Who Made You the Judge?

We pick up this Saturday in the middle of David's prayer in Psalms 5:9-12, where we find him describing his enemies to God, and asking God for resolution. In Psalms 5:9 David says some pretty harsh things about his enemies here. Often we're told it's bad to talk bad about your enemies, but when you're talking to God, he already knows how you feel about them, so telling Him is just being honest with Him.

Then David asks for resolution to the problem from God. Psalms 5:10 starts out with "Declare them guilty, O God!" Often we take this into our own hands, and we usurp God's divine right to judgement, and declare that a person is guilty. It's human nature to try to be like God. We need to remember that we are all guilty. Every one of us has committed a sin worthy of death; all sin is worthy of death.

David recognized God's right to judge his enemies. David knew that they had sinned and rebelled against God. Sin and rebellion are most commonly easy to spot. 1 Timothy 5:25 says that deeds that are not good cannot be hidden, and Galatians 5:19 says that the acts of the sinful nature are obvious. David could easily recognize their betrayal of God's principals, but David also recognized that he, as a human, had no right to pass judgement on another, since he also had been guilty of sin at times.

So the next time we go to pass judgement on someone, let's remind ourselves of David, and ask God to be the judge, since it's not our rightful place anyway.