This
prayer concludes a Psalm that contains some of the most beautiful phrases about
a person’s dignity and worth in the Lord Jesus Christ. David had written this
song to express how God knew everything about him, what he thought, what he
felt, what he was doing, and had David’s life written down in a book before he
was even born. God was everywhere David could possibly go, and David knew that
God’s hand would lead him through whatever he faced in his journey through
life.
David
wrote of the wonders of God knowing him while he was being “knit together” as an unborn baby. He praised God for the knowledge
that he was “fearfully and wonderfully
made.” He spoke of things that present day photography has brought to our
vision so beautifully, the way we are “intricately
woven” together while hidden away in the safety and warmth of our mother’s wombs.
David’s
conclusion was that the thoughts of God about him were beyond counting, more
numerous than the grains of sand. He marvelled that God would have such
thoughts for him, and he could not help but sing of such glorious realities.
However,
it is not these things that lead us into the prayer that concludes this song. David
has one more thing to say to God before the soul-searching prayer is expressed.
He wrote:
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men
of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your
enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up
against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.[2]
What
became clear to me this morning, perhaps for the first time, is that David’s
beautiful, soul-searching prayer was surrounded by his knowledge of who he was
to God as a beloved child,[3] and
his knowledge of who he was in the eyes of his enemies. This is a contrast I do
not remember noticing before. Perhaps the beauty of all the other phrases had
attracted my attention enough that it had not occurred to me that David wrote
these things while grieved over the malicious activity of the enemies of God.
Or, perhaps God was simply saving this insight for a time when it fits his
good, pleasing and perfect will in a distinctively useful way.
My
years have made it clear to me that people struggle with the extremes of
thinking too highly of ourselves, or believing excessively negative, hopeless
thoughts about who we are. Childhood experiences, with all forms of abuse, can
cause people to have a deep, inner belief of utter worthlessness that causes
them to compensate with a shallow, outer shell that tries to look much better
than we really are. Many of us have enough people telling us the negative
messages are true that we stand little hope of ever thinking good things about
ourselves.
And
so, God prepared this wonderful garden of delights for us in the midst of the
book of Psalms. He made a way for every one of his brokenhearted children to
know what we mean to him. We can ask God to search us and know our hearts, because
we want our hearts to be cleansed of anything that would make us less than God
has designed us to be. We can ask God to try us, test us, and know our
thoughts, so that he can show us how our very minds can be purified by the mind
of Christ. We can pray that God would check and see if there is any grievous way
in ourselves, because we do not want to cause the grief that we see among God’s
people by those who “speak
against you with malicious intent”.[4]
And we can pray that God would lead us in the “way everlasting” so that we will always find ourselves in that
straight and narrow way, no matter how few are traveling with us.[5]
The
wonderful thing in this is that we can pray this prayer in faith, in the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord, and trust that he will “reprove, rebuke, and exhort” us, both in
our personal time alone with God in his word and prayer,[6]
and through the ministry of pastors who faithfully preach the word of God to us
whether it be “in season or out of season”. [7]
The
bottom line is that David was a man after God’s own heart,[8]
and so he would sing this soul-searching prayer in order to make sure that he
saw himself accurately the way God’s heart was looking upon him in love. Neither
his own pride, nor the wicked attacks of his enemies, would keep him from
focusing on what God saw, and what God said. God’s thoughts were so precious to
him; why would he want to give any thought to anyone who thought differently,
himself included.
From
my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1] Psalm 139:23-24
[2] Psalm 139:19-22
[3] Cf Ephesians 5:1 ~ “Therefore be imitators of
God, as beloved children.”
[4] Psalm 139:20
[5] “13 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy
that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the
gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it
are few.” (Matthew 7)
[6] Cf II Timothy 3:16-17
[7] II Timothy 4:2
[8] “And when he
had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and
said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do
all my will.’” (Acts 13:22)
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