Contention

Psalm 35

This psalm of David is another imprecatory psalm, meaning that they contain prayers for his enemies destruction. David obviously had a strong sense of justice that bordered on revenge except that he left his vindication in the hands of the Lord, at least in the psalms. David gets right to the point in this psalm: Contend with those who contend with me. He then gives some history: they had laid a trap of some sort for him even though he had prayed and mourned for them when they were ill. David calls for the Lord to act on what he has seen, cursing those who delight in his destruction and blessing those who rejoice in his restoration. He ends with a pledge to praise the Lord that, while not explicit, seems a bit conditional.
I have definitely felt the same way as David about some people or circumstances in my life; my sense of justice and fairness have been offended. I think the difference between my reaction and David's reaction in the psalm is that I dream of taking personal revenge while David prays to the Lord. David definitely has desires for the destruction of his enemies but, at least in the psalm, he trusts the Lord to vindicate him. I do wonder that if David had an opportunity to take revenge if he would see that as the way the Lord has chosen to restore justice. In other words, I wonder how passive David really was.
The other difference between my reaction and David's reaction is that I am often looking for "justice" for my name's sake while David is looking for justice for the Lord's name sake. It is not explicit in this psalm but it definitely comes up in other psalms. This is the difference between having a self-centered life and a Christ-centered life. When my life is centered on Christ, all my passions, emotions and desires are rightly ordered and when I see injustice I immediately recognize how that reflects on Christ's character and I want his name to be "cleared" or glorified. Again, I may be overstating a little bit since most of David's imprecatory psalms are written in response to perceived injustice against himself and rarely because of injustice in another's life.
It is clear that the Lord values justice, that he is the King and Judge and that I can be confident that he will restore justice. My prayer is that I would have the heart of David in regards to justice, not just for my own life but for others as well. I pray that God would make me more aware of the principles and values of his kingdom and of when those values have been offended. I pray that God would assert himself as the King and Center of my life so that I can be more aware of the suffering and oppression of others.