Testing - What She Said - Week 2 Day 4

Today’s Treasure

For it is not an enemy who taunts me – then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me – then I could hide from him.  But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.  We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house, we walked in the throng. 

Psalm 55:12-14

Transcript

Testing

Karen Grant, Guest Writer

Today’s Treasure

For it is not an enemy who taunts me – then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me – then I could hide from him.  But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.  We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house, we walked in the throng. 

Psalm 55:12-14

“Except our sins, there is not such plenty of anything in all the world as there is of troubles which come from sin, as one heavy messenger came to Job after another.  Since we are not in paradise, but in the wilderness, we must look for one trouble after another.  As a bear came to David after a lion, and a giant after a bear, and a king after a giant, and Philistines after a king, so, when believers have fought poverty, they shall fight with envy; when they have fought with envy, they shall fight with infamy; when they have fought with infamy, they shall fight with sickness; they shall be like a labourer who is never out of work.”  Henry Smith1

Charles Spurgeon used Smith’s words to illustrate the testing of Psalm 11:5: 

"The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence."

I think I would add betrayals to Smith’s list of tests we will most certainly endure in this life.  God isn’t testing us to see if we are good enough (we aren’t); He is testing us just as surely as my eight-year-old grandson is tested on “desert” and “dessert.”  Did you study the words?  Do you understand their definitions?  Are you ready to use them in the right context?  He is testing us as a newly forged sword is tested – will it crack or bend; is it ready to perform its purpose?  

Smith uses David as a prime example of testing well.  Consider the betrayals he faced.  His brothers mocked him when he displayed faith before Goliath (1 Sam. 17).  His first wife Michal’s love waned after her father gave her to Paltiel (1 Sam. 25:44) when David fled for his life.  2 Samuel 6:16-24 exposes her outright disgust for David when he danced before God in a public display of abandoned worship. King Saul betrayed David as he relentlessly attempted to kill him (1 Sam. 18:6-9).  David went to extraordinary lengths to prove his loyalty to Saul; in both a cave (1 Sam. 24) and a camp he could have killed Saul, crying from a hilltop, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant?  For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? (1 Samuel 26:18).

He suffered devastating betrayals from those closest to him.  Read Psalm 55 and feel his experience in verses 12-14:

"For it is not an enemy who taunts me – then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me – then I could hide from him.  But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend.  We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house, we walked in the throng."

Later, in perhaps the most devastating of blows, David’s testing reached a crescendo when his own son Absalom attempted a coup against him (2 Sam. 15-18).  

Recalling these familiar stories helps us glean this for our own wounded hearts: betrayal is to be expected as part of the human experience – not in a Puddleglum, fatalistic way, but in recognition that we must prepare for it if we aim to grow in Christ.  Ephesians 6:10-18 is a good place to begin.

LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT

It is one thing to be betrayed for our own sin.  It is another to be tested through betrayal by another’s sin.  Both will occur in our lifetimes, and both can be redeemed through patiently allowing the Redeemer to work in and through even our most difficult disloyalties.  

Look at Psalm 55 again, especially verses 22-23:

"Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in you."

Observe David calming himself by determining to trust God to make things right.  As a nation’s King, his foes often needed to be destroyed and he trusts God to do whatever is necessary to protect him and give him the courage to stand in God’s strength.  What would we determine to wish for our brothers and sisters who have betrayed us and need to experience the grace we are claiming for this season of testing?  Instead of wishing for their destruction, can we begin praying for them to experience God’s mercy and the same grace we are experiencing, or trusting the Lord to give to us? 

PRAYER

Oh Lord, this is such a heavy issue. How do we deal with betrayal, especially when we choose not to defend ourselves and allow others to believe lies? David experienced betrayal at the hands of those he trusted the most. Every time we are tempted to replay the hurt, remind us to cast our burdens of betrayal on You. Empower us to walk by faith, fully trusting that You are sovereign and we can trust You, even, especially in this broken place.

 Spurgeon, C.H., The Treasury of David, vol. 1a, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1976, commentary on Psalm 11:5, p. 138.