Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19951217.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Seven: Motivation To CONTINUE Bearing Up Under Verbal Attack
(Psalm 7:1-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. When one is under verbal attack, often in the form of slander, there exists the trial of having to bear with the attack patiently while waiting the Lord's intervention, cf. Rom. 12:19.
    2. But HOW does the victim wait so patiently without going into an emotional stress attack?!
    3. Psalm Seven is a practical guide for believers under verbal attack to keep them going in the process!
  2. Motivation To CONTINUE Bearing Up Under Verbal Attack, Psalm 7:1-17.
    1. When David wrote Psalm Seven, he was responding to the verbal attack of Cush, a Benjamite. He was probably sent by Saul to kill David, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Psalm 7.
    2. The verbal attack of Cush was in the form of slander, Psalm 7:5d, and it sought to undermine the integrity of David so as to win a following behind Cush to execute David for supposed injustices, Ps. 7:3-6 implied.
    3. This particularly painful, powerful attack really upset David as we can tell as follows:
      1. The word translated "persecute" in the KJV of Ps. 7:1 is better rendered "harass" in the Hebrew. What Cush was up to really got under David's skin and rattled his mettle!
      2. David was concerned that the misrepresentation was so intense and effective that he was about to be torn into shreds by a mob of adherents to Cush's cause, Ps. 7:2.
      3. Cush's slander was combined with his emotional outbursts against David, making for an intensely emotional overtone to the verbal attack, Ps. 7:6 where KJV "rage" should be rendered "o utbursts."
      4. Caught up with the fervor of Cush, David asks God to let Cush's desire to trample and ruin David's reputation and life come to fruition only if the charges being brought by Cush are accurate, Ps. 7:3-5. This wish is often expressed in the heat of verbal exchange when one is seeking to establish his credibility that is being called into question by another.
    4. Typical of other lament psalms, David exhibits trust in God for deliverance, Psalm 7:6-11:
      1. David asks God to arise in His anger to offset Cush's angry outbursts against him, Ps. 7:6.
      2. He asks God to decree justice before the throngs of people being swayed by Cush, Ps. 7:7-8.
      3. He requests an end to the injustices, and an establishment of the upright under the judgment of God who examines the mind and emotional structure of all men, Ps. 7:9.
      4. Claiming God is His small warrior's shield (megan), David looks to God to vent His anger, Ps. 7:10-11.
    5. To find consolation, David concludes His lament psalm with the hope that the very insults being framed by Cush against him be turned by God to be the very undoing of Cush, Psalm 7:12-16:
      1. David expressed confidence that if Cush did not back away and relent, God would judge him, 7:12-13.
      2. The means employed would be the backfire of Cush's efforts against David on his own head, 7:14-17:
        1. David explains that if one is in "birth pangs" with iniquity, and becomes "pregnant" with misery causing efforts (as had Cush), he would "give birth" to disillusionment, Ps. 7:14! David is speaking figuratively to show that Cush's pla ns and institution of plans to discredit David will leave him not only disappointed at his own efforts, but confused and in trouble!
        2. Indeed, David says that "He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made," 7:15! In other words, the very efforts of Cush to discredit David will themselves be Cush's undoing!
    6. Relieved that God was going to make Cush's painful efforts to undo David backfire to undo Cush himself, David, for the first time, expresses worshipful praise in his lament psalm, Psalm 7:17. He can afford to praise God as he is under verbal fire, for David recognizes that every painful dig Cush makes at him is another shovel of dirt out of a hole that Cush has dug for his own fall!
Lesson: David could handle the relentless, emotionally wrenching, politically-damaging, verbal slander of Cush as he realized that GOD was setting Cush up for a FALL by way of EVERY VERBAL DIG he made against him! As each DIG came it, David saw it as a self-destructive work by Cush to dig a pit for his own fall, and THAT REALIZATION made taking each dig easier to handle!

Application: To keep going while under a verbal attack, recall that God will deal out justice by USING EVERY DIG we CURRENTLY bear! Thus, WHEN the dig comes, we can handle it!