We all know of the modern day proverb, ‘the squeaky wheel gets oiled.’ The saying is often used in reference to someone who is loud, even obnoxious, about what they want. In today’s psalm, David cannot avoid the squeaky wheel. There are people in his face. All we know about David’s enemies from the psalm is that they were nursing a grudge against him for something. David was hurt and betrayed.
So, David prayed. “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, because of the noise of the enemy… in anger they bear a grudge against me.” David felt the ache of certain persons speaking against him. For whatever reason, they had an axe to grind and were determined to make David’s life difficult.
Although, like David, we sometimes feel like flying away and being at rest from the turmoil, we must deal with the insults, the untrue and half-true rhetoric of others. The way David confronted the problem was primarily through prayer. When David prayed, it was never a quick on-the-run sort of prayer to God in the rush of dealing with all his kingly duties. Instead, David offered specific, agonizing, timely prayers asking, even begging God to not let the violent speech and actions of his enemies prevail.
Out of the range of possibilities that we could do in response to sins of the tongue against us, prayer needs to be the primary weapon. Heartfelt, passionate, detailed, and pointed prayers need to be offered to the God who hears the righteous in their grief. If you are in such a position of being oppressed by another, a sage way to begin addressing the situation is through praying the very same psalm that David did when he was under duress.
Listening God, you hear the cries of the righteous. Give ear to my plea. I cry out to you for respite from those allayed against me. I ask for justice so that the wicked and the unrighteous do not have their way in this world. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 