Raise Up the Righteous!
[Psalm 7]
This week, my car had some issues, so I drove the church car to a burger joint to grab some food. While I was there, I ran into one of the members of our church. As soon as we met, the church member asked me, "Did you see the fight that just happened here?" It turns out that the member had gotten into an argument with another person, and in the heat of the moment, they probably spat in the other person's face. Of course, this made the other person extremely angry. So, that person came back with a friend, and another argument began between them and our church member. I apologized to the person, saying "I’m sorry" (I am sorry). However, one of them saw the church car I was driving, noticed the church name, and said to our church member, "How can someone who goes to church behave like that?" I was truly embarrassed. Because of the argument and the unkind action of our church member spitting in the other person’s face, God's glory was obscured, and the name of our church was tarnished. As the senior pastor, I felt responsible. It made me ask myself, "How should I carry out my ministry?"
As I meditated on Psalm 7, I found myself reflecting on the prayer in verse 9: "Raise up the righteous." In that moment, I felt deeply challenged to put all my effort into raising up the righteous.
During our recent conference, the guest speaker talked about Abraham interceding for Lot before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He prayed humbly to God, asking if He would destroy the city if there were 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, or even 10 righteous people. I thought to myself, if our church doesn’t have at least 10 righteous people, we cannot afford to be destroyed. I felt challenged to put all my energy into raising up one righteous soul after another. While there may be a temptation to focus on numbers, I trust that the Lord will add believers, and for now, my priority should be to feed each soul with the Word, teaching, encouraging, and praying for them to live righteous lives.
I remember having a conversation with the guest speaker in the car. He spoke to me about “cheap grace,” explaining that many Christians today have received the gift of faith through God’s grace, accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord, and have been declared righteous. However, many are not living righteous lives. He pointed out that being declared righteous by God’s grace is like the front side of a coin, while living a righteous life is like the back side of the coin. But it seems that many of us are claiming to live by God’s grace without taking on the responsibility of living a righteous life. This, he said, is truly cheap grace. The sad reality, however, is that even our pastors tend to prefer this “cheap grace.” As the gap between faith and life grows, the preaching from the pulpit and the obedience to that message in life are lacking. As a result, it seems that Christianity has become a place where pastors, like hired hands, are leading without becoming more like Jesus.
What should we do?
We must unite and earnestly ask God, "Raise up the righteous!" So, how does God raise up the righteous? Today, I hope that, through the teachings of Psalm 7, we can all learn how God raises up the righteous and become people who live as the righteous before both God and others.
First, God raises up the righteous through unrighteous situations. In other words, God raises up the righteous even through unjust situations.
The situation that David faced was truly unjust. If he had done any wrong, it was only in defeating the Philistine giant, Goliath, in the name of God. However, due to the people's jealousy and their saying, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands," King Saul sought to kill David. As a result, David had to flee and escape from King Saul. Yet, the amazing providence of God was that, even in this unjust situation, God was proving David's innocence and purity. Let us look at Psalm 7:3-5: "O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, or have plundered my foe without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; and let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my honor in the dust." David says, "If I have done evil, even to my friends or enemies, then I am willing to die." Even in this unjust situation, David's "righteousness" and "integrity" were shining (verse 8).
Living in this unjust world, we, as righteous Christians, may face many unfair situations. We may be deceived, falsely accused, or experience much suffering. When this happens, we should take those unjust or unfair situations as opportunities to show "my righteousness" and "my integrity" (verse 8), and give glory to God. We must show our innocence or purity before both God and people. Rather than complaining or resenting the unjust situations, those who can use such moments to demonstrate righteousness and integrity will become true righteous people, like David.
Second, God raises up the righteous through prayer.
David prayed in his unjust situation. But what kind of prayer did he offer? It was a "upright" prayer. In an unrighteous situation, he offered an upright prayer to God. How amazing is this providence of God? In raising up the righteous, God allows the righteous to pray upright prayers even in the midst of unrighteousness. Ultimately, God raises up those who pray upright prayers, even through unjust situations. We can think of three aspects of David's upright prayer:
(1) Trust.
David, in times of trouble and unjust situations, did not rely on his own strength but entrusted himself to God’s power and will, praying to Him (Park Yun-seon; v.1 – “I take refuge in You”). "The one who is able to do this can be assured that God will surely save him" (Park Yun-seon). In this unjust situation, David looked only to the Lord and relied on Him alone. He made God his refuge [(v.10) “My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart”].
(2) Pure living.
In Psalm 7:3-5, we see that David, although he had the opportunity to kill his enemy, King Saul, in the cave, chose not to and spared him, keeping in mind how he had once spared Saul’s life (1 Samuel 24:1-15). As David prayed, he proclaimed his innocence. From this, we learn that we should pray to God based on our own pure lives. Why should we pray to God while living a pure life? Because our God is "the righteous God who searches the hearts of men" (Psalm 7:9).
(3) God's justice.
In Psalm 7:6-16, David appeals to God's justice. He prays based on God’s justice, especially in verses 6, 8, and 11. This is "a prayer of hope based on God’s justice" (Park Yun-seon). Just as David cried out to "the righteous Judge, the God who is angry every day" (v.11) to deliver him from his unjust situation, we too must appeal to the righteous and just God.
God uses unjust or unfair situations to make the righteous pray with honesty. Those who do not live a righteous life will tend to act dishonestly in these unjust situations, speaking and behaving in ways that are not upright. However, God's justice will be revealed through our honest prayers, in our lives and in the circumstances we face. Therefore, we must pray even more sincerely to God in unjust situations.
Finally, third, God establishes the righteous through judgment.
God, who is angry every day (v.11), will suddenly destroy the unrepentant sinner (v.12), and through their destruction [“fire” (v.13), meaning lightning, according to Park Yun-seon], He brings about the downfall of the wicked and the salvation of the righteous. This happens because the wicked conceive evil in their hearts (they secretly plot against others) and give birth to sin (v.14). Since they continue to birth sin, God must reveal His justice. Ultimately, God uses His judgment to strike down the evil, like a lightning strike, and in doing so, He establishes the righteous. His judgment is based on the "righteousness and integrity" of the righteous (v.8), so He saves the righteous and destroys the wicked.
The holy and righteous God reveals His justice by judging iniquity. He is the God who, in saving His righteous people who are in unjust and oppressive situations, accomplishes the work of salvation by judging the wicked and the unrighteous. Therefore, we must trust in our God and pray to Him. We must offer honest prayers to God. And we must expect. We should expect our salvation through God's judgment upon the wicked. In the end, God will reveal our righteousness and integrity. And God will establish us as righteous.
With the desire to live a righteous life honestly and faithfully as those who have been justified,
Pastor James Sharing
(Reflecting on unrighteous thoughts and the sins of the lips)