THE SONG OF THE SLANDERED SAINT

PSALM 7:1-17

This is a psalm that every saint of God needs to read from time to time. It is real life in the clearest sense. And every full-time servant of Christ really needs it. The song of the slandered saint is particularly appropriate when one is attacked by well-meaning if mistaken saints. Sometimes those who oppose us in our ministries do so by talking behind our backs to others. On other occasions, they publicly confront us in what amounts to a personal attack. We are each human beings with personal feelings that we cannot divorce from our thought processes. So, we struggle in this kind of situation. Others have struggled before. King David has written about that struggle with great eloquence and great effectiveness in this psalm.

Permit me to start not with the inspired text, but with the title of the psalm. I believe that there are, within the title, several interpretative keys to the content of the psalm. We begin with the Hebrew word shiggaion (an obscure term to say the least) which is translated meditation in the NKJV. Here are suggested meanings of the word: wondering, reeling, veering, or weaving. The idea is of shifting emotions or movement of thoughts within the individual. We all have occasions when we have emotions streaking across our minds at breakneck speeds coupled with frequently changing directions. One minute we are thinking one way about an issue and the next minute our thoughts have changed. Apparently that is how David felt. And I imagine that you have felt that way on many occasions.

Christ understands. He knows what it is like to hurt inside. The writer of Hebrews says that he was tested in all ways like we are tested. Dr. R. G. Lee coined the expression, the most awful cry ever uttered from human lips. He was referring to Christ at Calvary when he cried, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Christ’s cry is sometimes translated his roaring or shrieking. He has felt painful emotions and understands us when we feel such.

The response of David in the psalm was to sing to the Lord in this pain laden, mournful way. His was a solo to the Lord in the time of trouble, danger, and pain. In the psalm title, it is said that the immediate situation is the slander of a man named Cush. Probably this is the time when David was being hunted by Saul (v. 5). Likely, Cush is in the court of Saul whispering slanderous stories to Saul about what David’s intentions are. Malice? Lies? Envy? Or all the above? The bottom line is that David left his defense in the hands of the Lord.

Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator (I Peter 4:19). Beloved , do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord (Romans 12:19).

Howard L. Wilburn