DUNCAN/Save me from evil men

If you have your Bible, I’d invite you to turn with me to Psalm 140. In this psalm, David is lamenting a specific situation or set of situations in which he finds himself. There are men who are slandering him, and he’s crying out to God for help. I wonder if some of you know what it is to be the object of slander — To have your character called into question. Maybe you’re a medical doctor who’s gone above and beyond the call of duty in a difficult case and you’ve been rewarded for your trouble by a frivolous lawsuit, one which literally endangers your ability to practice. Or maybe you’re the parent of a child — A student in high school or college, and malicious, untrue rumors have been spread about your child that have deeply wounded them and broken your heart. That’s where David is here — Faithfully seeking to serve the Lord, his name called into question, his person threatened, evil men lurking to do malice to him. How do we respond?

Acknowledge Your Circumstances 

First, the psalmist begins in verses 1 to 5 very clearly acknowledging his circumstance in this lament. There’s no candy-coating here. David doesn’t downplay the seriousness of the situation that he’s in; he articulates it. He spells out his circumstances; he laments it to the Lord; he holds it up before the Lord’s eyes. He says, “There are wicked, violent, arrogant men; they’re planning evil against me and they’re slandering me.” He spells it all out in verses 2 through 4. He acknowledges his circumstances. Do you remember to do that to the Lord? If you’re like me, in these circumstances I’m instinctively trying to figure my way out rather than going to the Lord and saying, “Lord, these are my circumstances. I need You.”

Second, David shows that we ought to go to the Lord and petition Him with our need. From the acknowledgement of verses 1 to 5, you see especially in verses 1 and 4 a specific petition, a plea from David for deliverance, preservation, and protection. He says, “Lord, I need You. I need You for deliverance and preservation and protection from these men.” Look at verse 1 — “Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men.” Then look at verse 4 — “Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent men.” He acknowledges the necessity of going to God to resolve this situation. He can’t fix it on his own.

It was back around 1987 when Ray Donovan, the former Secretary of Labor under President Ronald Reagan, had been accused of wrongdoing, of felony wrongdoing in a construction case in the state of New York and he was acquitted by the court of all charges. And after he walked out of court he very famously said, “What office do I go to, to get back my reputation?” And David is acknowledging here there’s no office he can go to, to get back his reputation; he’s got to go to God. Only God can answer this situation. Only God can fulfill this need. 

Acknowledge Your God 

And then, if you look at verses 6 and 7, now the focus is on our God. “You are my God; You are my strength; You have delivered me in the past.” Or, in the words of Martin Luther, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” Look at what he does, especially in verses 6 and 7. “I say to the LORD, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD!” He confesses something about God which emboldens him both to pray and to believe that God will answer that prayer. When you stand up and recite the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed or the Twenty-Third Psalm, have you ever thought that you’re emboldening yourself to pray to God and to trust that He will answer your prayer? It causes us to trust that He forgives us when we ask for forgiveness, to entrust that He intends good for us when we’re in tight spots, to move us to believe Him that He cares for us in the kindness and goodness and mercy of His providence. That confession about God moves us to pray to Him and to trust that He will answer us.

Pray That Your Enemies Will Be Thwarted

Next, David prays for his enemies to be thwarted, not only in verse 8 that the Lord would not let them succeed, but in verses 9 to 11 that their own schemes would rebound on them, and that their wicked plans for him would end up bouncing back on them. He knows that the wicked are inherently prideful. Every sin is prideful because you’re doing what God has told you not to do therefore you think you’re smarter than God. And David’s saying, “Don’t reward them. They’re already prideful; they’ll be even more prideful if they’re successful. Thwart them so that they’ll have to be humbled.” But then he prays — Look at verse 9 “As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them.” In other words, let their schemes recoil upon them. David offers an acknowledgment of his circumstances, a plea for his need, trust in his God, and then he prays that his enemies will be thwarted.

Hope in Your King 

And then finally in verses 12 and 13 he sets a great hope before his eyes. He begins by saying, “I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted and will execute justice for the needy.” Now why does he know this? That’s part of his job as king. And David also knows that when he does that as best as he can do it, he is still just a pale reflection of the real King. He knows that God is a better King than he is. 

But then he turns his eyes to the future. “Surely the righteous shall give thanks to Your name.” He expects to give thanks to God. He holds our hope up before our eyes. “The upright shall dwell in God’s presence.” Don’t you almost hear an echo of Psalm 23? “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”? Or even of the end of Revelation — “And the upright will see Him face to face”? This is the Christian’s hope. We must remember Jesus Christ who was under duress of malice, slander, and deceit. I want you to think about it, my friends. Your Savior not only died for you at the hands of wicked men, Acts 2:23, but your Heavenly Father ordained that He would be slandered for you. If you have been slandered, it should be comfort indeed that you have not been slandered like your Savior was slandered. And if you have ever been a slanderer, the fact that your Savior was slandered in your place should assure you that even that sin He has paid for.