ONLY FOOLS DARE TO TAUNT THE LIVING GOD ~ Psalm 35

I have quite a few friends on Facebook who routinely post videos of their work on the front lines of the abortion clinics as they plead for women to turn from the wickedness in which they are about to engage. It is always shocking to see one of these women put on a scornful, mocking display for the camera. It resembles any insane asylum scene one has ever witnessed on the big screen.

It is distressing when we witness an evil agenda being played out against the innocent before our eyes. Injustice makes our blood boil. What David seems to stress in Psalm 35 is something that makes that scenario even worse. That is when the wicked, with contemptuous ridicule while carrying out their concealed schemes to destroy, laughingly mock the righteous. When the claims of the innocent are met with derision and disbelief, there is One who sees. And He will laugh…at the wicked! Their evil laughter will one day be returned upon their own heads. They will be the ashamed and the humiliated, if they do not turn in repentance before it is too late.

He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.”(Psalm 2:1-6) The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees his day is coming. (Psalm 37:12-13) Characterized as wisdom in Proverbs 1:26-33, the Lord says: I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD. They would not accept my counsel; they spurned all my reproof. So, they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices. For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.

To understand where David is coming from in Psalm 35 changes our perspective. David is a mighty warrior when it comes to fighting for God’s honor. He has proved himself as such. As a young shepherd/errand boy-servant to his brothers, his fearlessness in light of his fear of God is put on display when he is called into action against Goliath, the Philistine giant from Gath. When this ogre challenged the Israelites to battle, Saul and all of Israel were dismayed and greatly afraid. At approximately 15-17 years of age, David stepped forward to meet the challenge when no other man in the land would.

You have to love David’s response when he first heard of the enemy’s taunts: Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26) It is interesting to note what happens next because this is so often the case when one stands bold for the Lord. Notice who taunts him, in answer to his question regarding who dares taunt the living God? His very own brother! Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.” But David said, "What have I done now? Was it not just a question?" (vss. 28-29) At first, we may want to think his older brother is just looking out for the lad to protect him by this rebuke. "Go home!" But the heart of Eliab is revealed in a few short words. It sounds like this to us: "We're doing important work here. Go back to tending your FEW sheep in the wilderness." Next, Eliab judges David's motives for being there. Not only are we not to judge a man's motives (for this is sin), the reader knows that David was simply being obedient to his father. Apparently, this is not a one-time event for David growing up in this family. In exasperation, he responds, "What have I done now? Was it not just a question?"

We must also keep in mind that five years earlier the Lord chose David as the next king of Israel over all David’s older brothers. When Samuel, the prophet, went to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king, his first thought was that surely Eliab was the anointed. But the Lord told Samuel: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”(1 Samuel 16:7)

Fast forward five years later, this enemy has dishonored the God of Israel. David cannot let that stand unchallenged. Ignoring his brother, but in obedience to his God, he goes before King Saul and pleads with him to let him fight the giant. Listen to his confidence in God to deliver him. And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."(vs. 37)

Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”(vss. 41-47) The giant asks, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Perhaps David’s thoughts went something like this: “Yes, you are a dog...a dead dog!” Appearances aren’t always as they seem. God proved that Goliath was the underdog, not David! Psalm 22:20—Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. When David says he comes in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom the giant had taunted, we want to stand up and shout, "Yes! Amen!" Look at David's confidence in his God whom he knows is a mighty Deliverer. And the piece de resistance? David's confidence in the Deliverer is seen in the last phrase: ...for the battle is the LORD's and He will give you into our hands. The weapon in David's hand was a small stone in a slingshot, but he is the instrument in God's hand. It is the Lord's battle.

Judge me, O Lord my God, according to Your righteousness, and do not let them rejoice over me.(Psalm 35:24)

Psalm 26:1—Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.(See also Psalm 9:4 and 43:1.) O LORD my God, judge me! Vindicate me! This is a great utterance of faith. Only those who are able to stand before a holy God in the righteousness of Christ can plead with Him like this. David is asking his Lord to judge between he and his enemies. David is calling on his God, who is not only his Judge but his Father. This very intimate, personal plea from the heart came from a history with his Beloved. It takes a lot of confidence and clear conscience to stand before a judge and make this plea. A holy God would never offer nor accept a plea deal from one who was innocent! I must wonder how many judges in our land could stand before the LORD to make this plea. If they could, what a different land would be the one in which we live.

I noticed a pattern in the multiple layers of attorneys that were ours throughout the legal process. Every time we would get an attorney, they would sing our praises and the strong case we had…one in which they believed would end in success…as they heard our story. Their first instructions were always the same, “Don’t read the newspapers, and don’t talk to anyone about your case!” I learned from speaking to countless defendants on my journey that this is a very common spiel that must be taught in Defense Counsel 101 class. Looking back, knowing what I know about these “officers of the court” I would counsel anyone in a similar situation to begin screaming very loudly at the onset of even the hint of an indictment. Proverbs 18:17 says: The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him. The lies were able to get a stronghold long before we ever got to trial. It was obvious from the start that those who were supposed to support us were offended by our faith. My honest opinion is that if a Christian is to make her boast in the Lord, it is going to be rather difficult to even have a jury trial with a jury of her peers. At the beginning, our attorneys were pumped up, but right before trial they began to say things leading us to believe they saw our situation as bleak. Not to be discouraged, I told my attorney that prayer makes a difference because God is in control. This man who considers himself “religious” mocked by saying, “I think we need a lot more than prayer, but you go ahead.” Nine years later, I'm still praying, and that fact doesn't shake my faith in my Deliverer in the least.

David already asked the Lord in verse 19 not to let those who were wrongfully his enemies to rejoice over him. This sounds as though it could be a plea made in prideful self-preservation if we did not know David’s heart.

David sees his enemy’s win as he has always seen it—as that which would dishonor his Lord. He has boldly conveyed his confidence in God’s character his whole life. For his enemies to win would be to bring a reproach on that confidence. Our boast, as was David’s, is not to be in ourselves, but in our great God. 1 Corinthians 1:27-31—God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” David also fears that a win for his enemies would harden their hearts in their wickedness and let them believe they were right in their hatred toward him. Lastly, a win for the enemy would greatly discourage the righteous who were watching. David’s complaints regarding the greedy eyes of the enemy gloating over their prey had very little to do with David’s honor but all to do with God’s honor.