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are provoked? Let's look at David's situation.
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He is being hunted. He's been slandered.
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He has lost his position, his home, and his dignity.
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He's. Lost everything, he.
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Has every right, from a human perspective, to be furious.
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How does he manage to express this righteous anger without
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acting on petty malice? How does he keep his own tongue
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from becoming a spitting cobra? The.
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Distinction lies entirely in what David does with the anger.
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Anger is a natural response to injustice, but David took his
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wrongs to God in prayer rather than taking vengeance into his
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own hands. Spurgeon notes a critical
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dynamic in David's behavior. He was hot in language through
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indignation, but cool in action. Hot in language, cool in action.
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I want everyone to write that down.
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That is such a vital principle. David foresaw and desired the
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just vengeance of God upon the wicked.
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He did not pretend the evil was acceptable, yet he absolutely
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refused to avail himself of opportunities to revenge himself
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upon those who had done him wrong.
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Yield. Back we.
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Have to remember the historical narrative here.
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David actually had the opportunity to kill King Saul.
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Saul was sleeping in a cave, completely vulnerable, and
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David's own men urged him to strike they.
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Practically handed him the sword, but.
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David refused to touch the Lord's anointed, taking his
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appeals to the great king cool his anger.
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It allowed the presence of God to soothe his outrage.
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He left the unredressed wrongs at the foot of the Heavenly
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Throne, knowing they would be safe with the King of Kings.
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That requires an immense amount of restraint.
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When someone attacks you, the instinct is to strike back
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immediately, to defend your reputation, to return fire.
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With fire it is. Basic self preservation to
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leave. It at the foot of the throne,
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requires A staggering amount of trust and divine justice, and it
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is even harder to maintain that restraint when you realize that
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malice rarely stays confined to words.
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Eventually, that venom boils over into physical action.
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That brings us to the next phase of this text, looking at the
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physical threat versus four and five.
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Shift the focus from the evil man to the violent man We.
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Are moving from the hidden plots of the heart and the venom of
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the tongue into the tangible traps set in the physical world
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the malice has graduated from theory into practice the.
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Text describes the proud hiding a snare, chords and a net by the
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wayside setting jinns to overthrow the goings of the
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righteous the. Location of these traps is the
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most significant detail in these verses.
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They are hidden by the wayside. The wayside in the context of
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ancient paths represents the daily path of duty that.
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Makes the threat so much more intimidating it.
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Does think about the implication.
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The danger David faces is not because he wandered off into
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forbidden territory. He did not go looking for
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trouble in enemy camps. He's just.
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Minding his own business, the. Danger is located right on the
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standard obedient path of his daily life.
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The enemy Stoops to incredibly mean, cowardly actions.
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They are so terrified of missing their prey that they multiply
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their devices. They use snares, Nets, and gins.
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If one mechanism fails, another will trigger you brought.
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A historical account to my attention that perfectly
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visualizes this concept it's from James Hutton in 1857.
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Detail in the tactics of the decoys of India.
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Could you lay out how they operated?
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Because it really brings these verses to life The.
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Decoys were highly skilled, organized bands of thieves who
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operated in India. Hutton tells a specific story of
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a treasure guard traveling through a dense jungle.
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The decoys did not engage in honorable combat.
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They did not challenge the guards to a fight that is.
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Not their style. Instead, they use the
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environment itself as a weapon. They tied strong ropes across
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the road, directly in the path of the approaching guard.
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They festooned these ropes to the massive trees on both sides
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of the road, creating a literal web.
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And they did not just block the front right, Correct.
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They also had ropes ready behind the guard.
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They waited with absolute patience in the dense brush
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until the entire convoy. The guard, the troopers, the
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infantry, and the treasure carts were entirely within the
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designated kill zone. Terrifying.
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Then they swiftly ran the hind ropes across the road, securing
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them to the trees, boxing their prey incompletely.
