Praying Through: Psalm 7

The Psalm

Psalm 7 (CSB)
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

¹ LORD my God, I seek refuge in you; save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,

² or they will tear me like a lion, ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.

³ LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice on my hands,

⁴ if I have done harm to one at peace with me or have plundered my adversary without cause,

⁵ may an enemy pursue and overtake me; may he trample me to the ground and leave my honor in the dust. Selah

⁶ Rise up, LORD, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my adversaries; awake for me; you have ordained a judgment.

⁷ Let the assembly of peoples gather around you; take your seat on high over it.

⁸ The LORD judges the peoples; vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness and my integrity.

⁹ Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous. The one who examines the thoughts and emotions is a righteous God.

¹⁰ My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

¹¹ God is a righteous judge and a God who shows his wrath every day.

¹² If anyone does not repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has strung his bow and made it ready.

¹³ He has prepared his deadly weapons; he tips his arrows with fire.

¹⁴ See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil, conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit.

¹⁵ He dug a pit and hollowed it out but fell into the hole he had made.

¹⁶ His trouble comes back on his own head; his own violence comes down on top of his head.

¹⁷ I will thank the LORD for his righteousness; I will sing about the name of the LORD Most High.

The Prayer

It might feel like the world is against me. I might feel like I am a being persecuted. But the real battle is not the world versus me but rather, my own sin and my own iniquities versus the spirit inside of me.

Dear God, my very best works and all of my good deeds before you are nothing more than used menstrual rags and bags of crap. I got nothing else in my hands—this is the best I can do.

My sin is my own and no one else’s.

My iniquities belong to me and no one else is to blame. And yet, you called out to me—you called out to me in your sweet love, in your perfect kindness, in your never-ending mercies, and unchanging grace. You called to me! Where else can I turn to? If I go away from you, then I am far from you. Far from my desires from my new heart—the new heart that you gave me. Clearly, that is not the answer.

Or if I turn to other things of the world, even good and great things from you, they fail time and time again to fill the hole in my heart.

What other direction can I turn other than to you?

Yes, in your direction, your wrath is terrible, your punishment is swift, and your just is perfect.

But in your direction, is my only salvation because you alone have saved me.

God, do you want you must to save me to you and keep me to you. Here is my trust: not in what I have done but in what you have done. I have nothing but you, God. Keep me.

In your Son’s name, I pray. Amen.