It seems God’s friends can sometimes take liberties. Indeed, they can be peremptory, even to the point of rudeness. One might suppose that they see less danger in presumption than in despair. No doubt they are right! Furthermore, we hear a subtle tone elsewhere in this psalm: that the defeat of God’s friends reflects on God himself. With such pious cunning, we may hope that God is satisfied. The death and resurrection of Christ, who bore our sins, is God’s way of showing that the triumph of sin would have dishonored his honor. Therefore, we pray to God to protect his honor in us. We seem to be its guardians, yet only from God can we receive the strength to keep it. This was not the psalm Jesus began on the cross, but it might have been.