“Rise up, O Lord, in thy anger: and be thou exalted in the borders of my enemies. And arise, O Lord, my God, in the precept which thou hast commanded: and a congregation of people shall surround thee. And for their sakes return thou on high. The Lord judgeth the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice, and according to my innocence in me.”
You, through the Psalmist, then call your Abba to arise in His anger in the face of your enemies, for like a child being afflicted by cruel attackers, He will come to your aid to chase away the enemy of your soul: “Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against hose nations, as when he fought in the day of battle” (Zacharias 14:3). It is a call for the King of Kings to bind up the mighty one that afflicts you: “No man can enter into the house of a strong man and rob him of his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then shall he plunder his house” (Mark 3:27). The call to “be exalted” is a call of transformation: Conversion to the Lord is being lifted up from being the property of the devil to becoming a temple of God, a palace of love: “King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus: the pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with love for the daughters of Jerusalem” (Song 3:10). God is exalted in this, showing His might over the forces of darkness as well as the care He shows for His beloved: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels… shall be able to separate us from the love of God” (Romans 8:38-39). Or, “be exalted in the midst of my enemies” can be taken in a warrior’s sense: “Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pined away because of thy enemies? I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me” (Psalm 138:21-22), meaning that the enemies of salvation are mutually your and God’s enemies, therefore you are praying: “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10), that the kingdom of love may overcome the forces of darkness and hate: Let us, who are of the day, be sober, having on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Therefore, you call on love to rise up in the borders of the enemy’s domain, that love may prevail: “For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my good word in your favour, to bring you again to this place” (Jeremias 29:10). Thus, the Lord is called upon to arise in the precept He commanded: “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ: and love one another, as he hath given commandment to us” (1 John 3:23); “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12), which He will always heed: “Because the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers” (1 Peter 3:12). Thus, Theophila, you are calling upon the King of Love as a warrior of love, and by calling upon the love of God you will draw a congregation to Him, either by prayer and flowers that will bloom without your seeing: “My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the bed of aromatical spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies” (Song 6:1), or by your expression of God’s love drawing people to Him very noticeably through you: “And great multitudes followed him: and he healed them there” (Matthew 19:2). In whatever way Love works through you is the proper way for you to express it, which is done through the action of the Holy Spirit, who is the fruit of the ascension of Jesus, His returning on high: “And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16). Or, this can mean that, like a triumphant king, He returns to His throne to oversee the love that His people cultivate in the world: “He shall drink of the torrent in the way,” that is, drink of the afflictions of human life in a fallen world, “therefore shall he lift up the head” (Psalm 109:7) with understanding and mercy as He returns to His throne: “For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Apocalypse 7:17). The statement “the Lord judgeth the people” then is a statement of confidence to the one that loves Him, for in knowing that your love story is a beautiful one, you can give Him the book of your life with joy: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Apocalypse 20:12), but an admonishment to those that love not Love: “And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love” (Psalm 108:5). Therefore, lift up your voice in confidence, being willing to be judged by the Divine Judge, for it is this same Judge that clothes you in innocence, justice, and love: “God, who hath girt me with strength; and made my way blameless” (Psalm 17:33). You are asking your Father to judge you as His child, to which He in His love replies, “Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee” (Song 4:7), for the Father sees the merits of the Son in you by the Holy Spirit, so He sees you in a place of supernatural innocence and delights in you: “Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God” (1 John 3:2).