Will God punish the enemies of His people and rescue the faithful? Let’s begin in Psalm 109.
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. (WEB)
Do people ever gossip about us, tell lies, words of hate and attack us without cause?
Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. (Ps 109:1-5 ESV)
Do we ever wish that God would punish our enemies? Is that God’s justice to a lifestyle of hatred, unless people repent?
Set a wicked person over him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer be counted as sin. Let his days be few; let another take over his position. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children wander as beggars, searching for food far from their demolished homes. Let a creditor seize all he has; let strangers plunder what he has worked for. Let no one show him kindness, and let no one be gracious to his fatherless children. Let the line of his descendants be cut off; let their name be blotted out in the next generation. Let his ancestors’ guilt be remembered before the Lord, and do not let his mother’s sin be blotted out. Let their sins always remain before the Lord, and let Him erase all memory of them from the earth. (Ps 109:6-15 HCSB)
Do wicked people act in love? What do they think about the poor and needy? Is a telltale sign their use of bad language?
For he didn’t think to extend gracious love; he harassed to death the poor, the needy, and the broken hearted. He loved to curse—may his curses return upon him! He took no delight in blessing others—so may blessings be far from him. He wore curses like a garment—may they enter his inner being like water and his bones like oil. May those curses wrap around him like a garment, or like a belt that one always wears. May this be the way the Lord repays my accuser, those who speak evil against me. (Ps 109:16-20 ISV)
Will God deliver the poor and needy, the wounded of heart?
But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust. My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads. (Ps 109:21-25 KJV)
Do we want God to save us in such a public way that He gets the glory for it?
Help me, O Yahweh my God; Save me according to Your lovingkindness. And let them know that this is Your hand; You, O Yahweh, have done it. Let them curse, but You bless; They arise and will be put to shame, But Your slave shall be glad. Let my accusers be clothed with dishonor, And let them wrap themselves with their own shame as with a robe. (Ps 109:26-29 LSB)
Do we publicly praise God when He saves us from those who would condemn us to death?
With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord; And I will praise Him in the midst of many. For He stands at the right hand of the needy, To save him from those who judge [condemn] his soul. (Ps 109:30-31 NASB)
Does salvation include a rescue from those who hate us?
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear (Luke 1:71-74 NIV)
Will God punish the enemies of His people and rescue the faithful? You decide!
