Do you judge the people fairly?
2 No! You plot injustice in your hearts.
You spread violence throughout the land.
3 These wicked people are born sinners;
even from birth they have lied and gone their own way.
4 They spit venom like deadly snakes;
they are like cobras that refuse to listen,
5 ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers,
no matter how skillfully they play.
6 Break off their fangs, O God!
Smash the jaws of these lions, O Lord!
7 May they disappear like water into thirsty ground.
Make their weapons useless in their hands.t
8 May they be like snails that dissolve into slime,
like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.
9 God will sweep them away, both young and old,
faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.
10 The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged.
They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then at last everyone will say,
“There truly is a reward for those who live for God;
surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.”
People are cruel. We are all born that way with original sin. How early in our lives did we begin to tell lies? How quickly as children did we fight and hurt our family and friends when we wanted our own way? It is only Jesus Christ that changes our hearts. Someone once told me be thankful that God's restraints are now are in place; for otherwise more hideous occurrences of cruelty and wickedness would be unleashed.
I never thought about it that way.
Saint Augustine wrote 1600 years ago that in Psalm 58 Christ was speaking to God through the psalmist, David. Sixty years ago, a German Christian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who fought against Nazism and was martyred, wrote the same thought. He wrote: "Christ prays the psalms". Both these men were writing about the Psalms of Imprecation, which is a prayer for something bad to happen to an enemy. Because Jesus was human, (and He is God) He knows how we feel about cruel people. He prays to God (the judge) to punish these cruel people. Bonhoeffer wrote: 'a psalm can become our prayer only because it was Jesus' prayer.
We cannot, ourselves, do wrong or bad things to cruel and wicked people; for then we become as they are. The laws of the land are put in place to control and judge lawless acts. But how much greater it is to fall into the hands of a living God: "For we know the one who said: I will take revenge. I will pay them back. He also said: The Lord will judge his own people. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:30, 31) If we ask God to bring His judgment on them, then we are praying with Jesus! There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth.(vs 11).
"And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved." (2 Peter 3:14, 15)
