A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
Lord my God, I take refuge in you;
save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
or they will tear me apart like a lion
and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.Lord my God, if I have done this
(Ps. 7:1-5 NIV)
and there is guilt on my hands –
if I have repaid my ally with evil
or without cause have robbed my foe –
then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
let him trample my life to the ground
and make me sleep in the dust.
Psalm 7:1-5 contains a prayer for refuge and an oath of innocence. The problem here is that the Psalmist has been falsely accused of breaking his covenant that he had made with an ally (v4). Any time you are falsely accused you can identify with the Psalmist how it feels. It feels as if you are being pursued. The chase is relentless because your accuser takes cheap shots at you before the eyes of an audience. (Notice how different this is from the biblical way of raising an issue. Go to the person and if the person doesn’t respond then you go to the elders and then the church.) False accusers find an audience and the goal is to ruin reputation, and it feels as if you are being torn apart the way a lion would rip its prey to pieces. It’s a lonely place because there is no-one to rescue you. But where your reputation matters most is before the righteous God. The covenant LORD is my God we can take refuge in Him.
LORD my God
If I have done this
If there is guilt on my hands (NIV leaves out this if)
If I have repaid my ally with evil
Or without cause have robbed my foe
Then let my enemy make me sleep in the dust.
It is easier to cope with a public accusation of the sins and crimes you have committed than to emotionally and spiritually cope with false accusations. If you are guilty, then there is a path to repentance and restoration. But if the accusation is false there is nothing to repent of. But the covenant LORD is our God, we take refuge in Him. For every circumstance we face in life we can take refuge in our covenant LORD.
Prayer
Lord when we are falsely accused help us to take refuge in You our covenant LORD. LORD false accusations and criticism are terribly unfair. Resting in You as our place of refuge calms our hearts because you see all things, know all things. We need not invest any effort to defend ourselves because You are our defence. We rest in you our shield and our defender. Lord help us to trust in You because we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ.