The Judge

DEVOTION

PSALMS

THE JUDGE

Ps 7:10-13

10 My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day. 12 If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. 13 He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.

NIV

How could we live if we did not have God as our shield? Now the question is how can we be of upright heart? The Hebrew word translated upright means pretty much that, a straight forward, just, proper heart. This could only make reference to a heart which is bent toward God. This is the only way a heart could be proper. To chase after anything or anyone other than God would definitely be improper. To have a non-straightforward heart would imply a crooked heart, one that is divided, split, making an effort to seek both God and something or someone else, trying to have two masters, so to speak. God is righteous and is a righteous judge. We also think of God as loving because he loved the world so much he gave is one and only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Yet we are also told that he expresses his wrath every day. This translation may not express the Hebrew as well as it could. The direct Hebrew verbiage reads, God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. Other translations have rendered it just as the original and so we would have to agree that does judge us, the righteous fairly, he sees us through Christ. He is also angry with the wicked. He expresses that anger, but the psalmist does not say that he meters it out on the wicked. He does have his weapon ready, but he says that if he does not relent. The fact is God has relented, he is relenting, he holds back his wrath for the time being. He still expresses his displeasure with how the wicked live. His word, the scripture is full of language expressing how he feels about those who reject Christ and live to please themselves rather than him. Yet he relents from doing them harm for now. It is his desire all would come to Christ and be saved. So he waits for now, patience, holding back from exacting his wrath. But a day is coming when the open door to salvation will be shut. Just as in the day of Noah, God shut the door and those in the ark were saved and those outside perished. When that day comes, his wrath will no longer be held back. He will use his sword, his bow, his deadly weapons, which are the words of his mouth. He will judge the righteous, those in Christ as innocent. He will judge the wicked and they shall be found guilty for they did not accept Christ, and they will feel the full force of his anger, being cast from his presence into the lake of burning sulfur. How can we stand by now and just allow them to experience his wrath. Should we not be about our Fathers business, making every effort to share his love, so others might be judged among the righteous?