Psalm 109: 6-12
6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.
8 May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.
9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.
There have been many words used over the last few years, words that don’t necessarily fit with our image of kindness and gentility. The acrimony of public debate, if you could call it debate, has rapidly moved from not so nice to downright horrible. If our words had actual power to behind them to carry out what was said, I think most of us would be dead by now, or we would be in prison for our powerful words.
As you read the words above, do they sound like the kind of words, the kind of thoughts, the kind of attitudes we are to have as good people, civil people, “get along with your neighbor” people? They don’t! In fact they seem to be just the opposite of that. So what are they doing in the Bible?
The book of Psalms in the Scriptures are the song book used by the people of God to express their relationship with God and with each other in worship. We are not sure on what occasions this particular song would have been sung, but I would love to have been there to hear it.
To be honest with you, I have said and thought and pondered these kinds of things myself. I know, this isn’t good, but it is true. So what exactly is being said in these verses of song?
If you look closely at these verses, they seem to be a collection of curses that the LORD said would happen to those who rejected Him. They express the LORD’s corrective actions upon those who reject His rule over their lives, in hopes that the pain of the correction would bring them back to trusting in the LORD. And so, our writer collects these harsh statements together to express his own feelings and thoughts at a point in his life.
We know this is the case because later in this Psalm he writes, “Let them know that it is your hand, that you, LORD, have done it.” This isn’t punishment without purpose. This is action in hopes of repentance and redemption.
Now I have to be honest. When these thoughts come across my mind, they are not always redemptive. Sometimes I just let them linger, stew, fester. They never move on to the next step. They stay as a sour taste in my mouth.
But that is the point of the Psalmist. They want us to experience with them these thoughts and feelings and then experience the redemptive side of the equation. He wants to help us move past these curses and on to the blessings. He wants to help us to incorporate this transition into our worship experience. We need to move past our ‘stuck’ spot.
In the end, the Psalmist is just wanting some justice. He sees those who oppose the LORD’s rule as “getting away with it” and he wants the LORD to intervene. He wants the LORD to stand up for those who are oppressed and balance the scale against those who have rebelled and hold power over the weak.
The Arnold Journey 