DUNCAN/O God speak up

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Psalm 109. This is the last of the imprecatory psalms. It calls down God’s curse on the wicked. And it is well that it is the last of the imprecatory psalms because it is perhaps the strongest and certainly the most sustained of the songs of curse. This psalm begins with David’s complaint against evildoers and ends with praise for God’s deliverance. 

I. Four Observations about the Imprecatory Psalms

The first thing we need to note about these songs is that they need to be seen in light of an assault on God’s anointed king, which necessarily entails an assault on God. In this, David voices prayers about that opposition to his kingship as a foreshadowing of opposition to Jesus’ kingship. 

Secondly, notice that even the imprecations in this psalm leave God to administer the curse and judgment. David does not take matters into his own hands. He calls on God, in His own way and His own time, as He sees fit to bring down judgment upon the wicked.

Third, it’s important for us when we see these psalms of curse to remember that the curses picture a deserved judgment. Not a judgment against the innocent. These words of curse will come to pass on all who do not rest and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel.

Fourth, it’s important for us to remember that it is right to desire the punishment of the wicked. It is right to desire the punishment of evil and it is right to desire the vindication of God’s people. Even as we desire the punishment of the wicked, so the awesome just judgment of God against the wicked ought to move our hearts to tenderness and a yearning that the wicked would turn to Christ and so not fall under this just judgment.

II. David’s Complaint and Curse of His Enemies 

First, the complaint, in verses 1 to 5. Here we see a desperate prayer in a dire situation to the only One who can deliver the psalmist. He begins by stating who his God is — the God of his praise — and then he begs, “Be not silent!” Why? Because he is the object of an attack on his character. Look at verses 2 and 3. It’s a picture of an attack on his character. In that context, he cries out this desperate prayer in this dire situation to the only One who can deliver him.

And don’t you love the way that David asks for His help? What does he say? “Be not silent!” The psalmist knows that all it takes is one word from God to dispel all the accusations of all his enemies in all the world for all time. Just one word. Do you see why prayer to this prayer-hearing, prayer-answering God is so important? With Him, one little word shall fell him. So that’s where we begin, with this prayer in a dire situation, begging God to speak a word on his behalf.

And then we come to the curses. In verses 6 through 20 the word of curse is spoken and it’s a litany of deserved curses upon the accuser and the accusers. This is not a calling down of a spell on an innocent victim. This is a litany of curses of judgment against evildoers. We need to remember that our opposition ultimately is not against flesh and blood but from an evil one, an accuser. The language of Satan, the language of accuser, is used in verse 6 and then again in this psalm so that the curses focus on the one who is the instrument of the evil one raging against God.

Remember that David himself was not, in his practice, a vindictive man. On more than one occasion he had the opportunity to do in his enemy Saul and he refused to do that by his own hand. He was a man who very often spared those who had done wrong against him in his life. If these are not the words of a bitter, petty, vindictive, self-justifying man, what are they? They’re a picture of what sin deserves. They’re a picture of what our sins deserve. As you look at the litany of curses that fall down on this violent man, have you ever thought of it that apart from God’s grace, apart from God’s mercy, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ and His atoning work that’s what we deserve? He bore this curse from His Father on our behalf that we might not bear it ourselves. If you wonder at the rightness of Jesus administering these words, just remember that He alone, of all the people who will dwell in the presence of God forever, knows what it is like to receive this curse. And He took that in your place so that you might never receive it. 

III. David’s Prayer and Promise of Praise 

Next, look at the prayer in verses 21 to 29. “O God, my Lord, deal on my behalf” — because I’m good? Because I’m innocent? — “for Your name’s sake; because of Your steadfast love, deliver me! Lord, base my deliverance not on me but on who You are. Do it for Your name’s sake; do it because of Your goodness and Your steadfast love.” Verse 22 to 24 plea that God would do this because of his predicament. “I am poor and needy, my heart is stricken, my knees are weak, I’m the object of scorn. Do this, O God, because my predicament is great. Do it because of who You are.” Over and over the psalmist bases his prayer for salvation on God, God’s character, God’s mercy, and his need. 

Finally, look at his promise of praise in verses 30 and 31. “With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD; I will praise him in the midst of the throng. For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.” In the book of Acts, a righteous man named Stephen had been wrongly condemned to death by a mob for the testimony of Jesus. As the stones smashed around his ears and broke his bones, he saw heaven open and Jesus standing. You see what Jesus is saying? “I am standing in the posture of intercession, ever living to intercede for My chosen ones. And whatever situation they find themselves, and whatever trial they find themselves enduring, I am interceding for them.” He is praying for God’s judgment on their enemies, and He is praying for God’s vindication of their persons. There is no power in this universe that can thwart or resist that prayer. As the accuser is standing in verse 6 next to the man in court, so now the Mediator is standing next to His accused people. And who will bring a charge against them? Who will prevail against the Mediator?