Please read Psalm 140 (13 verses)

This Psalm is a complaint and a prayer for protection and vindication from the wicked. The psalmist focuses on people who speak evil words against the righteous and are constantly posturing for a state of war. Violence is the byword and violent deeds are a constant threat against the people of God. The psalmist prays for protection against those who are trying to trip him up and make traps to catch him in wickedness. Those who do such things do so in great pride, thinking that they are having the upper hand since they are strong and think themselves greater than other people. The people of God can often appear weak, as we do not retaliate or give back evil for evil, and are therefore perceived to be easy targets. We are, but God will show Himself in the long run and will, in the end, vindicate His people.

In the meantime we suffer the slights and indignities of the wicked and persevere in our faith in the strength of the Holy Spirit within. God can make us to stand up under all kinds of oppression and persecution and will enable us to be over comers for His sake.

The psalmist prays for peace and power. He prays for deliverance and that the plan of the godless will not succeed. He asks that the mischief the wicked conceive with their lips will turn back and hurt them, and that they will suffer the consequences of their sin, showing the justice of God in all things. It is the righteous who praise the name of the Lord in all difficult circumstances and not the proud who shoot out their lips and boost themselves up in their pride. The violent are rejected from the eternal kingdom, and God will make the light of the needy shine, for they will radiate His mercy and demonstrate His everlasting justice, in the end. The Christian is strong in character to resist the fear that would destroy their faith, and trusts in the power of God to see them through the difficulties.