Life is hard

 

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  --Hebrews 12:3

Last week we introduced what are known as Imprecatory Psalms--that is, Psalms that seem to call down curses against the enemies of God.  Psalm 69 is a great example: David became so fed up, so tired of the lies and deception, the traps set by his enemies that he cried out to God for their destruction.  Here's what he wrote.

Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.  Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.  May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.  For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.  Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.  --Psalm 69:22-28

What could have caused David to be so, well, ungracious? Vindictive? Acrimonious?  I think the rest of the Psalm explains the attitude.  If we look a little deeper, perhaps we see a bit of human nature coming out.  The great thing about this Psalm, however, is that parts of it are quoted in the New Testament describing the suffering that Jesus went through, and how He handled what life threw at Him.

Drowning in a flood of trouble

Save me, O God!  For the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.  I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.  My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.  More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies.  What I did not steal, must I now restore?  --Psalm 69: 1-4

Many of us can relate to feeling like we're in over our heads, drowning in a deluge of personal problems.  Like David, we feel we have prayed until we are parched; we have cried out to God until we are blue in the face.  We sometimes feel as if we might die before we see the power of God rescue us.

Then we remember Jesus.  He was hated without cause; He was attacked with lies.  How did He react?  In Matthew 26, starting in verse 36, we see that Jesus took a few of His closest friends and went to the Garden to pray.  Verse 37 says, "He began to be sorrowful and troubled."  The Amplified Bible says, "He began to be grieved and greatly distressed."

Jesus prayed, "Let this cup pass from me"--in other words, God, take away this stress, this burden, this problem that will be the very death of Me.  In hindsight, we know that God did not rescue Him.  Further, we see in John 15:25 a direct quote from Psalm 69:4, when Jesus said, "But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: 'They hated me without a cause'."

Jesus endured hatred, false accusations, persecution and even death, even after praying that God would spare Him.

The constant drip of disapproval

O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from You.  Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek You be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.  For it is for Your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.  I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.  For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.  --Psalm 69:5-9

David knows that he is not perfect, but only God could judge him.  David felt the criticism of his enemies, and the sting of their words.  He felt especially bad when they criticized him for being too religious.  He felt like he was being called out for doing the right thing.  Yet his heart was pure, and David prayed that none of his actions would lead men astray.  He did not want his own actions to cause any believer to stumble, or to make anyone fall away from God because of His actions.  That's what constant criticism can do--it can make you feel guilty for doing the right thing.

Remember Jesus getting violent in the Temple?  In John chapter two, beginning in verse 13, Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, but sees atrocities in the Temple.  Profiteers were selling sheep and oxen at exorbitant prices.  Sacrifices were necessary, but not the price gouging.  Money changes were there, converting world currencies for the Temple tax.  Tithes were necessary, but not at the expense of integrity and fair-dealing.  Jesus saw it, and Scripture says he wove a whip out of cords.  He went into the pens of the livestock, and drove the animals out.  He stepped up to the tables where the currency exchange was taking place, and He threw the tables over onto their sides causing the cash boxes to spill onto the ground.  Seeing this, the disciples remembered the words from Psalm 69:9: "Zeal for Your house will consume Me." (John 2:17).

This episode early in the ministry of Jesus made enemies of the religious leaders.  Eventually it led to His death.  Doing the right thing may get us into hot water, too.  That doesn't mean we should stop doing what is right and good in the sight of God.

Our dying prayer

Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.  Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.  Answer me, O Lord, for Your steadfast love is good; according to Your abundant mercy, turn to me.  Hid not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.  Draw near to my soul, redeem me; Ransom me because of my enemies!  You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to You.  Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.  I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.  They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.  --Psalm 69:14-21

Our world may be literally shaken with bad news.  Life is truly hard.  In his book Limping with God: Jacob and the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship, author Chad Bird writes this:

Divine visitations are not always pleasant experiences.  Nor will they necessarily take on the visionary quality of Jacob's.  They may look like a tumor on a CT scan.  An email about your termination of employment.  Or a phone call at 3 a.m. that begins with, "I am so sorry I have to tell you this, but..."  And suddenly, in an instant, everything changes.  In the weeks and months to come, following Jesus feels like a cruel joke.  You're not following anyone.  You're chained to despair.  The glowing eyes of monstrous uncertainties blink at you from the darkness.  Rather than seeing a ladder from earth to heaven, it seems there's an escalator from hell to earth, with demons showing up in legions on your doorstep.  This is ordinary.  These things happen to the people of God in our fractured world.  So, when they do, when you feel beyond overwhelmed, know that the Lord Jesus is near, right at the door.  He is wading into the darkness, eyes only for you.

Remember Jesus, who in Matthew 27 was led to be crucified, carrying His own cross.  Psalm 69:21 was fulfilled not once, but twice (see Matthew 27:34, and again in verse 48).  They offered Him sour wine to drink when He was so dehydrated He cried out.  It was for us, for our sins that He bore this suffering.  Again from author Chad Bird:

Christ has come because you cannot come to Him.  He is following you, not the other way around--following you into the vortex of pain and loss and fear and anger.  He does so unblinkingly.  Without hesitation.  Since Jesus, "for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross," do not for a moment imagine that He grimaces or flinches or weighs His opinions before entering your pain and loss and the crucible of your own suffering (Hebrews 12:2).  He's all in, all in for you, all for the joy of loving and saving you.  You will learn much about yourself, but more importantly, you will learn much about the magnanimity of the Lord's heart.  With greater clarity, you will realize that apart from Him, you have no hope.  But in Him, hope is an inexpressible gift that enables us all to face the future, which is already enfolded within the resurrection of Christ.

