Manner Of Speaking

"God is not violent."

DAVID WAS Old Covenant Jew, so he wrote the psalms from that perspective. It is what he knew. In Psalm 18:20 and 24, he says, “The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness,” and, “The LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness.” This would be by doing the Old Covenant Law, through his continual efforts to remain clean in the manner in which it was required at that time. Under the New Covenant, we are made righteous because Jesus’ blood is righteous. No effort we do will cleanse us. Cleansing comes only by grace, God’s goodness to us (Romans 4:16).

David’s lifestyle is also seen in the psalms. He was a warring soldier and King. He was first known for his defeat of the Philistines and their giant, Goliath. This continued throughout his life, and so God would not allow him to build the temple that he desired (1 Chronicles 28:3). Though his heart was right in desiring it, its building would happen under his son, Solomon’s rule, when there would be peace. But David’s mentality of defeating his enemies is how he thought so many times, he called for their defeat in the psalms. This is not how we think today. We are peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). We love one another (John 13:34) because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). We are to pray for all men (1 Timothy 2:1).

Psalms are a person’s heartcry to God, and this is how God sees them. He knows our errors in knowledge, He knows where we are growing, He finds us precious and loves to hear our voice, even then. Minister Joseph Prince said this so beautifully, saying God just wants us to speak to Him. Our loving Savior’s forgiveness is as wide as the east from the west (Psalm 103:12), His love without depth. Where we criticize another man’s words, He sees our motive in what’s been said and, as a parent does their child, overlooks so much because His love is center of His delight.

But it is helpful to know the manner of speaking in places in the psalms and the Old Testament is not what God asks of us today. We are never to pray violence over another. God is not violent. We are not to use the term “spiritual warfare” to allow us to fight people. Nor devils. On this, the New Testament is really clear. We are not in a war. Jesus defeated the devil and the works of the devil, unclean spirits, sickness, and disease (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8; 1 Peter 2:24). There is nothing left for us to fight spiritually and no reason to fight physically, except when called upon by government. And even then, God sees the deepest part of us, how we stand on the issue being fought over.

Because His desire is stated clearly in John’s Revelation – there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more death (Revelation 21:4). And no violence to cause it to come into being. Jesus did not fight as a conquering army to abolish death (2 Timothy 1:10). He submitted to death, and then when death had done all death could do, God’s life came. That was the point of how God saved the world. We can look on our King and know He knows exactly how we feel, even to the worst stories of mankind. And today He is love for all. He is gentle and patient and kind.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 BSB)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com