JUDGEMENT ON FOES

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am writing this devotion over a week in advance of when it will be posted, so that I can get away for a few days of vacation. But, for the week leading up to penning these thoughts, I have been plagued by the news accounts of the horrible situation in Israel.

With a heavy heart, I have turned to Psalm 83. The editors of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (which is my Bible translation of choice), have given the following title to this psalm:

Prayer for Judgment on Israel’s Foes

These are the words of the Psalmist in ancient Israel – song and a prayer:

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ O God, do not keep silent;
do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
² Even now your enemies are in tumult;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
³ They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against those you protect.
⁴ They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more.”
⁵ They conspire with one accord;
against you they make a covenant—
⁶ the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
⁷ Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
⁸ Assyria also has joined them;
they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.

⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
as to Sisera and Jabin at the Wadi Kishon,
¹⁰ who were destroyed at En-dor,
who became dung for the ground.
¹¹ Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
¹² who said, “Let us take the pastures of God
for our own possession.”

¹³ O my God, make them like whirling dust,
like chaff before the wind.
¹⁴ As fire consumes the forest,
as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
¹⁵ so pursue them with your tempest
and terrify them with your hurricane.
¹⁶ Fill their faces with shame,
so that they may seek your name, O Lord.
¹⁷ Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever;
let them perish in disgrace.
¹⁸ Let them know that you alone,
whose name is the Lord,
are the Most High over all the earth.

Israel prayed this then. And then in our time ……….