A Series on the
Psalms – a collection of prayers
Feeling wronged
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Psalm 35
[Life
is full of emotions. The book of Psalms is a collection of prayers that
express our emotions which are the cry of our soul for hope. In this series, we
will be looking in the mirror of the Psalms, to learn more about ourselves and
our Lord.]
The summer after I graduated from high school, I had
a job at a Jerry’s Restaurant as the bus boy and dishwasher for the evening
shift. There were probably twenty-five tables and I kept all of them bussed and
all the dishes washed, even during the dinner rush. Basically, I did the job of
two people for the lofty wage of $.88 per hour.
At the end of the summer on a Friday night, the
general manager invited the local high school football team to the restaurant
for a steak dinner after their game. This was the first time that I’d seen him all
summer. As far as I knew, he didn’t do any work at the restaurant.
While we were waiting for the team to arrive, I made
some small talk to him. He turned and looked at me and said, “You know, if you
worked as good as you talked, you’d be a good worker.” I wanted to walk out of the
restaurant right then! Let him clean the tables and dishes! Justice would be
served.
The feeling of being wronged has been around since
Adam and Eve. Although there are certainly times when a person is unjustly
wronged, it’s very easy to slip into a mindset of mistreatment. Then the
natural reaction of feeling victimized leads to rationalizing and justifying and
seeking our own justice.
However, that was not the case for David. Even though he was being pursued by Saul and his army who were trying to unjustly kill him, David did not respond with the intent of retaliating to enforce his own justice. Instead, he cried out to the Lord and expressed his faith and desire for God’s justice to be served.
17 How long, O Lord, will you look on and do nothing?
Rescue me from their fierce attacks.
Protect my life from these lions!
18 Then I will thank you in front of the great assembly.
I will praise you before all the people. NLT
The easiest thing to do when we feel like we’ve been
wronged, is to lash out; to make somebody else pay; to serve justice as we see
fit. For me, the easiest thing to do would’ve been to walk out of the
restaurant just to spite the pompous general manager. But that isn’t the
example that we’ve been given.
21 To this you were called, because Christ
suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his
steps.
22 “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did
not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted
himself to him who judges justly. NIV 1 Peter 2
“He entrusted
himself to him who judges justly”.
This is the standard that we’ve been called to
follow. It’s not easy. But if we do follow it, we will have taken a huge step towards
loving God and serving justice.
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