THE PSALMS – A JOURNEY IN WORSHIP AND FAITH - July 30, 2014 – Day 7

Nobody likes to be slandered. In Psalm 7 we find David crying out to God about how this Benjaminite named Cush has made false accusations against him to Saul, who now seeks to hunt him down like a dog. One of the words I hear out of many Christians these days is the word karma. Karma today is used often in the context of saying that someone who has done something wrong to us will get what’s coming to him.

So is there such a thing as karma? David teaches us in this psalm that yes, in a way; there is a reckoning of judgment coming to those who sin. I hear a lot of Christians say, “God isn’t mad at you.” That may not always be the case according to this psalm. Hear the God’s Word as He speaks through David.

Psalm 7:11-13
“God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow;
he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.”

The King James and the NIV use the word angry in verse 11 and certainly the word study confirms this idea. Verses 12 and 13 say “If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.”  Nahum 1:2 tells us “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.” Romans 2:5 speaks of God’s wrath saying “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.” Kind of sounds a little like karma.

But we must stop a moment and remember who God is.

Psalm 145:8
“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

Romans 9:22
“What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction…”

2 Peter 3:8-9
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

We want evil punished. We don’t understand why “they” get away with it. Why doesn’t God stop this? Because He does not wish that “any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Nobody gets away with sin. Nobody. As a matter of fact all the sins we Christians commit have a steep price of judgment. The only difference between “us” and “them” is that Jesus bore our punishment on the cross. We still face the consequences of sin but eternally they are wiped out. We will not get what is coming to us.

David understands. He says this toward the end of Psalm 7 in verses14-16,

“Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole that he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own skull his violence descends.”

Reaping and sowing. But the lesson here is this. Judgment and vengeance is God’s work. Ours is to be thankful He has called us out of darkness and covered us with His blood. The blood of Christ is all that separates us from those who will perish in eternal damnation. Therefore we must share the light of the good news of the Gospel to even those who slander us and seek to destroy us.

David ends Psalm 7 with the answer to what we do in the midst of our own enemy attack. Praise God.

Psalm 7:17
“I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.”

When we praise God instead of desiring karma then shine His light and show others how loving God is. Preach Jesus to all, even your enemies. Forget karma. Replace it with love.