Chapter 35
In this and the previous...and the following...Psalms, David is asking for God to deliver him from his enemies. David maintains that he has been good, that his ways are right before God, and that he has done nothing to deserve what his enemies intend for him. He is not asking for God to strengthen him so that he can lay waste to his enemies - like Samson did - but that God and/or God's angel will intervene on his behalf and do the fighting for him.
2025 - A week after Charlie Kirk's assassination, a week after all the hateful, vile, almost inhuman celebration of the murder of a human being, I came across these verses:
15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; 16 like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth. 17 How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! [Psa 35:15-17 ESV].
I know this isn't about Charlie Kirk, but we are in a situation to which these verses can be applied. How long, O Lord, will you look on?
The demons are coming out of hiding, right out into the open. Some of these people seem surely to have lost all touch with humanity. Is this Romans 1? 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. [Rom 1:24-25 ESV]. Or has something happened spiritually and we are being swarmed by demons with a purpose only of introducing maximum evil into the world? Remember, it is not just here where these things are happening. Christians are being persecuted severely in China, in Africa, in Syria they are murdered daily. Islam is spreading and growing and good people seem at a loss for a response. We don't fight back.
These Psalms are full of defense. Of high towers and shields. Of prayers for God to go on the offensive against these enemies.
But this is all OT. What does Paul say to do in the face of spiritual attack? We are under the New Covenant, and we need to act - or hide - according to that.
19 Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause. [Psa 35:19 ESV]
24 Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me! [Psa 35:24 ESV]
2021 - Several non-defensive prayers in this chapter, like this one:
Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
Psalm 35:6 ESV
Verse 8 is even better:
8 Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it! And let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it--to his destruction! [Psa 35:8 ESV]
2025 - These verses at the end, with perhaps the strategy we are to employ:
27 Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, "Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!" 28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long. [Psa 35:27-28 ESV]. Hmm...better in the NASB95:
27 Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; And let them say continually, "The LORD be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant." 28 And my tongue shall declare Your righteousness [And] Your praise all day long. [Psa 35:27-28 NASB95].
We can make our voices heard, make our outrage known. We can rejoice that a result of all this with Charlie Kirk is that the good that he did is being pushed to the front. The injustice of what happened to him is recognized by all. The WAY he declared the righteousness of God, the WAY he presented common sense and Biblical morality is being held up as an example. God is making his point. For our part, in the face of this tragedy, our part is to declare God's righteousness, and to praise HIM all day long. And we ought not do it in secret either!