Scripture Daily

Context No. 326 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 35:17-28: in context

17Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions. 18I will give you thanks in the great assembly. I will praise you among many people. 19Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes. 20For they don’t speak peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. 21Yes, they opened their mouth wide against me. They said, “Aha! Aha! Our eye has seen it!” 22You have seen it, LORD. Don’t keep silent. Lord, don’t be far from me. 23Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God! My Lord, contend for me! 24Vindicate me, LORD my God, according to your righteousness. Don’t let them gloat over me. 25Don’t let them say in their heart, “Aha! That’s the way we want it!” Don’t let them say, “We have swallowed him up!” 26Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me. 27Let those who favor my righteous cause shout for joy and be glad. Yes, let them say continually, “May the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant!” 28My tongue shall talk about your righteousness and about your praise all day long.

This is a prayer of someone being wronged, and it is striking mostly for how raw it is allowed to be. The psalmist is surrounded by enemies who gloat over his troubles, who wink at each other, who open their mouths wide and jeer, Aha, aha, we saw it, who cook up lies against people the psalm calls the quiet in the land. And rather than swallow it or plot his own revenge, he takes the whole ugly business straight to God, in words most of us would be nervous to pray.

He is not polite about it. How long will you look on, he asks God, as if accusing him of standing by, watching the injustice and doing nothing. Wake up, he prays, rise to my defense, do not be silent, do not stay far off, contend for me, vindicate me. He wants vindication badly, and he wants his enemies not to gloat, and he says all of it out loud to God. But notice where he puts the case. He does not go settle the score himself. He hands his craving for vindication to God and asks God to be the one who contends. And then, before any rescue has actually come, he makes a vow that turns the whole prayer: let those who love my cause shout for joy, and my tongue will tell of your righteousness all day long. He commits to praise while still waiting for the answer.

The psalm gives permission for something I often think is off-limits, bringing raw grievance and even a complaint against God's apparent silence directly to him. And it shows what to do with the desire for vindication, hand it to God to settle rather than seize it myself. When I am wronged, do I take it to God this honestly and then leave the contending to him, or do I either bottle it up or quietly appoint myself to even the score?

Sources