Psalm 119:78 Knee-Jerk

May the arrogant be put to shame for wronging me without cause;
but I will meditate on your precepts.

Psalm 119:78

At first glance this verse reads like a modern American tweet. Twitter is full of shaming, blaming, finger-pointing, and self-righteous truth-spinning.

I agree with the #walkaway movement, democrats should be ashamed of the lack of civility within their party.

— MandMvirtue (@Mark_virtue) July 2, 2018

Liberals are definitely the biggest enemies of our country. If you ask them, illegals are more important than our own citizens. They should be truly ashamed. In fact, they are protesting against their own nation, against peace and harmony.

Liberals = Traitors

— The Trump Guy (@TheTrumpGuy1) July 3, 2018

I’m ashamed of a lot of my guy friends. Absolutely heartbroken cuz I trusted you guys.

— 🍇 (@Rukkkyg) July 3, 2018

It’s probably a good idea to have a dress code in Trumps WH. All the Republicans should wear standard KKK gear—it’s who they are and they’re not ashamed of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these clowns had confederate flags stashed away in their basements!

— Debbie (@Dangchick1) July 2, 2018

And all the Christians who support trump should be ashamed of themselves as well.

— Terry Ann 🌊🌊🌊 (@TerryAnn1219) July 3, 2018

But look again at David's "tweet".

Yes, he's boldly stating what he sees as the truth about the people who have wronged him without cause. In that first half of the verse he:

• Describes them as arrogant. Based on what we know of David's enemies, he likely has good reason to describe them that way.
• Suggests they should be ashamed of their actions
• Claims he did nothing to provoke their wrongful treatment of him

Notice, though, what he does not do:

• He does not take it upon himself to shame them. He makes the one bold, supportable, statement, and leaves it at that. There's no name-calling, no mud-slinging.
• He does not take action against the wrong-doers
• He does not presume to use their arrogance and wrong-doing as an excuse to behave the same toward them

David's refusal to take advantage of King Saul when he was most vulnerable shows David's refusal to model his behavior on that of his enemies.

Instead David takes his queue not from the behavior of the people around him but from precepts of God. 

The best response to the arrogance and wrong-doing of others is to avoid becoming like them. Respond instead the way God would. 

This is hard to do when we're constantly surrounded by the arrogance of the world. Developing a different heart requires training, studying the precepts of God so often and so deeply that they become the default guide for our knee-jerk reactions, even in the most stressful of times. Meditate on the Word, not on the world.