On Wednesday afternoon April 7, Phillip Adams, armed with two firearms, approached the house of prominent Rock Hill physician Robert Lesslie. He shot two HVAC technicians working at the property. Adams then forced entry into the house, where he shot and killed Dr Lesslie, his wife, and two of their grandchildren, ages 5 and 9. Phillip Adams later killed himself. At this point, apparently no one knows why.<\/p>\n
We live in a world where terrible events happen all too frequently. And many feel as if our world is getting worse.<\/p>\n
Look around this world, this country, this city \u2013 what concerns you?<\/p>\n
Ask this question of your neighbors, friends, and colleagues \u2013 you\u2019ll hear answers such as:<\/p>\n
For some, the concern is much more personal:<\/p>\n
Furthermore, many of those who explicitly oppose the Gospel and openly mock Jesus believe they are on the ascendancy \u2013 they will have more and more power; nothing can stop them.<\/p>\n
Psalms 93 and 94 address our concerns directly \u2013 whatever they may be. These psalms describe the wicked \u2013 their power, their arrogance, their terrors. They also describe God\u2019s people \u2013 crushed and afflicted by the wicked, crying out to Him for vengeance and protection. And they describe who God is: His might, His plan, His knowledge, His justice and righteousness.<\/p>\n
These psalms assure us: God is the answer to all our concerns, private concerns as well as public, local concerns as well as international. God is the answer \u2013 not <\/em>so that we then say, \u201cOh, these really aren\u2019t that important!\u201d Instead, so that we might know: We have a mighty ally. We have a stronghold. We have a rock of refuge. God stands by His people. He sees all. He cares about every hurt, every injustice. He will both protect His people and see that justice is done.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s look at these psalms under three headings:<\/p>\n God\u2019s Enemies<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ll consider five actions of God\u2019s enemies, leading to a concluding statement:<\/p>\n First: God\u2019s enemies try to upset His order<\/em>.<\/p>\n Psalm 93:1 tells us, \u201cThe world is established [by God], it shall never be moved.\u201d But then Psalm 93:3: \u201cThe floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.\u201d<\/p>\n God establishes an order \u2013 and then that order is attacked. Think of a tsunami, or a flash flood, or an overflowing river. These can sweep away whatever is before them.<\/p>\n The enemies of God can seem that way \u2013 whether those enemies are human or spiritual. And the spiritual enemies are behind the human ones. As Paul tells us, \u201cWe do not wrestle against flesh and blood, \u2026 but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places\u201d (Ephesians 6:12). Satan himself works diligently to sweep away God\u2019s order.<\/p>\n Second: God\u2019s enemies boast<\/em>.<\/p>\n Psalm 94:3-4: \u201cO LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.\u201d<\/p>\n They boast not only to express joy in the advance of their cause, but also to discourage the people of God, to make them think there is no hope of overcoming evil, to get them to give up, to surrender, or to retreat into isolated enclaves.<\/p>\n Third: God\u2019s enemies crush God\u2019s people.<\/em><\/p>\n Psalm 94:5-6: \u201cThey crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. [That\u2019s the general statement \u2013 verse 6 then gives some specific examples:] They kill the widow and the sojourner [or refugee], and murder the fatherless.\u201d<\/p>\n This crushing takes several forms: Murdering the weak and powerless is simply the most extreme. Crushing can include ostracizing, taking away businesses, stifling advancement in careers, discriminating against for employment, and \u2013 as is happening today in parts of Nigeria and elsewhere \u2013 slavery, maiming, rape.<\/p>\n Fourth: God\u2019s enemies institute injustice.<\/em><\/p>\n The third action focused on what God\u2019s enemies do against individuals; the fourth emphasizes systemic actions, carried out through the legal system.<\/p>\n God gives His people His Law, showing what real justice and righteousness look like. When God\u2019s enemies control the legal system, they institute a contrary system, which violates true justice: \u201cCan wicked rulers be allied with you, Finally: The wicked act as if God doesn\u2019t see<\/em><\/p>\n Psalm 94:7: \u201cThey say, \u2018The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.\u2019”<\/p>\n The point is not that they say this in so many words \u2013 though on occasion, while speaking to God\u2019s people, they may make such mocking statements. The point is that this is how they act. They act as if their Creator, the God of the universe, is impotent. They act as if God cannot see, or as if, seeing, He still can\u2019t do anything about their actions.<\/p>\n The concluding statement: God\u2019s enemies deserve vengeance. <\/em><\/p>\n Psalm 94:2: \u201cRise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve<\/u>!\u201d (emphasis added)<\/p>\n To set oneself up against God, to rebel against Him and His Law, to oppress others and to institute injustice, to mock God, to act as if He can\u2019t see you or sees and can\u2019t do anything about your actions \u2013 all that deserves righteous judgment. Justice must be done.