Psalm 139: Pt. 5, vss. 19-22

The second stanza that we're getting to now is a response to the previous reflection, with the first part (19-22) being a resolution to be like God and the second (23-24) as a request for an ever-deepening intimacy with God.

If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing by hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

In verses 19-22 David pleads with God to rid the world of all the wicked, all those who misuse his name, who hate him and rebel against him—make this world what it was always supposed to be, David pleads to God. It’s harder to see the Lord when we know so many misuses for his name; it’s difficult to perceive his goodness when there are those who seek your blood, who want to ruin your name; it's difficult to believe God is always present with us when people can be so wicked to us. But counting God’s thoughts, as David speaks of doing in verse 18, includes hating those who hate God. We only understand this by seeking to know God's heart both for the world and for himself. Israel is the new humanity he's gathering in the Old Testament, the community of people who are called to image and represent him in spite of their sinfulness. Being like God includes owning God's enemies as one's own enemies, viewing the world through the lens of God's own righteousness. This frees the people of God to express their moral indignation, to feel justified in their anger when the things in this world and in their lives go horridly wrong. It's hard to know exactly what had happened to David that he so implores God to crush his enemies here, but it seems that the desperation that we hear and sense in the rest of the psalm is rooted in the way these bloodthirsty men sought after David; he needed the truth of God's intimacy with him in all ways and at all times and in all places. Being confident in this truth elicits a particular response: God-likeness.

We are likewise called to think God’s thoughts after him. On this side of the cross, this still includes moral indignation for deeds done in violation of God’s good name and character; but God’s thoughts towards the wicked look different now in light of Christ’s work on the cross and subsequent resurrection. As the new humanity that God is gathering under the new covenant in Christ, we are now the community of people called to image and represent him in spite of our own sinfulness. We still own God's enemies as our enemies, but God interacts with his enemies differently now. While David was calling on him to crush his enemies, he has crushed his Son and is being patient because he wants that none should perish. (God's patience is why we ourselves came to be a part of this thing called his Church.) Viewing the world through the lens of God's righteousness now means seeing evil for what it is but knowing what will become of it. We still call God to action when we see the bloodthirsty, when we hear words of evil intent, we rise up against those who hate the Lord--but we do it as those who were once enemies of God and now know the love displayed on the cross. We know that God's righteousness now is worked out in mercy, compassion, and patience, but when he decides to make all things new in the return of Christ his righteous wrath will be applied like never before. Through his great power in judgment and his discernment of human hearts, the whole world and everyone in it will show forth his glory and holiness continually. As his people, we participate now in glorifying him with the expectation of seeing his glory fully revealed. We pray now for the wicked and give ourselves in love to the wicked because we are called to live in this age like Christ, but we know that there will be a time when such things will be unnecessary and the pain the wicked afflict will be a thing of a very distant past. Then we will see how God will finally respond to his people's prayers of desperation and for deliverance, such as David's supplication in Psalm 139.