94
📚O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs;
O God, to whom vengeance
belongs, shine forth!
94:1 The author, who is unknown to us, was suffering under the oppression of wicked people in places of authority and disturbed at the perversion of justice in the nation. The rule of the people was in the hands of evil men (v 20), who crushed God’s people (v 5), and murdered the weak and helpless (v 6). So he prays that God will take vengeance on them. This is not a prayer that is prompted by a desire for personal vengeance. It is prompted by desire for justice to prevail and for the persecuted to be rescued. Vengeance must be left to God to work out in His time and way (Ex 21:23-25; Num 31:2; Nahum 1:2, 7; Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30-31).⚜
2 📚Rise up, O judge of the earth!
Mete out repayment to the proud!
3 📚LORD, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked triumph?
4 📚How long will they speak
and say hard things,
and all the evildoers boast
of themselves?
5 📚They break your people
in pieces,
O LORD, and afflict your inheritance.
94:5 Believers are God’s people, God’s inheritance. Will He forever let them be crushed? Absolutely not.⚜
6 📚They kill the widow
and the foreigner,
and murder the fatherless.
94:6 According to the law of God, the people of Israel were to show special compassion for widows, strangers, and orphans – Ex 22:21-22; Deut 10:18-19; 14:28-29; 24:19-20; 27:19. Instead, these wicked rulers murdered them.⚜
7 📚Yet they say, “The LORD
does not see,
the God of Jacob does not pay
attention to it”.
8 📚Understand, you senseless among
the people.
And you fools, when
will you be wise?
9 📚He who planted the ear, does
he not hear?
He who formed the eye,
does he not see?
10 📚He who corrects the nations,
does he not judge rightly?
He who teaches man knowledge,
does he not know?
11 📚The LORD knows the thoughts
of man,
that they are futile.
94:8-11 The author points out the extreme folly of godless unbelievers. They may be highly educated and look down on humble believers, but they are fools, and believers have far more reason to look down on them (though they should not do so). Can these unbelievers think of the human ear, that marvelous instrument of hearing, and imagine that it had no Maker, or that He is deaf? And that wonderful instrument of vision, the human eye – only the fool can think it had no Maker or that its Maker is unable to see. And can man, proud of his little scraps of knowledge, imagine that God has none at all? God punishes whole nations; can He not deal with these wicked individuals? The vanity and wickedness of man’s thoughts! When a man thinks God is nothing he becomes nothing himself.⚜
12 📚Blessed is the man
whom you discipline,
O LORD, and teach from your law,
94:12 Here is a wonderful truth (Deut 8:5; Job 5:17; Ps 119:71, 171; Prov 3:11-12; Heb 12:5-6). God’s chastening is painful, but we should welcome that which does us so much good.⚜
13 📚That you may give him rest
from the days of trouble,
until the pit has been
dug for the wicked.
94:13 Men dig pits to catch wild beasts. The wicked, like wild beasts, try to tear God’s sheep, and so pits will be dug to catch the wicked.⚜
14 📚For the LORD will not cast away
his people,
he will not forsake his inheritance.
15 📚But judgment will return to
righteousness,
and all the upright in heart
will follow it.
94:12-15 Now the tone of the psalm changes. The writer expresses his quiet confidence in God. God, he is sure, has a loving purpose in the troubles that have come from wicked men. God will use those troubles to chastise and teach him (v 12), and in spite of them all give rest of heart (v 13). And God will restore righteous judgment to the people (v 15).⚜
16 📚Who will rise up for me against
the evildoers?
Or who will stand up
for me against
those who do evil?
17 📚Unless the LORD had been
my help,
my soul would soon have dwelt
in silence.
94:17 He means he would be dead if the Lord had not helped him.⚜
18 📚When I said, “My foot
is slipping”,
your mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 📚In my many anxieties
within me,
your comforts delight
my soul.
94:19 Anxious thoughts will naturally come to us in times of trouble and injustice, but we do not need to be overcome by them. God wants us to have joy in trials and difficulties.⚜
20 📚Will the throne of wickedness,
which creates trouble by law,
have fellowship with you?
21 📚They gather themselves
together against
the soul of the righteous,
and condemn innocent blood.
94:20-21 Sometimes rulers make laws that enable them to oppress people and work evil. God has no part in such regimes.⚜
22 📚But the LORD is my defense 📖,
and my God is my rock 📖
of refuge.
23 📚And he will bring on them
their own evil,
and will cut them off in their
own wickedness;
yes, the LORD our God
will cut them off.