The Enemies of Man and the Enemies of God

God's Urgent Call
Called to Be Strong

Gideon's Call

Psalm 83:1-18The Message (MSG)

An Asaph Psalm

83 1-5 God, don’t shut me out;
    don’t give me the silent treatment, O God.
Your enemies are out there whooping it up,
    the God-haters are living it up;
They’re plotting to do your people in,
    conspiring to rob you of your precious ones.
“Let’s wipe this nation from the face of the earth,”
    they say; “scratch Israel’s name off the books.”
And now they’re putting their heads together,
    making plans to get rid of you.
6-8 Edom and the Ishmaelites,
    Moab and the Hagrites,
    Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
    Philistia and the Tyrians,
    And now Assyria has joined up,
    Giving muscle to the gang of Lot.
9-12 Do to them what you did to Midian,
    to Sisera and Jabin at Kishon Brook;
They came to a bad end at Endor,
    nothing but dung for the garden.
Cut down their leaders as you did Oreb and Zeeb,
    their princes to nothings like Zebah and Zalmunna,
With their empty brags, “We’re grabbing it all,
    grabbing God’s gardens for ourselves.”
13-18 My God! I’ve had it with them!
    Blow them away!
Tumbleweeds in the desert waste,
    charred sticks in the burned-over ground.
Knock the breath right out of them, so they’re gasping
    for breath, gasping, “God.”
Bring them to the end of their rope,
    and leave them there dangling, helpless.
Then they’ll learn your name: “God,”
    the one and only High God on earth.

For Reflection

Just what is the psalmist asking?  Is he asking for vengeance or justified defense?   Midian, Sisera, and Jabin seemed to be defensive battles with enemies that directly threatened God's people.  Is the threat real in this instance?  If not, will God aid or even conduct an act of vengeance?
If indeed God is a god of violence and vengeance, how are we to understand or justify God's use of violence?  Are these stories to be interpreted as God's manipulation of events?  Or are these stories wishful personifications of human reason projected onto God?  Even if the answer is unknowable, it does affect different interpretations or versions of our God.  Perhaps the way God addresses this request in Gideon will stimulate a plausible answer.

Pray

Pray and listen to God.  Pray that you will not substitute vengeance for justifiable defense.