Word of Encouragement (6/4/2026)

Do not drag me off with the wicked, with the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward. (Ps. 28:3-4)‍

David expresses his fear of sharing the same fate as the wicked. Here, he focuses on the hypocrisy of the wicked, “who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts.” Hypocrites are doubly dangerous. They are like bait, which has a deadly hook under an alluring appearance. They accost you with smiles and kind deeds only to disarm you so they can strike when you least expect it. They do everything possible to build trust only to betray it at one fell swoop. Their goal is to add the agony of betrayal to the destruction of their enemies.

The intensity of David’s abhorrence of such hypocrites can be seen in the following (imprecatory) petitions: “Give to them according to their work and according to the evil of their deeds; give to them according to the work of their hands; render them their due reward.” These petitions are essentially the same: David asks for the appropriate divine retribution for their sins, and he does so three times. We can understand why he loathed to be included among them, especially in their due punishment.

But let us not forget that these petitions follows at the heels of his previous petitions, particularly this one: “…be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit” (v. 2). What caused David to fear that he might become like those who go down to the pit and be dragged off with the wicked? The agony of not being heard by God and God being silent to him!

We don’t know whether David was thinking of specific miseries and sufferings when he prayed for divine retribution on the wicked. But he recognized the essence of divine retribution, no matter what form it may take: it is to be so estranged from God or at enmity with God that His ears are deaf to one’s cry and His mouth is silent toward him. Imagine what it would be like to be separated from the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth and the Fount of goodness, of every blessing. What would it feel like to be isolated from the One, whose presence fills the whole universe, to have no access to all that is good, true, and beautiful? How precious, then, is the communion we have with God in Jesus Christ, in which we have access not only to all His blessings but to the triune God Himself!

Does God seem deaf to you and silent toward you these days? Do you care? How long can you last when your loved one ignores what you say and refuses to speak to you? How much does it affect you? What makes you lose sleep and appetite? Are these things more important than the quality of your communion with God (or the lack thereof)? If so, are you willing to cry out to God as David did with a deep sense of urgency and seriousness?