Christian Art | Prayer With Jesus | The Psalms
Psalm 7 | King James Audio Bible
YouTube: Psalm 7 KJV | King James Audio Bible | Word Aloud
Psalm 7 expresses the psalmist’s struggle against unfairness and his plea for God’s protection.
The psalm extends from individual predicament towards cosmic reality – the overarching knowledge of God as the reality of the universe. We can imagine being wrongly accused and treated badly by others. In Psalm 7, the psalmist is upset about being treated unfairly and asks God for help.
In the beginning, the psalmist expresses his trust in God. He asks for refuge, knowing that to be with God is spiritual home and justice.
There is a vivid picture where the psalmist compares his situation to a lion tearing its prey. There is a visceral, animal sense of the psalmist’s torment. This is no abstract dilemma; the whole being of the psalmist is entailed.
Then, the psalmist looks at his own actions. He declares his innocence, especially in relation to dealings with others, and asks for justice considering any sin. There is a call for himself to be brought to account. Implicitly, there is firm belief that the psalmist has abided by God’s law and justice. This is in context of surrender to God’s will.
The psalmist asks God to make things right. He wants God to judge people fairly, separating the good from the bad based on their hearts. There is belief in the universality of God’s justice, both in a supernatural sense and in the assembly of people – God’s justice carried forth on Earth.
The psalm is hopeful. The psalmist trusts that God will protect those with good hearts. He believes God will take action against the wrong things people do.
The psalmist describes how the troublemakers bring harm upon themselves with their own deceitful plans. Their actions have consequences upon themselves. Such is the nature of evil.
The psalmist believes that God is righteous and can be relied upon. God tests His faithful, and yet this test is fair – there is justice.
Psalm 7 expresses a desire for fairness and protection from those who are causing harm. It reminds us that when things are tough, we find refuge and trust in God’s justice.
Indeed, the whole universe, the whole divine plan of salvation, is with us there.
Psalm 7 | King James Audio Bible KJV | Prayer To Jesus
O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.
Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.
The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.
God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.
Key Themes Of The Psalm For Reflection | Love Revealed
- Seeking God’s Protection: The psalmist starts by seeking God’s help and protection from those who are causing trouble and harm.
- Facing Unfair Accusations: The psalmist grapples with being wrongly accused and treated unfairly by others, highlighting the theme of injustice.
- Divine Justice: The psalmist appeals to God’s sense of justice, asking for a fair evaluation of hearts and actions.
- Self-Reflection: The psalmist examines his own actions and asserts his innocence, showing a commitment to fairness and righteousness.
- Trust in God’s Defence: Amidst adversity, the psalmist places trust in God as a defence, emphasizing God’s role as a protector.
- Consequences of Wrongdoing: The psalmist describes the negative outcomes that result from the deceitful plans of the wicked, underscoring the theme of accountability.
- Divine Judgment: The psalmist believes in God’s role as a just Judge, separating the righteous from the wicked based on their intentions.
- Hope and Confidence: The psalmist’s tone shifts to hope and confidence, trusting that God will take action against wrongdoing and uphold fairness.
- Praise and Trust: The psalmist concludes by praising God’s righteousness and expressing trust in His reliability as a source of refuge and justice.
- Seeking Refuge in God: Psalm 7 portrays a journey of seeking refuge in God amidst adversity, appealing for justice and finding hope in divine protection.
Saint Catherine of Siena was born in 1347 in the Italian city of Siena. She was the twenty-third child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa, a family of tradespeople. From her earliest years she showed a deep love for God. At the age of six she said she saw Christ in vision, clothed in papal robes and blessing her. This sense of the nearness of God shaped her whole life [ … ]
On Tuesday, His Grace turns to the theme of Jesus’ hidden years. His Grace asks the students to consider questions concerning what really happened: ‘Who, for instance, was Joseph? Was he indeed a carpenter, or has Joseph’s true role in the society in which he lived been misconstrued and forgotten to us? Though it be a beautiful, simplifying image to grasp, which offers to us much that is of value in Catholic faith… ‘A wise elder, which carpenter could mean, or a great engineer, an architekton, which in the Greek does not mean carpenter. But carpenter in the Hebrew could mean a wise man…’ His Grace turns the pages of his Bible back and forth, as if to itemize the paucity of information. Then he says: ‘What I think I can say to you with confidence is that it is of profound significance that we simply don’t know what Jesus was doing for most of his earthly life. There are some very different possibilities. One idea cherished by the Church is that Jesus worked with his father Joseph as a carpenter. Another possibility is that Jesus lived and prayed and studied closely with John the Baptist. They were cousins, and very close, almost the same, in age. Luke’s Gospel tells us clearly that Jesus and John knew each other from within the womb before they were born. So there may have been something quite important happening there. You see, we don’t know – it is an impossible mystery to us – just how much Jesus had to learn. This is because, if Jesus knew everything, humanly speaking, even as a tiny baby, then how can we say he is fully human? We simply can’t probe too far into this mystery, but we can draw extraordinary truth and healing from this thought, which becomes of immense relevance in our own lives. Jesus came to know and to understand himself not merely as a son of God, but as God the Son, and so as self-identical with his Father. It is not an adoptive relationship. Jesus is God. Now so much is hidden here. But this is a great gift. If you think about it, how do we come to know that we are loved by God, that we have our relationship with God? What are we born with in here’ – his chest – ‘and what do we have to learn? This is to say, what is gifted to us by other Christians at our baptism? ‘Jesus must have studied, and experienced profound revelation about who and what he truly was, and, so it seems to be, these studies cannot have been confined to the Semitic world. But this is the important point: there is a hiddenness about all of this. No matter which schools and which sects our Lord might have encountered all these years, this to us is as a desert space. What this means is that we can enter into the hidden life of Jesus, and there we can discover our own being with God, our own sonship. Our own particular being loved by God can come to us, if we can enter within this great unknown – into this desert space, where we are loved by Jesus. I firmly believe that there may be a great Lenten mystery in this period of our Lord’s life.’ A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 1 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 2 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 3 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 4 | King James Audio Bible | KJV A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 5 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Holy Week | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 6
Oh my Jesus, I come before you in faith and trust, asking for your healing touch upon my body. You are the great physician who can heal all afflictions, and I pray that you would bring your healing power into my life. May your love and mercy flow through me, renewing my body, mind, and soul. Grant me the strength to endure any pain and the courage to face any challenge. I ask this in your holy name. Amen [ … ]
