Posts Tagged ‘Psalm 7:6-11’

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Psalm 7:6-11

There is a curious request in Psalm 7, which we’ve just prayed together.  The psalmist asks for God’s judgment.  “Judge me, O Lord.”  And this request, this desire for God’s judgment, doesn’t just appear in Psalm 7.  It’s repeated a number of times in the scriptures, particularly in the psalms.[i]

Being judged is a sore subject for many people, maybe for you personally.  You might have faced a kind of corrosive judgment in growing up; you may live with it now.  The worst kind of judgment, demeaning judgment, is not what we hear from other people, which may be terrible.  The worst kind of judgment is what we hold in our own hearts against ourselves.  Demeaning self judgment often takes on an internal shouting match: silently yelling at ourselves how we should be better or different or changed in some way.  A proclivity to be self-judging, in a way where we always lose, not only zaps the life out of us, but also compromises our hope for the future.  It’s a minefield from which there may seem little prospect of escape.  And so, to hear the psalmist ask to be judged, to seek it out and solicit God’s judgment, may seem incredulous.  What are we missing here?

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