6 Arise, LORD, in your anger;
rise up against the rage of my enemies.
Awake,my God; decree justice.
7 Let the assembled peoples gather around you,
while you sit enthroned over them on high.
8 Let the LORD judge the peoples.
Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity, O Most High.
9 Bring to an end the violence of the wicked
and make the righteous secure—
you, the righteous God
who probes minds and hearts. (Psalm 7:6-9)
Does your heart break for injustice and violence that punctuates life on this earth? Do you grow weary when you realize that it is not just this generation, or this culture, but rather people of every day and every culture who have perverted justice? Well, the words of Psalm 7 may provide words with which we can cry out to our God in prayer.
At the heart of this Psalm (above), we hear David cry out to God for justice and personal vindication. Note the bold imperatives he uses as he makes his plea before God in verse 6: “arise,” “rise up,” “awake.” This is an impassioned plea for God to act.
To what end does he cry out to God? To “decree justice (vs. 6),” “judge the peoples,” “vindicate me (vs. 8),” and “bring to an end the violence of the wicked (vs. 9).” If we are dissatisfied with injustice in this world, then we should naturally long for things to be made right.
Yet in expressing these desires, David is not just expressing wishful thinking. No, David is crying out to the one who sits enthroned on high (vs. 7), “the righteous God who probes minds and hearts (vs. 9).”
You see if our only hope is that someday the world will get it right, then surely we are not thoughtful people. History clearly tells us that such sentiment would be a fool’s hope; people this side of the fall have always spewed injustice. Yet our God is one who has appointed a day when he will “judge the world in righteousness” as the apostle Paul announced to a crowd in Athens (Acts 17:31). There is coming a time when God will make things right! A day has been set when justice will be served. In the meantime, we along with David can cry out to God when we see oppression. We can ask that God might give us a hint of that future day in our own day.