Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words do hurt, especially when they slander your good name and undermine your life’s purpose.

A false accusation, a baseless rumor, and malicious gossip can ruin your reputation, disrupt your marriage, sideline your ministry, and undermine you career or business. Often, when these false accusations are raised, there is little you can do, because proving something didn’t happen is almost impossible.

For most people, the best you can hope for is that your track record of integrity and good deeds outshines the falsehoods being spoken. That’s hard to rely on, however, as people’s memories are becoming shorter with the proliferation of social media.

This is exactly the situation (minus the social media) that King David faced in Psalm 7. Cush the Benjamite had made serious accusations against David and cursed him. We don’t really know who Cush was, or exactly what his statements were. We do know, the words were severe enough that David took the situation to the Lord, not only through a spoken prayer, but David actually took the time to write this psalm about it.

In the opening verses of Psalm 7, you see the intersection of David’s faith and fear. David proclaims that he is putting his trust in the Lord, while at the same time expressing his fear of what his enemy may do.

“O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: ² Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.” – Psalm 7:1-2

David professes that he places his trust (faith) in the Lord, and prays for deliverance so that he is not destroyed by the false accusations. He goes on in verses 3-5 to ask the Lord to hold him accountable should there be any truth to the false accusations.

These verses demonstrate the power that faith can give us in these hopeless situations. Furthermore, it shows us the power that comes with a clear conscience toward God and toward those around us.

David was able to ask God to examine his actions and hold him accountable because David knew that he was innocent of the charges being leveled toward him.

Living according to God’s word, doing right by others and glorifying God through our grace and mercy shown to others can help fortify us against situations like this. When the false accusation is leveled, we can in all confidence say, “Search me! For I am clean!”

Furthermore, our faith enables us to trust God to fight this battle, because we are completely incapable of securing the victory on our own.

In verses 6-10, David prays that God will rise up in anger against the wickedness that has come against him. He also proclaims and looks forward to the judgment of God. Again, this is the blessing that comes with a life of faith and a clear conscience.

David doesn’t fear God’s judgment because David knows that he will withstand the judgment because he has been made pure through his faith in the Gospel of God. David knows the judgment will vindicate God’s people, and destroy the wicked.

If you know the Lord as your Savior, you have no reason to fear God’s judgment, and you actually have a reason to look forward to the judgment, because it is the judgment of God that is going to restore everything to what God intended on it being.

David concludes the psalm in verses 11-17 by warning the wicked that the Lord is preparing to make war against them. Therefore, repentance is in order.

So, Psalm 7 teaches us the value of letting faith shape our lives and actions. We learn that we need to trust the Lord through the adversities, conflicts and perils of life. Meanwhile, we also learn the value of having a clean conscience toward God and toward man. When we have those ingredients, we have facilitated the Lord’s defense of us when the attacks come.

So trust the Lord today, and glorify him through your lifestyle.