Observation: One thing I notice about Psalm 7 is that David asks God to save him from pursuers, but also to judge him fairly and without partiality. "If I have plundered my foe without cause, let the enemy pursue and overtake me."
Another thing I notice is that David announces God's judgment, but the judgment he warns of sounds like the natural consequences of his enemies' actions. They fall into the hole they dug for him. Their violence falls on their own heads.
Application: An expression I keep coming back to is "Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is you made dumb choices."
We often attribute bad things that happen to others as God's judgment, but when bad things happen to us it seems totally random and inexplicable. I'm not someone who believes that God directly intervenes in our daily lives to make crappy things happen. I really don't believe that's how God works. We live in a world where sin and rebellion have run amok. This is not the world God dreamed for us in the beginning, nor is it the world toward which God is pulling us in the end. Right now, random bad things happen, and it's not our fault.
That said, we also live in a world of cause and effect. Consequences are a real thing. I've seen plenty of people fall into the pit they dug for someone else, and from time to time, it's been me. When Jesus tells Peter "anyone who lives by the sword dies by the sword," he doesn't mean God will come down and smite a violent person. He's speaking a truth we all know: that violence begets more violence, begets more violence.
But I also believe that God can take the bad things that happen and bring healing and hope from them. The theology of the cross is that there is no situation, no matter how awful, that God cannot enter into, for the sake of new life.
Prayer: God, save me from my enemies, most of whom are me. Help me learn from my mistakes. Amen.
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