For my love they are my adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer. Psalm 109:4

In this Psalm, David is on the receiving end of personal attacks against his character. He is facing lying words from the tongues of those whom he has loved. They compassed about David and surrounded him with words of hatred. They did all this without a Biblical cause. David had tried to do good to these people, but his reward was evil toward him. No doubt, this hurt David ten thousand times worse because of who it came from. In our text verse, he said first that for love they became an adversary. You would think that when you pour out love toward a person and do all that you can for them, they would do the same in return. An adversary is more than someone that doesn’t like you, they are a person who actually attacks you.

David said that “I give myself unto prayer.” David very easily could have given himself unto defending his reputation. He saw a greater thing to do than to defend his case, because he knew that God knew all about the lies. David could have also told lies on his adversaries and tried to get revenge. We should try to do like David and take the high road and not lower ourselves to the level of those who falsely accuse us. David was given to prayer which means he was totally engulfed and saturated in prayer. no doubt in this prayer he prayed for personal strength to endure the attack of Satan, but I’m sure he also prayed for his adversaries. There is always a danger of getting bitter at those who lie about us, but if we will be given to prayer for them we are also preventing our own bitterness. David finishes up this chapter asking God to judge the lying words of the adversaries. We should also keep this in our minds that lying words and false accusations will be judged by a righteous and holy God. So let our prayer be as the prayer of David and let us be given wholly unto prayer. Amen.

Please join us for worship services at Russellville Baptist Mission located at 223 North Main Street, Russellville KY 42276. Service time is Sundays at 2 p.m., pastor Chad Johnson 270-772-1966.