June 22, 2023 — Psalm 64 

“Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy. Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the scheming of evildoers, who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, shooting from ambush at the blameless; they shoot suddenly and without fear. They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see us? Who can search out our crimes? We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.” For the human heart and mind are deep. But God will shoot his arrow at them; they will be wounded suddenly. Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake with horror. Then everyone will fear; they will tell what God has brought about and ponder what he has done. Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him. Let all the upright in heart glory.” Psalm 64 

The psalmist begs G-d to protect him from his fear. He goes on to describe the tongue as a sword, and the more we spend time on Social Media sites, the more we find this to be true. In many ways, there is no guard against a false tongue – too many people hide behind screens of lies and slander. It is too easy to be drawn into such slander, and soon we are no better than the trolls who egg us on. It is a sign that the heart is being drawn into darkness when it is encouraged to write evil when beset with evil.  

In contrast to the labors of the “enemy”, of our enemies, G-d’s judgment and G-d’s goodness is swift and appropriate. We trust that the goodness of G-d will frustrate the plans, the “arrows”, the attack that comes “suddenly” from our haters, and the sharpness of the verbal and physical attacks of those who hate us – of those who persecute Christians. The Psalmist says, “Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him.” and again,  “Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy.” 

G-d hears our prayers all the time, even before we pray them. G-d even knows the thoughts of our heart. We must pray with the trust and the earnestness that we believe G-d hears us always. We are the salt of the earth, those of us who call ourselves Christians. Fear is lack of faith. Christians should not fear the things of this earth – but live with the faith that G-d has all things under control.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, you gave your Son victory over those who plotted evil against him; when he cried to you in his agony, you delivered him from the fear of his enemies. May those who suffer with him in this life find refuge in you, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.