There is a God to whom vengeance belongs who will certainly call enemies to account.
Those who suffer wrong should be encouraged to bear it as His chastisements,
committing themselves to Him who judges righteously and works all things together for the good of those who love Him.
Psalm 1
1 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
5 They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 94:6-23 – The Lord Our Defense against Evil-Doers
Let us ponder all the great things that God will do for them that trust Him. He planted the ear, and will detect the sigh, sob, or broken utterance of His child, Psalm 94:9. He formed the eye, and He knows our sorrows. He watches the sparrow’s fall, and His child is of more value than many sparrows. He corrects us; shall we not be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live, Psalm 94:10? He knows our thoughts; let us ask Him to purify and restrain them, Psalm 94:11. He teaches out of His Law; let us be diligent students of the Scriptures, Psalm 94:12. He will neither cast us off nor forsake us, Psalm 94:14.
The Lord is our help, and the soul that trusts Him shall not be silenced, Psalm 94:17. He holds us up when our foot slips, Psalm 94:18. Whatever thoughts may startle or affright us, God has a comfort suited to counteract each of them. His comforts delight the soul. They bring joy and hope with them, Psalm 94:19. He defends us against the charges laid at our door, and is a rock on which we may stand steadily, amid the seething waters, Psalm 94:22. If God be for us, who can be against us, or who can separate us from His love? Romans 8:31. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 94:12-13—Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest,… that Thou mayest give him rest.
The reason of chastening is rest-giving. God chastens us that He may give its rest from the days of adversity. In sorrow we learn lessons which serve us in good stead when others suffer without remedy. In trial-times the child of God falls back upon the lessons his Father taught him out of the black letter-book of pain, and he knows how to comport himself. Thus he finds rest to his soul, rest in the will of God, rest in humble submission to his lot, rest in the wisdom that cannot err, in the love that cannot forget.
God teaches all the scholars in his school. He dares entrust none to an usher. Enter thyself as a scholar in the academy of grace, and thou shalt at once be taught, as all his children are, of God.
There is but one text-book for the whole school. It is always the Law of God. We learn from it when we are babes. In mature life we resort to it at every emergency. In old age we feel we never understood before its meaning or beauty. It is God’s “own book.”
Those who have sat longest under God’s tuition profess they know least. Instead of beginning at the lowest class and working up, we begin at the highest, and work down. The grey-heads sit on the infants’ forms, and the simplest are the wisest. There is blessedness, not in roaming the fields, but in sitting on the bench and learning what God teaches each soul that will give heed.
Some day, the lessons will be done, the doors thrown open, and the scholars will be dismissed, never to return to the hard bare forms, but to go for holy-days of never-ending gladness in the Father’s home. —Our Daily Homily