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When the trap was finally sprung, the victims were caught
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entirely by surprise. The troopers tried to spur their
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horses over the ropes, but the animals became entangled.
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It was total chaos designed to immobilize the target before a
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single sword was swung That. Account perfectly illustrates
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the chords and Nets David is talking about.
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It highlights the coordination required for this kind of
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malice. Slander might be done by a
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single individual whispering a rumor, but sabotage requires
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arranging circumstances. It requires building a web you.
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Need a team for that and. Think about the psychological
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toll of fighting an enemy who uses those tactics.
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You mentioned a commentary by Benjamin Weiss that points out
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an even darker layer to this. Weiss focuses on the phrase
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regarding traps set by the encampment or by the path.
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If traps are being set in the immediate vicinity of where
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David is sleeping, it implies A terrifying level of betrayal.
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The call is coming from inside the house.
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Exactly. The men David trusted, the
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soldiers standing watch around his camp, might have been
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robbed. They might be watching his
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movements, noting his habits and selling that information to his
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enemies. So the snares can be placed with
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perfect precision. If.
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You are dealing with office politics or a toxic social
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dynamic. Think about the modern
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equivalents of the decoyed ambush.
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These are professional snares hidden under the brushwood of
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your daily routine. It is the Co worker who sets a
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trap in an e-mail thread. Oh.
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E-mail traps are classic. They'll send a vague request,
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copy your manager, and wait for you to reply in a way that can
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be misinterpreted as insubordinate or incompetent.
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They wait until you are fully in the kill zone of the e-mail
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chain before springing the net. The traps are laid in the normal
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execution of your job. The enemy uses differing devices
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depending on the targets vulnerabilities.
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If a righteous person cannot be cajoled or flattered into making
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a mistake, perhaps they can be bribed.
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If they cannot be bribed, perhaps they can be cowed by
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intimidation. If they stand firm against fear,
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maybe they can be provoked into anger, prompting a rash reaction
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that can then be used to discredit them.
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The malignant mind is infinitely creative and twisting words,
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misreading intentions, and misdirecting efforts.
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I. Have to ask a question that
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naturally arises from this it is a question anyone who has
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suffered injustice asks. Why does God allow these snares
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to be laid in the path of duty in the 1st place that.
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Is the big question if. I am doing what I am supposed to
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do if I am walking the righteous path trying to live honestly,
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shouldn't that path be clear of traps?
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Why doesn't God just sweep the wayside?
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Clean it. Is the most natural human
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reaction to suffering. We assume obedience should
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guarantee a frictionless life, but the sources we are analyzing
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suggest a completely different theological perspective.
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The existence of these traps and God's permission of them proves
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the absolute necessity of a divine keeper.
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Wait. How does the presence of a trap
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prove we need a keeper? Because it exposes the
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inadequacy of human watchfulness.
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No matter how observant you are, no matter how high your
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emotional intelligence is, you cannot see a trap hidden under
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the grass of your daily routine. You.
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Just cannot anticipate dissipate everything.
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Neither your own vigilance nor the faithfulness of your closest
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friends can secure you against the Serpentine assaults of a
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truly dedicated foe. Human intellect is simply not
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enough to outmaneuver supernatural malice.
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Only God can outwit the devices of the violent man.
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By allowing the traps to exist, God forces the believer to
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realize that their reliance cannot be on their own
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cleverness, but must be entirely on Him.
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When human vigilance fails, the believer has no choice but to
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look upward. We cannot look side to side
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anymore because we do not know who is holding the ropes.
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That realization forces David into the next section of the
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text, where he makes his ultimate appeal verse. 6 right?
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Verse 6 David says, I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God.
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And then he praises God, saying, Thou has covered my head in the
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day of battle. Notice.
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The deliberate covenantal choice in claiming my God.
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It is a statement of exclusive reliance.
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He is not appealing to a generic distant deity.
