Psalm 35:9-16 “My soul shall be joyful in the LORD. It shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, ‘LORD, who is like you, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?’ Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about. They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom. I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother. But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease. Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed their teeth at me.”

Do we see what is behind the believer eventually being comfortable calling for God’s vengeance against enemies? It doesn’t start out that way. We call out for God’s mercy and care for others. We mourn and fast for their afflictions. And what happens? They ridicule, attack, and speak evil of us. At some point we just cry out for justice, just as we see happen at the end of all things in the book of Revelation:

Revelation 6:10 “They cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ ”

In the midst of it all we rejoice that God loves us, God hears us, God saves us, and God will ultimately vindicate us. If not in this life, then in the future.

For additional worship: Psalm 35 – CONTEND (Sons of Korah)