Psalm
7 is directly tied to one particular point in David’s life. King Saul has been chasing and hunting David
because other people have convinced him that David is out to kill him and take
his throne. In 1 Samuel 24, David and
his men are hiding deep within a cave.
Saul takes a moment to go into the cave to relieve himself. David quietly sneaks up and cuts off a corner
of Saul’s robe. David then confronts
Saul and pleads with him not to listen to that other council. David shows Saul how easy it would have been
to kill Saul, and yet he didn’t. David
spared Saul’s life. If he was bent on
killing Saul and taking his throne, it would have been real easy in that cave.
Psalm
7 is an emotional lament against those who have made false accusations against
David. David pours his heart into this
Psalm and pleads with God for justice.
David puts his energy into pleading with God, instead of taking revenge
on his own. God is righteous and David
trusts God to judge rightly. In the
later verses, David writes of how evil turns on itself and evil people become
caught in their own devices. David knows
that eventually those who speak evil words and seek to harm him will get
caught. It’s a bit like the old adage, “Live
by the sword, die by the sword.” David
is just hoping that he lives long enough to see their plots foiled.
David’s
attitude in this Psalm and in the events recorded in 1 Samuel is impressive and
inspiring. So often today, we see people
take offense at the smallest insult and turn it into something much larger than
it should be. Americans are quite
skilled at turning molehills into mountains.
If David were a typical American, he would have a very big bone to pick
with these individuals and it would probably be all over the media. Accusations would be hurled back and forth on
Twitter. It would be fodder for the
evening news and daily talk shows.
Various law enforcement officials would be investigating.
David has a golden opportunity
to kill Saul and he doesn’t take it.
David would get away with it on the grounds that he was acting in
self-defense. Everyone knew Saul was out
to kill David, so it wouldn’t have been a surprise if David had killed Saul
first. However, David spares Saul’s
life. Even though David is not on good
standing with Saul, he still respects Saul’s position as king. Saul is David’s master and David will not
lift a hand against him. Instead, David
turns to God and trusts God to bring justice to the situation. David does not engage in a massive PR
campaign to prove his innocence. He only
speaks with Saul and councils his men not to harm him. David knows the truth and he trusts God to
deliver him.
As Christians today, we should
strive to do the same. When we are
falsely accused or when others seek to do us harm, we should rely on God to
help us. We need not take matters into
our own hands and seek to remedy the situation on our own. If we keep our peace and quietly go about our
own business, eventually those who slander us will be proven wrong by our
actions. Those around us will take
notice and our reputation and standing will be restored. It will take time, but God is faithful and
just.
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