A RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Lord my God, I take refuge in You; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands—if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe—then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust.

Arise, Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice. Let the assembled peoples gather around you, while you sit enthroned over them on high. Let the Lord judge the peoples. Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High. Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure—You, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts.

My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. If He does not relent, He will sharpen His sword; He will bend and string His bow. He has prepared His deadly weapons; He makes ready his flaming arrows.

Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads.

I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We live in a world punctuated by good and evil. However by the news we read and watch today, you would think we only live in a world of evil.

Have you noticed this? If not, pay attention to what is being printed or spoken and you’ll see what I’m talking about. And while you’re doing so, count the number of stories about evil happenings over the stories highlighting good news and I guarantee you will see a discrepancy.

And so what does this do to us as a people? I believe it impacts the way we think about and thus view our world. We’re so absorbed in news about the bad things of life that we think it’s always like that. We think we’re living in dark times, constantly at risk and in danger when we go places. In extreme cases, we can almost be driven to depression and despair about the world we live in.

Going even further, as we are bombarded with stories of tragedy occurring from the wrongs committed by people, sometimes people begin to question God through it all. Where is God in the midst of our world’s darkness? Why isn’t God doing something about the evil world we live in?

The truth of life and the world we live in is that there is evil and bad – a lot of darkness. No question. But there is also an overwhelming amount of good and light, far more than we ever get to realize – far good happening than bad, far more light than darkness. And we have to realize this, even when we don’t always hear about all the good things happening.

Rest assured of this, God is at work in our world – at work doing good through His righteousness and also judging evil through His righteousness. God ensures all things work out right, even when we don’t understand it. We have to trust in that.

David believed this as we read through the 7th Psalm. There was little doubt that he lived in a world that was filled with good and bad – with allies and enemies. Further, we know that among his enemies, David found himself fleeing from people he thought he could trust. Just consider Saul and Absalom.

And so as we look at the scriptures, let’s see what we can learn about God and how He applies to our life circumstances when we’re in the midst of so much good and evil.

First, we have to consider that experiences in life are a result of what we deserve.

We know we’re all sinners and thus subject to God’s discipline. No one is without sin and so no one is really good on their own accord. We only achieve righteousness or goodness in the way we live by allowing God to guide us in good and righteous ways.

And so David, realizing that he is a sinner, says this:

“Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands—if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe—then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust.”

In other words, David is essentially saying, “God, if I have sinned against You, then You have every right to hand me over to my enemies, allowing them to carry out Your judgment on me.” Indeed, God is a righteous God and all of His actions are thus right. That might be hard to accept in the case of tragedies we read about or watch but it is truth. God never acts in wickedness but rather always in righteousness.

This is why we should think about our choices in life and never take even one sin lightly. For we weren’t born into the world to sin but to bear righteousness. God is always at the ready to help you and I do just that if we let Him.

The second thing we learn about God and our life circumstances is that He will handle anyone who chooses to do evil. Again, look at David’s words:

“Arise, Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice.”

“Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure—You, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts.”

“Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads.”

God, the Maker and Creator of us all, is the only One who can probe into the hearts and minds of people. There is no way to hide evil intentions from Him – no way to conceal even a thought of wrong against another. God sees everything and maybe we should always keep that at the forefront of our thoughts asking ourselves, “Would God find favor with what I’m about to think – with what I’m about to say – with what I’m about to do?” Knowing God peers into our most innermost parts is the ultimate accountability mechanism for personal conduct. We all had better realize it and respond accordingly.

And so if nothing gets by God, what happens when we ignore that truth and decide to do evil anyways?

The scriptures are clear. Those who are pregnant with evil and conceive trouble will give birth to disillusionment. I actually like the New King James Version translation of this verse better. It says, “Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.” Those conceive evil give birth to sin. It’s as simple as that. And we know God hates sin because it violates His expectation of righteous living.

With this, know and trust like David that the righteous God will respond. He will rise up against His enemies, and note the words His enemies because those who sin against us are not just enemies against us but even more so enemies of the God Most High, the righteous God who decrees justice. And yes, you and I can be an enemy of God through just one sinful action. That’s how much God hates sin. And so why hasn’t God placed His full wrath on us and wiped us out? It’s only because of His amazing grace, mercy, and love – a grace, mercy, and love that we had better never take for granted – a grace, mercy, and love we had better always give thanks for. And when we do wrong, we had better repent (or as the scriptures state “relent”) for this is the only thing that will possibly keep God from passing penalty on us.

And so we know we have a God who peers deep into everyone’s hearts and minds, judging sinners righteously and passing judgment and wrath on His enemies who choose to commit the very sin He hates and despises so much, the sin that led Him to sacrifice His only Son Jesus to pay the price for us so we wouldn’t have to pay it – and He did it all out of love. Never think that God isn’t righteous. He saved you and me through allowing His own Son to be killed. And if we’re going to respond this appropriately, we had better hate sin as much as God does. We will if we allow Him to guide us in righteousness, choosing to live like Jesus did when He was alive.

So what happens when we do this, when we allow a righteous God to lead us in full righteousness?

We find ourselves protected. Like David, we find that the God Most High is our shield and thus we can find our refuge in Him in the midst of danger. We see God as the One who can save and deliver us from our enemies, just as He did over and over and over in the scriptures. The same God of the Bible is our God today and thanks be to God for that.

Indeed, we serve a righteous judge in our Almighty God. Today and every day, let’s give thanks to Him, just as David did, for His righteousness and sing the praise of the Lord Most High.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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