“a God who judges” (2)
[Psalms 58]
Last Sunday, while listening to the testimony of a young man even through praise at our church's English service, I reaffirmed that God really loves him very much. As I sang together the praise that the brother sang while weeping on the previous Friday evening, I learned the lesson that we should praise God's holiness, no matter how dark our lives may be. Meanwhile, yesterday evening, while reading Psalms chapters 21 to 23, the words to be read during today's Wednesday morning prayer meeting, my gaze stopped at Psalms 22:1-3 and thought about the words. The psalmist David saw that there was no answer when he cried out to God day and night in groaning, and he felt that he had been abandoned by God and that God was far from helping him. Nevertheless, David confessed “Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel” (22:3). As I meditated on this word again during the early morning prayer meeting, I remembered that beloved brother. I remembered how that brother praised our holy God like David. Praising our holy God is a wonderful blessing from Him. Therefore, experiencing God's holy presence is a wonderful blessing from God.
That holy God is also a just God. He is the God who judges justly. Therefore, when we are faced with an unfair situation like David, we must look to “a God who judges” (Ps. 58:11). In other words, when we are in the unfair situation, we must trust in God's righteous judgment. The God who judges is the God who rebukes the wicked (vv. 1-5). The just God who rebukes the wicked is rebuking us not to be silent. In other words, the God who judges is rebuking us not to be silent (v. 1). A pastor who is silent even when he sees injustice is a “mute dog” (Isa. 56:10). God is rebuking the evil silencer, who is not ‘barking’ even though he has to, because the God’s sheep are being caught and eaten by the beasts. Also, the just God who judges and rebukes the wicked is rebuking us not to work unrighteousness in our hearts (v. 2). God is rebuking us not to live a life of hypocrites with inconsistency between words and deeds. The God who judges is rebuking us for lying. God is rebuking us for going side paths by lying. And the God who judges is rebuking us for not listening to God's voice. Like a deaf cobra, God is rebuking us because we are not listening when God speaks (v. 5). I hope that this will be an opportunity to listen to the voice of the Lord by meditating on two things in order to see what kind of God is the God who judges under the title of “a God who judges (2)”.
Second, “a God who judges” makes us to pray (Ps. 58:6-9).
The psalmist David prayed to God in the midst of the persecution of the wicked. He asked God, who judges, to deal with the wicked. David's prayer can be thought in three ways:
(1) David asked God to destroy those who do evil.
Look at Psalms 58:6 – “O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; Break out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD.” David said that the wicked who persecuted him was inhuman and cruel like a lion. They tried to attack and defeat the righteous through evil means, just as the lion eats its prey with its mouth. That was why David asked God to destroy those who do evil
(2) David asked God for the disappearance of the wicked and to overcome their intended plans.
Look at Psalms 58:7, 9 – “Let them flow away like water that runs off; When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts. … Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.” Verse 7 says that after rain, the wicked will disappear like a stream on a slope that flows and rolls down (Park). And the word “When he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts” means that as an arrow that is directed at an object doesn’t fulfill its purpose but is broken, the wicked plan will not work and ends (Park). Verse 9 is similar. Like a traveler traveling in the desert is hungry, so on the way he hangs a kiln and cooks rice with thorns as fuel, and then suddenly a strong whirlwind blows and blows away the fuel, the wicked man’s plan is to fail without accomplishing it’s purpose (Park). An example of God defeating the plan of the wicked can be found in the story of David. In other words, when David was running away from Absalom, God frustrated the good advice of Ahithophel (2 Sam. 17:14) through David's friend Hushai (16:16). The reason is recorded in the Bible like this: “… For the LORD had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom” (17:14).
(3) David asked God to make the wicked to be as a snail.
Look at Psalms 58:8 – “Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun.” Why did David pray like that? The reason is because whenever the snail pushes itself on the ground, it consumes and wears out its body. David prayed to God to destroy the wicked even more whenever the wicked did their evil actions (Park).
Third and last, “a God who judges” blesses us (Ps. 58:10-11).
We can think about his bless in two ways:
(1) The first blessing is “rejoice”,
Look at Psalms 58:10 – “The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” Our God is a just God. He is a God who judges justly. That God destroys the wicked. Why did David the righteous rejoice at that time? The reason was never to rejoice over the destruction of the wicked. He rejoiced only because he saw the glory of God. In other words, he rejoiced because he saw God's righteousness and his righteous judgment.
(2) The second blessing is ‘conviction’.
Look at Psalms 58:11 – “And men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely there is a God who judges on earth!” God not only convinces us that there is a God who judges, but He also gives it to others.
When we let God judge us rather than we judge God, we need to be rebuked by God as our sins are being exposed. In the midst of that, we must ask God to blot out our sins. In the midst of that, I hope and pray tat we may be able to enjoy the blessings that God provides.
Bu the grace of just God who judges me,
James Kim
(On the birthday of my father-in-law)