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He is appealing to a personal God with whom he has a binding
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agreement. William Gurnell has a fantastic
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insight on this covenantal relationship.
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He says the believer can venture all they are worth on the public
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faith of heaven, knowing God will never break his covenant.
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The. Public faith of heaven.
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That phrase carries immense weight.
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It means God has staked his own reputation, his own holiness, on
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his promises to his people, His. Name is on the line if.
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God were to fail a believer who trusts entirely in Him, it would
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blot his own name. He would be seen by the cosmos
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as a covenant breaker. Because God's nature is
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perfectly pure and faithful, the believer can rest entirely on
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that promise. It is not a gamble.
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It is an investment in a guaranteed reality.
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The imagery David uses to describe how this protection
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manifests is striking. Dove has covered my head in the
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day of battle. This brings us to a specific
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cultural context that we need to unpack.
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You found some incredible details about the ancient role
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of the armor bearer, yes? In ancient Near Eastern warfare,
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a captain, a Prince, or a champion always had an armor
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bearer stationed directly beside him.
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The primary duty of this armor bearer was not to fight
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offensively. They weren't.
21:35
Swinging swords? No.
21:36
Their specific job was to stand next to their master and ward
21:39
off blows aimed at the head. In the chaotic heat of a melee,
21:44
a warrior's attention is focused forward.
21:46
They might not see a spear thrust from the periphery or a
21:50
battle axe crashing down from a blind spot.
21:52
The armor bearer held a massive shield over his master's head to
21:56
absorb those unseen, fatal lows. Think about the resonance of
22:00
that for David. I mean, he famously fought
22:02
Goliath. Goliath had an armor bearer
22:04
walking in front of him carrying a shield the size of a door.
22:07
A. Massive piece of equipment.
22:09
David went into that valley with no physical armor whatsoever.
22:12
He refused Saul's heavy bronze helmet and coat of mail.
22:16
Yet the giant perished and the shepherd boy lived.
22:20
David recognizes that God himself stepped into the role of
22:23
his armor bearer. The.
22:24
Shield of the Eternal is an infinitely better protection
22:27
than a helmet of brass. When arrows fly thick and fast,
22:31
when the air is filled with the venom of slander and the hidden
22:33
Nets are springing all around, there is no covering for the
22:36
head quite like the might of the Almighty.
22:38
It's the. Ultimate defense.
22:40
David is essentially saying I have survived battles I
22:43
mathematically should have died in.
22:46
It wasn't because of my agility or my tactical genius.
22:49
It was solely because the Lord held a shield over my head.
22:52
In the middle of describing all this frantic warfare, the trap
22:55
setting in the shield bearing, there's a tiny word dropped into
22:58
the text. Sayla.
23:00
It is generally understood as a musical term, but Andrew A Bonar
23:03
observes a beautiful theological function for its placement.
23:06
Here the. Sailor commands the reader to
23:08
stop reading and pause. It is an intentional break in
23:11
the action. Bonar paints the picture
23:13
beautifully. The enemy is frantic.
23:15
They're busy laying snares, hiding chords, multiplying
23:18
traps, whispering rumors, working themselves into a frenzy
23:21
of malice. Exhausting themselves, but the.
23:23
Believer The believer is prompted by the sailor to sit
23:26
calmly and sing My God, art thou the.
23:29
Contrast is stunning, the frantic, exhausting energy of
23:33
malice versus the calm, seated repose of faith.
23:36
The people trying to destroy you are losing sleep while you are
23:39
resting under the shield. But right after this, pause,
23:42
David, pray something that might make modern listeners
23:44
uncomfortable. What does he say?
23:46
In. Verse 8.
23:47
He prays Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, lest they
23:50
exalt themselves. Now, if God is already acting as
23:54
the armor bearer, why does David need to instruct God not to
23:58
grant the wicked their desires? Doesn't an omniscient God
24:01
already know what to do? This touches on the foundational
24:04
theology of prayer. Prayer is never about and
24:07
filming God of things he does not know.
