It is the most excruciating blow when someone we trusted, confided in, loved and counted on to be in our corner in challenging times betrays us for reasons we cannot grasp or understand at the moment.  Betrayers rise up and hit hard when we least expect it for they know it will hurt more deeply to catch us off guard.  Betrayers also attack unexpectedly because they know it will lessen our response to them as we stand in shock at what just happened between friends and family.  We are humans who want to be liked and loved for who we are—and that’s part of our problem.

Betrayers then and now harbor bitterness with inner rage that prompts unending rehearsed speeches in their troubled minds with imagining us brought to our knees in shame. These untamed thoughts, however, only reflect the built of storage of pure hate.  These thoughts are fed by those who agree with them as they gossip about all they ways we did not measure up in their thinking or serve them in the ways they think they needed to be served. Betrayers’ sharp words and evil bent actions spew forth like the “Old Faithful” geyser at Yellowstone National Park seemingly at the very moment we are discouraged and fearful over an unplanned challenging circumstance in our own lives.  When we need their support the most; they attack our very being at the core.

However, as the Psalmist prays to God for help as his betrayers do their harm to him he expresses a thought in a phrase that leaps off the page to me this morning. I read this psalm in the NIV translation, too.  These are the words that accompanied his prayer for help; “My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught because of what my enemy is saying…”  Aren’t we all?!

When our beloved we trusted and confided our deepest thoughts and concerns become our betrayers—our own minds are tested and tried, too!  We don’t like how we feel about what they are saying which can lead to developing the same evil hate they have just delivered to us. But that is not the way of God.

It is common and human to respond with the same sharp words with a twisted anger and evil resentment. But that is not God’s ways which are always higher than ours.  Jesus, Son of God, was sent from God to not only save us from all our sins; He teaches us a new way to think as believers of Him.

“Love your enemies” and “pray for your enemies” and go the extra mile for them! As we pray for someone who has hurt us deeply; the hurt is lessened by bringing them to God in prayer seeking their good for His glory.  God adjusts our attitudes as we pray for our enemies and give us “higher thoughts” beyond our own thoughts that govern our pesky, unreliable feelings.

The Psalmist did not like to entertain the thoughts he was having over his betrayers for these thoughts take us to a place we do not want to go which only increases our pain, feeds our fears, and fades our faith.  “I really need you”, we cry out with the Psalmist—and God answers.  Trust Him!

Psalm 55, The Message

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil^[b] of David.

^1-3 Open your ears, God, to my prayer;
    don’t pretend you don’t hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
    I really need you.
I shudder at the mean voice,
    quail before the evil eye,
As they pile on the guilt,
    stockpile angry slander.

^4-8 My insides are turned inside out;
    specters of death have me down.
I shake with fear,
    I shudder from head to foot.
“Who will give me wings,” I ask—
    “wings like a dove?”
Get me out of here on dove wings;
    I want some peace and quiet.
I want a walk in the country,
    I want a cabin in the woods.
I’m desperate for a change
    from rage and stormy weather.

^9-11 Come down hard, Lord—slit their tongues.
    I’m appalled how they’ve split the city
Into rival gangs
    prowling the alleys
Day and night spoiling for a fight,
    trash piled in the streets,
Even shopkeepers gouging and cheating
    in broad daylight.

^12-14 This isn’t the neighborhood bully
    mocking me—I could take that.
This isn’t a foreign devil spitting
    invective—I could tune that out.
It’s you! We grew up together!
    You! My best friend!
Those long hours of leisure as we walked
    arm in arm, God a third party to our conversation.

¹⁵ Haul my betrayers off alive to hell—let them
    experience the horror, let them
    feel every desolate detail of a damned life.

^16-19 I call to God;
    God will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
    deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure
    in the middle of danger
Even while thousands
    are lined up against me.
God hears it all, and from his judge’s bench
    puts them in their place.
But, set in their ways, they won’t change;
    they pay him no mind.

^20-21 And this, my best friend, betrayed his best friends;
    his life betrayed his word.
All my life I’ve been charmed by his speech,
    never dreaming he’d turn on me.
His words, which were music to my ears,
    turned to daggers in my heart.

^22-23 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
    he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
He’ll never let good people
    topple into ruin.
But you, God, will throw the others
    into a muddy bog,
Cut the lifespan of assassins
    and traitors in half.

And I trust in you.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Call out to God, He will answer and clean up the feelings that we cannot trust with His point of view with Truth.

Trust God for He is already at work in our lives and in the lives of our betrayers who sin against us and God.

Pray in surrender to the One who is in all and over all. (Romans 12)

“And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”—Jesus’ prayer, modeled for us.  Matthew 6:9-13

Lord,

Thank you for cleansing my heart, renewing my mind, refreshing my soul with mercies extended through Your Word this morning that went to the core of my being. Thank you for your ever flowing fountain of the joy of your salvation at work within me.  I’m yours and I’m listening, ready to trust and obey.  Thank you for reminding me who I am in the light of another day—one who is forgiven and forgives, motivated and driven by your power and love in me.

In Jesus Name, Amen