While some psalms are written to bless (Psalm 67 and Psalm 20) others are written to curse. In neither case are the psalmists deciding for themselves who is blessed and who is cursed. The blessings and curses are declared in accordance with the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28. The psalmists don’t curse people that they happen to dislike. The role of these psalms is the same as the list of curses in Deuteronomy 28. They serve as warnings, primarily for God’s people. By singing psalms like these the people of Israel were reciting a crucial part of the covenant and instilling in themselves and their children an aversion to the evil described in the psalm. It was also a way of committing themselves to the contrasting position, hence the psalmist goes on to say: “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” In this way the singer is reminding himself of the opportunity that God has given him by grace, that is, to flourish in God’s presence and love. The human will does not have a neutral setting. We are always in a state of active willing, either going one way or the other. For this reason, we must constantly do things that direct our hearts the right way, for otherwise we will naturally sway the wrong way. This is, in fact, the practical role of the psalms themselves: to exercise our hearts in a God-ward direction so that we THRIVE.
Ask God to direct your heart towards him.
Read Psalm 52
