Dealing with the Abuse of Our Enemies
Psalm 35
Jim Davis
The gospel message is actually found throughout the Old Testament scriptures. Long before Christ came God’s people were seeking to live by the principles we find proclaimed throughout the gospel message. After all, those were the scriptures the apostles spoke from. Jesus Christ is certainly the culmination of God’s mercy and grace, but the Old Testament gives us a view of both mercy and grace as God works in the lives of his people.
The Scriptures are not called the Living Word of God for naught. While we read and meditate on God’s word, we allow these principles to bleed over into our lives. They are constantly giving each of us principles to live by. We are allowed to take pause reminding ourselves of God’s presence as we make room for God to work in the midst of our troubles.
Salvation history gives us a first hand view of how to seek God as we deal with our problems. The history shows how to depend upon God and how to live for God. We see the struggles of God’s people. We especially see how the faithful approach God as they handle their problems, as they seek to live at peace. We learn how we can allow God to to deal with our enemies as we continue doing good. We see God responding to their request with mercy and grace.
Making Room for God’s Work
Psalm 35 gives a glimpse into the life of the psalmist as he endeavors to make room for God to work in his difficulties. The writer gives us insight on how to react in such times.
You may have heard the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” I think this is the sentiment of Psalm 35.
Psalm 35:12-17
They repay me evil for good
and leave me like one bereaved.
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
I went about mourning
as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
as though weeping for my mother.
But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
They slandered me without ceasing.
Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;
they gnashed their teeth at me.
How long, Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.
Those who mistreated the writer couldn’t have had a better friend. He and fasted for them in their suffering. When the fasting and prayers didn’t work, he morned for them as if it were his own mother or brother. He bowed his head in grief for them. All the while they were his assailants plotting behind his back. He was mocked as they gnashed their teeth against him.
Those who desire to live humble, quiet and peaceful lives are often attacked.
Psalm 35:20
They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
The writer of Psalm 35 seeks to see God’s presence as he ask God how long will he look upon his situation before he acts. Yet, the psalmist seeks to be totally dependent on God.
Psalm 35:1-3
Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.
Take up shield and armor;
arise and come to my aid.
Brandish spear and javelin
against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
“I am your salvation.”
The psalmist prays to God, “‘Say to me, “I am your salvation” as he pleads for God to step into his life to save him from the abuse of his enemies.
The palmist has sincerely sought to help those who have turned on him. Yet, the psalmist refuses to retaliate. He sought to do what was right as people looked on. The psalmist makes room for God to do his work. It is a perfect example of Paul’s instruction.
Romans 12:17-21
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The psalmist is willing to stand still as he ask for God’s help. He can do this because he understands who is in control.
Psalm 46:9-11
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Paul writes, “. . . leave room for God’s wrath.” How often do we crowd God out of our lives? We become so intense trying to fix our problems, trying to deal with our enemies independent of God’s help. We leave no room for God to intervene. We actually get in his way.
Jude wrote to Christians instructing them how to deal with the enemies among them seeking to lead them astray.
Jude 1:9-10
9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
Leave your enemies in the hands of God as they follow their own natural instinct and they will destroy themselves.
The psalmist is totally dependent on God’s help. The writer request that God make himself visible by moving against his enemies.
• Let them be turned back
• Let them be like chaff before wind
• Let their way be dark and slippery
• Let destruction come upon them
• Let them fall into the nets they have set
• Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
The psalmist makes it clear as to how we can approach God in times of trouble. I don’t know the specifics of the writer’s problems other than his would be friends turned on him when he stumbled. The specifics of God’s intervention is not revealed. The psalm ends with the utmost trust in God, even though he continues to wait on God to salvage his life. The greatest victory seen in this psalm is that the writer continues to have the utmost faith in God even though his troubles do not cease.
The psalmist proclaims:
Psalm 35:217b-28
“The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, your praises all day long.
Overcoming Mental Anguish
The mental anguish of having those we seek to help turn on us is terrible. When our thoughts are driving us mad and seem almost uncontrollable, can we not call upon God.
Often our thoughts about our failures in the past seek to sap our energy and overwhelm us. We can become addicts of our past failures as we dwell on the past. We must turn to God asking him to drive out our demons. Trust him to help us so we can refocus our minds as we seek clarity.
2 Timothy 1:6-8
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
We must allow God to help us as we seek peace for ourselves.
Throughout the psalms we witness how the writers sought to refocus their efforts by reminding themselves of God’s power and willingness to help.
Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. NIV
Old Testament scriptures witness the dependency of the Israelites upon God. Their strength was found in the God who fought for them through every battle, whether in their personal lives or on a national level.
Psalm 35:23-28
Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.
Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God;
do not let them gloat over me.
Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”
May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The Lord be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praises all day long.
Prayer is the major avenue to recognizing the reality of God’s presence. Paul writes to the Thessalonians instructing them to, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 NIV).
My greatest need is to recognize God’s presence and guidance in every circumstance. You cannot continually pray for the Spirit’s guidance in every circumstance without experiencing the reality of God’s presence.
Dennis Cox says, "A good prayer life is being aware of God’s presence and being transparent with him about what I am experiencing." Too often our responses in our circumstances are simply programmed responses. Often we have our minds set in such a fashion we only get out of things what we are programmed to get out of them. Only through prayer can we realign ourselves in our circumstances to see what God wishes us to see.
The psalmists writes, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalms 46:10). Prayer times are the times to be still and know God. If we neglect prayer we will lose sight of God’s presence.
We must see ourselves in God’s historical stories from the past. Take a psalm such as this one and use it as our own prayer when going through similar circumstances. We can go through the entire book of psalms using them as a spring board for our own salvation. It is true for the whole of salvation history.
Make sure you don’t become so focused on what is happening to your enemies that you lose sight of God. I do have trouble praying specific troubles on my enemies as the psalmist. I don’t wish them to burn in hell. Maybe we should leave all that up to God as we pray for our salvation.
Conclusion:
Hindsight is 20/20. I can look back in my life and see God’s abundant mercy and grace that stuck with me when I made good decisions and bad decisions. I see his hand in the past when I was doing right and when I did wrong. It is amazing how he works in our lives, whether we are doing right or wrong. He causes it to rain in just times and in unjust times. God’s work is constantly present in each of our lives. He was present in those times I doubted his presence, when I thought I was all alone.
I wish I had the confidence through those experiences to see God’s hand as clear as I see it through hindsight. The psalms are written by those struggling to live godly lives to give us a glimpse of how to maintain our faith in God in difficult times. We place our faith and hopes in the unseen hand of God.
Meditating upon scriptures such as Psalm 35 can give us 20/20 hindsight of how God works in our lives and how should respond. It is certainly helpful until we see God for ourselves. We can see how we can approach him and how we should depend upon him in our deepest agony. In the darkest hours we often develop a stronger faith as we remind ourselves that God can make the weakest stand.
Trusting God’s oversight of our lives makes it possible to live as Paul instructs in these verses:
1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Living quiet lives as we trust God gives us reason to rejoice in the Lord as we seek to extend the love of God to each other.
Psalm 35:9-10
Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord
and delight in his salvation.
My whole being will exclaim,
“Who is like you, Lord?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”
Living like this in our darkest hours encourages others who experience similar troubles to exalt God. It allows the drawing power of God to work through our lives as he seeks to draw those lost to himself.
Psalm 35:27-28
May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The Lord be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praises all day long.
Read Psalm as you make it your own.
Psalm 35
Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.
Take up shield and armor;
arise and come to my aid.
Brandish spear and javelin
against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
“I am your salvation.”
May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.
May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away;
may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,
may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.
Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord
and delight in his salvation.
My whole being will exclaim,
“Who is like you, Lord?
You rescue the poor from those too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”
Ruthless witnesses come forward;
they question me on things I know nothing about.
They repay me evil for good
and leave me like one bereaved.
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
I went about mourning
as though for my friend or brother.
I bowed my head in grief
as though weeping for my mother.
But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;
assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.
They slandered me without ceasing.
Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked;
they gnashed their teeth at me.
How long, Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.
I will give you thanks in the great assembly;
among the throngs I will praise you.
Do not let those gloat over me
who are my enemies without cause;
do not let those who hate me without reason
maliciously wink the eye.
They do not speak peaceably,
but devise false accusations
against those who live quietly in the land.
They sneer at me and say, “Aha! Aha!
With our own eyes we have seen it.”
Lord, you have seen this; do not be silent.
Do not be far from me, Lord.
Awake, and rise to my defense!
Contend for me, my God and Lord.
Vindicate me in your righteousness, Lord my God;
do not let them gloat over me.
Do not let them think, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
or say, “We have swallowed him up.”
May all who gloat over my distress
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who exalt themselves over me
be clothed with shame and disgrace.
May those who delight in my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “The Lord be exalted,
who delights in the well-being of his servant.”
My tongue will proclaim your righteousness,
your praises all day long.