24:08
God is not lacking data, He. Does not need a briefing from
24:12
us, right? Prayer is the mechanism by which
24:15
the believer aligns their own heart with God's justice.
24:18
David is voicing his reliance, but there is a deeper structural
24:22
insight here, found in the phrase lest they exalt
24:24
themselves. This is an issue of cosmic
24:27
pride. So if the wicked succeed in
24:29
their malicious plots against the righteous, who gets the
24:31
credit for that success? They do.
24:33
They will credit their own pride, their own policy, their
24:36
own cleverness. They will throw a party to boast
24:38
about how perfectly their traps worked, and in doing so, they
24:41
actively dishonor God. They.
24:42
Steal the glory they. Declare that human cunning is
24:45
superior to divine protection. Their glory is in direct
24:48
opposition to the glory of God. If they prosper, their heads
24:52
strike against the heavens. Therefore, the believer prays
24:55
for their failure not just out of self preservation, but to
24:58
protect the glorious God, ensuring that evil does not get
25:00
to claim a public victory over righteousness it.
25:03
Is about maintaining the moral order of the universe.
25:07
He is saying, Lord, do not let them think they outsmarted you.
25:11
This leads us into a dramatic shift in the text.
25:14
We move from a posture of defense into the active rebound
25:17
of divine justice. The tone of the Psalm
25:20
intensifies significantly. Here the shield is lowered and
25:23
the sword of justice is drawn. Verses 9 through 11 asks for
25:26
things that sound terrifying. David asks that the mischief of
25:30
the enemy's own lips cover them, that burning coals fall upon
25:33
them, that they be cast into deep pits, and that evil hunt
25:35
the violent man to overthrow him.
25:37
We are. Dealing here with the concept of
25:39
lex talionis, the law of retaliation.
25:42
This is a core principle in the justice of God, where the
25:45
punishment frequently and perfectly mirrors the crime.
25:48
The very trap an enemy sets becomes the mechanism of their
25:51
own undoing. Let's.
25:53
Breakdown the physics of this divine justice because the
25:56
sources use some vivid analogies.
25:58
It is compared to a stone hurled violently upward into the sky.
26:02
Gravity guarantees it will fall back onto the thrower's head.
26:05
What? Goes up, must come down or.
26:08
It is like a person who spends hours digging A concealed pit to
26:11
trap their neighbor, only to forget where they dug it and
26:13
fall into it themselves In the dark.
26:15
It is. An unavoidable law of spiritual
26:17
physics. Whatever malice you send out
26:19
into the world, it rebounds. You cannot introduce that much
26:23
poison into the atmosphere without eventually breathing it
26:25
in yourself. Slanderers eventually become the
26:28
victims of slander because they have built a community that
26:31
normalizes betrayal The. Specific imagery David uses
26:35
burning coals and deep pits is not just random poetry.
26:38
There is a geographical reason for this.
26:40
TC Barth points out that David is writing this while hiding in
26:44
the wilderness of Vingetti. If you stand on the rocky cliffs
26:47
of Vingetti and look out, you were looking directly over the
26:50
Dead Sea. You're.
26:51
Looking at the very sight of Sodom and Gomorrah.
26:54
The landscape itself is a permanent monument to divine
26:56
judgement. David is looking down at the
26:59
place where fire and brimstone fell from the sky, where the
27:02
veil of Sidim was full of slime pits that swallowed up kings
27:05
that. Is incredible context this?
27:07
Geography directly inspires his prayer.
27:10
He sees the historical evidence of God's wrath on his horizon,
27:13
and he prays for that same standard of justice to apply to
27:16
his persecutors. He says let them be cast into
27:20
the fire. They kindled the flames of
27:22
strife in his life, so it is mathematically fair that they
27:25
are consumed by those same flames.
