Tuesday 20 February 2006

Today we reach the verses of Psalm 139 that I always have the hardest time relating to . . .

(19) O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—(20) those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! (21) Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? (22) I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

I always have a hard time when I read scripture that deals with smiting enemies and things like that because I believe God to be loving and merciful. But then again, the psalms aren’t theological dissertations on how we should act; they are prayers about how we feel. Sometimes we want nothing more than for the evil forces in our lives to cease. We want the irksome people who would lead us down dark paths to stop taunting us, we want those who would use us to go away, and we want those who speak ill of God to stop trying to tell us God is something other than what we know. However, this doesn’t have to mean that we want them smote by the hand of God. We can acknowledge that all these things can and do lead us from God, and that we hate it when things and people lead away from God’s goodness. Sure, we might treat these people as enemies, but we also strive to love our enemies.

Connection: What forces in your life try to lead you away from God and destroy your life? Can you hate the fact that they make your life difficult, yet care enough to acknowledge and face them with God’s grace and truth?

Almighty God, there are many forces in this world that would draw us from you. Grant us wisdom to know the difference between your goodness and those evil forces. Help us to resist them and give us the grace to change them. Amen.