The Boomerang of Wickedness Text: Psalm 37:14-15
Introduction: The Moral Architecture of the Universe
We live in a time that is profoundly confused about the nature of justice. Our generation wants to have justice without a judge, morality without a lawgiver, and consequences without a moral order. They want to be able to draw their swords against the righteous, bend their bows against the needy, and then express shocked surprise when the whole bloody enterprise blows up in their faces. But the universe is not built that way. God, in His wisdom, has established a profound and unyielding moral architecture. There are laws of spiritual gravity, and what goes up, must come down.
Psalm 37 is a psalm for the man who is tempted to fret. "Fret not thyself because of evildoers" is the opening command. It is a psalm for the believer who looks out at the world and sees the wicked prospering. He sees them drawing their swords, bending their bows, and setting their traps. And if he is not careful, if his heart is not anchored in the covenant faithfulness of God, he will begin to think that their press releases are true. He will begin to believe that evil is winning, that their weapons are ultimate, and that God is somehow asleep at the switch.
But David, writing by the Spirit, tells us to look closer. He tells us to look past the immediate threat, past the menacing posture of the wicked, and to see the end of the story. The Bible is relentlessly eschatological. It always wants to know, "And then what?" The wicked draw their sword, and then what? They bend their bow, and then what? Our text this morning gives us the answer with a kind of brutal, iron-clad certainty. The plans of the wicked are not just going to fail. They are going to fail in a very specific, ironic, and self-destructive way. Their own violence will consume them. Their own weapons will turn back upon them. This is not wishful thinking; it is a description of the way the world is actually wired.
This is not a call for personal vengeance. We are commanded to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. But it is a call to robust faith in the justice of God. It is a call to pray the imprecatory psalms with understanding, asking God to do what He has already promised to do: to vindicate His people and to bring the violence of the wicked down upon their own heads. God's justice is not just a theological abstraction; it is a practical reality that shapes history. And in these two verses, we see a snapshot of that justice in action.
The Text
The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct.
Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken.
(Psalm 37:14-15 LSB)
The Arrogant Posture of the Wicked (v. 14)
We begin by examining the activity of the wicked in verse 14.
"The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct." (Psalm 37:14)
Notice the deliberate and prepared nature of their malice. They have "drawn the sword and bent their bow." This is not a crime of passion or a momentary lapse. This is calculated, premeditated evil. The sword is drawn from its sheath, ready for close combat. The bow is bent, the string is taut, ready for a distant, cowardly shot. This imagery covers all forms of assault, whether up close and personal or from a safe distance. The wicked are industrious in their wickedness. They put effort into it. They strategize. They prepare their weapons.
And who are their targets? The text identifies them in two ways. First, by their condition: "the afflicted and the needy." The wicked are bullies. They target the vulnerable, those who cannot easily defend themselves. This reveals their fundamental cowardice. True strength protects the weak; counterfeit strength preys upon them. This is the spirit of antichrist, which always seeks to devour the flock.
Second, they are identified by their character: "those who are upright in conduct." The Hebrew is literally "the upright of way." This is the real heart of the conflict. The issue is not ultimately one of social status, but of spiritual allegiance. The wicked hate the righteous not just because they are weak, but precisely because they are upright. The very existence of a righteous man is a rebuke to the crooked man. His straight path exposes their twisted one. His integrity is a silent testimony against their corruption. Cain did not kill Abel because Abel was a poor shepherd; he killed him because his own deeds were evil and his brother's were righteous (1 John 3:12). The world's animosity toward the church is not a misunderstanding. They hate us because they hate the one who sent us. They see the reflection of Christ's righteousness in us, however faint, and they despise it.
So the battle lines are clearly drawn. It is the wicked, armed and ready, against the righteous, who are characterized by their vulnerability and their integrity. From a purely human standpoint, this is a mismatch. The odds look very bad for the people of God. They are the sheep, and the wicked are the wolves with sharpened teeth.
The Divine Reversal (v. 15)
But verse 15 flips the entire script. It reveals the outcome of this conflict, and it is a glorious, divinely orchestrated irony.
"Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken." (Psalm 37:15 LSB)
This is the boomerang effect of sin. This is the law of the harvest built into the very fabric of God's world. The weapon they prepared for the heart of the righteous will find its home in their own. The sword they so carefully sharpened will be the instrument of their own demise. This is not an accident; it is an appointment. God is the one who redirects the blade.
The Bible is filled with examples of this principle. Haman builds a gallows seventy-five feet high for Mordecai, and ends up swinging from it himself. The enemies of Daniel conspire to have him thrown into the lions' den, and they and their families end up as lion food. The Philistines send Goliath out to defy the armies of the living God, and he is brought down by his own sword in the hand of a shepherd boy. This is how our God works. He delights in turning the tables. He catches the wise in their own craftiness (1 Cor. 3:19).
This is a profound comfort to the saints. It means that we do not have to take matters into our own hands. Vengeance is not our department. Our task is to remain "upright in conduct," to trust in the Lord, and to do good. God's justice is far more thorough and poetically fitting than anything we could ever devise. He does not just defeat His enemies; He makes them the instruments of their own defeat. Their evil consumes them from the inside out.
And notice the second phrase: "And their bows will be broken." Not only will their close-range weapons turn on them, but their long-range weapons will be rendered useless. Their ability to project power, to threaten from a distance, will be shattered. God will snap their bows, leaving them powerless and exposed. All the instruments of their proud rebellion, the sword of their violence and the bow of their threats, will either be turned against them or broken in pieces. The entire arsenal of wickedness is doomed to fail.
This is a promise. It is not a maybe. It is a "will be." The verb is future tense, a divine guarantee. This is where the righteous must place their confidence. The wicked may look formidable now. Their swords may glint in the sun. Their arrows may be nocked. But God has already declared the end of the matter. Their hearts are the true target of their own swords.
The Cross as the Ultimate Boomerang
Nowhere do we see this principle of divine reversal more clearly than at the cross of Jesus Christ. The enemies of God gathered all their weapons. They drew the sword of Roman power and bent the bow of religious hypocrisy. They took the most upright man who ever lived, the truly afflicted and needy one, and they sought to slay Him.
They lifted Him up on a cross, which was their ultimate weapon of shame and death. And from all outward appearances, they succeeded. The sword entered His side. They had cast down the Son of God.
But in that very act, the sword entered their own heart. At the cross, Satan, sin, and death swung their mightiest blow, and in doing so, they completely destroyed themselves. The weapon they used to kill the Prince of Life became the very instrument of their own eternal defeat. By His death, Christ destroyed him who has the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14). He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15). The cross was the ultimate boomerang. The gallows Haman built for Mordecai was a pale foreshadowing of the cross that Satan built for Christ.
This is why we must not fret. The victory has already been won. The decisive battle has been fought, and the weapons of our enemies have been broken. The risen Christ holds all authority in heaven and on earth. The rest of history is simply the outworking of that accomplished victory.
Therefore, when you see the wicked in our own day drawing their swords, when you see them bending their bows to attack the church, to cast down the unborn, to slay the upright, do not be dismayed. Do not envy them. Do not fear them. Their whole enterprise is suicidal. The sword they are sharpening is for their own heart. The bow they are stringing is destined to be snapped in two by the hand of Almighty God.
Our job is to trust, to obey, to stand firm in our uprightness, and to wait for the salvation of the Lord. For He has promised that the meek will inherit the land, and the wicked will be cut off. Their swords will find their own hearts, and their bows will be broken. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.