More about enemies? Yuck! This smack of self-righteousness!
“2 How long you people, shall my honour suffer shame?”
Yes. I know it’s only yesterday I wrote about how enemies can be real, but trust me, I got a bit peed off when the psalmist started off again asking God to answer when he called because of “those people.” Maybe because he reminded me of a certain someone who had a consistently demeaning tone when referring to “those people” whoever they happened to be.
But then, the psalmist’s appeal was only based on his awareness of God’s past graciousness. So, I’ll concede and give him a break.
And although I was a little turned off by one more dramatic mention of those people in comparison to his “faithful “ self [ 3 But know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him”] I’m ever so impressed with his advice “ 4 When you are perturbed (or angry) do not sin; ponder it on your beds and be silent.”
Makes sense? Right. Just consider that you might not know as much as you think you do, that your light-bulb smart brains aren’t anywhere as brilliant as you think; that who knows? Maybe this great and awesome God is conspiring with somebody (or somebodies) to teach you a thing or two!
Do I sound fatalistic? Or like someone trying to glorify the pain and hardship that your enemy might have inflicted upon you? Oh, please forgive me. You should have guessed that I’m not coming out of a vacuum. There’s a context to my reflection. Maybe it’s my more mature self simply coming to grips with my puny self, after the benefit of having been ‘wrongly’ scolded or punished by older, wiser persons whose wisdom I might have only reluctantly given in to. I tell you, even at my age, I still have not reached the point of accepting that most of the scolding I received as a child was truly necessary.
Just maybe, that’s why it has been possible for me to put myself in the place of the enemy and re-consider. I remember an older woman asking me to think again about my position when a much older friend had taken sexual advantage of a younger woman. His wrong seemed clearly obvious to me! And now, I still have almost zero tolerance for men who think that the woman, and not the man, must exercise sexual restraint.
Enough about that, though. This older lady told me, “Things are not always what they seem to be”.
What! It seemed pretty clear to me that the man was deep down in the wrong!
And then, things are not always the way they seem to be. Keeping that reality in mind, makes space in our judgement assigning mechanism, so much so, that we recognise our human incapacity to understand everything.
Like the psalmist, let us be wise. When we are perturbed, or even angry, it’s sometimes more helpful to sit in silence and reflect; and allow the All-Wise God to show us how little we really know.
“I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety”. (Ps. 4:9)