For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 109:1-5,28-30

1 My God, whom I praise,
    do not remain silent,
2 for people who are wicked and deceitful
    have opened their mouths against me;
    they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
3 With words of hatred they surround me;
    they attack me without cause.
4 In return for my friendship they accuse me,
    but I am a man of prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
    and hatred for my friendship.

28 While they curse, may you bless;
    may those who attack me be put to shame,
    but may your servant rejoice.
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
    and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.

30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
    in the great throng of worshippers I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
    to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

A. Find Out:

1. What does David ask of the Lord? v.1,26
2. What has been the form of attack? v.2-4,28,29
3. But what does David determine to do? v.4b
4. What else does he determine to do? v.30
5. Why? v.31

B. Think:

1. What has been the cause of David writing this psalm?
2. What does he ask the Lord to do?
3. What will he do in the meantime?

C. Comment:

David has been under attack – verbal attack! Thus he cries out to the Lord to speak (v.1) and act (v.26).

His opposition comes from those who he describes as wicked and deceitful (v.2). Wicked speaks of their general nature and deceitful speaks of the expression of that nature. He has sought to express friendship to these men (v.4a,5) but they have attacked him (v.3b, 28b) with words (v.2b) that are words barbed with hatred (v.3a) that appear to come without motivation (v.3b). They have spoken against him (v.2c) and they have lied about him (v.2c). They have thus falsely accused him (v.4a,29a) and they have cursed him (v.28). It has clearly been a vicious and wounding attack and much of what follows has been David’s cry to the Lord to deal with them.

Thus David asks the Lord to speak (against them – implied) and to come and obviously show His love for David (v.26,27) so that these people will know it is the Lord acting on his behalf. Though David asks the Lord to deal with them (as we will see in Part 2), he seeks to maintain a righteous attitude. They seek to make him out as godless and unrighteous, but he will remain a man of prayer (v.4b) and he will praise the Lord (v.1), and even though they seek to shame him, he will rejoice (v.28c). He determines that despite all this he will extol and praise the Lord publicly (v.30), for He will save him!   That’s trust and faith!

D. Application:

1. People do speak against us unfairly. It’s part of being a Christian.
2. We are to remain godly and righteous despite what happens.

Passage: Psalm 109:6-20

6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
    let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
    and may his prayers condemn him.
8 May his days be few;
    may another take his place of leadership.
9 May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labour.
12 May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off,
    their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
    may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the Lord,
    that he may blot out their name from the earth.

16 For he never thought of doing a kindness,
    but hounded to death the poor
    and the needy and the broken-hearted.
17 He loved to pronounce a curse –
    may it come back on him.
He found no pleasure in blessing –
    may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,
    into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
    like a belt tied for ever round him.
20 May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
    to those who speak evil of me.

A. Find Out:

1. What does David first ask of his enemy? v.6
2. What does he want to happen? v.7
3. How many “may”s are there following? v.8-15
4. Why? v.16
5. Why these curses? v.17-20

B. Think:

1. What form does David want the judgement to take?
2. What does he want to happen to his enemy?
3. Why?

C. Comment:

  In the middle part of this psalm we find David asking the Lord to deal with his enemy in the same way that his enemy has been dealing with him – let the punishment fit the crime, if you like. I prefer the alternative rendering of verse 6: appoint the evil one to oppose him, let Satan stand at his right hand. We know the Lord uses Satan as an accuser to expose the sins of mankind. That would be appropriate here. Let my enemy’s sins be revealed, is what he is saying (v.7).

  Then follow eight verses that pronounce curses on his enemies. He wants this specific enemy to lose his position (v.8) and life, so the result will be penury for his family (v.9-12), for them to be cut off and forgotten (v.13) and their sins remembered (v.14,15) so the justice of his removal be understood (implied).

  Why all this? Because his enemy had been merciless (v.16) and he had loved to pronounce curses (decrees of bad) on people and never good (v.17). It was like cursing had entered his very being (v.18) and so David wanted the judgement on him to be the very curses that he had uttered over other people (v.19,20)

  This is an amazing psalm of understanding. Curses are decrees or desires for bad for another person. This enemy of David’s had spoken against him again and again. He had wanted David’s ruin. Very often the Lord brings on us the very things we want for others. Beware.

D. Application:

1. The tongue expresses the heart. Check out what you say.
2. The Lord will hold us accountable.

Passage: Psalm 109:21-26

21 But you, Sovereign Lord,
    help me for your name’s sake;
    out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;
    I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way from fasting;
    my body is thin and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads. 26 Help me, Lord my God;
    save me according to your unfailing love.

A. Find Out:

1. What does David ask the Lord to do? v.21a
2. On what basis? v.21b
3. What does he feel about himself emotionally and mentally? v.22
4. What does he feel about himself physically? v.23,24
5. What does he feel about himself socially? v.25
6. So what does he ask and on what basis? v.26

B. Think:

1. On what basis does David ask the Lord to act?
2. How would you summarise his state?

C. Comment:

  We saw in Part 1 David describing his plight generally, the cause of it, people verbally attacking him, and his cry to the Lord to save him. In the second part, we saw his desire for the Lord to bring back on his enemy what his enemy had been wanting for him. Now we see how he feels about himself in the midst of all this.

  He feels ‘poor and needy’ (v.22a). His natural resources are spent. He is emotionally wrung out for his ‘heart is wounded’ (v.22b). The taunts of his enemies had pulled him down. He feels like he was rapidly going down hill (v.23a). He feels so weak that he feels he could be brushed out of life as easily as you might brush off a locust or grasshopper from your sleeve (v.23b). He has fasted and now feels so weak (v.24a) and his body is now thin (v.24b). Those who have attacked him verbally have even more cause to mock him (v.25); he is a sorry spectacle!

  For this reason he cries out to the Lord to help. He first simply asks the Lord to deal well with him (v.21a). He trusts himself to the Lord and trusts that the Lord will know best what to do. He asks Him to help and save him from what is happening (v.26). He acknowledges that the Lord is sovereign (v.21a), his Lord, his God (v.26), and he implores the Lord to act for both His names sake and in His love for him (v.21.26). These are two grounds he knows will appeal to the Lord.

D. Application:

1. In distress? Call on the Lord.
2. Know that the Lord loves you. Ask Him to move in that love.