Psalm 43:1 – Injustice?

  Here is my literal translation of the opening verse:

¹Judge me, O God. Plead my cause against an unloving nation. Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me.

The context of this verse is immediately an unpleasant subject: injustice. What do we do when we sincerely feel we are being treated unjustly?

Now, any true Christ-follower is a person who is sincerely trying to have good relationships in this world, trying to do good to the people around them, to be faithful in their duties, to deal honestly with people, and the such. However, as my boss often quotes, “No good turn goes unpunished.” It’s true. No matter how sincerely one tries to do right, no matter how hard we work for the good of others, we live in a malevolent world that will often hate us for it. Sometimes we may simply be misunderstood but then, on the other hand, there really are sinister people who would deliberately ruin our lives, no matter how hard we’re trying to be the best we can be. Matthew Henry said, “As long as there are such bad men out of hell, and nations of them, it is not strange that good men, who are yet out of Heaven, meet with hard and base treatment.” All Jesus ever did was love people and they crucified Him for it.

How can a believer keep on keeping on in such an unjust world?

Again, it is an unpleasant subject, but sadly it is reality. And when injustice comes crashing through my life, how can I respond? What can I do? Fortunately the Lord included this Psalm, and others like it in the Scriptures, where we can find a godly person’s prayer in the midst of just such a situation.

So what does he do? Note first of all here that he calls God to be his judge. Herein is probably often times the very reason God allows us to suffer injustice – to remind us Who’s opinion really matters anyway. There is, in fact, enormous comfort in realizing that God knows our heart, that He knows that our motives were pure, that we did do it out of love. Even if others falsely accuse us, impugn our motives, and slander us behind our backs, we need to find solace is the Lord’s approval.

The other thing it can do is provide a platform for some serious self-evaluation. No matter how malevolent others may be, it is always possible (if not likely) that there is some truth in what they’re saying. That is also part of asking God to judge us. “Lord, if there is any truth in what they’re saying, open my eyes to see my faults. Even if they’re totally wrong in how they are attacking me, still I want to grasp every opportunity to see myself for who I truly am and allow You to change me.” What is good here is that we can count on the Lord to be accurate and fair in His assessment, to be gentle in His correction, and to be sincerely interested in our good – regardless of the malevolence of others and … regardless of the tyranny of our own cruel consciences. Oh wretched man that I am – my evil pride may hide my faults but my legalistic conscience clutches every opportunity to bludgeon my feeble heart. I can’t trust others’ evaluations but I can’t trust my own either. When under attack from without, I may yet prove to be my own worst enemy. More on this later.

But back to our Psalm, it is always possible that I genuinely have done nothing wrong (in this particular instance), that I do not deserve the ill-treatment I’m receiving. The Psalmist asks God to “plead my cause.” Sometimes one needs to defend himself. But it has been my experience in life that this usually accomplishes nothing. The people who accuse us usually have no interest in truth. They only want to “win.” Defend yourself if you should but I would say usually the Psalmist’s approach is best – just ask God to do the defending. He can “bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy justice as the noonday sun.” If, rather than trying to defend ourselves, we just continue to respond in integrity, maturity, and kindness, the Lord can make sure the right people see through all the smoke. Sometimes “If a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

So ultimately our case is really with the Lord anyway.

I like what Paul said in I Corinthians 4:3,4:

“I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.”

As I alluded to above, sometimes the malevolence is from without, but unfortunately it can come just as viciously from within. Paul’s total comfort is in to rest in God’s judgment – not even his own (!).

And, particularly regarding those assaults from without, thankfully we have Jesus’ example as noted in I Peter 2:21-23:

“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.”

“… He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.”

As unpleasant as injustice may be, it is good for our souls to kneel beside Jesus and pray, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” Sometimes it takes injustice to get us there.