Looking persecution in the eye

What is real Christianity? What is a real Christian? I wonder what comes to your mind. Would they pray Psalm 70? I guess the worry with a Psalm like this is that we imagine it being prayed by self-righteous people over petty squabbles. It seems vindictive to ask God to publicly shame someone. It seems to jar against Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies. So if one danger is that we pray this Psalm inappropriately – the other danger is that we never pray this sort of Psalm at all. And that is a problem, because God has given us Psalms like Psalm 70 to pray to him – to be concerned for things he is concerned about, and to give us appropriate prayers to pray that express that concern to him.

Let me give an example: Last week I was at a meeting with some Christians and we watched an Open Doors video about Christians in Afghanistan. Though their names had to be changed for their own safety, we heard about a woman called Khada and her husband, Ehsan. The story begins one evening when Khada’s friend wordlessly hands her a book, a Bible. Khada begins to read with her husband, Ehsan, and they both learn about Jesus and put their faith in him. They decided to get baptised, even though in Afghanistan it is illegal to convert from Islam to any religion, let alone Christianity. On top of that, they didn’t want to keep their faith to themselves, but wanted to share their faith and good news with their family. Then, one night everything changed; Ehsan was late coming home from an underground Bible study group. His phone was turned off and Khada had no way of contacting him or finding out where he was. Then, two days later she heard that Ehsan’s body had been found, showing signs of having been tortured. How would we pray for Khada? What are we allowed to pray for Khada?

It’s been said that the Book of Psalms is unique in the Bible: for while all the Bible is God’s Word, the Psalms are God’s Word given to us to say back to him - in the form of prayers, praise, thanksgiving, lament, and in the case of Psalm 70, in asking for God to publicly shame and expose our enemies. Psalm 70 expresses God’s love for humanity by showing us his hatred of inhumanity. God gives us the Psalms to teach us to pray. The key to any Psalm is to remember that it is Jesus’ Psalm before it is our Psalm. My hope this evening is that we will learn to pray Psalm 70 with the aim and intensity that Jesus prays it for all his people who are hated because they belong to him. So first we’ll think how Psalm 70 is Jesus’ Psalm.

Jesus and Psalm 70

It is a Psalm of David. David was King of Israel. Through David, God was preparing the way for Jesus Christ. David’s whole job description was written in order to be filled by Jesus. The hope of Old Testament Israel was bound up in the rise and fall of the Kings from David’s line. Put simply, when the King is strong, the people flourish. When the King is weak, the people are in danger. Psalm 70 is a prayer of David when he is in danger, and he’s praying that God will come to his aid by frustrating his enemies who seek his life. Psalm 70.1:

Make haste, O God, to deliver me!O Lord, make haste to help me!

This is an emergency 999 prayer. It’s urgent. What’s the situation? Psalm 70.2-3:

Let them be put to shame and confusionwho seek my life!Let them be turned back and brought to dishonourwho delight in my hurt!Let them turn back because of their shamewho say, “Aha, Aha!”

His life is in the balance and there are people who are gleefully rubbing their hands at the thought of his ruin. And David prays in effect: “Let their murderous purposes for me be defeated and exposed as the futile, twisted, stupid things that they are.” And he’s aware that he’s not just praying this for his sake, but for the sake of all who love God and recognise him as their King (Psalm 70.4):

May all who seek yourejoice and be glad in you!May those who love your salvationsay evermore, “God is great!”

And there’s a sense in which King David knows he is utterly unable to bear the burdens of his people’s hope (Psalm 70.5):

But I am poor and needy;hasten to me, O God!You are my help and my deliverer;O Lord, do not delay!

How might Jesus have prayed this Psalm? He too is God’s chosen King. He too carries the weight of the hopes of the people of God on his shoulders. And he willingly came to earth to walk amongst people he knew would hate him, and who would conspire against him to have him killed. He came willingly to die. Not just to die but to be killed. Not just to be killed, but to be publicly condemned by the religious leaders and be judged worthy of death. He knew that meant being mocked, degraded, stripped naked, beaten, and nailed on a cross. And he knew that most people there would believe he was a fraud, and that in their eyes he was getting what he deserved.

One of the wonderful things about Jesus is his ability to understand our suffering. He knows what it is like to be falsely accused. He knows what it is like to be hated. He understands Khada’s suffering, and the suffering of all Christians in Afghanistan, and around the world, who are hated on account of his name.

When truth and justice are abandoned, when wickedness is unchecked (and what is evil is called good) that is a terrifying prospect. George Orwell wrote a chilling novel called 1984 imagining a world where a political party had so much control over its citizens that it could convince them to believe that 2+2=5. The sinister thing about “The Party” in 1984 was not just that they had the power to torture and kill any of its citizens who disagreed with it, it was that they had the power to make even the most obvious of lies seem like the truth. They controlled everything; even people’s perception of reality, so that in the end, no one could trust their own mind, they had to accept the Party’s definition of truth. That is what happened when Jesus, the Son of God, was publicly and grossly condemned as a liar and a rebel, 2000 years ago on Good Friday. It is as if the human race conspired that day to decide that 2+2 is 5. And David’s prayer (in the mouth of Jesus) is “God please show the blatant wickedness of their verdict – and expose their shame” (Psalm 70.2-3):

Let them be put to shame and confusionwho seek my life!Let them be turned back and brought to dishonourwho delight in my hurt!Let them turn back because of their shamewho say, “Aha, Aha!”

