“Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; preserve my life from fear of the enemy” (vs1).
The wicked don't fear being wicked, so they oppose the blameless and rebel against God to their own destruction (vs1-4). He says, “Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity, who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their arrows – bitter words, that they may shoot in secret at the blameless; suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear”. They are bold, like Satan, persecuting the Lord Jesus and the Church. You and I, like Him, are blameless, because we have been changed by grace and made sincerely upright people. Philipians 4:14-15 says, “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” We have faults, but we also have evidence, really and truly, which shows that we love God. Unbelievers reject this evidence to their own destruction, and they fight against the light to their peril (2 Pet 3:16).
Christ should be worshiped and loved. Men should bow and rejoice in His presence, for He saves from sin and reconciles us to God. But, their lack of FEAR leads them to oppose saving mercy to the end. The thief on the cross rebuked the lost thief for not fearing God. We read, “Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, If You are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:39-41). His foolish fearlessness led him into all manner of blasphemy, as he continued his attempt to discourage the Son. Likewise we are persecuted unjustly. Our love and faith SHOW that we know God. Our logical gospel REVEALS and proves to men, inwardly, the things of the Spirit, and yet FEARING NOT they run against God to be destroyed eventually. They will be burned by the flame they refuse to dread.
Secondly, man is a calculating creature, doing evil, because he thinks it's his best course (vs5-6). He says, “They encourage themselves in an evil matter; they talk of laying snares secretly; they say, 'Who will see them?' They devise iniquities: 'We have perfected a shrewd scheme'. Both the inward thought and the heart of man are deep”. It is not the ignorance of robotic rebellion, like a clock that has been wound and simply ticks. This is the premeditated and purposeful rebellion of “doing as I see fit”, no matter the warnings or the promised danger, because I believe my scheme will win, and I refuse to bow. It is calculated malice, like premeditated murder, and it is planned rebellion; it is the ignorance of actually thinking sin will go unpunished, as if Christ can be refused without danger.
Today, most people think that every god is OK, but they deny the work and glory of Christ - His unique beauty - in that statement. They accept and tolerate others to the point of rejecting Him for His exclusivity. They oppose Christ's gospel and push Him away, persecuting those who preach Him, in order to silence their own conscience. Don't be like them. Don't think your hidden malice will go unnoticed or unpunished at the Judgment. You were against the only hope that you had.
Finally, on the other hand, we shall glory in saving grace (vs7-10)! He says, “ But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly they shall be wounded. So He will make them stumble over their own tongue; all who see them shall flee away. All men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider His doing. The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and trust in Him. And all the upright in heart shall glory.” We shall triumph in and rejoice in God, boasting of His salvation, and praising His name for delivering us from the pit! We were EVEN AS OTHERS, exactly like them, and GRACE made a difference. Now, and forever, we shall praise God because of it. Paul said, “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:3-6).
Now, when the world is against us - the devil and his fiery darts of lies - we run to Christ and find refuge. He says, “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land” (Is 32:1-2). He is, according to His word, a shelter in the storm and shade from the heat of battle. Now, by faith, and soon, by sight, we rejoice continually in victory given to the small and feeble, the upright. We are outnumbered and hated, and yet God is with us, so we have more comfort than trouble! We are persecuted, but God knows what they're doing, delivers us, and then He rewards us eternally for what we did.
The gospel isn't void of agonies and man's hatred, but these things can't possibly stop our rejoicing! Paul says, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ (2 Cor 1:5). The bigger the devil, the greater the God who delivers us from his hand. The more we suffer, the greater the comfort of Christ, for as we have needs, He meets them continually by the truth of Judgment to come. Bless His name. You and I shall rule our fears, until there is nothing left to fear. We are not slaves of popularity and opinion. We know men hate God, so we go to God to get strength to overcome them in love, to abide in peace, until we see the Judgment in the end.
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