The Righteousness of God's Indignation Text: Psalm 7:6-13
Introduction: A Call for Holy Anger
We live in a soft and sentimental age. Our generation has domesticated the Lion of Judah and turned Him into a declawed housecat. We have taken the consuming fire of God's holiness and reduced it to the gentle glow of a nightlight. We are comfortable with a God who is loving, a God who is merciful, and a God who is patient. But a God who is angry? A God who has indignation every day? A God who sharpens His sword and prepares deadly weapons? This is not the God of our therapeutic, feel-good spirituality. This is the God of the Bible.
And because we have neutered our conception of God, we have neutered our prayers. We have become squeamish about what the saints of old had no trouble praying. I am talking about the imprecatory psalms, of which Psalm 7 is the first. These are psalms that call down divine judgment, curses, and calamity upon the enemies of God and His people. To our modern ears, they sound harsh, vindictive, and frankly, un-Christlike. We are far more comfortable with "Father, forgive them" than we are with "Arise, O Yahweh, in Your anger."
But this discomfort reveals a profound theological deficiency in us, not in the Scriptures. We have forgotten that God's love and God's wrath are not contradictory attributes; they are two sides of the same coin. Because God is holy, He must love righteousness. And because He loves righteousness, He must hate unrighteousness. A God who is not angry at sin, a God who is indifferent to evil, is not a good God. He is a moral monster. True love is not apathetic; it is fiercely partisan. It takes sides. God's love for His people necessitates His wrath against those who would destroy them.
This psalm, written by David concerning the slanderous words of Cush the Benjaminite, is a bold and righteous appeal to the court of heaven. It is a prayer that understands the character of God as the righteous Judge. David is not seeking personal revenge. He is not lashing out in petty bitterness. He is appealing for divine vindication and for the establishment of God's justice in the world. He is praying in alignment with the very character and purposes of God. And if we are to be faithful, we must learn to pray this way too. We must recover a holy hatred for evil and a zealous love for God's justice.
The Text
Arise, O Yahweh, in Your anger;
Lift up Yourself against the fury of my adversaries,
And arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment.
Let the congregation of the peoples encompass You,
And over them return on high.
Yahweh judges the peoples;
Give justice to me, O Yahweh, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me.
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous;
For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
My shield is with God,
Who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge,
And a God who has indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword;
He has bent His bow and prepared it.
He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons;
He makes His arrows fiery shafts.
(Psalm 7:6-13 LSB)
The Divine Summons (v. 6-7)
David begins this section with a series of urgent commands addressed to God Himself.
"Arise, O Yahweh, in Your anger; Lift up Yourself against the fury of my adversaries, And arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment. Let the congregation of the peoples encompass You, And over them return on high." (Psalm 7:6-7)
This is not the prayer of a man who is unsure if God is listening. This is a bold, courtroom summons. "Arise," "Lift up Yourself," "arouse Yourself." David is calling on God to stop sitting on the bench, as it were, and to take up the gavel. He is appealing to God's own character. He is not asking God to be something He is not. He is asking God to act in accordance with His revealed nature as a God of justice. Notice the basis of the appeal: "You have appointed judgment." David is reminding God of His own job description. It is as if he is saying, "You are the Judge. There is injustice afoot. Do what You do."
David is not asking for a private, back-alley retribution. He wants a public spectacle. "Let the congregation of the peoples encompass You." He wants God to set up His throne in the middle of the public square, so that all the nations can see His verdict. This is a prayer for the public vindication of God's name and His justice. When God judges, He is not just settling a personal score for David; He is re-establishing the moral order of the universe for all to see. When God returns "on high" over the congregation, it is a picture of His manifest and undeniable sovereignty being put on display.
The Personal Appeal (v. 8)
From the public stage, David turns to his own case.
"Yahweh judges the peoples; Give justice to me, O Yahweh, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me." (Psalm 7:8)
Now, this is a verse that makes many evangelicals nervous. Is David claiming to be sinless? Is this self-righteousness? Not at all. We must distinguish between ultimate, saving righteousness and relational, circumstantial integrity. David is not claiming to be justified by his own works. He knew better than that, as he makes clear in other psalms (Psalm 32:1-2). Rather, he is claiming innocence in this specific matter, the slander of Cush. He is saying, "As it pertains to this accusation of treason against Saul, I am in the right. My hands are clean."
