Let God be the Judge

Today we going to be looking at Psalms 7:8-17 and going a little deeper into a topic we addressed yesterday in the sermon – that is the topic of God being the Judge. How do we interact with this truth? What does it mean for our every day lives? We are going to use this Psalm to help us answer, at least in part, some of these questions. 

We begin in verse 8 with this statement: “The Lord judges the peoples;”
It is God’s job to judge people’s souls, that is, their status – not ours. Now it is our place to “judge” other Christians behavior. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 5:12 that we are not to judge the non-Christian, but we are to judge the fellow Christian. He is specifically talking about calling a brother or sister in Christ out of sin – confronting them when they go the wrong way. So, our judgement has nothing to do with delivering justice, or punishment and everything to do with intercession. Vengeance, condemnation, and salvation belongs to God. 

    judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
We ought to read this with overwhelming gratitude! When David wrote this indeed it all depended on his righteousness (a test he could not pass, see 2 Samuel 11). But for us, it depends on Christ’s righteousness! We must never forget that when we accept Christ we are now judged by His righteousness and not our own! Our task is to try to live up to that. 

    and according to the integrity that is in me.
Integrity – what you do when nobody is looking, how much do you mean your faith? It would do you good to remember that God is right there with you always, you can’t hide anything from Him. 

9 Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
    and may you establish the righteous—
“Establish” means to put on a strong and lasting foundation. No matter how unfair or troubling it seems on earth, we must remember that being in Christ we are established on the Rock and will stand every storm on into eternity. (see Matthew 7:24-27 & 1 Corinthians 3:11)

you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!
Scripture has a lot to say about renewing our minds and thinking on pure things and looking to what is above and eternal rather than temporary. This happens through tests – usually of adversity – these tests have the potential to transform our minds and hearts. What “tests” lie before you today. 

10 My shield is with God,
    who saves the upright in heart.
God is the shield to the “upright in heart.” That is the person who is not perfect, but rather humble before the Lord! (See Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:9-14). It is wonderful truth that God is our shield, but very hard for us to truly accept. 

11 God is a righteous judge,
    and a God who feels indignation every day.
Rest assured, there is never an injustice or wrongdoing that God misses, that is not recorded. When you see injustice know that He does as well. Just make sure you’re not causing it! 

12 If a man does not repent, 
There is the key! Redemption is always only a choice away – a choice to repent! That is humbly admit your sinfulness, seek forgiveness and commit to battling temptation from this day forward – not always successfully but always sincerely. 

God will whet his sword;
    he has bent and readied his bow;
13 he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
    making his arrows fiery shafts.
14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
    and is pregnant with mischief
    and gives birth to lies.
15 He makes a pit, digging it out,
    and falls into the hole that he has made.
16 His mischief returns upon his own head,
    and on his own skull his violence descends.
In our sin, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We cannot blame the devil nor God nor our neighbor. Our choice is always ours – that is a gift God has given us to use and we will be held accountable for how we use it. 

17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to His righteousness,
Are you thankful for God’s righteousness today? Take a moment and read 2 Corinthians 5:21.

    and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.”
Oh what heart ache we would side step if we but truly believed that God was the Most High and not ourselves! 

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