Whatever your trial, whatever your trouble, remember Christ.  He endured far more than we could imagine, endured far worse that whatever we are going through.  The suffering that we endure in this life do not compare to the joy that will be ours when we see Jesus. 

An old Spiritual goes like this:

Jesus walked this lonesome valley;
He had to walk it by himself.
Oh, nobody else could walk it for him;
He had to walk it by himself.

We must walk this lonesome valley;
We have to walk it by ourselves.
Oh, nobody else can walk it for us;
We have to walk it by ourselves.

You must go and stand your trial;
You have to stand it by yourself.
Oh, nobody else can stand it for you;
You have to stand it by yourself.

 

 

Don't imprecate me, Bro!

 

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.   --Matthew 18:6

One of my favorite Facebook groups, and a source of many biblical memes that I use on my own page, is called "Imprecatory Psalms for Dads and Malms."  It's a play on words, encouraging parents to teach the entire Scripture to their children, even those passages that aren't all warm and fuzzy.

Imprecatory is an adjective that means to curse or invoke evil on someone.  Yes, the Bible does that.  This week in my daily Bible readings I came upon Psalm 59, which is considered to be one of six or seven Imprecatory Psalms in the Bible.  

Before you shut me out or stop reading because this idea offends you, let me point out some things.  In the secular world, we use some pretty violent imagery in our daily struggle on this Earth.  How do we describe someone who happened to pick some winning stocks or bonds?  "He made a killing in the market."  How do we encourage a friend who may be going through a divorce?  "Hit him where it hurts."  What is the first thing a child might think if he has gotten into trouble?  "My parents are going to kill me."

I am a fairly decent sports fan.  Yesterday was a day for college football, where rivals on the gridiron were encouraged to "knock their heads off" or "cut them into tiny pieces."  Former football star Dick Butkus said, "When I played pro football, I never set out to hurt one deliberately--unless, you know, it was important; like a league game or something."  Today two of my favorite NFL teams played in nationally televised games.  One smashed the other team into submission; the other got beat like a rug.

Not a sports fan?  Then how about politics?  You can hardly turn on the television or radio without being subjected to the vitriol and spite hurled at the other side in order to convince you to vote for one side or the other.  Imprecations are part of the human experience; we are hard-wired to invoke curses on one another.  This doesn't stop when one becomes a believer; it is merely tempered with grace.

My enemies try to implicate me

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Defend me from those who rise up against me.  Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloodthirsty men.  For look, they lie in wait for my life; the mighty gather against me, not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.  They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.  Awake to help me, and behold!  You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations; do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors.  --Psalm 59:1-5 NKJV

David was running from Saul, because Saul was determined to kill David.  Saul want to accuse David of treason, a crime for which David was completely innocent. David's prayer was a cry for justice, not limited to the house of Saul only, but against any nation that came against God's people.

Jesus said in John 15 that His followers would have to endure persecution for His Name's sake.

But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the  world's which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law: "They hated Me without a cause."  --John 15:21-25

Jesus quoted Psalm 69:4 and 109:3-5, which by the way are also known as Imprecatory Psalms.  They underscore His innocence, and prophesy that evil will one day come upon His accusers.  David's words preceded Christ's, but they spoke of the same problem, because the wicked would always accuse the innocent.

My God will vindicate me

I will wait for You, O You his Strength; for God is my defense.  My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.  Do not slay them, lest my people forget; scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield.  For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride, and for the cursing and lying which they speak.  Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be; and let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. --Psalm 59:9-13

They say that truth is the best defense, but it is not so in this day and age.  I have a friend who posted a meme about the non-government organizations who are providing the most assistance after the devastating hurricanes in Florida: they are churches and faith-based organizations, not political ones--not Planned Parenthood or Black Lives Matter or any other pseudo-political "grass-roots" movements we have seen in the news in recent years.  Unfortunately, my friend was beset by internet trolls, who accused him of outright lying.  Their argument seemed to be that he did not know who was sending help of contributions to those in need, and therefore he needed to shut up about it.  He took down the meme, and said that he would focus instead on his own ministry.

Even as we pray that God would set things right, we do not pray for death and destruction against our enemies.  "Do not slay them," David wrote, because of God's tender mercy (long-suffering or steadfast love, as the ESV translates the Hebrew word hesed, which we have written about many times before.)  We want God's will to be done, even if that means they come to know Christ and start preaching His word.  Remember Paul?  As David described his enemies "belching out" lies and corruption (see verse 7), we are reminded that Paul was "breathing out threatenings and slaughter" against believers (see Act 9:1).  God showed mercy to Paul; He may also have mercy on our enemies, or not--that is up to Him.  If He wants to consume them utterly for their unbelief, He is entitled to do that.

Their sin will imprecate them

And at evening they return, they growl like a dog, and go all around the city.  They wander up and down for food, and howl if they are not satisfied.  But I will sing of Your power; yes I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.  To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy.  --Psalm 59:14-17

It is good to have God on our side.  We are sinful, separated from God, but we receive mercy.  1 John 2:1 says, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.  And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."  Isn't it good to have an advocate, a defense attorney who is in the Judge's good graces?

The danger with our message is that it is often too grace focused.  Will everyone believe in Jesus, and be saved from God's wrath by His shed blood?  Unfortunately, no.  Jesus Himself said, "Whoever causes on of these little ones who believes in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:6).  This Imprecatory statement (e.g. curse, wishing evil upon someone) came from Jesus Himself.  In John 3:18 Jesus said, "He who believes in Him (God's Son) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God."

Believe in Him today.  Call upon Him for forgiveness and salvation before your eternal soul meets a fate worse than death.  Confess your sins, for that is the only way to obtain God's mercy.