Psalm 17:1-2 : Hear  me Lord, my plea is just;  listen to my cry. Hear my prayer—     it does not rise from deceitful lips.  Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right.

Response :   Let my sentence come forth from thy presence. Like the psalmist who now has grown bold by the strengthening influence of prayer, I can entreat the Judge of all the earth to give sentence upon my case. I may  have been libelled, basely and maliciously libelled; and having brought my action before the highest court, I like an innocent man, have no desire to escape the enquiry, but I can invite and sue for judgment. I do not ask for secrecy, but would have the result come forth to the world. I pray that the  sentence  be pronounced and executed forthwith. In some matters I may venture to be as bold as this; except when I can plead something better than my own supposed innocence, it was terrible presumption thus to challenge the judgment of a sin hating God. With Jesus as my complete and all glorious righteousness I need not fear, though the day of judgment should commence at once, and hell open her mouth at my feet, but might joyfully prove the truth of the hymn writer’s holy boast —

“Bold shall I stand in that great day; For who aught to my charge shall lay? While, through thy blood, absolved I am, From sin’s tremendous curse and shame.”

Let my eyes behold the things that are equal. Believers do not desire any other judge than God, or to be excused from judgment, or even to be judged on principles of partiality. No my hope does not lie in the prospect of favouritism from God, and the consequent suspension of his law; I expect to be judged on the same principals as other men, and through the blood and righteousness of my Redeemer I shall pass the ordeal unscathed. The Lord will weigh me in the scales of justice fairly and justly; he will not use false weights to permit me to escape, but with the sternest equity those balances will be used upon me as well as upon others; and with my blessed Lord Jesus as my  all in all I tremble not, for I shall not be found wanting. In David’s case, he felt his cause to be so right that he simply desired the Divine eyes to rest upon the matter, and he was confident that equity would give him all that he needed.

Dear Father, through Jesus only will I be vindicated. Thank You Jesus for Your love. Thank You Jesus for Your protection, and continuing cover.  Amen.