Open All Feelings Before the Lord; Psalm 139, Proverbs 16

May the mumbling commence!

Sometimes it is nearly impossible to avoid being hurt and wanting to respond in anger and hatred.  And we can choose to ignore these feelings that we have.  If we ignore our feelings, they will fester and get much worse.  We need to acknowledge our feelings before God. 

God can take our anger and hatred.  And God can both understand when we hurt and when we hurt others – intentionally or unintentionally.  God can transform our hurts and anger and hatred into something more constructive – the combination of mercy and grace.  Read from Psalm 139:

Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!

Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. 

For they speak against You wickedly;

Your enemies take Your name in vain. 

Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?

And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 

I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them my enemies. (Verses 19-22)

Oh, the hurt when you are the one being oppressed!  We want justice.  We want revenge.  We want an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  In fact, we want more than even that.

We want wickedness stamped out.  We want those who take the Lord’s name in vain punished – severely.  But we are always entangled within the wickedness and take the Lord’s name in vain.  We are guilty of the myopic vision that plainly sees the sins of others while refusing to see our own sins.  We also refuse to see how we participate in the sins of the community.

It is good to hate wickedness and sin.  But we must temper that hate with acknowledgement of our own participation, our own humility before the Lord.  And we need to draw a distinction between the sin and the person who sins. 

God wants to save both the oppressor and the oppressed.  That has always been the plan.  Both the oppressor and the oppressed are trapped in the vicious cycle.  Without God, neither of them can find an escape.

As hard as these words are to read, we need to read them and wrestle with them.  Those feelings live in our hearts whether or not we want to acknowledge them.  If we choose to acknowledge them before God, then God will enter our lives with His transforming power.  Read some verses from Proverbs chapter sixteen:

The Lord has made all for Himself,

Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom. (Verse 4)

In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity;

And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil. (Verse 6)

There is a way that seems right to a man,

But its end is the way of death. (Verse 25)

An ungodly man digs up evil,

And it is on his lips like a burning fire. 

A perverse man sows strife,

And a whisperer separates the best of friends. 

A violent man entices his neighbor,

And leads him in a way that is not good. 

He winks his eye to devise perverse things;

He purses his lips and brings about evil. (Verses 27-30)

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,

And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.  (Verse 32)

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out