Psalms of Honesty
If you step out, with God leading you, to be and make a difference in this life with a heart’s desire to want God’s best for all, you will have bullies who will try to hinder your walk to a slow molasses pace at times. Bullies will sometimes be jealous of what is being done and thwart your efforts in the details by scrutinizing every move you make. Bullies will not come to you to talk over your differences, they talk to anyone but you. That is the mark of the bully. Gossip is their greatest weapon to tear you down. Bullies hit you where it hurts most…in your spirit. We become prisoners of bullies when we take to heart what they are saying, when we slow down the progress of our work because of their criticism or spend countless, precious minutes worrying over what they are doing and plotting next.
David prays a very honest prayer to God, asking him to “punch his bullies in the nose”! I have never asked that of God, have you? But I have ask God to help ME in my response to the bullies in my life. David eventually does the same in this sincere prayer. He actually has people out to kill him physically. He is king and kings have enemies. Most of our bullies what to just maim or kill the Spirit of God in us. But they can’t. God won’t allow it. I know this from God’s work in and through my own life.
Psalm 35, The Message
A David Psalm
1-3 Harass these hecklers, God,
punch these bullies in the nose.
Grab a weapon, anything at hand;
stand up for me!
Get ready to throw the spear, aim the javelin,
at the people who are out to get me.
Reassure me; let me hear you say,
“I’ll save you.”
4-8 When those thugs try to knife me in the back,
make them look foolish.
Frustrate all those
who are plotting my downfall.
Make them like cinders in a high wind,
with God’s angel working the bellows.
Make their road lightless and mud-slick,
with God’s angel on their tails.
Out of sheer cussedness they set a trap to catch me;
for no good reason they dug a ditch to stop me.
Surprise them with your ambush—
catch them in the very trap they set,
the disaster they planned for me.
9-10 But let me run loose and free, celebrating God’s great work,
Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God,
there’s no one like you.
You put the down-and-out on their feet
and protect the unprotected from bullies!”
11-12 Hostile accusers appear out of nowhere,
they stand up and badger me.
They pay me back misery for mercy,
leaving my soul empty.
13-14 When they were sick, I dressed in black;
instead of eating, I prayed.
My prayers were like lead in my gut,
like I’d lost my best friend, my brother.
I paced, distraught as a motherless child,
hunched and heavyhearted.
15-16 But when I was down
they threw a party!
All the nameless riffraff of the town came
chanting insults about me.
Like barbarians desecrating a shrine,
they destroyed my reputation.
17-18 God, how long are you going
to stand there doing nothing?
Save me from their brutalities;
everything I’ve got is being thrown to the lions.
I will give you full credit
when everyone gathers for worship;
When the people turn out in force
I will say my Hallelujahs.
19-21 Don’t let these liars, my enemies,
have a party at my expense,
Those who hate me for no reason,
winking and rolling their eyes.
No good is going to come
from that crowd;
They spend all their time cooking up gossip
against those who mind their own business.
They open their mouths
in ugly grins,
Mocking, “Ha-ha, ha-ha, thought you’d get away with it?
We’ve caught you hands down!”
22 Don’t you see what they’re doing, God?
You’re not going to let them
Get by with it, are you? Not going to walk off
without doing something, are you?
23-26 Please get up—wake up! Tend to my case.
My God, my Lord—my life is on the line.
Do what you think is right, God, my God,
but don’t make me pay for their good time.
Don’t let them say to themselves,
“Ha-ha, we got what we wanted.”
Don’t let them say,
“We’ve chewed him up and spit him out.”
Let those who are being hilarious
at my expense
Be made to look ridiculous.
Make them wear donkey’s ears;
Pin them with the donkey’s tail,
who made themselves so high and mighty!
27-28 But those who want
the best for me,
Let them have the last word—a glad shout!—
and say, over and over and over,
“God is great—everything works
together for good for his servant.”
I’ll tell the world how great and good you are,
I’ll shout Hallelujah all day, every day.
SOMETHING TO CHEW…
Yes, David is very honest in this prayer. He even suggests what God can do to his bullies. Don’t lie, we’ve all had ideas for what God can do to our bullies. But then the prayer changes to what God can do IN David. David’s ultimate request is to be free from worrying about the bullies and their attacks so he can worship and celebrate God again.
“But let me run loose and free,
celebrating God’s great work,
Every bone in my body laughing, singing, “God,
there’s no one like you.
You put the down-and-out on their feet
and protect the unprotected from bullies!”
David knows God. He realizes he must leave all the bullies and tormentors to God. There is NO ONE like God of Creation to do what is best for us and in us. We must let God do what He does best.
HEART CHECK
Let’s go a bit deeper, into our own hearts’ desire for our bullies. Jesus took us farther in our walk with Him by teaching us a powerful lesson about what we should pray and how we should respond to bullies. Check THIS out:
Luke 6, NIV
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.How do we pray for our bullies?
Do we realize that our bullies are humans created by God?
It is the evil in them that we need to pray to God to defeat so they can be free to come to God, too. Right?
How does repaying evil for good works help? How can we actually do that?
How can we completely “run loose and free, celebrating God’s great work?
Pray for the evil in our bullies to be defeated. While God works, we pray for our enemies and do good to them. That attitude comes from knowing God, letting go and allowing God to do what is best without our input. Our actions speak louder than words. Leave the evil to God to defeat. There is no one like our God! Be free to worship. Let the peace of Christ rule! Go be a difference in this world again!
“God is great—everything works
together for good for his servant.”
I’ll tell the world how great and good you are,
I’ll shout Hallelujah all day, every day.”
Dear Heavenly Father, We pray for those who hurt us with words and behind the scenes actions. We forgive them like you forgave us, even without their knowledge of our forgiveness. We pray while you defeat the foe that is guiding them. Thank you for protecting us. Thank you for developing a loving spirit in us toward our enemies who are in bondage to evil. Thank you for the freedom to run free, worship you with all that is in us and to love where there is hate. Thank you for teaching us and transforming us from the inside out. Continue to do what you must in all of us.
In Jesus Name, Amen
