Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Psalm 7:8 Let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.
GO AHEAD AND LOOK, LORD!
Elsewhere in this Psalm, David appeals to God to judge the wicked. He wants their evil deeds brought to an end for good when he says, "Arise, O LORD, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice" (6). We can understand the thought behind this prayer easily enough. We too want the servants of Satan to be stopped; the plans of evildoers in all the world to be brought to nothing. So when David says, "Judge them," it doesn't strike us as a particularly unusual request.
But when he writes, "Judge ME," then we sit up and take notice. David asks God to turn His holy eye on his own soul! Isn't that asking for trouble? Why would he make such a request? Why would he invite the LORD to go ahead and look at him? Had he led such a perfect life that God would see no blemishes at all? Was his integrity really so rock-solid that it could withstand the piercing, all-knowing eye of the Creator Himself? I don't think so, for the Scripture says so clearly that all have sinned.
Yet David was not afraid of God's concentrated gaze. He was not afraid to invite heaven to judge him because he knew what the Judge would see! He knew the Judge would not see the sins and imperfections of the shameful things he had done, but instead the Judge would notice the shining perfection of the Son of God who lived the very life of holiness that David could not live. Instead of seeing the sin, the Judge would see the Savior. This David counted on. This he believed.
You too can appeal to the Judge on this same basis. So "Go ahead and look, LORD! Look at me and bless me!"