This is a crucial distinction. There is a difference between self-righteousness and personal integrity. Self-righteousness is motivated by pride and seeks to earn God's favor. Personal integrity is motivated by a desire to please God and flows from a heart that trusts in His grace. David is not boasting; he is making a good-faith appeal. He is willing to have his case examined. This is the confidence of a clear conscience. Before we can pray bold, imprecatory prayers against the wicked, we must first be willing to submit ourselves to the same searching judgment of God. "Judge me, O Yahweh."
The Great Antithesis (v. 9-10)
David then broadens his prayer from his personal situation to the universal conflict between good and evil.
"O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart." (Psalm 7:9-10)
This is the great longing of every righteous soul. It is a prayer that God would bring history to its proper conclusion. This is not just about punishing bad people; it is about the utter annihilation of evil itself. And at the same time, it is a prayer for the security and stability of the righteous. "Establish the righteous." This is a prayer for God's kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And what is the basis for this confidence? "For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds." The Hebrew is literally "hearts and kidneys." The heart was seen as the seat of thought and will, while the kidneys were the seat of the deepest emotions and affections. God is not a superficial judge. He is not fooled by outward appearances or pious talk. He is the great spiritual cardiologist and nephrologist. He sees the inner workings of every man. He knows the secret sincerity of the righteous and the hidden corruption of the wicked. Because He can see with perfect clarity, His judgments are perfectly just.
This is why David can say, "My shield is with God." A shield is for defense. David's confidence is not in his own strength or cleverness, but in the God who knows his heart. The God who saves the "upright in heart" is the God who defends those whose integrity is genuine, even if it is imperfect.
The Divine Warrior (v. 11-13)
The psalm concludes with one of the most sobering and terrifying descriptions of God in all of Scripture.
"God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and prepared it. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts." (Psalm 7:11-13)
Let these words sink in. "God has indignation every day." His wrath is not a rare, volcanic eruption. It is a constant, steady, settled opposition to all that is evil. Every single day, God looks upon a world filled with rebellion, injustice, and wickedness, and He is righteously angry. Our problem is not that God is too angry, but that we are not angry enough at the things that anger Him.
And this indignation is not impotent. It is backed by terrifying power. Notice the deliberate, methodical preparation for war. "He will sharpen His sword." This is not a rash act. It is calculated. The edge is being honed for a clean, swift cut. "He has bent His bow and prepared it." The string is drawn taut, the aim is steady. The judgment is not a matter of 'if,' but 'when.' The weapons are "deadly weapons." And the arrows are "fiery shafts." This is the artillery of heaven, prepared for the day of battle.
But there is a glorious, gracious word embedded in this terrifying passage: "If a man does not repent." This implies that if a man does repent, the sword will be sheathed. The bow will be unstrung. The arrows will be returned to the quiver. God's wrath, as fearsome as it is, is not arbitrary. It is directed at impenitence. The offer of mercy is always present, right up until the moment the bowstring is released. This is the kindness and severity of God. For those who persist in their rebellion, there is a sharpened sword. For those who turn and trust in Him, there is a shield.
Conclusion: The Cross as the Ultimate Imprecation
How can we, as New Covenant believers, pray such prayers? We do so by looking at the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of God's holy indignation against sin. It is the place where the sword of God's justice fell, not on us, but on His own Son.
On the cross, all the fiery shafts of God's wrath against our wickedness were absorbed by Christ. He took the full measure of the divine indignation that we deserved. God treated Him as if He had committed all our sins, so that He could treat us as if we had lived His perfect life of righteousness and integrity.
Therefore, we can pray these psalms with confidence, but with a new perspective. We pray for the evil of the wicked to come to an end, knowing that the ultimate end of evil was secured at Calvary. We pray for God to arise in His anger against injustice, knowing that His anger was fully satisfied in the sacrifice of His Son. We pray for the establishment of the righteous, knowing that we are established not in our own integrity, but in the righteousness of Christ that has been given to us by faith.
And we pray for the wicked to repent, because we know that the sharpened sword is real. The bent bow is not a metaphor for hurt feelings. We warn them, we plead with them, because we were once under that same sentence of judgment. We were the adversaries. We were the wicked. But God, in His mercy, caused us to repent. And so we pray that He would do the same for others. But if they will not repent, we must not flinch from praying that God would be glorified in His justice. We must love what He loves, and hate what He hates. We must long for the day when all wrongs are made right, when every enemy is put under His feet, and when the righteous Judge of all the earth is vindicated before the congregation of the cosmos.