<\/p>\n God\u2019s People<\/strong><\/p>\n What do these psalms tell us about God\u2019s people?<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve seen, they are crushed and afflicted (Psalm 94:5). Psalm 94:13 speaks more generally; they have \u201cdays of trouble.\u201d So they cry out: \u201cWho rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?\u201d (Psalm 94:16)<\/p>\n Has that been your cry? When you consider the concerns we enumerated in the introduction, do you ask: Who will stand up against such evil?<\/p>\n The answer has to be God.<\/p>\n So God\u2019s people cry out to God for vengeance, for justice: \u201cO LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!\u201d (Psalm 94:1)<\/p>\n Is this right? Is<\/em> God a god of vengeance?<\/p>\n Undoubtedly \u2013 Scripture makes this clear again and again. We could support this from hundreds of passages, but let\u2019s consider a New Testament epistle, Paul\u2019s second letter to the Thessalonians. These new believers are suffering because of their faith in Jesus. The apostle writes:<\/p>\n God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you<\/u>, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when<\/u> the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance<\/u> on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction<\/u>, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might<\/u> (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9, emphasis added).<\/p>\n He is indeed a God of vengeance. It is right and proper to call upon Him to exercise such justice, for it is just \u201cto repay with affliction those who afflict\u201d His people.<\/p>\n He will sometimes exercise that justice immediately, in the short term, as He does in Acts 12 when Herod basks in the cries of the people, \u201cThe voice of a God and not of a man!\u201d (Acts 12:22) God immediately<\/em> strikes him down. Luke graphically states that he is eaten by worms, \u201cbecause he did not give God the glory\u201d (Acts 12:23).<\/p>\n But while God\u2019s justice may not be implemented immediately, He always brings about perfect, ultimate justice when Jesus returns, as the Apostle says. God will judge, seeing that every sin receives exactly the right punishment.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a popular myth that the Old Testament is a book of judgment, while the New Testament is a book of love. Friends, 2 Thessalonians is in the New Testament. Yes, this letter speaks much of God\u2019s love \u2013 but is also crystal clear about God\u2019s judgment. Indeed, Jesus Himself speaks much about judgment, including referring to the unquenchable fire and undying worm of hell (Mark 9:42-48).<\/p>\n Now, in Romans 12:19 Paul tells us not to exact revenge ourselves \u2013 but the reason we are to do so is that vengeance belongs to God, and He is certain to repay the evil.<\/p>\n So God\u2019s people are crushed and afflicted, they have days of trouble, they cry out for vengeance.<\/p>\n Finally, God\u2019s people know: They themselves deserve vengeance.<\/p>\n Scripture tells us there is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). We all sin (Romans 3:23). We become God\u2019s people not through straightening out our lives, but by His grace and mercy, offered to us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. God places the penalty for our sins on Jesus \u2013 His takes the just punishment due for the all the sins of all those saved through faith in Him. Therefore God is just (righteous), and the one who justifies (declares righteous) those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:26).<\/p>\n So when we pray \u201cO God of vengeance shine forth\u201d (Psalm 94:1), we know that we ourselves deserve God\u2019s vengeance. Apart from His mercy, we ourselves would face His judgment. We long for perfect justice to be done \u2013 for our own sins as well as for the sins done against us. So we can pray sincerely for the salvation of those who commit evil against us, and pray, \u201cO God of vengeance, see that Your perfect justice is done! Pay for these sins! \u2013 either by the blood of Jesus or by inflicting vengeance on the perpetrator.\u201d<\/p>\n God<\/strong><\/p>\n Eight statements about God from these psalms:<\/p>\n First: God is almighty from everlasting<\/em><\/p>\n From Psalm 93:1-2: \u201cThe LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. \u2026 Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.\u201d<\/p>\n Then after saying floods rise up against what God has established, the psalmist writes, \u201cMightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!\u201d (Psalm 93:4)<\/p>\n Second: God makes the world and puts it on His path.<\/em><\/p>\n We saw earlier from Psalm 93:2 that the world God established cannot be moved. You see: If God is almighty and His throne is established and solid from everlasting, then anything He determines to be solid and firm will be so. Thus, the world itself is firm, now and in the future. God has established its course. No attacks of any enemy can change that.<\/p>\n Third: God hears, knows, sees all<\/em><\/p>\n In response to the wicked saying that God does not see, the psalmist writes:<\/p>\n Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge– the LORD– knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath (Psalm 94:8-11).