Psalm 58

1Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?
Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
2No, in heart you work wickedness;
You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.
3The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
4Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
5Which will not heed the voice of charmers,
Charming ever so skillfully.
6Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
7Let them flow away as waters which run continually;
When he bends his bow,
Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
8Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,
Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,
He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,
As in His living and burning wrath.
10The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
11So that men will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”
-Psalm 58

The Lord often shows Himself in two ways. He is made known both through the blessing of righteousness and judgement of wickedness. This is of course not an inclusive list of the ways that God shows Himself but it is two of the most common ways we find through Scripture. We do not just see this in the Old Testament either. I think of the judgement upon Ananias & Sapphira. Everyone around knew what happened with them in the book of Acts and feared. Alternatively, the Lord is shown through His grace to Paul the Apostle.

As we study through the word of God and come across areas where He is demonstrating Himself in such ways, we ought to pay great attention to His character. God, unlike mankind, moves and acts with perfectly calculated purpose. We name it as a type of cliché that there is a reason for everything. While that might be true, God certainly has a reason for everything He does. When we come across challenging areas in Scripture where God is asking, let us not hesitate to prayerfully ask why? In this we have great opportunity to learn about the very character of God.