Psalm 109
Unjust Suffering
This page helps us to make sense out of
this important psalm.
On this page
I will explain this powerful psalm
and
lead us toward
more peace and calmness.
This Psalm
is especially written for
those who love the Lord
and want to
yield to him
in order to be led to peace.
God put this psalm in the Bible for a wonderful reason.
God is using the words of this psalm
to bless us during terrible times.
In this Psalm,
God wants to show you
that he has seen the terrible thing
that someone did to you
and
that he has compassion on you.
God is acknowledging that it was terrible.
And he is responding to you
in a certain way
in order to
show you that you are important to him,
and that
your suffering is important to him,
and that
you are heard by the God of all Creation.
~
By reading this page, you will better understand
what God wants to share
with you concerning this psalm.
For this page, I need to
emphasize that
Jesus, Father God, and the Holy Spirit are one God.
Jesus is called our Bridegroom in Scripture.
Jesus is the Groom and we are the Bride.
I suggest you read
Psalm 109
before you read my commentary.
It is at the bottom of the page
or you might want to pick your favorite Bible translation.
As a married woman,
I learned a piece of wisdom.
If my husband
makes a small deal
out of something
that he did (or someone else did)
to hurt me,
then
I will naturally
make a bigger deal out of it and get madder.
If my husband
makes a bigger deal
of something that
he did to hurt me (or that someone else did to hurt me)
meaning - a bigger deal than I am making out of it -
then
I will naturally calm down
and make a smaller deal out of it than I originally did.
-
As I read this psalm,
I see that
God the Father and Jesus my bridegroom
are
making a bigger deal out of what was done to me
than I am making.
This makes me FEEL heard and
it leads me to calm down.
This leads me toward healing and peace.
So in this psalm, God takes us on a journey.
And God provides for us:
words
Psalm 109 has words
of
TREMENDOUS retaliation -
TREMENDOUS vengeance -
TREMENDOUS punishment!
This psalm is written so that
as we read this psalm,
we will feel heard by God and important to God.
And
if our heart is usually in close communion with God,
then
as we read down the verses,
we begin to realize that
what this person did
didn't deserve that much punishment.
We begin to see
their actions and words
in a light that makes it easier to lower our anger.
As we read further and further along in the verses
we will more and more
lay down
our intense anger
and our desire for punishment
and instead
begin to advocate for mercy for our enemies.
My Personal Journey
As a mature Christian,
I have read this psalm
during a time when
something
unjust
has happened to me, and I am suffering.
As I put the person who hurt me
into this psalm ...
the words get harder and harder to read.
The person who hurt me did a terrible thing....
but not so terrible that
I would want the things in this psalm
to be done to him or her.
I find myself saying,
"Well, it wasn't THAT bad...
Well, I don't want THAT to happen to him / her."
This psalm makes me
FEEL heard and it
calms me down.
-
The God of all Comfort
wants to lead you and me
like a shepherd
to pastures of peace.
If you are having trouble with unforgiveness,
we have practical help for you.
Please consider our forgiveness pages.
They are listed on the following page:
And another note of wisdom to help us in daily life...
This note is intended to help us when we
hurt another person and then need to ask
for forgiveness
for something WE did...
It is easier to forgive and move on when the person who hurt you is seeing the offense as BIG.
But when that person sees the offense
as smaller than you do,
then
it tends to kindle our anger
and makes it harder for us to forgive -
because obviously
that person doesn't understand
my pain and what a horrible thing he did.
Soooo,
make a bigger deal out of what you do
so that you help others to forgive YOU.
Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
25 I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy:
27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, Lord, hast done it.
28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.
29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.
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Jump to the top of Psalm 109
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