Asking God to Judge

Psalms 43:1 KJV

Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

The Psalmist is surely David and the timing is either that when Jonathan told him to flee from Saul or else when he was required to flee from his own son, Absalom. In either case David had been judged by an enemy and is here asking God to judge on his behalf.

We tend to think of God as a judge against us.

• We see him on a throne and Jesus as our defender with Satan as our accuser or else
• We see God judging us and using our enemies to execute His justice.

In this case God is seen as our defender. So confident is David that He calls on the judge Himself to plead his cause. And I am reminded that, at least by the time of Absalom's rebellion, David knew that sin had come back to bite him.

So where does a sinful man gain such confidence as to ask God to judge Him and plead his cause? The answer must me in a righteousness that is beyond his own. It is the righteousness of God imputed to us through Jesus Christ that opens the way to such a confidence. As we grow in the understanding of that grace, we grow in confidence for our approach to the throne of God. As we see our righteousness as only that of Christ and we see that we are made the righteousness of God in Him,

• We have such peace with God that is passeth understanding
• We cry as children, "Abba, Father" and
• We come boldly to the throne of mercy.