READ: Psalm 35:1,2 NLT
'O Lord, oppose those who oppose me. Fight those who fight against me. Put on your armour and take up your shield. Prepare for battle and come to my aid.'
This is an agonising psalm. David is in a deep hole. He is the victim of cruel injustice and he appeals to God to come to help him. We feel his deep anguish and pain and not least because, sadly, injustice happens in every generation. Every newspaper and news report gives us evidence of the injustice that is happening in our society today. You may feel that that is not your own personal experience but you don’t need to look far to hear the stories of people which resonate with David’s experience of long ago.
The significance of this psalm is that David is sure that God can help. He knows that God is a God of justice, and that he would be deeply concerned about the injustice that he is experiencing. I had two years living in India and whilst there I had the incredible privilege of living in a village with an outcaste family. There are more than 200 million outcaste people or Dalits living in India, about 16% of the population. They are outcastes in the sense that they are regarded as being below the bottom rung of the caste system, and they have traditionally been given the most unpleasant jobs. It was painful to see the way in which they were treated day by day simply because they were outcastes – and there was nothing they could do to change it.
QUESTION: Where do you see injustice in your own community, and what could you do to respond with God’s love?
PRAYER: Gracious Father, I thank you that you love justice. As I get to know you better show me the ways in which I can fight with you for the justice that you love. Amen.

Released on 30 Nov 2020