Psalm 70, in the mouth of Jesus, is not praying simply for personal vindication or revenge. It’s praying that God would publicly overturn the proud, hypocritical and wicked verdict that humanity is wiser and more righteous than God. And when Jesus rose from the dead God answered that prayer. His resurrection proved his claim to be the Son of God, the rightful ruler of the world. But here’s the other thing about Jesus’ death: He willingly came to give up his life as a ransom for many – to take the punishment that wicked humanity deserve from God. So, when Jesus prays this prayer he really prays that the public shame and confusion of those who seek his life will fall on him.
As he stands in their place and takes the judgement they deserve. The intensity of his love for justice prays that evil will be thwarted. The intensity of his love for us prays that it may fall on him. And he prays for all who will trust in him (Psalm 70.4):

May all who seek yourejoice and be glad in you!May those who love your salvationsay evermore, “God is great!”

Psalm 70 is Jesus’ Psalm before it is our Psalm. How do we pray Psalm 70?

Our Psalm

What is it? It is a Psalm of lament. It is for expressing sorrow and dependence on God that things are not as they should be. Real Christianity makes space for lament. It is fake Christianity that calls evil good and says “all is as it should be”. We need to learn to pray Psalms like Psalm 70 because they acknowledge pain and suffering in the world - and particularly pain and suffering of Christians who suffer for Jesus’ sake. If we refuse to pray Psalms like Psalm 70, then we deny Christians who suffer unjustly for the sake of Jesus prayers God has given them. When do we pray Psalm 70? Probably the majority of us here will not qualify to pray Psalm 70 for ourselves most of the time. Though there may be some here tonight who do qualify. Psalm 70 does not lament being robbed, or unfairly fired or being the victim of gossip – hard though those things are. Psalms like Psalm 70 are for those who have set their face to be faithful to God and to follow Jesus instead of the World and who are being attacked exactly because they choose to do so.

Bob Dylan wrote a song called Property of Jesus which sums up the unjust and unreasonable scorn that the World will feel towards a follower of Jesus:

Stop your conversation when he passes on the streetHope he falls upon himself, oh, won’t that be sweetBecause he can’t be exploited by superstition anymoreBecause he can’t be bribed or bought by the things that you adoreHe’s the property of JesusResent him to the boneYou got something betterYou’ve got a heart of stone[Bob Dylan, Property of Jesus, Copyright © 1981 Special Rider Music]

And there may be some here this evening who have set their face like flint to follow Jesus and know exactly what that is like. Khada and her husband Ehsan know what that is like. Their own government views them as a threat, when in fact, all they want is for their friends, family and countrymen to know the love of God and redemption that comes in Jesus. We can pray Psalm 70 for Khada and others like her – asking that God would publicly expose the wickedness of what the Taliban are doing. And we can pray that their shame would lead to their repentance. How do we pray Psalm 70? We keep our eyes on Jesus and we keep our eyes on the day of Judgement. We don’t pray Psalm 70 vindictively, because Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save it. Instead we pray for justice.

Justice requires a judgement: it requires evil to be judged and condemned. It requires good to be recognised and rewarded. Justice requires a judgement day. And the wonderful news for us is that there are two days of judgement in the New Testament. There is a day of judgement coming when all of us will stand before God and give an account of how we have lived, and every thought, word, and deed will be weighed and the motives of our heart exposed. It is from that day of Judgement that Jesus died to save us. The other day of judgement was at the cross – where Jesus Christ willingly offered his life as a sacrifice for the guilty. On Good Friday, God treated Jesus as though he were guilty and poured out his wrath on him for the sins of the world. And on Easter Sunday, God raises Jesus from the dead recognising his righteousness and rewarding his obedience. And every day in between those two days are days of God’s grace. That means there is hope for us who do evil. Every day he holds out mercy and calls us “Turn back and receive forgiveness and eternal life!” We keep our eyes on Jesus, and we keep our eyes on the day of Judgement. How do we pray for Khada and the Taliban?

Come quickly, O God, to save Khada (and our brothers and sisters like her) who are hated because they belong to Jesus.Please expose the actions of the Taliban for what they are: They torture and kill their own citizens in the name of their religion. May they be ashamed to be followers of a God who commands them to kill for him. May they be doubly ashamed to realise that they are opposing you, who died for them. May they be brought to repentance now before receiving your judgement then. May Khada, and all our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan who trust in you – may they rejoice and be glad knowing they have been saved for eternal life. Thank you that you answered Jesus’ prayer and raised him from the dead. Thank you that we can know for certain that our suffering will end suddenly, completely and soon. We are honoured to have brothers and sisters like Khada who show us that Jesus is faithful and worthy of our trust.

If you are suffering for the sake of Jesus then all I ask is that you feel permission to pray Psalm 70 knowing that Jesus prays it for you. If you are not yet a Christian, can I ask you to see what Jesus Christ prays – there is a day of judgement coming and he would save you from it. And for the rest of us, can I ask us to consider how often we pray Psalms like Psalm 70. Can I ask us to become more familiar with the sufferings of Christians around the world and learn to pray Psalms like this for them with the same intensity as we would pray for our own family if they were suffering this way.

Take one minute to read over Psalm 70 and keep your eyes on Jesus and your eyes on the day of judgement. Think about who you might pray this for. And then I’ll lead us in prayer before we sing in response.

Father,Thank you for giving us the Psalms which teach us how to pray.Thank you for Psalm 70 which shows us your concern for justice.Thank you that Jesus our King prays this Psalm perfectly for all his people who suffer on account of his name. Thank you that he knows what they are going through. Thank you that there is a day coming when all wrongs will be righted and those who do evil will be exposed and ashamed. May we not lose heart following Jesus. May we stand closer to those who suffer for his sake. May those of us who are able speak for them. May we always be those who say “The Lord is Great”. Come quickly to help us, in Jesus’ name, Amen.