Day 135 — Psalms 26, 40, 58, 61, 62, & 64

Did you notice the common themes of waiting on God and finding refuge in Him? They go together in the psalmist’s mind.

David waited for God. Note the conditions in which he was waiting: when people were attacking him, it couldn’t have been easy for him to wait, and yet, he waited on God. This king and soldier did not take matters into his own hands, but waited on God.  Observe what that looked like from David’s description of how he waited. Do you wait for God like that?

David’s enemies were the wicked. In these psalms, note all the things the wicked did that made them wicked. Some of the people who attacked David likely thought they were right to do so, because human beings are prone to serve self and see only their self-centered viewpoints. Do you find yourself doing any of those things? Does the Holy Spirit convict you about any of your own actions and ways?

David cried out to God to vindicate him. His request was founded on a relationship with God that he had cultivated by doing some things and not doing other things and demonstrating a certain kind of character. What distinguished him from his enemies so that he felt justified in asking for God’s vindication? How do you compare to David’s actions and character? Would God find any basis for vindicating you?

David asked for God to take vengeance on his enemies, and what he asked for sometimes was brutal vengeance. We’ve seen that before in the psalms and considered how to reconcile that brutality in the man after God’s own heart, with the better plan of God for His people revealed in Jesus’ teaching. Being designed in God’s image, we long for justice, and sometimes justice does call for vengeance to be taken against a wrongdoer. God understands that the righteous need to know that at the end of the wait on Him, there is reward for the righteous.

Note what happens to David’s wicked enemies, and what the result is. All of their exercise of power over their victims, the victim’s suffering under the injustice and persecution, and God’s salvation for the victims, serve the ends of strengthening the relationship of trust and love between God and those who take refuge in Him, and of glorifying God. Can you seek these ends as you wait on God, and thus allow Him to use your waiting for the good He wants to bring?