Choosing Sides

Psalm 109:1-8

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1O God, whom I praise,

don’t stand silent and aloof

2while the wicked slander me

and tell lies about me.

3They are all around me with their hateful words,

and they fight against me for no reason.

4I love them, but they try to destroy me—

even as I am praying for them!

5They return evil for good,

and hatred for my love.

6Arrange for an evil person to turn on him.

Send an accuser to bring him to trial.

7When his case is called for judgment,

let him be pronounced guilty.

Count his prayers as sins.

8Let his years be few;

let his position be given to someone else.

Benedict Arnold, a brilliant general on the colonists’ side in the early days of the American Revolution, jumped to the British side in 1780 and arranged to turn the strategic post of West Point over to the British. In exchange, Arnold was handed a considerable sum of money and was named a brigadier general in the British army. This treachery made his name synonymous with the word traitor.

David felt betrayed when Ahithophel went over to Absalom’s side. Paul felt betrayed when Demas deserted him, but of course the deepest betrayal in Scripture was when Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

About seven weeks after Judas committed suicide, the apostle Peter quoted verse 8 of this psalm to sanction the selection of a new apostle to take the traitor’s place.

Interesting, isn’t it, that Peter was the one who quoted this passage about the traitor. After all, it was Peter who had denied his Lord three times. In those hours before the Crucifixion, whose side was Peter really on?

Perhaps there is a little bit of traitor in all of us, and we need to confess those times when someone looking on might really think that we have switched sides. Maybe it’s clear which side you’re on when you’re sitting in church, but what about during the week? Whose side are you really on?

Jesus, thou hast bought us, not with gold or gem,

But with thine own lifeblood, for thy diadem.

With thy blessing filling each who comes to thee,

Thou hast made us willing, thou hast made us free.

By thy grand redemption, by thy grace divine,

We are on the Lord’s side, Savior, we are thine.

FRANCES R. HAVERGAL

A Word on Words

From the root meaning of the word for “sin” (to miss the mark), verse 7 could be translated as “May his prayers be misses.”

Notable Quotable

“Truly this is one of the hard places of Scripture, a passage which the soul trembles to read; yet as it is a psalm unto God and given by inspiration, it is not ours to sit in judgment upon it but to bow our ear to what God the Lord would speak to us therein.”

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON