Psalm 55 Honest to God
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Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest
If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
I could hide
But it is you, a person like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
at the house of God.
Let death take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the realm of the dead
As for me, I call to God,
and the Lord saves me
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Usually we read the sweet stuff from the Psalms in church
The Lord is my Shepherd, and all that
Warm and fuzzy
But the Psalms are full of raw emotion
When we feel betrayed, we want to lash out
But religious people tend to get it backwards.
We pray to God with "Verily, verily, we beseech,"
and lots of flowery language
We confess our anger to others:
"I'm so mad at him I could just KILL him!"
God is the only one big enough to hear the truth in our hearts.
The only place we can put all that anger is at the foot of the cross
Only God can heal the hurt of betrayal
But not even God can do anything about it
until we are honest to God
David knew that God wasn't going to strike anybody dead just because he felt betrayed by them
But he also knew that God was the only one big enough to handle that anger and hurt
Betrayal is a natural part of life
Sometimes we betray those we care about the most
When you feel betrayed, be honest to God
Only then can you fly with the wings of the dove,
and your soul can be at rest