THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

LXIV: Handling Opposing Wicked Intrigue

(Psalm 64:1-10)

I. Introduction

A. A hard trial for a believer to face is opposition from those who take private counsel to undermine him. What can complicate this type of trial is that often the angelic conflict is involved, requiring great spiritual care.

B. God has insight for His people who face such trials, and Psalm 64:1-10 offers it for our insight and edification:

II. Handling Opposing Wicked Intrigue, Psalm 64:1-10.

A. The introductory remarks in the English Bible comprise the first verse in the Hebrew text (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1028), so we stay with the verse numbering system of the English Bible for clarity with this lesson.

B. We thus translate Psalm 64:1-10 as follows:

1. "Hearken to my voice, O Elohim, with my 'troubling, meditative complaint, babbling prayer' (siah, H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, v. I, p. 876); from dread of the enemy guard my life," Psalm 64:1.

2. "Conceal me from the council assembly of the wicked, from the throng of workers of iniquity," Ps. 64:2.

3. "They sharpen their tongue like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows," Psalm 64:3.

4. "They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, and they do not fear," v. 4.

5. "They encourage one another in evil plans; they talk about hiding their snares; they say, 'Who will see them?'" (Psalm 64:5)

6. "They plot injustice and say, 'We have devised a perfect plan!' And the inner part of man and heart of man is deep, unsearchable in cunning corruption ('amoq, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 771; Ibid., H. A. W., v. II, p. 678)," Psalm 64:6.

7. "But Elohim will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down," Psalm 64:7.

8. "He will cause them to stumble, turning their own tongues against them; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn," Psalm 64:8.

9. "All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of Elohim and ponder what He has done," Psa. 64:9.

10. "Let the righteous rejoice in Jahweh and seek refuge in Him; let all the upright in heart praise Him," v. 10.

C. We note significant observations and applications of this psalm (as follows):

1. This psalm of David (introductory notes) reveals that opposing wicked intrigue rises from people whose cunning is unsearchable in its evil (v. 6), and often such very wicked folk are fueled by Satan, so that the afflicted must NOT fall for the lure to counter evil intrigue in their own wisdom lest they suffer defeat! One in such a case must stay aligned to God's Word and calling for victory, cf. Ephesians 6:10-12.

2. The lure to react to such wrong is great, given the immense discomfort and pain that is felt by the afflicted one as described in Psalm 64:3-6. This lure is to be handled by prayer to God for help, v. 1, a prayer that God might conceal one from the dread and tangible effects of the destructive intrigue he faces, v. 1-2.

3. In facing such opposition, one's only hope is the Lord Who turns the evil of the wrongdoers against themselves (Psalm 64:7-8a) and who repairs what respect has been lost to the afflicted due to the misrepresentations of the wrongdoers (v. 8b-9). Thus, one must also resist the temptation to tackle opposing wicked intrigue in order to try to protect one's upright reputation, for the Lord must protect one's reputation from foes who possess cunning that is unsearchable by the victim due to its evil, v. 8b-9.

4. Even in facing such evil opposition, we must rejoice and seek refuge in the Lord, praising Him, v. 10.

Lesson: Confronted with foes who practiced wicked intrigue that was unsearchably evil for him, David realized the futility of trying to counter the wrongdoers in his own power and wisdom, so he left such foes for God to handle. David thus called on the Lord for deliverance from such foes, relying also on the Lord to repair what unjust damage had occurred to his reputation by the deeds of his foes as God exposed the evil of David's foes before all.

Application: (1) If we believers face wicked intrigue, may we RESIST the LURE such a trial produces to try to discern what are the evil plans of our foes so as to oppose them in our own might or try to protect what damage to our good reputation may be occurring by the efforts of such foes, for that is a trap since the cunning of such foes is unsearchably evil for us. (2) May we rather call on the Lord for His full deliverance regarding all of our concerns. (3) May we also avoid falling into unrighteous reactions to such opposition by heeding David's call that we stay occupied with transparently rejoicing in the Lord, seeking refuge in Him and praising Him for His goodness!