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When I first read this Psalm with my vengeful, punishing God glasses on, I was sad and anxious. David is invoking God's vengeful wrath not only on his enemies, but potentially on himself!
David was accused by his foes of wrongdoing who are now after him, guns blazing. He calls out to God for help but says basically, "If what they say is true, let them slice and dice me." Yikes!
While we don't know all the facts of the moment, we do know that David eventually commits the most treacherous wrong deeds ever with Bathsheba and her poor, devoted husband. God knew ALL about it ALL ALONG. What are the just desserts for that mess??
Notwithstanding his total wretchedness, long before Jesus, David was spared and is forever "a man after God's own heart" and tip shelf Bible hero— not because of his good deeds but in spite of his REALLY bad ones!
Good news for David and for us.
The Gospel of John tells us God had a plan to rescue us (and our "enemies") from ourselves before the beginning of time. His name is Jesus. In Christ, we're invited to BLESS our "enemies." We get to enjoy that radically loving mercy and grace, too.
All of Scripture foreshadows this Rescue, the incarnation of mercy and grace. In the closing verses of Psalm 7, David thanks and praises God for HIS righteousness--not his own. Darn good thing, since David was SO obviously a jumbled, bramble of good and bad, ever in need of mercy and grace. I am, too. How about you?
Mercy = Not getting what we deserve.
Grace = Getting what we don't deserve.
Thank you, Jesus, for loving me and paying the price in full.