Welcome to our look at Psalm 58. I feel like I almost have to apologize as we start our
look at this Psalm because this is one of the most negative of all the Psalms. It's
negative because it's honest about the injustice that's in this world. And as David looks
at the truth of injustice, he reminds us of three things that all followers of Christ
must do about injustice. First, he reminds us that we must call out the injustice that
we see. Call out the injustice that you see. Injustice often comes when those who have
power take advantage of those who do not have power. David calls that out. In verses one
and two, he says, "Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge uprightly among men?
No. In your heart, you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth."
David truly hated unjust leaders. Now, what he most hated, he actually found himself caught up in.
And no wonder because of that, that this sin so deeply devastated him. David deeply wanted God
to judge leaders justly until he found himself in need of God's grace for his own injustice.
And then he asked that God's grace would be upon those who asked. And that is one of the ways that
God deals with the injustice in this world, is by causing unjust men and women to turn to him for
help and for grace. And more than anything, of course, we want God to right the wrong,
but we also want him to right the person who is being unjust as followers of Christ. So we're
praying as we call out the injustice, we're praying for them to come to know Jesus, to come
to find his grace. Because injustice comes from the sin that's in all of our hearts. David calls out
that truth very clearly in these verses. In verse three, he says, "Even from birth the wicked go
astray. From the womb they are wayward and they speak lies." We have a sin problem and we have to
deal with that problem. That's part of dealing with injustice. That's part of calling out the
injustice that you see. As David calls out injustice, he also calls out the truth that
injustice is terribly destructive. We need to be clear about the horror of injustice. In verse four,
he says, "Their venom, it's like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped
its ears." This psalm is filled with powerful pictures of the destruction injustice brings,
like a lion, David says, that tears like a snake that poisons, like arrows that go to your heart.
That's what injustice does, he says. Now as you call out injustice, you also have to ask
yourself the hard question. Is this psalm, this negative psalm about injustice, is it a picture
of someone else or is it a mirror? And if we're honest, for all of us there are times when it is
a mirror. When we use our power to get something over someone who doesn't have power. When we act
in, they might seem small to us, unjust ways, but they certainly are hurtful to the others that we
have taken advantage of. The hard part of calling out injustice is seeing that it's right here in my
own heart, in my own life. But if we're going to call out injustice, we have to call it out there
too. So you call out clearly the injustice that you see. The second thing that David teaches us
to do in this psalm is to cry out to God to avenge the injustice. Who's going to make it right? Who's
going to bring justice? You cry out to God as the one who will avenge the wrong and you ask him what
he would have you to do about the wrong that's being done. You never get that reversed. You never
decide, here's what I'm going to do about the wrong that's being done and God, you got to come
alongside and help me. No, you say, God, how do you want to avenge this? And then how can I follow
you in this? If you try to do it based on your own anger, that's a road to bitterness. That's a road
to unresolved anger. No, you cry out to God to avenge the injustice. And as David cries out to
God, you can hear the depth of his emotion and pain. And so as you cry out to God about injustice,
let him hear the depth of your emotion, of your pain. Verses six and seven, he says, "Break the
teeth in their mouths, O God. Tear out, O Lord, the fangs of the lions. Let them vanish like water
that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be blunted." You cry out. Now, where is the
good news in such a negative psalm? Well, this entire psalm is headed towards verse 11. This is
the hope that we live with. This is the truth that we live for. The third thing you do is you speak
out. You call out the injustice, you cry out to God to avenge the injustice, and then you speak out
the truth of God's justice. You speak out the truth of what God wants to do. You don't say just
what's wrong. You say, "Here's what God wants to do that's right." In verse 11, "And then men will
say, 'Surely the righteous are rewarded. Surely there is a God who judges the earth.'" Two things
surely here. Two things certainly here. Two things that you can eternally be sure of that you need to
speak out when you speak the truth of God's justice. Truth number one, God will reward the
righteous. Truth number two, God will judge the unjust. That is eternally true. We may not see it
yet on this earth, but we will see it eternally in heaven. That those who seem to be punished for
their righteousness on this earth by persecution or by being ignored, they will be rewarded eternally
by God in heaven. And that those who seem to get away with injustice on this earth by becoming rich
or becoming powerful based on taking advantage of others, using others, maybe even murdering others,
God's going to judge that eternally. That is the eternal truth you can count on. And when it comes
to dealing with injustice, I've noticed through the years that we tend to either be good at calling
out the injustice or at speaking out God's eternal power to bring justice. Some are good at saying,
"This is what's wrong." Others are more willing to say, "Let's just talk about what's going to
be right." But to really follow Christ, to really learn from what this scripture teaches us, you and
I need to do both. We need to be like David doing both, calling out the injustice and speaking out
the truth of God's justice. We need to be like Martin Luther King, who did both in his "I Have
a Dream" speech. He called out injustice when he said, "Now is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our
nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood." He called it out,
but he also spoke out the truth of God's justice when he quoted, "I have a dream that one day every
valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made
plain and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together." So we need to call it out and speak it out. We need to be like
Isaiah who did both. Isaiah called out injustice when he said, "Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees in Isaiah 10-1." But he also spoke out the truth of God's
justice again and again. One of the places is Isaiah 5-16, "But the Lord of heaven's armies
will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness."
We live in a world where injustice is too often done, but we also live in a world where we worship
and we follow a God of justice who will one day make it all things right and even today is working
to right the wrongs that are being done. So let's talk to him about that. God, that's where we want
to begin. When we see the injustice that's around us, we don't want to begin with ourselves. We want
to begin with you. So help us to do what you've taught us to do in this song, as painful as it
might be for us. Help us to call out the injustice around us. God, it's as simple a thing sometimes
as we don't want to think about negative things. We don't want our hearts to be hurt by the injustice
that's there. God, help us to be willing for our hearts to hurt. Help me to be willing for my heart
to hurt over the injustices in this world. Help us to cry out to you about it. Not just to look for
what we can do, but to cry out to you and then to ask you for what you want us to do and to follow
you. And as we follow you, help us to be those who shout out very clearly, who speak out the truth of
you, a just God who's going to one day set it all right and who even today is working for justice
in the life of every one of those who is suffering. And so God, we turn to you as the God of justice
and when he asked that you would use us as your ambassadors of peace and justice in this world
and as your spokesman for the eternal justice that you're bringing to us. Thank you for your hope
in the midst of the injustice that we face. Help us to proclaim it. In Jesus name, amen.
Tomorrow we're going to look together at Psalm 59, a psalm about how to watch for God's strength.