TLIC Psalms. May 6. Lest My People Forget. 

Read Psalm 59:8-13.  ⁸But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. ⁹O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress. ¹⁰My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. ¹¹Kill them not, lest my people forget; make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield! ¹²For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies that they utter, ¹³consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth.

David has turned this imprecatory prayer into a call for justice against both his personal enemies and all the nations. His prophetic words give us a view of the future of Israel. As Israel sins more and more against God, he will use hostile nations (Assyria, Babylon) to keep Israel from forgetting God – Kill them not, lest my people forget. Yet, in the end, these same nations will be consumed by the wrath of God, not for judgment’s sake alone, but for salvation’s sake – that they may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth.

Ultimately Jesus was consumed by the wrath of God on the cross in the place of the nations. He was laughed at and held in derision. Not for his own pride, but the for the pride of mankind. Not for the cursing and lies of his own lips, but for the words of those crucified beside him. Why? So that the world might know that God rules over the ends of the earth in love and grace.

God’s rule over the ends of the earth includes your little corner of the world, and God will meet you there in his steadfast love. He is calling you to look today in triumph over your enemies, for God has shamed them all when he nailed your sins to the cross.  

To live is Christ means no trouble, past, present, or future, can separate you from his love. No power can overcome his grace in your life. Why? Because Christ was consumed in our place.

Prayer. Jesus, may I never forget his covenant of mercy and continue to watch for your return. Amen.

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