Psalm 109

“But You, O GOD the Lord, deal with me for Your name’s sake; because Your mercy is good, deliver me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust. My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness. I also have become a reproach to them; when they look at me, they shake their heads. Help me, O Lord my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy, that they may know that this is Your hand - that You, Lord, have done it! Let them curse, but You bless; when they arise, let them be ashamed, but let Your servant rejoice. Let my accusers be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yes, I will praise Him among the multitude. For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who condemn him.” Psalm 109:21-31 (NKJV)

I suppose we could focus today on the unjust treatment that David received from close friends and whether he was justified to ask God to judge them, even to the point of striking their wives and children and blotting out their names.  But when I read David’s psalm today, it immediately reminded me of the suffering of the “Son of David,” Messiah Jesus.  In Psalm 22, David even prophesied the events surrounding Jesus’ beating and crucifixion, along with His mistreatment and mocking.  There was Jesus, perfect and sinless, yet suffering unto death.  Meanwhile, the patriarchs (no doubt honorable men, yet sinners) were delivered from death’s grip.

“Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ‘He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’” Psalm 22:4-8 (NKJV)

David’s desire was not only that he would be delivered but that his enemies would attribute his deliverance to none other than the Lord.  The effect would be that his enemies would acknowledge that David’s faith in the Lord was not in vain.  It was not his life that was on the line, as much as it was his faith.

If we learned anything from Job’s suffering, it is that Faith is not Fact until it is tested.  It is one thing to declare our faith in God but a whole other thing to live it out!  David’s song ends with a declaration of faith in the midst of suffering.  As David was being tested, he was being humbled.  He recognized that his strength and wits were not enough to deliver himself.  Realizing his poverty of saving resources, David cried out to the One Who shows Himself strong despite our weakness.  (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3 (NKJV)