The Righteousness to Practice Before Men | Psalm 7:6–9

6           Arise, O LORD, in your anger;
            lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
            awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.
7           Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about you;
            over it return on high.
8           The LORD judges the peoples;
            judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness
            and according to the integrity that is in me.
9           Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
            and may you establish the righteous—
            you who test the minds and hearts,
            O righteous God!

David feels what we’ve all felt occasionally—as though God is ignoring his plight.  He seeks the Lord to awake, as though the Eternal God slumbers.  He knows that the Lord is angry with sinners (see 5:5), so he seeks the Lord to arise in judgment against his enemies and bring unrighteousness in this world to an end.  What do we learn here?

It’s okay to seek to clear our name.  Note how David went about it, though.  He sought the Lord to vindicate him.  He ultimately could say or do nothing to convince those doggedly against him, as he saw with King Saul.  However, he could seek the Lord for protection, even praying that God’s justice would be served.  He knew the Lord could “establish the righteous” (v. 9).  Job had a similar hope (Job 27:5–6).  When faced with lies, we need not pretend they do not exist, but we also should trust in the Lord’s ability to vindicate us.


Ensure your innocence by God’s grace.  David seems to pray an incredibly dangerous prayer, for we all lack righteousness.  In this case, however, David is only arguing that he is blameless of the slander, not that he is without sin.  The Lord is actually righteous and He tests “the minds and hearts.” He knows what may be clouded in a human court—true innocence and guilt.  Because Christ shares His divine nature with us, Christians can begin living lives according to God’s righteousness today (2 Pt 1:3–4).  May we live lives of such integrity by God’s grace that our consciences could be so clean.

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