Psalm 58: What To Do When You Want Revenge

0:00Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together. Well hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host Pastor Randa today. Psalm chapter 58 and today's title is What to do when you want revenge. What to do when you want revenge. Now if you are listening or watching this podcast and you are just one of those sweet people, man you have just seen God do so many great things that you don't worry about revenge or getting back at somebody. You just trust the Lord. Can I tell you today is a testimony, Psalm for you. It's a testimony of how you used to deal with this but you don't anymore.

1:00But if you're like me and I trust the Lord but you know he's busy and I would just absolutely love to take care of some fools for him from time to time than this Psalm is for you because David is definitely in one of these situations where he is just frustrated about the injustice of things going on and he wants to slice a revenge. He doesn't care if God does it or if somebody else does it but somebody needs to pay. If you're a Phil that way, what do you do? How do you express that to God in a healthy way? If that's you, we're going to talk about it today. So if you've got your Bibles, get your Bible journals out, get your coffee, get you water, whatever it is you need. Also as always, make sure you take just a moment to like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five star review on the podcast. It really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job and you can get all that information by going to thebibblebraetdown.com because the more we dig, the more we find.

2:00Well, if you've been with us for the past while, we are slowly going through what we are calling the soundtrack for life. It is a collection of the greatest hits of the people of God all the way from the time of Moses to the time of Malachi. And as these songs would just resonate from the things and seasons that people were going through, the Holy Spirit inspired the best of them to go into five different books that we eventually collected into one book we call the Psalms. And we are in book two right now in chapter 58. And we've talked about this several times over the course of the Psalm so far that these songs help us to relate to God in various seasons and situations. It helps us know how to cry with God, how to celebrate with God, how to take a road trip with God. And this is just one of those when you're just mad. Just mad about bad people doing bad things for bad reasons and you trust God, but just mad. And I love how the Bible, the Bible is so awesome. It says in one place, it says be angry, but don't let that anger cause you to sin.

3:05The King James version is be angry, but sin not, not probably not right. The King James version would probably be angry. Don't be angry. But if you're going to be angry, sin if that's not it. Be angry, but don't let it make you sin. Well, what does that look like? Well today we're going to see how David is so mad. And if you were with us yesterday, the song was to be sung over this tune called Do Not Destroy. We don't know exactly what that was. So I don't know if at the end of every verse, the choir was supposed to come in and say, you know, do not destroy. I don't know. But at some point they're going to put that in here, but David is just going to riff for a moment. This is his hip hop soundtrack to being angry and wanting revenge. And I'm curious if the wording would be a little different. Now don't forget, this is written in ancient Hebrew poetry. And it has now been translated into English and now into modern English. You got two or three steps away. So we have the essence of what it said, but it likely would have had a certain level of meter in rhyme to it that's lost to us now.

4:07But this is what David was saying when he was just angry and wanting a slice of revenge. Here we go. Psalm 58 verse one says this, justice. Do you rulers know the meaning of the word? Do you judge the people fairly? No. You plot injustice in your hearts. You spread violence throughout the land. These wicked people are born sinners. Even from birth they have lied and gone their own way. They spit venom like deadly snakes. They are like cobras that refuse to listen, ignoring the tombs of the snake charmers. No matter how skillfully they play, break off their fangs, oh God, smash the jaws of these lions, oh Lord, may they disappear like water into thirsty ground. May their weapons make their weapons useless in their hands. May they be like snails that dissolve into slime. That's gross. Like a stillborn child who never will never see the sun. That's sad. God will sweep them away both young and old, faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.

5:12The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged. They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. That's also gross. Then at last everyone will say, there truly is a reward for those who live for God. Surely there is a God who judges justly here on the earth. Dave has done had enough. Can I tell you if you were to want to get a t-shirt made, can we just go ahead and say the second half of verse 10 is not a bad idea. They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. You imagine wearing that t-shirt to an airport and somebody saying, how dare you? That doesn't sound good. Well, it's in the Bible. But what David is doing is, is he is helping us understand that it's okay to give Matt. When you see bad things happening, it's okay to get Matt. When you see corrupt politicians who are using good people for bad aims. It's okay to get Matt. When you see the innocent murdered, it's okay to get Matt.

6:15When you see good people standing up only to then get ridiculed, it's okay to get Matt. But then what do we do? We take it to the Lord. We trust in God to do it only he can do. Now that doesn't mean that we don't take action. We can take action in a holy and righteous way that once again, we don't let our anger cause us to sin. However, our anger can cause us to action to do in the right way. But ultimately, the first thing we do is we do the most powerful thing we can do. And that is take it to the Lord. And then we trust that in the end, the Lord will have his way. Verse 11 says this, then at last everyone will say, to realize God moves slower than we do. And here's one of the many reasons why God moves slower than we do. And that is this hurting people hurt people. Do you know, I've noticed that people who are being hurt in the moment, they don't like that phrase. I was talking to a lady one time and she said, Pastor, can I tell you something that I don't

7:17intend to offend you and I have learned over time when someone says that they're about to offend me. You know what I mean? So I'm like, sure, well, on the inside, I'm like cringing like, oh, no, she said, I can't stand that phrase hurting people hurt people. I just don't think that's right. I think that hurting people need to get help. And it's not, it's not okay for them to hurt other people. And so I had to tell her, I said, well, man, first of all, can I just, first of all, can I just tell you you and I on the same team? I don't like that phrase either. I hate it. She said, well, Pastor, you say it all the time. Oh, yeah, I say it because it's true. Not because I like it. And let's make sure we understand. I don't say that is a true statement to give anyone an excuse. It is to help diagnose the problem. Like if you go to the doctor and the doctor says that you have the flu, they're not giving you an excuse to continue coughing for the rest of your life. No, they're saying that's now the problem. Let me give you an antibiotic to fix the problem, right? Or whatever it is you take. And so the problem is the reason why God is so patient is because hurting people hurt

8:20people. And you know, one of the most difficult things to get my head around is the people that I want vengeance on. They need the same amount of mercy that I do. Isn't it crazy that we can judge other people by their actions, but we judge our self by our intentions? Yes, I cut that person off in traffic, but I didn't mean to be hit if somebody else cuts me off in traffic. They did it on purpose. You know, I, I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to take that money. It was an accident. I'm going to bring it back. But when somebody else does it, they did it on purpose. If they hadn't got caught, they would have turned it in. Did you know what I'm trying to say? And so when we trust God, then we trust him to have the appropriate amount of justice at the appropriate time. That's why verse 11 says there is truly a reward for those who live for God because there is a God who judges justly here on earth. So what do we do when we want justice? Number one, we take it to God. We get angry and we just tell God all about it.

9:21But then we trust God to do it only he can do. And in the process, remember that God is usually more patient than we want him to because those, those horrible people are his broken kids just like me and you. And just like he gives us unending mercy, that's what he's wanting to do for others. And so if I hadn't hurt your feelings, I don't know what else to tell you. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that you give us all enormous amounts of mercy. God, I'll be honest with you. I don't always understand why you give such mercy. To some people. But then I turn and look into the mirror and I realize how much I need. And when I realize how much I need, it helps me understand just a little bit why you are so merciful to others. I pray you will soften my heart, Lord, to still want justice, but maybe not so much vengeance because I trust that you are going to do the right thing at the right time for the right season, the right way. I trust you today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, God's Word says in Psalm 34 verse 1, he says, I will bless the Lord at all times.

10:24His praise shall continually be in my mouth. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Psalm chapter 59.