27:27
Joseph Carroll provides another incredible analogy for verse 11.
27:30
Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
27:32
Carroll compares the violent man's own sins to a pack of
27:35
greedy hounds. This is such a vivid, terrifying
27:38
picture. Walk us through it.
27:40
The violent. Man commits his crime, sets his
27:42
trap, and walks away. He thinks he has escaped.
27:45
He thinks his sins are covered up, hidden under the brushwood,
27:48
lost to history. But his own evil acts like a
27:51
pack of bloodhounds with a very keen scent.
27:54
They. Lock onto the target.
27:55
They are released the moment the sin is committed.
27:58
They might lose sight of the game for a moment.
28:00
The scent might go cold in the minds of the public.
28:02
But the hounds of divine justice keep working it out.
28:05
They nose through the brush. They relentlessly track him down
28:08
the. Hounds of his own sin hunt him
28:11
to his ruin. You cannot outrun what you have
28:14
unleashed. I want to push back here,
28:16
though. People listening today, raised
28:18
on New Testament principles, might hear these prayers asking
28:21
for burning coals and deep pits and think David sounds
28:24
vindictive. How do we reconcile this intense
28:27
desire for burning coals with the call to love our enemies It.
28:31
Is a vital tension to address. George Horne and William de Burr
28:34
helped clarify this in their commentaries.
28:37
They explain these verses not as expressions of petty personal
28:40
revenge, but it's prophetic declarations of God's final
28:43
judgement against all falsehood and violence.
28:45
OK. So it is bigger than just David
28:47
Much. Bigger David is appealing to the
28:50
judge of the universe. He is not taking a sword to his
28:53
enemies himself. He is asking the to issue a
28:56
righteous ruling. He is asking.
28:58
For justice, not vengeance. Vengeance is I will hurt you
29:02
because you hurt me. Justice is Lord.
29:05
Stop this evil from destroying your world.
29:08
Correct. True justice requires that those
29:11
who kindle the flames of strife be consumed by them.
29:14
Otherwise evil goes unchecked. It is an acknowledgement of
29:17
God's perfect moral order. Evil bears the element of decay
29:21
within itself. It is a corruption of design.
29:24
It eats itself. Therefore, evil carries.
29:26
The seed of its own destruction to pray for the downfall of the
29:29
wicked is to agree with God that evil cannot be permitted to
29:31
permanently triumph when David prays for their.
29:34
Downfall. He's actually agreeing with the
29:36
structural integrity of the universe.
29:37
He is saying, Lord, let the rules of your universe supply,
29:40
let gravity work, let the stone fall back down.
29:43
And that brings an immense comfort to the believer, knowing
29:46
that the universe is not chaotic but governed by a righteous
29:49
judge who ensures the Ledger is eventually balanced and that
29:52
reality. Perfectly sets up the final
29:54
section of our text. After the storm of divine
29:57
justice sweeps away the wicked. The text ends in a place of
30:00
profound peace and absolute certainty.
30:02
Verses 12 and 13. Declare, I know that the Lord
30:05
will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the
30:08
poor. Surely the righteous shall give
30:10
thanks unto thy name. The upright shall dwell in thy
30:13
presence. Let's focus on those two words.
30:15
I know it is not I hope, or I think, or maybe if I am lucky,
30:20
this will work out. It is a statement of absolute
30:23
bedrock confidence throughout the Psalm.
30:25
David has been bravely confident, but here he reaches a
30:27
crescendo of assurance. He speaks of things about which
30:30
he has absolutely no doubt. Why is he so sure?
30:33
Because. He has received.
30:34
Actual historical proofs of it himself.
30:36
He survived the lion and the bear when he was a shepherd.
30:39
He survived the giant Goliath. He has survived the Javelins
30:42
throne by Saul. His theology is not theoretical.
30:44
It is forged in the fires of actual deliverance specifically.
