The Verdict Is In

Psalm 35:19-28

19Don’t let my treacherous enemies

rejoice over my defeat.

Don’t let those who hate me without cause

gloat over my sorrow.

20They don’t talk of peace;

they plot against innocent people

who are minding their own business.

21They shout that they have seen me doing wrong.

“Aha,” they say. “Aha!

With our own eyes we saw him do it!”

22O LORD, you know all about this.

Do not stay silent.

Don’t abandon me now, O Lord.

23Wake up! Rise to my defense!

Take up my case, my God and my Lord.

24Declare me “not guilty,” O LORD my God, for you give justice.

Don’t let my enemies laugh about me in my troubles.

25Don’t let them say, “Look! We have what we wanted!

Now we will eat him alive!”

26May those who rejoice at my troubles

be humiliated and disgraced.

May those who triumph over me

be covered with shame and dishonor.

27But give great joy to those

who have stood with me in my defense.

Let them continually say, “Great is the LORD,

who enjoys helping his servant.”

28Then I will tell everyone of your justice and goodness,

and I will praise you all day long.

Take up my case, my God and my Lord. Declare me ‘not guilty,’ ” pleads David in verses 23-24.

What a great way to conclude the psalm. In the first ten verses the images are all military. We read of war, armor, shield, spear, and javelin. In the next section it seems as if we are in a civil trial, and we hear the legal terms “testify,” “accuse,” and “slander.”

In the upper room, it was the once-doubting Thomas who gasped, “My Lord and my God!” as the risen Jesus stood before him (John 20:28). In that moment he seemed to realize that his nail-scarred Lord would take up his case, guaranteeing God’s not-guilty verdict. When God becomes “my Lord,” the Judge becomes our defense attorney.

“Not guilty” is the verdict that God declares in the New Testament. According to Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we read that “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right [declared ‘not guilty’] with God through Christ.”

At times in our desperation we may feel as distant from the Lord as the psalmist (or Thomas) did. But, just as the Lord said to Thomas in the upper room, he says to us, “Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” If we trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation, we can be confident that God has declared us “not guilty.”

O for a faith that will not shrink

Though pressed by many a foe,

That will not tremble on the brink

Of any earthly woe.

WILLIAM H. BATHURST

Bible Networking

See how Jesus referred to verse 19 in John 15:24-25.

Notable Quotable

“Whatever you do, do well, and you praise God. Do you transact business? Do no wrong, and you have praised God. Do you till your field? Raise no strife, and you praise God. In the innocence of your works, prepare to praise God all the day long.”

SAINT AUGUSTINE