Back to Grace
God’s people may be oppressed but they are never consumed. This Psalm may be sobering, but truth from God will always cheer our hearts. It is good for God’s people to engage in song even when most discouraged. In the midst of oppression, we can hold onto songs and Scriptures that speak to us of promise, hope, and certainty.
Main Points: First Stanza: The world’s unending pressure to suppress your walk with the Lord (verses 1-4).
Pressure from the world will never cease. There is no perfectly celestial life to be found in a sin-cursed world. The more mature you are in Christ and the brighter your light shines, the more oppression you will encounter.Perspective depends on our response to oppression. God promises that His people will never be consumed. Affliction in the world is temporary compared to eternal glory. Though the goal of the wicked is only to worsen the cut, we survive because our Lord is righteous, and through Christ that righteousness lives in us.
Second Stanza: The undying resolve in your heart for justice (verses 5-8).
We should pray for our enemies to come to know Jesus. But it is okay to desire God’s final judgment on all who reject God and hurt His people. We can and should take a stand for right without engaging in vigilantism. Vengeance is in the Lord’s hands. The righteous long that the wicked will have no honor, no success, and no blessing. This is quite alright. It is not okay to acquiesce to the culture and applaud wickedness, whether by actively partaking in it or by not judging it in our own lives.
Until the kingdom of the world becomes His kingdom, God desires for you to know grace enough to persevere under unending pressure, while you realize an undying sense for justice to be meted out on the earth. In between these two, God longs to find a gradual, consistent, faithful, joyful, singing, Word-saturated people.
Application Points
It is important to keep the right perspective amidst the pressure we encounter in the world. Use these questions to examine your life and direct your eyes towards God:
How do you experience the world’s pressure? Is your light shining brightly? What is your response to opposition? What truths will give you hope and comfort in the midst of oppression?
Do you have any enemies? How do you pray for them? Can you pray for them to come to know Jesus and pray that God would finally right all evil?
Not judging the presence of sin in our own lives is equal to passively blessing it. Is there any place in your life where you are applauding or partaking in evil? What kind of television shows, movies, books, music, etc. do you partake in? Do these honor the surrounding fallen society or God who will not bless sin?
Tools for Further Study
Cross References to Explore: 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 – the Christian’s endurance Ephesians 5:7-16 – the Light exposes darkness Hosea 11:1, Exodus, Judges, Amos, 1 + 2 Kings, Isaiah 36-37 – Israel’s history of survival Matthew 5:45 – pray for your enemies Romans 12:17-21 – vengeance is the Lord’s Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 – the oppression of Christ and His victory
A Hymn to Encourage: When Peace Like a River
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.
Refrain: It is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soul.
Quotes to Ponder:
[Robert] Kidner: “Whereas most nations tend to look back at what they have achieved, Israel reflects here on what she has survived.”
Charles Spurgeon: “If this be an [imprecatory prayer], let it stand, for our heart says amen to it. It is but justice that those who hate, harass, and hurt the good should be brought to naught. Those who confound right and wrong ought to be confounded, and those who turn back from God ought to be turned back. How could we wish prosperity on those who would destroy that which is dearest to our hearts as God’s people? This present age is so flippant that if man loves the Savior, he is styled a fanatic; and if he hates the powers of evil, he is named a bigot. As for ourselves, despite all detractors, we would revive in our hearts the old practice of Ebal and Gerazim, where those were blessed who blessed God, and those were cursed who made themselves a curse to righteousness. …Study a chapter in the book of martyrs, and see if you do not wish to read an imprecatory psalm over Bishop Bohnner and Bloody Mary. It may be that some wretched nineteenth-century sentimentalist will blame you; if so, read an imprecation over him.”
“Can it be wrong for us to pray that the efforts of evil persons might be so unsuccessful that in the end, there is nothing at all left of their schemes? Rather, it is the case that we err by being too tolerant and accepting of evil rather than too firm in our opposition to it.”