Year One, July 5

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause1

Many years after the times of the Judges, Israel was again in serious trouble. Her holy men and women remembered the Lord’s overthrow of Jabin and Sisera and used those victories as part of their prayer. We must never doubt that the Lord will answer our prayers today, just as he did for his people in the distant past. He may use different methods, but he will achieve the same result.

  

Psalm 83

A SONG. A PSALM OF ASAPH

1 O God, do not keep silence;

do not hold your peace or be still, O God!

2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar;

those who hate you have raised their heads.

Oh Lord, your enemies are in a rage. Do not be deaf and silent. Hear their furious threats and rebuke them. They are very proud. Lord, humiliate them.

3 They lay crafty plans against your people;

they consult together against your treasured ones.

God’s people are his finest treasure. He protects them like others protect gold. Their lives are as precious as jewels to him. To the wicked, however, God’s people are puzzling and worthless. They plot against them. They are dishonest and cruel. But we can still learn from them. Believers sometimes act without thinking things through, but their enemies almost never do that.

4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;

let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

They will only be satisfied with destroying us completely. If they had their way, the powers of evil would not leave a single believer on earth. Remember the massacre of St. Bartholomew,2 and be assured that the spirit of antichrist has not changed.

5 For they conspire with one accord;

against you they make a covenant--

6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites,

7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,

Philistia with the inhabitant of Tyre;

8 Asshur also has joined them;

they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.     Selah

Relatives and neighbors. Old enemies and new. They came together against the favored nation. The wicked will come together for evil, but Christians often refuse to come together for good. This is very shameful.

9 Do to them as you did to Midian,

as to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

10 Who were destroyed at En-dor,

who became dung for the ground.

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,

all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

12 who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves

of the pastures of God.”

The “pastures of God” refers to the tabernacle. These evil men wanted to attack it and take over the Most Holy Place itself. Their total destruction was a well deserved reward for such vicious disrespect.

13 O my God, make them like whirling dust,

like chaff before the wind.

Oh Lord. Let them have no peace. Let them have no power to fight against you.

14 As fire consumes the forest,

as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,

15 so may you pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your hurricane!

We must love our own enemies, but when we think of people as the enemies of God and his glorious cause, we cannot love them nor is it our duty to do so. May all those who fight against God; his truth, his love, and his holiness, be totally defeated.

16 Fill their faces with shame,

that they may seek your name, O LORD.

A sweet prayer.  It is a very proper one for Christian lips, because it asks for the salvation of those who are now the Lord’s enemies.

17 Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;

let them perish in disgrace,

If wicked people will not bend, then let them break. All the rights of people and all the laws of God should not be set aside just so unholy people have the freedom to sin as they please. If truth and holiness cannot exist unless bad people are crushed, then let them be crushed.

18 that they may know that you alone,

whose name is the LORD,

are the Most High over all the earth.

“Your kingdom come.”3 This is God’s magnificent plan. All events in history move toward it. As a household and as individuals, let us always be found on the Lord’s side.

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¹ Psalm 74:22

² The slaughter of thousands of Huguenots (Christians) by Roman Catholic supporters in Paris, France in August, 1572.

³ Matthew 6:10