A Prayer for Vindication

71 A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush a Benjaminite. O Lord my God, in thee do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me, 2 lest like a lion they rend me, dragging me away, with none to rescue. 3 O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, 4 if I have requited my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, 5 let the enemy pursue me and overtake me, and let him trample my life to the ground, and lay my soul in the dust. [Selah] 6 Arise, O Lord, in thy anger, lift thyself up against the fury of my enemies; awake, O my God; thou hast appointed a judgment. 7 Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about thee; and over it take thy seat on high. 8 The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. 9 O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the righteous, thou who triest the minds and hearts, thou righteous God.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 7:1-9

Commentary on Psalm 7:1-9

(Read Psalm 7:1-9)

David flees to God for succour. But Christ alone could call on Heaven to attest his uprightness in all things. All His works were wrought in righteousness; and the prince of this world found nothing whereof justly to accuse him. Yet for our sakes, submitting to be charged as guilty, he suffered all evils, but, being innocent, he triumphed over them all. The plea is, "For the righteous God trieth the hearts and the reins." He knows the secret wickedness of the wicked, and how to bring it to an end; he is witness to the secret sincerity of the just, and has ways of establishing it. When a man has made peace with God about all his sins, upon the terms of grace and mercy, through the sacrifice of the Mediator, he may, in comparison with his enemies, appeal to God's justice to decide.