1Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an
ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the
deceitful and unjust man!
2For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because
of the oppression of the enemy?
3Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy
hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise
You,
O God, my God.
5Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and
my God.
Commentary
Vs.
1
“Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an
ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the
deceitful and unjust man!”
The cries of every believer who suffers reproach, rebuke, persecution, affliction and or rejection for their faith in Christ at the hands of the nations in which they dwell is heard in this Psalms opening plea! Make no mistake about it as the antichrists degenerate moral agenda takes root in the nation’s civil laws; which is hastening his arrival; those who refuse to submit themselves to it will become the targets of those nations. For in this ungodly world your only free to choose your own moral conscience as long as it aligns with theirs. Therefore, when one holds to sound Biblical moral values and norms, one will be hated and persecuted for doing so. For that is part and parcel in faithfully following Christ. And so, the first part of the Psalm is an appeal to our Sovereign God and Savior to vindicate us against an ungodly nation, which does not believe in Him, and which will never submit themselves to Him, but will hate us who believe in Him for doing so, for they are ever bent on increasing, justifying, and normalizing more and more ungodliness and lawlessness so as to try to take the guilt of sin away, and yet only the Gospel can do that. But the Gospel requires a willing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a willing submission to Him to do so, for it cannot be imposed on anyone.
Now
along with that plea for our vindication, for standing for the truth; (not by
force of arms, nor by contention or strife, but by faith in Jesus Christ); there is the
plea for our deliverance from the deceitful and unjust man. For Satan always
has his man, that deceitful and unjust person who is the willing orchestrator
of our troubles. Who watches us (and recruits others to do the same for them), because in rejecting the Lord they now only think and imagine the worst of us. And so just as they hate and fear the Lord Jesus Christ, so they hate
and fear us. Therefore, by their cunning and deceit they will get others to
hate and fear us as well. For that is what Satan always does he kills, steals, and destroys by stirring up those
whom he has the greatest influence over, and then he sets them against all of us who
hold fast to the Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and keep God’s
commandments. Nonetheless we do not hate them, since they themselves have often only been taken captive by him to do his will (2 Tim. 2:26). Therefore, our defense is not by increasing our numbers, or by strength
of arms, it's not by manipulating and turning people to our side as they so
skillfully do to use and manipulate them against us. No, our defense is of God who alone knows all these things, (and so much more), for He knows and sees us and them (Psalm 34:15-16; Pr. 15:3; 1 Peter 3:12). But unlike them His
judgment is neither skewed, nor perverted, nor debased, nor evil. For He alone judges
justly and truthfully, for He alone knows all our thoughts and all the intents of our hearts, and He
will vindicate us before them all on His Day when He by His Son the Lord Jesus
Christ judges all nations and repays each one according to their works and ways. Therefore,
our defense is of God who always saves the upright in heart!
Vs. 2 “For You are the God of my strength.
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because
of the oppression of the enemy?”
Vs. 3 “Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy
hill
And to Your tabernacle.”
The resolution then to our confusion during such times then is to draw nearer to God. For when nothing else makes sense He does! That is why the psalmist cries out to the Lord to send out His light and His truth, so that they might lead him and guide him. That they might bring him to His holy hill and tabernacle; that is the place where He may be found. Which is not now in a building per-say, but in seeking Him though His Word and prayer we will find Him when we draw near to Him.
Vs. 4 “Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise
You,
O God, my God.”
In finding God, the God of my exceeding joy, we will once again praise and worship Him, we will sing and make songs of praise to Him (Psalm 32:2; Eph. 5:19; James 5:13)!
Vs. 5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted
within me?
Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and
my God.”
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.
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