The Boomerang Effect of Malice Text: Psalm 64:1-6
Introduction: The Arsenal of the Ungodly
We live in a world that is drowning in words. And because we are fallen creatures in a fallen world, a vast number of those words are weaponized. They are not instruments of edification, but instruments of destruction. We are lied to, slandered, mocked, and misrepresented from every quarter. The enemy, who is the father of lies, has established a vast communications empire, and his children are diligent employees. They work the night shift. They are tireless in their efforts to undermine, discourage, and destroy the people of God.
The Christian who is surprised by this has not been paying attention to his Bible. The Psalter, in particular, is a wartime manual. It is a book of songs for soldiers. And David, the author of this psalm, was a man who knew what it was to have enemies. He was not dealing with mild disagreements over tea. He was dealing with murderous plots, with conspiracies hatched in the dark, and with the constant barrage of malicious words. He knew that the tongue, though a small member, can set a great forest on fire. And he knew that the ungodly are experts in arson.
This psalm, then, is a prayer for deliverance from a particular kind of warfare, the warfare of words, the secret plots of the wicked. But it is more than just a plea for help. It is a profound meditation on the nature of evil, the self-deception of the wicked, and the unerring justice of God. David shows us the wicked in their workshop, sharpening their tongues, crafting their slanders, and boasting in their cleverness. But he also pulls back the curtain to show us the God who sees all, who is not mocked, and whose arrows fly truer and faster than any of the enemy's. This psalm teaches us that the malice of the wicked has a boomerang effect. The snares they set for the righteous are the very snares they will be caught in. Their own tongues, the weapons they trusted in, will become their own ruin.
In our therapeutic age, we are often told to ignore our enemies, to rise above the fray, to pretend their words do not matter. But David does not do this. He takes the matter straight to God. He names the evil for what it is. He complains to God about it. And in doing so, he shows us the path to true security. Our safety is not found in pretending the enemy is not there. Our safety is found in taking refuge in the God who is always there, and who will, in His own time, bring all the secret plots of the wicked out into the broad daylight of His perfect judgment.
The Text
Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Guard my life from dread of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, From the tumult of the workers of iniquity, Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, To shoot from places of hiding at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, “Who can see them?” They searched out unrighteousness, saying, “We have completed a diligent search”; For the inward thought of a man and his heart are deep.
(Psalm 64:1-6 LSB)
A Righteous Complaint (v. 1-2)
The psalm opens with a direct and honest plea to God. David is not stoic; he is in distress, and he brings that distress to the only one who can do anything about it.
"Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Guard my life from dread of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, From the tumult of the workers of iniquity," (Psalm 64:1-2)
Notice first that David makes a "complaint." In our day, complaining is often seen as a sign of weak faith. But there is a world of difference between faithless grumbling against God and a faith-filled complaint to God. Grumbling questions God's goodness. Complaining, in the biblical sense, appeals to God's goodness. David is not whining; he is litigating. He is bringing his case before the righteous judge of all the earth and asking for a verdict. He is saying, "O God, you are just, and what is happening to me is unjust. Therefore, act."
His request is twofold. First, he asks God to guard his life from the "dread of the enemy." This is a crucial distinction. He is not just asking for protection from the enemy, but from the fear of the enemy. The enemy's primary weapon is often intimidation. They want to occupy your mind, to fill you with anxiety, to make you flinch and second-guess. David understands that the battle is won or lost first in the heart. He is asking God to keep his heart secure, even when the external threats are very real. This is a prayer for courage, for a steadfast mind that is fixed on God, not on the roaring of the lions.
Second, he asks God to "hide" him. This is a prayer for refuge. The enemies are engaged in "secret counsel" and a "tumult." The first word points to conspiracy, to plots hatched behind closed doors. The second word points to a mob, to the noisy, chaotic assault of the crowd. The wicked are both conspiratorial and riotous. They plot in secret and then attack in a swarm. David's only safety from both the secret plot and the public riot is to be hidden in God. This is not a cowardly retreat, but a strategic repositioning. We fight best when we fight from the high ground of God's protection.
The Weapons of Slander (v. 3-4)
David now describes the nature of the attack. The weapons are not literal swords and arrows, but they are just as deadly.
"Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, To shoot from places of hiding at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear." (Psalm 64:3-4 LSB)
The imagery is vivid. The tongue is a sword that has been deliberately "sharpened." This is not an accidental slip of the tongue. This is calculated, premeditated malice. Slander is a craft, and the wicked are diligent craftsmen. They spend time honing their accusations, polishing their insults, and making sure their verbal blades are razor sharp. Their speech is not just speech; it is a weapon designed to cut, to wound, and to kill a man's reputation, his peace, and his influence.
Their "bitter speech" is aimed like an arrow. This points to the distance from which they attack. A sword is used up close, but an arrow is for striking from afar. This is the method of the coward. They shoot from "places of hiding," from the shadows of anonymity, from behind the cover of a crowd. The internet has given this ancient sin a massive, global amphitheater. They shoot at the "blameless," meaning the one who has given them no just cause for their attack. Their assault is unprovoked. It is the pure, venomous hatred of the serpent for the seed of the woman.
And they do it "suddenly" and "do not fear." They love the element of surprise, the ambush. And they have no fear of God, no fear of consequences. They are entirely given over to their sin. They believe they are untouchable, that their secret plots and anonymous attacks will never be traced back to them. They are arrogant in their wickedness, confident that they will get away with it.
The Self-Deception of the Wicked (v. 5-6)
In these next verses, David takes us inside the minds of the wicked. He shows us their internal logic, their corrupt reasoning.
"They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, 'Who can see them?' They searched out unrighteousness, saying, 'We have completed a diligent search'; For the inward thought of a man and his heart are deep." (Psalm 64:5-6 LSB)
First, they encourage one another in their sin. "They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose." Sin loves company. They form an echo chamber of malice, reinforcing each other's deceptions, patting one another on the back for their clever schemes. They "talk of laying snares secretly." They are conspirators, whispering together about how to trap the righteous.
Their central operating assumption is a practical atheism. They say, "Who can see them?" They may not deny God's existence in theory, but they deny His relevance in practice. They believe their actions are hidden, that God's eye does not penetrate their secret counsels. This is the foundational lie of all sin. It is the fool saying in his heart, "There is no God," or, what amounts to the same thing, "There is a God, but He is not paying attention."
They are not just casual sinners; they are meticulous in their sin. "They searched out unrighteousness." They are researchers of iniquity. They expend great effort to find or manufacture faults in the righteous. They boast in their thoroughness: "We have completed a diligent search." This is the language of a formal investigation. They present their slander not as gossip, but as the result of careful inquiry. They are the original fact-checkers, where the facts are manufactured to fit the predetermined conclusion.
The final clause is a profound observation: "For the inward thought of a man and his heart are deep." This can be understood in two ways. It can refer to the deep, intricate, and bottomless depravity of the wicked. Their hearts are a labyrinth of deceit, and they are proud of their complexity. But it can also point to the object of their attack, the blameless man. They cannot truly know his heart, his inward thought, because it is deep, and it is hidden with God. They can only shoot at the surface. Ultimately, this points to the depth of all human hearts, which only God can truly fathom. And this is precisely why their plots are doomed to fail. They think they are clever, but they are operating in the dark, ignorant of the deepest realities, which are all held in the hand of God.