Betrayed or Betrayer?

“Where are you God?” - A Series from the Psalms

Psalm 55

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2055&version=NIV;TPT

 

It was a crisp, clear winter night in Houghton, Michigan. One of those Upper Peninsula nights that makes everything sharper, cleaner, more crisp. Not bitter cold; just cold.

 

I went for a walk to get away; to be alone. The snow crunched under my feet until I found a spot where nobody else would be. I laid down on the bed of snow, looking up at the starry night, and cried out, “Why God? Why!”

 

It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement; an indictment really. “Why did you let this happen to me God! It hurts so bad to be betrayed”. As a nineteen year-old whose self-image revolved around having a girlfriend, my world was crushed when my fiancé dumped me for another guy. Not only had she betrayed me; but I felt like God had too.

 

David knew how it felt to be betrayed.

 

¹² It wasn’t an enemy who taunted me.
If it was my enemy, filled with pride and hatred,
then I could have endured it. I would have just run away.
¹³ But it was you, my intimate friend—one like a brother to me.
It was you, my advisor, the companion I walked with and worked with!
¹⁴ We once had sweet fellowship with each other. We worshiped in unity as one, celebrating together with God’s people.             TPT

 

Jesus knew what it felt like to be betrayed also. Not only was he betrayed by his closest friends in his greatest hour of need; but he was betrayed by his Heavenly Father. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

 

But are we any different than Jesus’ disciples? Would we have done any better had we been there? Wouldn’t we have betrayed him just as Peter did? Don’t we betray him still when we rebelliously sin?

 

Is there anything left for us to do but to follow in the steps of David as he cried out to God, even when feeling betrayed?

 

¹⁶ But as for me, I will call upon the Lord to save me, and I know he will!
¹⁷ Every evening I will explain my need to him.
Every morning I will move my soul toward him.
Every waking hour I will worship only him,
and he will hear and respond to my cry.            TPT

 

 

What is the worst thing you have ever done?

A Series from the Psalms on “Disappointment with God”

Psalm 38

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2038&version=NIV;NLT

  

In preparing for this devotional, I ran across a You Tube video where 100 people answered the question, “What is the worst thing you have ever done”? How would you answer that question?

 

For myself, I made a short list at first; but the more I thought about it, the longer my list got. Apparently, David could have made his own list.

…my health is broken because of my sins.
My guilt overwhelms me…
My wounds fester and stink…
I am bent over and racked with pain…
A raging fever burns within me…
I am exhausted and completely crushed…       Psalm 38:3-8 NLT

 

Sin has consequences! For David, it resulted in an illness that sounds like a catastrophic combination of a severe open infection, the H1N1 flu pandemic of 1918 and intense stomach cramps, no doubt resulting in repeated trips to the bathroom.

 

In reality, we are all sick like David. Maybe our sin doesn’t result in physical illness, but there’s no doubt that we are sick. It’s a sickness that alienates us from our Heavenly Father, and ultimately leads to death. It’s a sickness that only Jesus can heal.

 

In his own words, David was a broken man; he had reached the bottom; there was no place else for him to turn. His life was out of control; so he cried out to the Lord in disappointment and desperation.

 

¹⁵ Lord, the only thing I can do is wait and put my hope in you.
I wait for your help, my God.

¹⁸ I confess all my sin to you; I can’t hold it in any longer.
My agonizing thoughts punish me for my wrongdoing;
I feel condemned as I consider all I’ve done.    

²² God, hurry to help me, run to my rescue!
For you are my Savior and my only hope!        TPT

Have you reached the bottom? Are you at the point where you are ready to turn away from your sin? Is it time for you to cry out to the Lord? There’s no better time than now. And He’s waiting to listen to you.

 

I Want My Mommy!!!

A Series from the Psalms on “Disappointment with God”

Psalm 22

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2022&version=NIV;TPT

 

In the summer of 1998, I was returning home from a business trip driving through Kentucky at night; all alone on the highway. My Mom had died earlier that year, and I was deep in my thoughts about her; feeling sad, alone, even abandoned. This was a totally irrational feeling of course; but it was real.

 

In the midst of those feelings I cried out, “I want my Mommy”!!! It was as if I was five instead of almost fifty. Feelings of being abandoned by the person whose love you need the most; whose love you could always count on; can make a grown man cry.

 

David knew that feeling very well when he wrote:

¹ God, my God! Why would you abandon me now?
² Why do you remain distant, refusing to answer my tearful cries in the day
and my desperate cries for your help in the night?
I can’t stop sobbing. Where are you, my God?              TPT

We don’t know the specific circumstances that prompted David to write this. However, we do know that there were times when he was running for his life from King Saul. And while he was hiding in caves, and whatever other isolated locations that he could find, it’s easy to imagine that he may have felt abandoned by God.

 

The good news is that David gives us a model that we can follow when feeling abandoned by God. It isn’t the only model; it may not even be the best one. But it gives us some steps to follow.

 

First, David didn’t bury his feelings or deny them. He cried out to God; maybe even yelled at Him. David also remembered what God had done in the past, both in Israel and his life. Finally, he prayed. He asked God to intervene.

 

Jesus knew what it was like to feel abandoned too. While hanging on the cross, as his closest friends turned their back on him, he cried out in pain and agony the same words that David wrote.

 

He went to the cross for us. Not so that we would never FEEL abandoned; but so that we would never BE abandoned.

 

 

Too Busy to Play Catch

A Series on “Disappointment with God”

A look at the Psalms

Psalm 13

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2013&version=NIV;NLT;MSG

 

There was a song in 1974 by Harry Chapin called, “Cats in the Cradle”. It was about a father who was too busy for his son as he was growing up, and the son who became too busy for his father after he grew up.

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw,

I said, not today I got a lot to do

I can relate to this song because I felt that way about my own Dad when I was younger. It seemed like almost everything was more important than me. Work was more important; Lions Club was more important; church was more important; civic duties were more important. He was too busy to play catch.

 

That’s how anyone would feel if the person whose love you need the most always seemed to be withheld from you. David knew how that felt.

 

¹ O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?           NLT

¹ Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough.      MSG

 

If we’re honest with ourselves, we sometimes feel this same way towards God. Why doesn’t He listen to me? Why doesn’t He answer my prayers? Why is everything else more important than me? Those are honest feelings and rarely do we recognize them, let alone confess them. Yet, David wrote these words also,

 

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
    I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord
    because he is good to me.           NLT

 

Despite feeling alienated, ignored and isolated from God, David also recognized God’s unfailing love. My Dad was too busy to play catch; but my Heavenly Father is always there for me.