The Lord who maintains the cause of the afflicted
[Psalms 140]
When I searched the news on the Internet last Friday, I read an interesting article about ‘the Christian lawyers who resolve disputes in Korean churches in America. Looking at the content of the article, it is said that four Korean Christian lawyers in Southern California and one pastor gathered to establish the 'Korean Dispute Mediation Committee' to emphasize the two roles of church dispute resolution and prevention education. In other words, when a dispute arises and the parties request mediation, the purpose of this organization is to help mediate or negotiate to resolve the issue before going to court, and to provide conflict prevention education to prevent and resolve disputes in advance. Attorney Seo, who has been serving the community for 20 to 30 years as a legal person on this committee, said this in a special lecture: One of the judges in the LA district court said, 'Why are only Koreans coming to the court without solving problems in the church?' … Upon entering the lawsuit, it will cost at least $20,000 to complete the fact check. Why do you use the precious offerings that the saints gave?’ (Internet). Reading this article reminded me of my college friend. Now, as a lawyer, that friend goes to India with other lawyers once a year to defend the poor and powerless people who are being unfairly and unjustly treated. When I thought of this friend, I remembered the word of James 1:27 – “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” The Bible says that it is true religion and godliness to look back on powerless orphans and widows during their distress. That is why Asaph, the psalmist, also said, "Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute" (Ps. 82:3). Vindication and doing justice for the orphans and widows, the poor and the afflicted, and the needy is the ministry of service that we Christians must do. Why is that so? The reason is because it is God's command and also God's heart, God's actions.
In Psalms 140:12, the psalmist David said about God: “I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted And justice for the poor.” In a word, David confessed that God is a God who secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. In the midst of faith in this God, we see David praying to God in Psalms 140. I would like to think of his prayer in two ways.
First, David prayed to God for himself.
What did David pray to God for himself? It was God's deliverance (salvation) and protection (vv. 1-5). Look at Psalms 140:1 – “Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men.” David asked God to deliver him from the wicked and from the violent men (v. 1), and to protect him from them. The reason was because his enemies were so wicked that they wanted to hurt David in their hearts. Not only did they gather every day to devise evil things in their hearts and stir up wars against David (v. 2), but also they wanted to kill him with poison of a viper (v. 3). So David cried out to God, “Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men …” (v. 4). This is because these wicked purposed to trip up David's feet. This is the work of Satan. Satan is still working to overthrow us who believe in Jesus anyway possible. The Satan's purpose is to make us to turn our back on Jesus and leave Him on the path of apostasy. So Satan is meeting with his evil servants every day to try to hurt us. This is what Psalms 140:5 says: “The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set snares for me. Selah.” In this way, through his proud servants, Satan has created a trap by throwing a snare and a net to try not only to hurt David but also to us. Therefore, if we are little bit vigilant, then we will fall into that trap and have no choice but to sin against God. Therefore, in order not to fall into this satanic trap, we must be armed with the word of God and be sober spirit for the purpose of prayer (1 Pet. 4:7).
Second and last, David cried out to God abut his enemies.
The contents of his cry out can be summarized in two ways (MacArthur):
(1) David prayed that God would disturb his enemies (Ps. 140:6-8).
Look at Psalms 140:8 – “Do not grant, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; Do not promote his evil device, that they not be exalted. Selah.” David pleaded with God to prevent the wicked from gathering daily and carrying out the wicked scheme that seeks to hurt him. And he had a clear conviction and faith in God in this prayer. Look at Psalms 140:6-7: “I said to the LORD, "You are my God; Give ear, O LORD, to the voice of my supplications. O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle.” Since David experienced the work of God's protection and deliverance in the past (e.g., God defeated Ahithophel's counsel and made Absalom to listen to Hushai's counsel so that He protected David and finally saved him), he was convinced that He would protect and save him in the present. In this conviction, he prayed by faith that God would disturb his enemies.
(2) David prayed that God would punish his enemies (Ps. 140:9-11).
Look at Psalms 140:9-11: ” "As for the head of those who surround me, May the mischief of their lips cover them. May burning coals fall upon them; May they be cast into the fire, Into deep pits from which they cannot rise. May a slanderer not be established in the earth; May evil hunt the violent man speedily.” Here David cried out to God to bring disaster in punishing his enemies so that they would never arise again. He pleaded with God that God would destroy his enemies so that they would not stand firm in the world again. This should also be our prayer. We must pray that God will oppose our enemies, the enemies of God. We must pray for their own destruction by interfering their devices.
Through the news, we sometimes hear stories of people in this world who are unjustly accused and are in jail and released as a result of a DNA test. When I see those who don’t have money and who can’t buy a lawyer, so when I see the people who are freed after living in jail for decades after being framed, how can they get back their years in jail? In the midst of that, I think there are still people who are unjustly living in prison. The reason is because these days there are severe sinful deeds of wrapping lies in truth rather than truth is courts. Also, I think the prosecution accidentally puts innocent people into jail, while lawyers in particular enjoy receiving a lot of money by claiming innocence of criminals and help them to escape punishment in the legal world. What should we do to live in this reality? Like David in Psalms 140, we must pray to God who maintains the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor. And we must ask God for His saving grace and protection. But we can’t stop there. We must pray to God for defeating our enemies and punishing them. Therefore, I hope and pray that we will give thanks to God as we experience God’s salvation of the righteous through His wicked judgment.
Praying for God's salvation, protection, and judgment of the wicked,
James Kim
(Victory with Word and Prayer!)