Psalm 7: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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. ^m 

⁶ Arise, Lord, in your anger; 

rise up against the rage of my enemies. 

Awake, my God; decree justice. 

⁷ Let the assembled peoples gather around you, 

while you sit enthroned over them on high. 

⁸ Let the Lord judge the peoples. 

Vindicate me, Lord, according to my righteousness, 

according to my integrity, O Most High. 

⁹ Bring to an end the violence of the wicked 

and make the righteous secure— 

you, the righteous God 

who probes minds and hearts. 

¹⁰ My shield ^y is God Most High, 

who saves the upright in heart. 

¹¹ God is a righteous judge, 

a God who displays his wrath every day. 

¹² If he does not relent, 

he will sharpen his sword; 

he will bend and string his bow. 

¹³ He has prepared his deadly weapons; 

he makes ready his flaming arrows. 

¹⁴ Whoever is pregnant with evil 

conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. 

¹⁵ Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out 

falls into the pit they have made. 

¹⁶ The trouble they cause recoils on them; 

their violence comes down on their own heads. 

¹⁷ I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; 

I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. 

 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ps 7:1–17.

Theme: Justice

Best Verse(s): 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— 

Command to Obey: --

Sin to Avoid: Unjust war; betraying an ally

Promise to Claim: --

Application to Make: Practice justice - even in war

Something New About God: --

Reflection: I served in the Army for 25 years and studied just war theory numerous times. The psalm reminds me of that - David is crying out for justice and even challenges God to judge his justice as a king waging war. U.S. Grant wrote that the American Civil War was God's judgement for our unjust prosecution of the Mexican War. Justice matters to God and the conduct of nations during war matters.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Last night we drove to Columbia so we can visit Congaree National Park early this morning. I've got tons of bug bites from Mammoth Cave and the Smokies so I'm nervous about swamp hikes! It's also stormy weather again so it may be a visitor center focused visit. But we'll knock out the junior ranger program which is always a blast. Our last activity was visiting Kuwohi Mountain, the highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains, during a break in the storm and it was an awesome short hike. We only had a couple miles visibility but the mountains were gorgeous. The kids also enjoyed climbing and playing on all the rocks going up the trail. It was fun to take a family photo at the tower on top of the mountain. There were tons of people on the trail - parking was challenging.