O Lord my God, in you I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
or like a lion they will tear me apart; they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,
if I have repaid my ally with harm or plundered my foe without cause,
then let the enemy pursue and overtake me, trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust.
Rise up, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you, and over it take your seat on high.
The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous, you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God.
God is my shield, who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.
or like a lion they will tear me apart; they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.
O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands,
if I have repaid my ally with harm or plundered my foe without cause,
then let the enemy pursue and overtake me, trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust.
Rise up, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.
Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you, and over it take your seat on high.
The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous, you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God.
God is my shield, who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.
✙ Psalm 7:1-11 ✙
All I can say is, "Thank God for grace." For can I really pray with the psalmist that I be judged for my integrity—I, whose heart is so divided between God's values and the values of the world? I am too often so dependent on my possessions that I make an idol of material things and the money used to buy them. And yet, this prayer that exposes me still needs to be my prayer, for I should not be satisfied with things as they are, I cannot settle for life in the dust, and I dare not lower my prayers to bless my current condition.
Judge me, O God, according to my knowledge of what is right and according to the sincerity of my heart. And may your judgment raise me up to life according to your will. Yet through it all, I thank you for the grace that makes me aware of my shortcomings, the grace that forgives me my sin, and the grace that makes me holy, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
