Listen, O Lord, To My Cries for Mercy!

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

February 21, 2023

Listen, O Lord, To My Cries for Mercy!

O Lord, rescue me from evil people.

    Protect me from those who are violent,

those who plot evil in their hearts

    and stir up trouble all day long.

Psalm 140:1-2

Psalm 140, and others like it, can offend our sensibilities. There is so much violence, and the psalmist seems to be seeking retribution which we have been taught is not in our purview, but the Lord’s. As we consider current events, at home and abroad, it seems little has changed since the time of the psalmist. The people seem to first turn to violence and revenge as the means of settling their differences. When we read this psalm within the context of the prevailing culture at the time of its writing, it may not seem so offensive. We even find some redeeming qualities within the psalm.

We will also do well to realize that within our own culture, there is much intrigue, corruption, dishonesty and almost zero tolerance for those who may have a different opinion. Just because we may not be as quick to turn to violence against our neighbor, it does not mean we can dismiss the relevance of Jesus telling us to not worry about a speck in our neighbor’s eye when we have a log in our own eye. (Matthew 7:3)

Two aspects of this psalm will always be helpful to us. First, the psalmist is petitioning God to be his defender; he is not taking matters into his own hands. Secondly, Jesus teaches us the Godly principle that the standard we use in judging others is the standard by which we will be judged. (Matthew 7:2) We see this principle played out in the book of Esther, when Haman’s demise is carried out by the means he had planned for Mordecai. The psalmist is asking God to allow his adversaries to be caught in their own dishonesty and corrupt lives.

My Takeaway: How different might our lives be if we took all of our troubles to the Lord and trusted God to deal with our adversaries?  

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.