My wife, as she is prone to do, mentioned something helpful to me the other night as we were going to bed. In Psalm 41 mercy and justice kiss, and not in way we often acknowledge. David begins noting God’s blessing upon one who considers the poor:

Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land;you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. (vv1-3)

God protects the one who protects the poor, and it appears that David is in such a state that he needs that protection. Verse 9 is climactic: “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” We know this was fulfilled as Jesus’ friend Judas betrayed him at the Lord’s Supper (John 13:18). David is one of the great examples in Scripture of men who refused to exact unlawful vengeance or even touch the Lord’s anointed even when it appeared God had delivered him (Saul) into his hand. But here we also see his godly desire to justly repay the wicked at the right time: “But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me” (vv10-11). David’s care for the poor ensured God would protect him in the face of his adversaries, and that he would triumph over them. This is not an aberration of justice, but a necessary extension of it. Afterall, what happens to poor whom David protects if God doesn’t defeat his enemies? David isn’t there to sustain them. Combine mercy ministry to the poor with a godly desire to defeat those who would harm such ministries and you have gone biblical. Anything less is less.