February 4

Reading: Psalm 94

1    O LORD, God of vengeance,

     O God of vengeance, shine forth!

2   Rise up, O judge of the earth;

     repay to the proud what they deserve!

3   O LORD, how long shall the wicked,

     how long shall the wicked exult?

4   They pour out their arrogant words;

     all the evildoers boast.

5   They crush your people, O LORD,

     and afflict your heritage.

6   They kill the widow and the sojourner,

     and murder the fatherless;

7   and they say, “The LORD does not see;

     the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

 

8   Understand, O dullest of the people!

     Fools, when will you be wise?

9   He who planted the ear, does he not hear?

     He who formed the eye, does he not see?

10 He who disciplines the nations,

     does he not rebuke?

     He who teaches man knowledge—

11 the LORD– knows the thoughts of man,

     that they are but a breath.

 

12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD,

     and whom you teach out of your law,

13 to give him rest from days of trouble,

     until a pit is dug for the wicked.

14 For the LORD will not forsake his people;

     he will not abandon his heritage;

15 for justice will return to the righteous,

     and all the upright in heart will follow it.

16 Who rises up for me against the wicked?

     Who stands up for me against evildoers?

 

17 If the LORD had not been my help,

     my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

18 When I thought, “My foot slips,”

     your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.

19 When the cares of my heart are many,

     your consolations cheer my soul.

20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you,

     those who frame injustice by statute?

21 They band together against the life of the righteous

     and condemn the innocent to death.

22 But the LORD has become my stronghold,

     and my God the rock of my refuge.

23 He will bring back on them their iniquity

     and wipe them out for their wickedness;

     the LORD our God will wipe them out.

 

Psalm 94 is a prayer and a struggle.  There are various kinds of prayer.  Sometimes we are thanking God.  Sometimes we praise Him.  Other times we ask for guidance.  But, when we are under assault, when problems come crashing in, prayer is like fighting a battle.  Not that God is our enemy, not at all.  It is more like we are in a firefight, trying to call for an airstrike.

In this prayer the attack is coming from unjust people, governments, arrogant brutal people who are causing the psalmist all manner of troubles.  Thus the prayer is both a crying out for help, asking God to execute vengeance, and an attempt to understand the situation.  Have you ever prayed prayers like this?

In the first three verses we hear the prayer and the struggle.  “God, do something, deal with the arrogant.  Are you going to let them continue?”  In verses 4-7 the psalmist informs God of the evil actions of the assailants.  It is not as if he thinks God does not know.  Prayer is communication with God.  We tell Him how things are, often over and over.

In verses 8-16 the psalmist is speaking God’s truth in the prayer.  The Lord sustains the righteous, disciplines those He loves, and opposes the wicked.  This is an expression of faith.  Often, when we pray, we tell the Lord what He has told us.  We speak His truth back to Him.  We are thus reminded of His character, His power, His ability to do what we are asking and correct us if we are asking the wrong thing.

The prayer finishes with assurance that the Lord will answer. (vss. 17-23)  How does the psalmist know?  He knows God, what God is like, what God does, that God listens to the prayers of those who find their stronghold in Him.

Sometimes we are under attack, either by people or by painful circumstance.  In such times it is good to spend hours wrestling in prayer.  We find this in David and Esther and Daniel.  You will find that God shows up in such praying.