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5/11 Reading Portions: Numbers 20; Psalms 58-59; Isaiah 9:8-10:4; James 3
Psalm 58:10
The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
ELATION
The Psalms of Imprecation, those that pronounce curses upon God’s enemies, are hard to understand for some. We must recognize that the wickedness expressed in these Hebrew hymns speak of us before God has saved us by His grace. Moreover, the judgments poured out upon the wicked convey the debt we owe a righteous God but cannot pay; a debt Jesus did not owe but paid for us. A verse like today’s verse is one we must wrestle with, for God’s glory and not our own. While we still sojourn upon the planet before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not rejoice in the death or calamity of the wicked. God says through the prophet,
“…I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live…” Ezekiel 33:11
We value human life, for all life begins and ends with God. Jesus is the Lord of Life. Further, we do not know the spiritual end of anyone other than ourselves (and a few exceptions according to Scripture, viz., Judas Iscariot, etc.). Yet in that Day of Judgment, when we will see with immortal, incorruptible eyes, those who have opposed the grace of God in Christ will be viewed according to their wretched offenses against God and their loathsome hatred toward God; and our elation in the triumph in true justice will glorify God in the exaltation of Jesus Christ. God’s grace will also be magnified as we will see that there, but by God’s grace, go you and me. Until that Day, however, we pray for the enemies of God, asking the Lord to pour upon them His grace, mercy, peace, and love. If that enemy is saved by grace, we praise the Lord for God allowing us to take part in a sinner’s redemption by our prayers. If he continually and ultimately opposes God’s grace, our blessing…
…will heap burning coals on his head. Romans 12:20
The righteous will rejoice to see
The vengeance of our Lord;
Until then, make our humble plea:
Be glorified by Christ’s true Word.