30:48
Mentions the afflicted and the poor in earthly courts.
30:52
The poor often cannot afford to defend themselves.
30:55
If a wealthy, powerful man like King Saul decides to destroy a
30:58
poor shepherd, the shepherd usually loses.
31:01
The system is rigged. Usually this, but.
31:03
David says I know. That the Lord will maintain the
31:05
cause. The Judge of all the earth takes
31:09
up the case of those who cannot afford representation.
31:11
Thomas Wilcox. Expands on this idea
31:13
beautifully. He says this verse teaches us
31:15
the excellent estate of God's children.
31:18
They are continually thankful because God is continually
31:20
merciful to them. They always have a reason.
31:23
To sing whoever else might be. Silenced by oppression, the
31:26
righteous will always find a reason to give thanks.
31:29
The prosperous and wealthy can maintain their own cause in
31:32
earthly arenas through bribery and influence.
31:35
But those who cannot help themselves find that God Himself
31:37
steps in as their advocate, the ultimate goal of.
31:40
All this struggle, all this warfare, is found in the final
31:43
verse. The upright shall dwell in thy
31:46
presence. The sources described this state
31:48
as songs without words sitting down in.
31:50
Holy peace, like children at their Father's table.
31:53
After the Hounds of Justice have cleared the field, after the
31:56
snares are broken, the believer sits down, finally resting.
32:00
Their very lives. Their walking and resting with
32:02
God become a practical form of gratitude.
32:06
They do not even need to speak. Their secure, peaceful presence
32:09
in the throne room is a song of praise all on its own.
32:13
Let's look at the staggering. Contrast between the beginning
32:16
and the end of this text. It starts with the believer
32:19
haunted like a Partridge by evil man, hiding in a literal
32:23
wilderness, dodging hidden traps and recoiling from the venom of
32:27
spitting cobras a night there. And it ends with the.
32:30
Believer sitting securely in the throne room of the Almighty,
32:33
dwelling in absolute untouchable peace.
32:35
It is a complete. Reversal of fortune.
32:37
The text demonstrates how faith raises the Saint from the lowest
32:41
depths of earthly terror to the highest summits of heavenly
32:44
repose. For you listening.
32:46
To this today there's a life altering application here.
32:50
The pressure of persecution, the venom of the office gossip, the
32:53
professional snares laid by the wayside, these are horrific
32:56
things to enjoy, but they're often the very mechanisms that
32:59
drive the believer into the presence of God.
33:02
If David had been comfortable in the palace, if Saul had liked
33:05
him, if everyone had spoken well of him, he might never have been
33:09
forced into the wilderness to cry out, Thou art my God, with
33:12
such raw desperation and intimacy the trial produces.
33:17
The reliance and the reliance results in dwelling in the
33:19
presence of the Almighty. The peace at the end is only
33:23
possible because of the warfare at the beginning.
33:25
Which brings us to. Our final thought As we wrap up
33:28
this deep dive into the source material, I want to leave you
33:31
with something to chew on long after the audio ends.
33:35
Think back to that X-ray machine we talked about at the
33:37
beginning, the one that cannot quite capture the murky reality
33:40
of human malice. Yeah, that invisible.
33:42
Threat. We spend so much.
33:43
Energy trying to avoid the evil man, trying to step around the
33:46
snares, trying to dodge the venom of slander.
33:49
We pray for a frictionless life. But consider this, if the venom
33:54
of the evil man and the hidden snares by the wayside are the
33:57
precise things that forces to our knees, causing us to abandon
34:00
our own self-reliance and cry out, thou art my God.
34:03
Wait, you are suggesting? Could it be that the very.
34:06
Traps meant for our destruction are used by a sovereign God as
34:11
the stepping stones that elevate us into His eternal presence.
34:14
Wow, that. Changes everything.
34:16
Thank you for listening to. Reformed thinking.
34:18
We will see you on the next deep dive, yeah.