<\/p>\n God is the source of sight; He is the source of hearing; He is the source of wisdom; He is a teacher and trainer \u2013 and He instructs you<\/em>, you don\u2019t instruct Him. Apart from God, man\u2019s best thoughts, man\u2019s most intelligent thoughts, are insubstantial, just a breath, all in vain.<\/p>\n So the most intelligent of men, the wisest of women \u2013 whether scientists or philosophers or statesmen or businessmen -know nothing <\/em>apart from what God has granted them. They speak some truth \u2013 as God permits. But if they reject their Creator, if they ignore the One who made their eyes and granted them their brains and enabled them to research and to write, they are fools. Indeed we<\/em> are fools \u2013 when we act as if we did not receive any good gift we have (1 Corinthians 4:7, James 1:17, Deuteronomy 8:17-18).<\/p>\n Fourth: God speaks<\/em><\/p>\n God not only creates, controls, directs the world to its final end. He also issues decrees or laws; He speaks to us by His Word, telling us who He is, who we are, and where the world is headed.<\/p>\n Psalm 93:5: \u201c<\/em>Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.\u201d<\/p>\n Through His revelation, we can know Him, know His holiness, and so be His house His holy temple, as we live in this fallen, sinful world (Hebrews 3:6, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).<\/p>\n Fifth: God never forsakes His people.<\/em><\/p>\n Psalm 94:14: \u201cFor the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, as we have seen God\u2019s people experience affliction, hardship, and oppression. Jesus Himself says, \u201cIn this world you will have tribulation.\u201d But He continues: \u201cTake heart; I have overcome the world\u201d (John 16:33).<\/p>\n God is with us in the midst of whatever tribulation we face. In what way?<\/p>\n Sixth: God is the help or ally for His people<\/em><\/p>\n This is a positive way of saying God never leaves us nor forsakes us.<\/p>\n Psalm 94:17-18: \u201cIf the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, \u2018My foot slips,\u2019 your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.\u201d<\/p>\n In desperate times, we feel like we can\u2019t hang on; we\u2019re at the end of our own resources. But God\u2019s love holds us and sustains us, enabling us to endure in faith to the end and so be saved (Matthew 10:22).<\/p>\n Psalm 94:19: \u201cWhen the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n So yes, God is our ally against the forces of evil arrayed against us. But the thrust of these verses is not His help against our enemies per se, but against our own doubts, our own cares, our panic. <\/em><\/p>\n Do you know this aspect of God\u2019s love? Do you know the comfort of Jesus? His love holds you up.<\/p>\n Seventh: God is our stronghold, our rock<\/em><\/p>\n Psalm 94:22: \u201cBut the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.\u201d<\/p>\n If the Lord is my stronghold, clearly nothing else can take His place; nothing else can serve in that role.<\/p>\n God must not be our last resort, what we finally reach out to when all else fails. He should be our first and last <\/em>resort. For nothing else is strong in comparison to Him.<\/p>\n Finally: God will enact just vengeance.<\/em><\/p>\n Psalm 94:15: \u201cFor justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Christian Standard Bible renders the first part of verse 15, \u201cThe administration of justice will again be righteous.\u201d That\u2019s the idea. God\u2019s enemies have tried to pervert justice. God will correct that. As the psalmist explains in Psalm 94:23: \u201cHe will bring back on [the wicked] their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.\u201d<\/p>\n As Psalm 1:4 says: The wicked \u201care like chaff that the wind blows away.\u201d As powerful and dominant as they may look, they are ultimately insubstantial. God simply poofs \u2013 and they are gone.<\/p>\n God will exercise His perfect justice. Praise Him.<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n So friends:<\/p>\n Amidst the chaos of this world, as we try to love and serve in the chaos, as we suffer and hurt and experience loss, know: God reigns. Jesus is King. Whenever any powers of evil try to assail His order, His plan, He flicks them away with His little finger.<\/p>\n If you are in Christ, this Almighty God is your ally, your helper, your avenger. He is not a power that you can wield to accomplish your purposes. Rather, He is the sovereign God who invites you to fulfill His, saying:<\/p>\n \u201cCome to My arms through Jesus, you rebels! Play your assigned role in my plan. Along the way, there will be hardship. There will be loss. There will be pain and suffering. So cry out to Me! Call upon Me to fulfill My every promise, to display My righteous character! Trust Me in the midst of the tribulation! And in ways you cannot see, in ways you would never expect, I will bring about perfect justice, perfect vengeance, indeed, perfect peace for My people. The kingdom of this world will become My kingdom, Christ\u2019s Kingdom; He will reign forever and ever. And I will wipe away every tear from your eye.\u201d<\/p>\n That is God\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n That is God\u2019s Gospel.<\/p>\n So come to Jesus.<\/p>\n Cry out to Him.<\/p>\n Trust Him.<\/p>\n And delight in your Almighty Father forever and ever.<\/p>\n\n
\nthose who frame injustice by statute<\/u>? [NET \u201cwho make oppressive laws\u201d] They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death<\/u> (Psalm 94:20-21, emphasis added).<\/p>\n\n