1 Lord my God, I take refuge in you;
    save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
2 or they will tear me apart like a lion
    and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

3 Lord my God, if I have done this
    and there is guilt on my hands –
4 if I have repaid my ally with evil
    or without cause have robbed my foe –
5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
    let him trample my life to the ground
    and make me sleep in the dust.

Psalm 7 is headed: ”A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.” It is thought that ”shiggaion” was probably a musical or literary term. We don’t know what Cush said about David, but it seems he was one of the ‘court liars’ who flattered Saul and made life difficult for David (see 1 Sam.24:9). There came a point in Saul’s spiritual and mental deterioration, where it was probably relatively easy to feed his manic, paranoid suspicion and fear of David.

But David did not take matters into his own hands. See how this Psalm is born out of personal relationship: ”Lord my God”. David takes it to the Lord in prayer. He lays it all before Him. He seeks not retaliation, but vindication. He believes that he prays out of a clear conscience (see also v.8), but he is content for God to decide the matter. Our knowledge (even of ourselves) is partial, but God knows all there is to know.

‘The overall movement of the psalm is the familiar theme that prayer resolves crises and issues in praise for their solution.’ Alec Motyer

(Thought: You may, or may not, have people ‘on your case’ today, but maybe there are fears and concerns which threaten to ‘tear you apart’ – to ‘rip you to pieces’ – like wild beasts. Know that, like David, you can commit everything to the Lord. ”Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”1 Peter 5:7).