Psalm 59

O LORD God of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel, wake up and punish those hostile nations. Show no mercy to wicked traitors. Interlude

(Psalms 59:5)

I want to continue talking about the subject of judgment that we began discussing yesterday. In Psalm 58 we had talked about David’s cries for JUDGEMENT. Here in Psalm 59, we see David asking God to SHOW NO MERCY to hostile nations and wicked traitors. The question I wanted to raise is this: How do we reconcile this with the concept of loving our enemies?

Though this is a complex question, and there may be no “simple” one size fits all answer, I do believe that we can properly assess, respond, and apply this concept to our own lives. I think the first thing we need to remember is that EVERYONE IS A SINNER. When David talks about the “wicked” here, he is not insinuating that he himself is by nature holy and these men are by nature wicked… It is in issue of POSITION and PRACTICE.

God offers MERCY to every man, but it is conditioned upon REPENTANCE and SUBMISSION to Him and His ways. David had RECEIVED the mercy of the Lord, and the wicked men he talks about had rejected it. In fact, the wicked men were actively fighting against it. God’s mercy is ever available, but if a person CONTINUES to reject it, they will eventually have to face the judgment of God.

There is a lot that is not right here on earth. There are a lot of wicked men doing wicked things, and they are getting away with those things. Unless these men repent, they will have to face the wrath of God! When believer’s face wrath or persecution, it is a normal response for us to cry out to God and ask Him “how long until you make these things right?” God’s response is always “trust me; I WILL make this right in MY TIME.”

So for us, we just need to remember that VENGANCE belongs to the LORD. He will see to it that all things are made right… our job is just to continue to trust Him, and love the world around us.