11/4 Psalm 7

PSALM 7

AUTHOR: David

The Story Behind the Psalm

Saul was the king of Israel. David had become a national hero after his slaying of Goliath. The ladies began to sing, "Saul hath slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands." This made Saul to see David as a threat for his throne. Hence, he vowed to kill him and spent many days pursuing David in an attempt to slay him. David fled from Saul, not because he was afraid to fight or felt he could not be victorious, but because David refused to lift up his hand against God's anointed, and because David realized that vengeance belonged to God and not to him. At the writing of this Psalm David was in a cave fleeing for his life. He was lonely, frightened and perhaps disillusioned. He was a young man. He had been used of God to save his nation. Honor should have come from the king, but in its place came jealousy. As the Psalm is read, the reader should picture David in the cave, a young man, discouraged and lonely.

The Way It Was Used by God's People

God's people would use this Psalm when they were in deep trouble. It often seems that God's people are in deep trouble most of the time. Peter reminds us that we are as gold refined by the fire. Sometimes it is difficult to ascertain the purpose of God when we have to stay in the fire so long and so often, but God has His way of purifying us, and this is by placing us in the refiner's fire.

One day while a refiner was looking at his gold in the

fire, a passerby asked him how long he kept the gold in the fire. He said, ''Until it is purified.''

The passerby then asked, "How do you know when the gold is purified?"

The refiner answered, "I know it is purified when I can see the reflection of my face in it."

This is why Jesus puts us through the fire. He wants the reflection of His face to be seen in us.

The Jews would also read and sing the seventh Psalm when they were tempted to seek revenge or to retaliate. Let it be remembered that revenge and vengeance is a work of God for us, not a work for us to do for ourselves.