S182P5 – Characters in the Psalms: the meek defendant
Psa. 109:1-5
Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
Each of us knows that in life not everyone will take to us. Sometimes others do not like you because of a difference in opinion or personality. Sometimes others do not feel they have anything in common with you. Some people just cannot tolerate these differences and would rather not engage in developing a friendship. There are other times, however, when the impetus for the conflict rests in Christ. Perhaps your faith is attacked, and lies are spread about you. Perhaps you do not hear of these things from the source but through the grapevine. The worldly response is to mount a vocal defense and correct these inaccuracies. The godly response is what is described in this passage.
David stated here that he did the right thing and poured out love to those men who would become his enemies. When they came at him with animosity, he replied with peace. They attacked his reputation by speaking lies about him, but David did not speak up and defend himself. He knew where he stood in the eyes of God, and he trusted God to defend him. David understood that the reputation and character being attacked here were really God’s; he was God’s servant, a man after his own heart. It very well may have been the world’s envy of the things he had in the Lord, his favor and his peace, that brought about such warrantless attacks. Ultimately, David knew that the God who saw who he truly was would come to his defense much better than David himself could.
There is a foundational truth of Christianity that supports our decision to let God defend us against the lies of our enemies. This truth tells us that a day will come when all things will be revealed. When this order of things comes to an end, every truth and every lie will be illuminated. [Lk. 8:16-18; 12:1-3] Those who speak lies about our faith and call us crazy or naive will learn that we are neither of these things. Every false accusation will be shown to be the lie that it is. The saints certainly can wait with meekness for the Lord to mount his defense of us. Father, help us to remain silent when we should and rely on You to defend us against the lies of our enemies.