Meditation
“I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.
Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.”
Psalm 119:121, 122
“I have done judgment and justice.”
These two words, judgment and justice, are some of the most powerful in Scripture.
Their power is wholly of God.
There is no true judgment, but the judgment of God. He is the only One that is just when He judges and clear when He speaks. His righteousness (here translated as justice, in connection with judgment) is the only righteousness that is perfect. Perfectly straight is He in all His being, in all His counsel and in all His works and ways.
And yet the Psalmist prays in His prayer, “I have done judgment and justice.” So the church is led to pray, “I have done judgment and justice.” So the child of God is taught to pray, “I have done judgment and justice.”
For the church and for the child of God, this declaration leads to the heart of the petition, supplication for deliverance from oppression.
This oppression is of the proud. The proud have exalted themselves in the earth. In their pride they establish themselves in their own ways of wickedness and deceit. They lust after power and control, to exert it for the damage of others weaker than they. In their unrighteousness they practice injustice, to demonstrate to themselves the greatness of their power. They lift themselves up against the God they know to rule over all, they seek out God’s people to afflict and persecute them.
How do these proud find God’s people? The oppressors search out the Lord’s servants, marked by their God. They look for the godly. They find the godly in their godliness, doing true judgment and true justice according to the Word of God.
So the proud oppress the godly for their godliness. In their pride, these proud must show they are greater than God, that they can defy the judgment and justice of God to preserve His own. Should they be able to ruin and destroy the people of God, then they can proclaim that their deceitful judgment and lying justice is greater and higher than God Himself, greater and higher than His judgment and justice.
Most striking!
The very reason for the proud’s oppression of God’s servants becomes the very matter that the servants bring before God: “I have done judgment and justice.”
Why?
Because these servants of the Lord know the same thing that the wicked know: their doing of judgment and justice is the very work of the Lord within them. Facing their proud oppressors and their oppression, the godly know of only one Refuge, one Saviour and one Deliverer. The very same God who has redeemed them, making them His servants, is their strong Refuge. The very same God who has given them the judgment and justice they do they know to be their mighty Deliverer.
Upon His name, then, they call. They pray, assured that He will not leave nor forsake the work of His hands. They cry out, certain that He will deliver His servants from the oppression of the proud.
The certainty of this petition for its answer rests not on the oppressed godly, but wholly on their Lord who has purchased them. Their doing of judgment and justice leads to that certainty that is found in their Lord alone.
That certainty is marvelously expressed in the first part of verse 122: “Be surety for thy servant for good.”
That surety, as a pledge, is God Himself. That surety is God Himself in His servant, working all the justice and judgment the servant does. So the Psalmist sees and presents his doing of justice and judgment to God, in verse 121, as God being his surety in verse 122.
For thy sake, leave me not to mine oppressors!
For thy glory, let not the proud oppress me!
So let us pray to our faithful Lord. So let us trust in our Surety for good.
“Let not the proud oppress!”
Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.”
Psalm 119:121, 122
“I have done judgment and justice.”
These two words, judgment and justice, are some of the most powerful in Scripture.
Their power is wholly of God.
There is no true judgment, but the judgment of God. He is the only One that is just when He judges and clear when He speaks. His righteousness (here translated as justice, in connection with judgment) is the only righteousness that is perfect. Perfectly straight is He in all His being, in all His counsel and in all His works and ways.
And yet the Psalmist prays in His prayer, “I have done judgment and justice.” So the church is led to pray, “I have done judgment and justice.” So the child of God is taught to pray, “I have done judgment and justice.”
For the church and for the child of God, this declaration leads to the heart of the petition, supplication for deliverance from oppression.
This oppression is of the proud. The proud have exalted themselves in the earth. In their pride they establish themselves in their own ways of wickedness and deceit. They lust after power and control, to exert it for the damage of others weaker than they. In their unrighteousness they practice injustice, to demonstrate to themselves the greatness of their power. They lift themselves up against the God they know to rule over all, they seek out God’s people to afflict and persecute them.
How do these proud find God’s people? The oppressors search out the Lord’s servants, marked by their God. They look for the godly. They find the godly in their godliness, doing true judgment and true justice according to the Word of God.
So the proud oppress the godly for their godliness. In their pride, these proud must show they are greater than God, that they can defy the judgment and justice of God to preserve His own. Should they be able to ruin and destroy the people of God, then they can proclaim that their deceitful judgment and lying justice is greater and higher than God Himself, greater and higher than His judgment and justice.
Most striking!
The very reason for the proud’s oppression of God’s servants becomes the very matter that the servants bring before God: “I have done judgment and justice.”
Why?
Because these servants of the Lord know the same thing that the wicked know: their doing of judgment and justice is the very work of the Lord within them. Facing their proud oppressors and their oppression, the godly know of only one Refuge, one Saviour and one Deliverer. The very same God who has redeemed them, making them His servants, is their strong Refuge. The very same God who has given them the judgment and justice they do they know to be their mighty Deliverer.
Upon His name, then, they call. They pray, assured that He will not leave nor forsake the work of His hands. They cry out, certain that He will deliver His servants from the oppression of the proud.
The certainty of this petition for its answer rests not on the oppressed godly, but wholly on their Lord who has purchased them. Their doing of judgment and justice leads to that certainty that is found in their Lord alone.
That certainty is marvelously expressed in the first part of verse 122: “Be surety for thy servant for good.”
That surety, as a pledge, is God Himself. That surety is God Himself in His servant, working all the justice and judgment the servant does. So the Psalmist sees and presents his doing of justice and judgment to God, in verse 121, as God being his surety in verse 122.
For thy sake, leave me not to mine oppressors!
For thy glory, let not the proud oppress me!
So let us pray to our faithful Lord. So let us trust in our Surety for good.
“Let not the proud oppress!”