7.25.2012 PSALM 109: TO BE SUNG BY THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

the heading 'for the choir director' means that this is to be sung at the temple of God...and when there is no temple...when the temple is destroyed or non-existent in any place on earth... IT IS TO BE SUNG OR CHANTED, by any disciple of christ individually or as a church (2 or more disciples gathered), TO THE LIVING GOD who in the person of Jesus Christ lives within by His Spirit.

it is to be sung by disciples, wherever they may be on earth, when they are under active attack....as Jesus says, 'on account of Me'. it is one of what people who study the bible call an imprecatory (to invoke or call down evil or curse, as upon a person) psalm. several others i have found recently are psalms 74 and 79. i believe there are others. they are for the time until the end of what is called the church age when Jesus comes back for all His then living and previously living disciples and takes them out of this world in the same manner He left His disciples after His resurrection in jerusalem. this is called the rapture and is told of  in I thessalonians 4.13-8. then after a short period of great tribulation for the whole earth. Christ Jesus and all His disciples will come and He will reign on earth for 1000 years and the disciples with him. one thing that the disciples will do during this time..before all time will end.. is mentioned is in psalm 149.5f..

'let the saints be joyful in glory
let them sing aloud upon their beds
to EXECUTE VENGEANCE UPON the heathen and
PUNISHMENTS upon the people
to bind their kings with chains and
their nobles with fetters of iron
to EXECUTE UPON THEM THE JUDGMENT WRITTEN
this honor have all the saints.

the disciples' use of the imprecatory psalms, during this time before Jesus comes back..IT MAY BE TODAY!.. is to partake of the same spirit that will animate what is written above in psalm 149 in that next period of time to come. now it is a mournful beseeching...suffering through until..if necessary..released by death into the presence of Jesus...but always assured that judgment is coming. then it will take the form of actively bringing upon those who deserve it, the judgment of God. now is the time for patient suffering. some day, possibly soon, will be the time to carry out God's judgment on those who are the cause of the christian disciples' suffering and many times martyrdom. we take heart and hopefully no matter what happens before Jesus returns for us, we pray for God to give us the grace to

BELIEVE WHAT HE SAYS
blessed are you when men
cast insults at you and
persecute you and
say all kinds of evil against you..falsely
on account of Me (keep loving your enemies..no matter what they do!)  (matthew 5.11)

BE GIVEN THE GRACE TO BE WHO HE WANTS US TO BE
REJOICE and
BE GLAD
FOR YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN IS GREAT
for so they persecuted the PROPHETS (keep speaking His words..no matter what!) who were before you.
(matthew 5.12)

PSALM 109

HOLD NOT THY PEACE, o God of my praise. for
the mouth of the wicked and
the mouth of the deceitful
are opened against me
they have spoken against me
with a lying tongue

they compassed me about also with words of hatred, and
fought against me WITHOUT A CAUSE
FOR MY LOVE they are my adversaries, but
i give myself unto prayer.
and they have rewarded me evil for good
and hatred FOR MY LOVE

(imprecation)
set Thou a wicked man over him, and
let satan stand at his right hand
when he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and
let his prayer become sin
let his days be few, and
let another take his office
let his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow
let his children be continually vagabonds and beg
let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places
let the extortioner catch all that he hath, and
let strangers spoil his labour
let there be none to extend mercy unto him
neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children
let his posterity be cut off, and
in the generation following let their name be blotted out
let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and
let not the sin of his mother be blotted out
let them be before the Lord continually
that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth
....because that

he remembered not to show mercy, but
persecuted the poor and needy man,
that he might even slay the broken in heart....

as he loved cursing, so let it come unto him
as he delighted not in blessing, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones
let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually
LET THIS BE THE REWARD OF MINE ADVERSARIES FROM THE LORD,
and of them that speak evil against my soul

but DO Thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy Name's sake (EXPRESS YOUR TRUST IN HIM!)
because Thy mercy is good
DELIVER Thou me, for

(NOW POUR OUT YOUR HEART AND TELL YOUR LOVER all about it!)
i am poor and needy and
my heart is wounded within me
i am gone like the shadow when it declineth
i am tossed up and down as the locust
my knees are weak through fasting, and
my flesh faileth of fatness
i became also a reproach unto them
when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.

HELP me, O Lord my God
O SAVE me according to Thy mercy
that they may know that this is Thy hand (OH HOW I WANT YOUR GLORY my dear savior!)
THAT THOU, LORD, HAST DONE IT
LET THEM CURSE, but
BLESS THOU
when they arise, LET THEM BE ASHAMED, but
LET THY SERVANT REJOICE
LET mine adversaries BE CLOTHED WITH SHAME, and
LET THEM COVER THEMSELVES WITH THEIR OWN CONFUSION, as with a mantle

I WILL GREATLY PRAISE THE LORD with my mouth
YEA, I WILL PRAISE HIM AMONG THE MULTITUDE
for He shall stand at the right hand of the poor
to save him from those that condemn his soul. (BEGIN AND END IN FAITH!