Righteous Indignation

Righteous Indignation: Psalm 119:49-56 (Zayin)

• Introduction: What is “indignation”?
  • What are typical causes of moral indignation or outrage for nonbelievers?/
  • Do/should followers of Christ ever be indignant? If so, about what? Why or why not?
    • What about the command to love (Luke 6:27-28; 23:34)?
• Compare: Anger …
  • As strife (Galatians 5:19-21) and as potential sin (Ephesians 4:26-27)
  • As something to be guarded against and managed (James 1:19-20)
  • Not an excuse for revenge (Romans 12:19-21)
  • Not an appropriate response to persecution (1 Peter 3:14-17)
  • As expressed by Jesus: Mark 3:1-5; Matthew 21:12-13; 23:13; 26:23-24 and Luke 19:41-44
  • Compare: As expressed by Paul: 1 Corinthians 16:22; Galatians 1:8-9; 5:12; & 1 Timothy 4:14
• How does regeneration change us?
  • Is there a progression from hating God’s Word, to acknowledging and learning to obey it, to loving His Word?
  • Is there a regression from loving the wisdom of the world, to re-assessing it, to distancing ourselves it, to hating it?
• COMPARE: Romans 1:25 (preceded and followed by observations regarding sexual morality).
  • Thinking exchange (rejecting the Mind of Christ)
  • Worship exchange (rejecting God as solely worthy of our worship)
• Indignation and the Imprecatory Psalms: A New Testament Perspective
  • Are Old Testament curses in the Psalms relevant to New Testament believers? (Mark 12:36; John 10:35; 13:18)?
  • God’s justice: Understanding (Romans 2:4-5), participating (Rom. 12:19-21; Luk 6:27-29, 35).
  • Nehemiah 13:25: Sorrowful indignation, or, judgmental, arrogant indignation?
• Psalm 119: 49-56 – Hope for believers who suffer
  • Prayer for God to remember, and affirmations that the psalmist will remember God and His comforting and hope-giving laws.
  • God awakens His Word … and His hope … in believers (v. 49)
  • His promises – in His Word – comforts believers even when they are derided (vv. 50-52)
    • Does adversity drive us toward God’s Word?
  • Do we sorrowfully experience “hot indignation” when we see God’s law forsaken? (v. 53)
    • Psalm 42:3 and Psalm 123:4 – Is the rejection of God and His law more provoking than the resulting persecution?
  • As we travel on our life’s journey, we can hear and sing and remember God’s Word (vv. 54-55)
    • Habitual singing through suffering, even at night, while staying somewhere temporarily.
  • God enables us to learn about, and love, His Word, and find ourselves resting in His commandments (v. 56).
    • “Kept” [shamar, H8104] includes “guarded,” because in His Word we find comfort, sustenance and restoration.