October 31
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MY SOUL SHALL REJOICE IN THE LORD
So my soul shall rejoice in the LORD;
It shall rejoice in His salvation.
10 All my bones will say, “LORD, who is like You,
Who rescues the afflicted from one who is too strong for him,
And the afflicted and the poor from one who robs him?”
11 Malicious witnesses rise up;
They ask me things that I do not know.
12 They repay me evil for good,
To the bereavement of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting,
But my prayer kept returning to me.
14 I went about as though it were my friend or brother;
I bowed down in mourning, like one who mourns for a mother.
15 But at my tumbling they rejoiced and gathered themselves together;
The afflicted people whom I did not know gathered together against me,
They slandered me without ceasing.
16 Like godless jesters at a feast,
They gnashed at me with their teeth.- Psalm 35:9-16
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In verse 9, David promised that his soul would be appropriately happy in the LORD. Spurgeon comments on this verse as “We do not triumph in the destruction of others, but in the salvation given to us of God.” Smyth (cited in Spurgeon) suggested several reasons why God might allow such a sorrowful trial.
· To humble His people.
· To cause them to seek Him in urgent prayer.
· To prevent them from pursuing the very thing falsely accused of.
· To test whether His people will rely upon Him in all things.
· To teach them how to behave toward others when they are falsely accused.
· To warn them against making false accusations against others.
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REFLECTION
• How can David still rejoice in the Lord despite all the plots of the enemy and how all these people have gathered against him?