Psalm 7:3-5 “O Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands—if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me or without cause have robbed my foe— then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust. Selah.”
As stated earlier, King David was a “man after God’s own heart.”1 Though he was certainly not perfect, he tried to please God and pursue fairness in his dealings with others.
This pearl presents another way of looking at the golden rule ... “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). In today’s vernacular, David is saying: Lord, If I have pursued the innocent, even my foe, without cause if I have said unkind things about him if I have robbed or coveted his possessions if I have otherwise mistreated him then let him pursue and overtake me; let him retaliate, evil for evil, because I will have it coming.
Have we been on the receiving end of unfair and unkind treatment? Or perhaps we’ve been the one dishing it out? Either way, we must be warned that such behavior is not acceptable to God and do all we can to live at peace with one another. Jesus would advise us to turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, and forgive seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22).
I invite you to join me in prayer over any sin we haven’t already confessed and let peace reign in our hearts and in our relationships.
Father God, I am guilty of treating others unfairly in the past. I repent of that sin and ask you to forgive me and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.2 I desire to live a holy life and to be conformed to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ, who loved and gave himself for me. Amen.
SELAH PEARL: GOD IS PEACE
1 But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD’s command” (I Samuel 13:14). 2 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).