This psalm of David is hard for most of us to relate to. While we understand there is violence in our society and people are dying every day because of it, we don’t live in the fear of it. David was aware there were people in his kingdom who wanted him dead.
David identified these people as violent, people “who plot evil in their hearts and stir up trouble all day long.” He described their gossip as the venom of snakes. Why were there people like that in David’s kingdom?
The same reason there are people like that in our world today. We find these people at work, in our government, in our schools, and even in our churches. These people may want to promote themselves by criticizing others. Some people may just want the satisfaction of making others look bad. It is hard to know the motivation, but we have all seen it, heard it or done it. It is part of our sinful nature that some people just can’t control.
But what about Paul who was beheaded for his testimony for Christ? Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. History has reported that all of the apostles died violent deaths except John. Christians were martyred for their faith from the time of the resurrection until the Roman Emperor, Constantine, made Christianity the official religion of the empire.
A reason this psalm is important is God is trying to impress on us the need to pray for persecuted Christians around the world. In Africa today, Muslims are killing Christians in Niger, Benin, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mozambique. What are Christians in these countries doing about it? Some are fleeing their homes for safety. Others are staying hoping to carry on. But they are praying for their enemies to trust in Christ.
In India, some Hindus are persecuting Christians in their area. Christians make up only about 10% of the population there. In China and North Korea, Christians have to go “underground”; they can’t express their faith publicly. These are only some of the many countries where Christians face persecution.
What should we do? In Matthew 6, Jesus taught His followers to pray, “Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy. May Your kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Yet, because the problem of persecution does not affect us, do we really take His words seriously? We must each decide if this is truly God’s will for us!