Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - To Judge Or Not To Judge | The Writings | Psalm 28

Episode Date: February 7, 2024

That is the question. You want to feel free to judge others, but they shouldn't judge you. Right? So, what's the right thing to do? In today's episode, Jensen looks to Psalm 28 to get to the bottom of the "to judge or not to judge" debate. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 28

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt-McNair. We live in a world that is confused about what they want. Have you ever heard someone say something like, you have no right to judge me? It's not your place to tell me what to do. Or stop being so close-minded and judgmental.

Let me live my own life. See, we live in a world that says it wants no judgment from others. We want to be free to live our own lives, make our own choices without the opinions and judgments of others. And yet, at the very same time, we also tend to feel entitled to judge the people around us, to cancel others when they make choices that we believe are wrong, to shame and point fingers at the political others because what they believe is wrong. It seems we do not want to be judged, but we cannot help but judge others whenever they are wrong. But the problem is that we decide what is right and what is wrong based off of whether something is different than what we believe.

We must be right. So if they believe or do something different than us, then we can judge them. But they better not judge us. You see, our confusion on what we want, whether to be free of judgment or to be able to cast judgment on others, often stems from a faulty, prideful view of ourselves. It's the belief that I am right, that I know what is best, that it's up to me to be the protector and arbiter of justice. But when everyone is walking around with this same mindset,

we end up in a divisive, angry, judgmental mess. What we want isn't possible. What we believe about ourselves cannot be reality. We cannot all be right. We cannot all enact judgment and justice in the way that we want and also be free from the judgment of others. There has to be another way. And we find one in Psalm 28. This Psalm is a Psalm of David. It's a lament. David is crying out to God amidst a threat coming against him and his community. Let's see what we can learn from his words. Versus one and two. To you, O Lord, I call, my rock, be not deaf to me. Lest if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy when I cry to you for help, when I lift my hands toward your most holy sanctuary. So David begins his prayer to the Lord, asking for his help. And in the midst of his request to be heard, we also learn a little bit about what David believes about God. He calls God his rock, his foundation, the thing that his life is

built on. When all else is shaky and uncertain, God is a rock, unmoving, unchanging, unchanging, steady, dependable. He continues saying that if God, his rock, were to be silent towards him, were to abandon him, that he would have no hope for salvation. He would go down to the pit. And this This imagery of the pit evokes not just death, but divine judgment. Without God, David has no hope. And so he cries out to God. He lifts his hands to him and cries for God to have mercy on him. So from the outset, we see that David knows who he is in comparison to God. He is not God. He needs God's mercy. He needs God's salvation. And from this understanding, he continues on in verses 3 through 5. Do not drag me off with the wicked, the workers of evil, who speak peace with their neighbors

while evil is still in their hearts. Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds, give to them according to the work of their hands, render them their due reward, because they do not regard the works of the Lord or the work of his hands. He will tear them down. and build them up no more. In his time of need, when he's facing an outside threat, David does not take things into his own hands.

Instead, he asks God to enact his justice. And at first glance, these verses may seem like they uphold the idea that we should be judged according to our works, that people who sin deserve to be punished. Isn't David being a little judgmental here? Saying that the people coming against him are worse than him, that they need to be judged, not him? those other people, those sinners. But let's look at what's really being said here. Who is David asking God

to judge? He calls them the wicked, the workers of evil, people who might seem nice to your face but harbor evil in their hearts. These are people not just who sin because everyone, even God's people sin, but those whose hearts are set against God. They do not regard the works of the Lord. David is asking for God's divine justice on those who set their hearts against God. David is not asking God to enact David's version of justice, but that God would be just. You see, David realizes something that we do not often remember. Only God is holy. Only God can perfectly judge.

Only God has a right and inability to enact true justice. Rather than this be a haughty call for the people on the people on the Lord. the other side to be judged. David is humbly crying out to the God he puts his trust in. The rock and rescuer he knows he is hopeless without asking God to be the good judge that he is. To keep evil in check, to make sure that goodness wins out in the end, to maintain the good works of his hands, and to build up his good kingdom by casting off all that opposes him and his kingdom. see David does not rely on himself he looks to God and even in the midst of threat because David knows that God is good because he knows that God will judge the wicked and will enact justice he can continue

to praise the Lord and find peace in this truth verses 6 through 9 blessed be the Lord for he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy the Lord is my strength and my shield in him my heart trusts and I am helped My heart exalts and with my song I give thanks to him. The Lord is the strength of his people. He is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage. Be their shepherd and carry them forever. Blessed by the Lord, he hears me, he gives me mercy.

In him, my heart trusts, in him I am helped. In him, my heart exults. I give my thanks to him. He is my strength, my saving refuge. He is the one who blesses, who saves, who guides, and who carries his people forever. What would it look like if we saw God and ourselves the way David does? When we look around us and see evil, when we feel threatened by the choices, agendas, and actions of others, when we're tempted to believe that we know what's right, that we know what's best, when we want to point the finger and judge and get justice now on all.

our terms. What if? Instead, we reminded our hearts of who we are and who God is. We are sinners in need of mercy. Without God, the eternal steadfast rock, the provider of our salvation, we would be cast off, lost, and without hope. God is the one who created everything. From him, all goodness flows. He has seen. set out right from wrong from the very beginning, and only he is holy. And then what if from that place, what if we cried out to God for his justice to reign? That one day he would judge the evil and those who perpetrate it, that he would bring his kingdom and with it his goodness and order and perfect justice. And once we cry out to him, once we lay our requests at his feet,

truly trust him, enough to leave justice up to him, to praise him, to trust him, to rely on him, because when we pray for God to bring judgment and justice, we have to humbly acknowledge that without the blood of Jesus, without God's mercy, without his protection, we deserve to be cast out alongside the wicked. If we did this, imagine what a stark difference the people of God would be to the world around us. I don't have to fight, to point the finger, to scramble to protect my beliefs, to argue and tear down those around me. I don't have a right to judge because I know without God I deserve the worst of judgment for my rebellion against his goodness. So instead I cry out to him. I trust in him. I live in obedience to the one who created me, knows me, loves me, and knows what I need to

flourish. Today and every day, may we be guided by the same prayer of David. The Lord is our strength. He is our saving refuge. Oh, Lord, save your people. Bless your heritage. Be our shepherd and carry us forever. Amen.