From The Psalms

Equally Applying God’s Law

In Psalm 7:3-5, David exclaims, “O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.”

            I am struck by these words every time I read them for in expressing them David does something vitally important for all saints—he equally applies God’s law to himself as well as to others. The psalms are replete with examples of David calling upon God to rescue him from the hands of his adversaries. Often David requested his deliverance to come in the form of punishment on those who abused him. Yet in Psalm 7:3-5 David turns the tables completely and calls upon God to punish him if he is guilty of that which he has been accused. David was subject to God’s law just as his enemies were. This he recognized and embraced.

            The dishonest saint need not imagine himself pure because he is not vengeful. The gossiping saint need not imagine herself righteous because she is not a drunkard. The lustful saint need not imagine himself clean because he is not divisive. Truly each is living in sin and guilty before God. The judgment the dishonest calls upon the vengeful will swallow him for he has forgotten to equally apply God’s law to himself!

            James tells us, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” (James 2:10-11) It is vital that we always bear in mind that God’s laws are expressions of His very character. To act as though one part of His law is unimportant by refusing to relinquish a cherished sin is to necessarily claim that part of God Himself is unimportant.

            While it may be easy to point out the sins of others while ignoring our own, it is certainly not wise. David knew he did not exist outside of God’s law and he did not want to. Let us learn from him in this. God applies His law equally to everyone, it is foolish (and deadly) to pretend He does not.