John Calvin Commentary Psalms 7:6

"Arise, O Jehovah, in thine anger; Lift up thyself against the rage of mine adversaries, And awake for me; thou hast commanded judgment." — Psalms 7:6 (ASV)

Arise, O Jehovah David here sets the anger of God in opposition to the rage of his enemies; and when we are in similar circumstances, we should act in the same manner. When the ungodly are inflamed against us and unleash their rage and fury to destroy us, we should humbly beseech God to be inflamed also on his side; in other words, to show in truth that he has no less zeal and power to preserve us than they have inclination to destroy us.

The word, Arise, is taken in a figurative sense, meaning to ascend into a judgment-seat, or rather to prepare oneself to make resistance; and it is here applied to God because, while he delays to help us, we are very apt to think him asleep. Accordingly, David also, a little later, beseeches him to awake; for it seemed on God’s part something like the forgetfulness of sleep to give no assistance to an individual who was so much afflicted and oppressed on all sides.

In the end of the verse, he shows that he asks nothing but what is according to the appointment of God. And this is the rule which should be observed by us in our prayers; we should in everything conform our requests to the divine will, as John also instructs us (1 John 5:14). Indeed, we can never pray in faith unless we first attend to what God commands, so that our minds do not rashly and randomly stray into desiring more than we are permitted to desire and pray for.

David, therefore, in order to pray rightly, rests on the word and promise of God. The import of his spiritual exercise is this: “Lord, I am not led by ambition, or foolish headstrong passion, or depraved desire, to ask from you whatever is pleasing to my flesh; but it is the clear light of your word which directs me, and upon it I securely depend.”

Since God, of his own good pleasure, had called him to be king one day, it was his responsibility to defend and maintain the rights of the man whom he had chosen for his servant. David’s language, therefore, is the same as if he had said, “When I was well contented with my humble condition in private life, it was your pleasure to set me apart for the honourable station of being a king; now, therefore, it belongs to you to maintain this cause against Saul and his associates who are using their efforts to defeat your decree by making war upon me.” The Hebrew word עורה, urah, which we have rendered awake thou, might also be taken transitively to mean to build up, or to establish, the right of David.

The sum of the whole, however, comes to this: David, trusting in the call of God, beseeches him to stretch out his hand for his relief. The faithful must, therefore, take care not to exceed these bounds if they desire to have God present with them to maintain and preserve them.