O LORD, my God, in You I have taken refuge; save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me (Psalm 7:1).
This may be called the "Song of the Slandered Saint." What a blessing it would be if we could turn even the most disastrous event into a theme for song, and so turn the tables upon our great enemy.
David appears before God to plead with him against the Accuser, who had charged him with treason and treachery. The case is here opened with an avowal of confidence in God. Whatever may be the emergency of our condition we shall never find it amiss to retain our reliance upon our God.
“O LORD my God,” mine by a special covenant, sealed by Jesus’ blood, and ratified in my own soul by a sense of union to thee; “in thee,” and in thee only, “do I put my trust,” even now in my sore distress. I shake, but my rock moves not.
It is never right to distrust God, and never vain to trust him. And now, with both divine relationship and holy trust to strengthen him, David utters the burden of his desire—”save me from all them that persecute me.” His pursuers were very many, and any one of them cruel enough to devour him; he cries, therefore, for salvation from them all.
We should never think our prayers complete until we ask for preservation from all sin, and all enemies. “And deliver me,” extricate me from their snares, acquit me of their accusations, give a true and just deliverance in this trial of my injured character.
See how clearly his case is stated; let us see to it, that we know what we would have when we are come to the throne of mercy. Pause a little while before you pray, that you may not offer the sacrifice of fools. Get a distinct idea of your need, and then you can pray with the more fluency of fervency.
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am pining away (Psalm 6:2). The Psalmist is very conscious that he deserves to be rebuked, and he feels, moreover, that the rebuke in some form or other must come upon him, if not for condemnation, yet for...[ abbreviated | read entire ]
