Reflections on Psalms 94

 Psalms 94(Contemporary English Version)

1. LORD God, you punish the guilty. Show what you are like and punish them now.
   
2. You judge the earth. Come and help us! Pay back those proud people for what they have done.
   
3. How long will the wicked celebrate and be glad?
   
4. All of those cruel people strut and boast,
   
5. and they crush and wound your chosen nation, LORD.
   
6. They murder widows, foreigners, and orphans.
   
7. Then they say, "The LORD God of Jacob doesn't see or know."
   
8. Can't you fools see? Won't you ever learn?
   
9. God gave us ears and eyes! Can't he hear and see?
   
10. God instructs the nations and gives knowledge to us all. Won't he also correct us?
    
11. The LORD knows how useless our plans really are.
    
12. Our LORD, you bless everyone that you instruct and teach by using your Law.
    
13. You give them rest from their troubles, until a pit can be dug for the wicked.
    
14. You won't turn your back on your chosen nation.
    
15. Justice and fairness will go hand in hand, and all who do right will follow along.
    
16. Who will stand up for me against those cruel people?
    
17. If you had not helped me, LORD, I would soon have gone to the land of silence.
    
18. When I felt my feet slipping, you came with your love and kept me steady.
    
19. And when I was burdened with worries, you comforted me and made me feel secure.
    
20. But you are opposed to dishonest lawmakers
    
21. who gang up to murder innocent victims.
    
22. You, LORD God, are my fortress, that mighty rock where I am safe.
    
23. You will pay back my enemies, and you will wipe them out for the evil they did.

---

The unidentified psalmist went to the Lord for help against those who were persecuting him and others. He recognized that vengeance belongs to the Lord and is not ours to wield. He identified the Lord as the "God of vengeance." This may be troubling to some leaving them uncertain how to reconcile a God of vengeance with a God of love. But such difficulty points out an incomplete understanding of love. We will not complete our understanding of love through our own reasoning or from any worldly definition, but only from God who is love. (1 John 4:8) There cannot be love without vengeance and wrath to uphold it. Allowing wickedness and hate to run free without dealing with it is not to love either the victims or the wielders of wickedness and hate.

As is characteristic of the wicked, they gloated over their actions taking pride in the power they had over others. But as typical bullies, they afflicted those who could not defend themselves. And they persisted in their persecution because they thought God didn't see what they were doing. The psalmist pointed out to these foolish people the folly of their thinking by asking if the One who shaped the ear and formed the eye could neither hear nor see. Furthermore, he asked, does the One who instructs nations and teaches man knowledge not also discipline?

Then the psalmist added a new thought: vengeance also serves as discipline and discipline is a positive thing, for "happy is the man You (the Lord) discipline and teach from Your law." (94:12) If God did not address wickedness, how would the wicked or anyone else learn otherwise? But the psalmist points out another aspect in this, and that is that persecution can serve to discipline and teach those who are persecuted providing them "relief from troubled times" until the time when God deals with the wicked. As we grapple with this concept we should keep in mind that "discipline" means to instruct and is akin to the word "disciple" which refers to being the pupil of someone.

In the midst of persecution the psalmist found that the Lord's faithful love gave him support. When he was filled with cares, the Lord's comfort brought him joy. The Lord was his refuge and rock of protection and would, in time, destroy the wicked.