Psalm 7 — Integrity before God — Reading the Psalms

Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD; concerning the words of Cush a Benjamite.

1 O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust:
Save me from all them that pursue me, and deliver me:
2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion,
Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this;
If there be iniquity in my hands;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me;
(yea, I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary:)
5 Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;
Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth,
And lay my glory in the dust.                 Selah
6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger,
Lift up thyself against the rage of mine adversaries:
And awake for me; thou hast commanded judgement.
7 And let the congregation of the peoples compass thee about:
And over them return thou on high.
8 The LORD ministereth judgement to the peoples:
Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and to mine integrity that is in me.
9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the righteous:
For the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
10 My shield is with God,
Which saveth the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge,
Yea, a God that hath indignation every day.
12 If a man turn not, he will whet his sword;
He hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death;
He maketh his arrows fiery shafts.
14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity;
Yea, he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15 He hath made a pit, and digged it,
And is fallen into the ditch which he made.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head,
And his violence shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will give thanks unto the LORD according to his righteousness:
And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

David’s enemies are a regular feature in the psalms. One can imagine that, much like the cathartic release of an ugly break-up song, these psalms are preserved to help our hearts release from feelings of fear, anger, outrage and anxiety. You can read and meditate on these ideas and ire, helping you process your own irritable insides. Or, you can read through, looking for bits to connect with what you’ve learned and understand.

I want to consider and connect this psalm with psalm 1. Can you remember what it was about? “Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the wicked … He shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water … The wicked are not so, but are like chaff driven by the wind.”

Psalm 7 illustrates these ideas in an intimate one on one way. David, pursued by enemies, trusts that his connection with righteousness and innocence of evil doings will help him in this trouble. While the wicked pursue, David himself helped the hurting. He calls on the Lord to act in his just anger, for by this anger and justice the wicked will fall – will be driven like chaff before the wind. It is by David’s integrity, and the integrity of the congregation of the righteous, that there is escape from this anger and justice.

The meditation of God’s law helped the heart of David grow right. God, who tries the hearts and reigns, will judge justly, and David need not fear. This psalm is almost a story telling of the themes of psalm 1. Take the time to compare the two; it is, after all, a method of meditating on the Law of the Lord.