Thursday Scripture: 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.
I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words,
for I see violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they prowl about on its walls;
malice and abuse are within it.
Destructive forces are at work in the city;
threats and lies never leave its streets.
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,
as we walked about
among the worshipers.
Let death take my enemies by surprise;
let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
for evil finds lodging among them.
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.
Anger and retaliation are natural reactions.
But religious people tend to get it backwards.
We pray to God with "Verily, verily, we beseech,"
and lots of flowery language.
But 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.
Fact is, betrayal is a natural part of life.
Sometimes we betray those we care about the most.
It might be accidental human shortcoming.
But sometimes it is just pure old meanness.
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.
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Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.