Sermonstudio

Do you judge people fairly?
No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth ...
The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done; ...
People will say, "Surely there is a reward
for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth."
-- Psalm 58:1b-2, 10a, 11

Theme: Prayer for the downfall of evil powers

Outline
1-2 -- Even those in authority do unjustly!
3-5 -- They are like the incurably wicked.
6-9 -- This being the case, render them powerless; may they vanish away!
10-11 -- The righteous, freed from oppression, will recognize the reality of God's moral government of the world.

Notes
• Lament -- Imprecatory

For Reflection
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "What right then have we, we who are ourselves guilty and deserving God's wrath, to call for his vengeance against our enemies, without expecting this same wrath to be called down on us? No, we cannot pray this psalm ... Not because we are much too good to do that ... but because we are too sinful, too bad to do that ... But God has chosen to prepare in David one who will be called the Son of David, Jesus Christ ... Only he who bore the anger of God, only he may ask forgiveness for the godless. Thus he alone has made us free from God's anger and vengeance ... When we behold him, the crucified, we understand God's just and living anger against us godless, and at the same time, the liberation from his anger."1

Prayer
Lord Jesus, you have delivered us from the righteous anger and justice of God upon sin. You sought the Father's justice and his purpose to bring his forgiving, restoring love to us through your cross. Enable us to seek your justice to overcome evil by your way of self-giving love, and in your strength. Amen.

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1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meditations On Psalms, ed. Edwin Robertson (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 57 ff.