*This is the cry of a soul in extreme peril.
*He is chased by an enemy who is like a raging lion, which will tear him in pieces if he does not find a place of safety.
We see at the very outset that we have before us the cry of a soul pursued by Satan, the great Destroyer; for: 1 Peter 5:8 The devil, as a roaring lion, goes about, seeking whom he may devour.
Psalm 7:3-5 O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be
iniquity in my hands: If I have rendered evil to him that was at peace with me; (I have even delivered him that was my enemy without cause); Let the enemy chase my soul and catch it; and let him tread my life to the earth, and cast down my glory to the dust.
The lion cares nothing for the fact that his prey is inoffensive, and has done him no injury. He is filled with a desire to destroy, and he slays to gratify his own passion for destroying. So the devil lies in wait for the innocent, as shown in his dealing with our first parents in the garden of Eden.
Psalm 7:6,7 Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift up yourself against the fury of my adversaries; and awake for me the judgment You have commanded. So shall the congregation of the peoples compass You about, and over it return You on high.
Read in the light of the first section of the psalm, this cry for vengeance does not seem so revengeful as it sometimes does to the careless reader.
Psalm 7:3-5 O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be
iniquity in my hands: If I have rendered evil to him that was at peace with me; (I have even delivered him that was my enemy without cause); Let the enemy chase my soul and catch it; and let him tread my life to the earth, and cast down my glory to the dust.
The lion cares nothing for the fact that his prey is inoffensive, and has done him no injury. He is filled with a desire to destroy, and he slays to gratify his own passion for destroying. So the devil lies in wait for the innocent, as shown in his dealing with our first parents in the garden of Eden.
Psalm 7:6,7 Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift up yourself against the fury of my adversaries; and awake for me the judgment You have commanded. So shall the congregation of the peoples compass You about, and over it return You on high.
Read in the light of the first section of the psalm, this cry for vengeance does not seem so revengeful as it sometimes does to the careless reader.
---It is not the demand of one man for vengeance upon other men who are hostile to him, but it is a call for judgment upon the arch-enemy. Moreover it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that the element of human passion does not enter into it.
Psalm 7:11 God is angry with the wicked every day.
The words in italics, however, show what was added by the translators. Even if we take the text as it stands in the common version, there need be no difficulty, since we see that “the wicked” are not sinners on probation, but the devil and all his hosts, both of angels, and of men who have sold themselves to him to persecute the godly.
Psalm 7:11 God is angry with the wicked every day.
The words in italics, however, show what was added by the translators. Even if we take the text as it stands in the common version, there need be no difficulty, since we see that “the wicked” are not sinners on probation, but the devil and all his hosts, both of angels, and of men who have sold themselves to him to persecute the godly.
Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, yea, a God that has
indignation continually.
Q: Is it not comforting to know that we are not left alone and forgotten?
Psalm 7:17 I will give thanks unto the Lord according to His righteousness: and will sing praises to the name of Jehovah Most High. And thus we find, as we always shall, that the portion of Scripture which Satan uses for the purpose of discouraging people, is the one that is full of comfort for them."
Q: Is it not comforting to know that we are not left alone and forgotten?
Psalm 7:17 I will give thanks unto the Lord according to His righteousness: and will sing praises to the name of Jehovah Most High. And thus we find, as we always shall, that the portion of Scripture which Satan uses for the purpose of discouraging people, is the one that is full of comfort for them."
E.J. Waggoner
