VENGEANCE

¹ Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge people fairly?
² No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.

³ The wicked go astray from the womb;
they err from their birth, speaking lies.
⁴ They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
⁵ so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.

 ⁶ O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷ Let them vanish like water that runs away;
like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
⁸ Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
⁹ Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

¹⁰ The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹ People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies. I know that. I have tried that on occasion. And, at other times, I have hummed along to this tune of David, asking for vengeance.

I hope I have advanced on my discipleship walk from wanting to bathe my feet in the blood of the wicked. But, still, I would like some reward for the righteous (If I am counted among the righteous.)

This discipleship thing is hard.

Prayer

God, help me to walk a little more closely to my Lord, Jesus, who asked You to forgive those who had nailed Him to a cross. Help my feelings to be more like this Son of David, than David himself. Help me, I pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.