How to Handle an Accusation

I have been reading the Five Psalms a Day for so long that I often wake up thinking about which Psalm I’ll get to read on that day…for example, on the 8th day I open my Bible knowing that I get to pray with David, “O, LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”

Today is one of those days…I look forward to opening with Psalm 19 and ending with Psalm 139…what incredible words, what incredible poetry. This morning I was thinking about David’s words in the opening verse of Psalm 19 and was just amazed at his poetic abilities.

Then I got to thinking that if David was indeed inspired by Holy Spirit then the greatest Poet in existence is certainly the Holy Spirit! I love passages like psalm 19 and Psalm 139, but what about Psalms like 109?

Christopher Ash said, “Psalm 109 feels like praying… ‘Dear God, my loving heavenly Father, I want to pray about so-and-so, who is causing me problems at work. Please may he/she die soon. May his/her children become wandering beggars. May no one take pity on them. Please do that for me. Thank you, loving heavenly Father. In Jesus’ name, Amen.’”

What do we do with psalms like this? I mean, aren’t we supposed to love our neighbor, love our enemy, and turn the other cheek?

Psalm 109 opens with a description of David’s crisis (1-5), turns to praying against David’s enemies (6-20), David praying for himself (21-29), and ends with David’s praise (30-31).

So, the Psalm opens and close with praise…somehow we are supposed to find a truth here…something in verses 2-29 that will drive us to praise God.

I never really understood what we call the “imprecatory psalms” which are prayers in the Bible’s Book of Psalms that call down God’s judgment, calamity, or wrath upon enemies until I watched a video of militant Muslims taking a group of Christians and beheading them. I didn’t/couldn’t watch the entire video, but I saw enough to understand how the psalmist could call down wrath. But even now, I struggle with such prayers in light of the actions of Jesus.

David opens with,

“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.”

Notice he says they are wicked, deceitful, liars, hateful, they accuse him falsely, and reward evil for good and hatred for love. I love what David says in verse 4, “But I give myself to prayer.” There is a lesson here for us…when we find ourselves in a crisis, when others are spreading lies and rumors, the first place we should run is God’s Throne.

Ash said, “Note that Psalm 109:6-20 is not a curse but a prayer.” David is presenting his case before God and asking God to move on his behalf. Verse six says, “Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.” If I had to go to court I’d want a lawyer on my side who wouldn’t mind gong after the accuser…that seems to be what David is asking for.

David isn’t calling down a curse, but he is praying to God about his enemies and asking God to move. He is leaving the outcome to God.

We must trust God, but we must also pray for repentance.Jesus paid for sin on the cross, he took the judgment, and even while hanging on the cross He prayed for forgiveness of those who were crucifying Him.Bring your “issues” to God, let God determine the outcome, and trust Him.Trust Him to do what is right even when you can’t see the “right” in His decision, and give yourself to prayer and seek to forgive as He has forgiven you