Passage Read: Psalm 67-70
Meditation Verses: 68:21-23
Thought
This is brutal! The psalm begins with a cry to the Lord to destroy all His enemies, so that the righteous may rejoice and be glad. Then it comes to this point, where God is promising not just to kill all His enemies, all those who refuse to repent, but to bring them up from their graves and lay them at the feet of the righteous, so that the righteous can bathe their feet in the blood of their enemies--and the dogs of the righteous lick up the blood of the wicked! The enemies of the righteous are the enemies of God, and the enemies of God are the enemies of the righteous. The enemies of God and the righteous are the wicked who refuse to repent, who refuse to humble themselves before God and learn to do His will and walk in His ways. They are the ones who take advantage of the kindness of the righteous, of the trust of the righteous. They think we're fools and patsies, but we see through them. We see them for who they are and we cry out to God for justice--and God promises to deliver--and how!
Application
This is a hard thing to fit into modern Christianity. The idea that there are truly wicked people who will never repent, who deserve destruction for their sins--and will be brought to cower before us, whose blood we will bathe our feet in! This seems so far from all I've been taught. There is a different understanding of justice and righteousness in the Bible than what we seem to talk about today. Those who refuse to repent at the preaching of Jesus may in fact some day repent, so we extend unbelievers all kinds of courtesies and deference--and they run with it. But there is a consolation to the righteous, who genuinely desire the salvation of the wicked, even if they never see it: Jesus will bring all those wicked back before us to cower and beg for mercy--and they will get no mercy. They had their chance and they refused it. We were given our chance and took it. So we're counted among the righteous, but the rest are in fact our enemies, even if we think the best of them. So I can treat all people with hope, but instead of getting bitter when they repay me with evil, I know one day I will have my vengeance through the justice of the Lord. In compassion, I should actually warn others not to take advantage of me, for it will go worse for them!