November 10, 2021 – Wednesday
Psalm 140:1, 11, 13 NKJV
1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men,
11 Let not a slanderer be established in the earth; Let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; The upright shall dwell in Your presence.
Comment.
Monday evening Bible Study eight of us looked at the thirteen verses of Psalm 140 for close to an hour and a half. I really wanted to write about it then, but also wanted to write more about stones that were uncut or not dressed. Today, we are finally going to take a look at Psalm 140, the NKJV. If you have not read it before or do not recall much about it, I recommend reading it in full as it seems so descriptive of what we, as Christians, see going on today.
Speaking of its application to today’s current events, let’s look at verses 1-3 for context; Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men, Who plan evil things in their hearts; They continually gather together for war. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah. Beginning in verse we have an emphasis on deliverance from evil plans and the men who are making such plans. Notice they are described as violent men and the evil things they plan in their hearts has to do with violence they would like to inflict on David.
Now let’s look at verse eleven, but with the two preceding verses for context; As for the head of those who surround me,
Let the evil of their lips cover them; Let burning coals fall upon them; Let them be cast into the fire, Into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let not a slanderer be established in the earth; Let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him. The confidence and arrogance of those attacking David are so great he asks for justice of a poetic nature where there the evil and violence planned for David results in their own downfall. David uses strong images of judgment from God to match the violent schemes conceived of by the wicked. It is interesting to note that the Old Testament law’s judgment for false witnesses was that they were to receive what they hoped to inflict on their victims (see Deuteronomy 19:15-20)
Then we come to the last part of the verses of the day, verse thirteen, the closing verse of this Psalm which is tied to verse twelve as we see in the following context; I know that the Lord will maintain The cause of the afflicted, And justice for the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name; The upright shall dwell in Your presence. What an incredible change from verse one. David’s confidence of the final outcome after beginning with cries for protection is nothing short of amazing. There is the great confidence not only of protection for David, but for people like him who are oppresses by those who plan evil and violence. Because of this great confidence there is hope so great it is spoken of as fact, The upright shall dwell in Your presence, life with God.
We might look at how Jesus fulfilled the psalm as He endured all sorts of schemes and false charges that led to His wrongful, but necessary crucifixion. Here we might also consider how Peter tells suffering believers to follow Jesus and trust their eternal souls to our Creator while still doing good (1 Peter 2:21-23, 4:19). This may only be done by holding fast to the truth of Jesus the Christ amidst the suffering per Revelation 12:10-11, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death (NIV).
Most of all I love Spurgeon’s concluding thought on this Psalm, How high we have climbed in this Psalm – from being hunted by the evil man to dwelling in the divine presence.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You for this wonderous Psalm of incredible hope. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton in Beavercreek