Psalm 17

There is so much that we do not know and cannot understand. We long for moral clarity, but it seems elusive at present. The Lord's worshiper lives today with too much confusion and too little knowledge. He desires heaven, not only for the joy and safety of life there, but also for the ethical certainty of a world where sin has no foothold.

There are occasions even now here below where God grants the beauty of vision to His church or to a specific servant who seeks Him in trial. Justice is not the same as injustice. Everything is not forever gray. As a man calls out to the God who dwells in a land of light, he begins to see right as right and wrong as wrong.

We do love to justify ourselves, and we may be unreasonably slow in acknowledging our own fault in a conflict with another person, but some situations are clear enough to demand our unambiguous assessment. If a worshiper is able to see the unrighteousness of an oppressor who seeks to destroy him, he may call out to God in heaven, who possesses not only perfect moral knowledge, but infinite power, and the limitless wisdom to know how and when to use that power.

The man who calls upon the Name of God for help at such a time is able to say that his cause is just, and to unambiguously ask God to hear him and to bring vindication. It may have taken him time to reach that point of holy boldness. Along the way, he sought understanding, and confessed any sin of his own in the matter before him. God tested the heart of His beloved servant. This man is in the right.

Now what can be done? The worshiper does not want to rush ahead, leading with unwise pronouncements. He knows the danger of speaking rashly, unwisely provoking an evil man of power with what might seem a timely and necessary statement of the truth. He does not want to transgress with his mouth. He knows that there are many occasions that demand silence. Stirring up violent men can easily lead to unnecessary murder.

What then is needed? God must act. God can protect the innocent who call out to Him for help. He can show His covenant faithfulness in that way to all who call upon His Name. He can rise up as a Defender and Savior of His people. Remember what He did for the Israelites when they cried out to Him in their days of bondage in Egypt? The Lord knows how to save. He is a Deliverer and Preserver of His people who take refuge in Him.

God is also able to keep us in His loving affection. We are His children through the One who is well-pleasing to Him. He has determined to see His worshipers through Christ, the Apple of His Eye. Our protection comes from this stable determination of God to find us in His Son. This is what it means for us to live in the shadow of His wings.

In heaven, violent men will not oppress us. Earth will not be like heaven until the return of the Man who won heaven for us. When that King returns, there will be a complete separation of the righteous and the wicked. On that day the kingdom of the Lord will come to earth as it is in heaven. Until then, there will be adversaries upon the earth. They may surround the Lord's servant, and greatly harm him. But we can rest in God.

We should not expect the unrighteous to show us pity. We should not suppose that they will be humble in their speech or gentle in their ways. They follow an evil master who prowls about like a roaring lion. He is seeking people to devour. He comes to steal and to destroy.

We should expect that we, who know the grace of the One who was wounded for our transgressions, would be people of tender mercy, gentleness, and humility, even toward our enemies. This may be the true battle of faith in the life of the man who wants to be faithful to the end – not that he will live through the trial, but that He will act as a man of life in a time of severe testing.

Yet it may please the Lord to hear the cry of His worshiper and to rise up and do what He alone must do. Do not presume that today is the day that you get to die for your faith. God knows how to free Peter from prison so that he can continue in His ministry. A proud Herod may die a gruesome and unexpected death if it is the Lord's will. He is able to rescue Daniel from the Lion's mouth. There are many ways that the Lord can deliver. We do not all die on a cross.

One Man did die there. Just before His arrest, He cried out for deliverance with the full clarity of a perfectly righteous heart. He said, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” For that Man, deliverance from God came through His death, and that deliverance was for us. God rescued our lives as the sword of the Lord's justice came down upon Jesus.

The vindication of the Lord's most righteous Servant came through His resurrection and ascension. His portion of victory did not come in His mortal life, but in His resurrection glory. Because of His suffering, we shall behold the face of the Almighty in the land of righteousness.

In this life, the Lord may choose to take a wicked oppressor out of our way in a moment. We should seek God's help for ourselves and for others now when we have a just cause. But even if His will is to save that judgment for another day, even if our lives should be taken from the earth, we know that we shall awake in a place of perfect moral clarity. And we shall be satisfied in the glory of the One who died for us.