How many are the days of thy servant?
When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
Saul the Pharisee was a persecutor of the early Christians until he met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. Describing himself since that day of his conversion, Paul wrote to Timothy:
But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Lest any readers should assume such experiences were limited to Paul, or perhaps to apostles and preachers, he continued:
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
To guard against any expectation of immediate relief, Paul further explained,
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (2 Tim 3.10-13).
Even though times would worsen, persecution has always been the lot of God’s people, ever since Cain slew Abel. Indeed, the psalmist testified of this unpleasant reality in his own day.
A SAINT’S MISERY
“Saint” means a sanctified one, and therefore it is an apt label for any true believer. This Old Testament saint was becoming weary of life because of the persecutions he endured.
“How many are the days of thy servant?” See how he characterized himself. He had become a devoted “servant of the Lord,” that is, a sincere worshiper of Jehovah alone. Those who are promised God’s blessing of salvation are described in Isa 56.6 as those “that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, . . . that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant.” This distinguishes them from most other people in the world. Once we take the Lord’s side alone against all other gods, we discover the idolaters are opposed to us for his sake. This polarization of all people, either for or against the Lord, is the inevitable and uncomfortable reality saints must face until the Lord returns.
Jesus is the ultimate “Servant of the Lord,” and real Christians are his disciples. He helpfully explained the reason we believers must suffer the world’s malice.
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me (John 15.18-21).
Given such a difficult calling, it is no wonder that even the best of men long for the end of their trial. This seems to be the sense of the psalmist’s melancholy question. He was not asking for specific information about how many more days he had to live in this world, but rather expressing his misery for having to live as long as he had already, and not knowing how much longer the misery would be extended.
As modern American Christians we can hardly relate to this kind of thinking. In God’s mercy we have been given a considerable reprieve from most of the persecution that Christians in almost all other times and places routinely suffer. However, if we are aware and sensitive to the horrific experiences of our brethren around the world, so that we truly and deeply sympathize with them, then we can begin to experience something of their earnest desire that these days of suffering would soon be over. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body” (Heb 13.3). If we love them, their sufferings will become meaningful, even painful, to us.
An answer of wisdom to the first question is, “not many,” even though time seems to pass most slowly when we are subjected to ongoing pain. Paul kept an eternal perspective to help endure the sufferings of his life. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor 4.17). But for a moment! This life is like a vapor that appears for a little time and vanishes away (Jas 4.14). In the long view of things, the time is short, and we should realize that as Christians, all our bad experiences in this life will soon be over forever.
A SAINT’S PLEA
Given that “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14.22), it is no wonder that suffering ones send up petitions before God’s throne to throw down their adversaries. “When wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?” This is nothing less than a desperate plea of the psalmist for God to come to his rescue, overthrow his enemies, and justify him as not
deserving such mistreatment.
Pop Christianity sports a pseudo-spirituality that condemns such prayers. It twists Jesus’ “turn the other cheek” exhortation into a disdain for the his holy vengeance, though it was never meant to oppose that at all.
The psalmist was a praying saint who refused to inflict personal revenge, even on those who were abusing him. Instead, he suffered with patient meekness and prayerfully committed his cause to the Lord. This kind of petition was one means by which he found the spiritual strength not to retaliate in kind, as they had hurt him. He knew he could trust the Lord, as the moral Governor of the universe, to make everything right in the end. The Lord is watching everyone. The Lord is evaluating every man’s heart and conduct. A day of ultimate reckoning will answer all the injustices we have experienced at the hands of the ungodly, both with respect to a gracious reward for saints and equitable punishment for the finally impenitent.
In the mean time, the sufferers find spiritual refuge in reverent complaints to God. Even saints in heaven, perfectly purified from all sin, utter the same prayers. John the apostle saw and heard the martyrs begging God for retributive justice upon those who had killed them.
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? (Rev 6.9-10).
Of course this was not unspiritual at all!
Further, to show us the righteousness of such petitions, the book of Revelation’s first use of the word “Alleluia” (or, “hallelujah,” meaning, “praise the Lord!”) comes in the wake of these ancient and heavenly prayers being answered.
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia (Rev 19.1-4).
It will be a very, very good thing when Jesus Christ returns from heaven in power and glory to punish his enemies and deliver the church universal from all our oppressors! It will demonstrate convincingly to all that he is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Heb 11.6). It will show the glory of his power and the equity of his justice. It will highlight his faithfulness to keep all his promises and his compassionate love toward all his servants. This great Judgment Day will be the beginning of the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, and the end of all malicious harassment of the church.
If it is a good thing for Christ to come back and punish his enemies, then it must also be a good thing to pray for his return and with it this desirable end of punishment. When John had
seen all these awful things coming to pass in prophetic vision, he responded this way: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev 22.20), and so should we.
The Lord’s return will be the end of the days of suffering for his servants, and the occasion when Christ executes judgment on our persecutors. This is the day for which the psalmist was praying earnestly, even without the spiritual light of the New Testament. Weariness of persecution drove him, not to apostasy, but to yearn and pray for the day of complete redemption. May the Lord give us the same heartfelt desire and hasten his coming. Amen.
All rights reserved.