BETRAYED (Psalm 55)

At left, what my hydrangea should have looked like. At right, what was left

of it after two years. It reflects how I felt when I let go of a difficult relationship. 

Part of a continuing series on the 48 psalms that speak to getting through depression, recommended by pastor and author David Seamands (Healing for Damaged Emotions).

It really hurts when somebody you tried to befriend becomes your adversary. You grieve both for the lost relationship and the mental and spiritual brokenness contributing to the other person’s choice of bitterness and anger. Been there, experienced that. Please note: I am not identifying this person in any way—neither gender, age, nor relationship. I pray daily for this person and for their spiritual and emotional healing. But this difficult relationship has personalized Psalm 55 for me.

The psalm expresses David’s profound grief and depression over a friend who turned against him. That friend is presumed to be Ahithophel, his close government counselor who betrayed David by backing his son Absalom’s rebellion.

David was so stranger to betrayal. He started his God-anointed journey to the throne by running away from increasingly-crazed King Saul. At first David was utterly alone, then joined by what I once heard described as the 3-D guys: the “distressed, or in debt, or discontented” (1 Samuel 22:2). David’s chagrin over being viciously betrayed and hunted is also revealed in Psalms 52 and 54 (also “psalms of lament”).  But this psalm comes years later, when  David is king, and experiences anguish over one person who had been his intimate friend.

Learning how David depended on God for staying-power, through hard and depressing situations, modeled for today's believer how to respond when negative people and circumstances leave us despairing of the future.

WHAT LIFE FINDS IN US

I appreciate the wisdom of Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe in his book Be Worshipful (Cook, 2004, p. 196). In discussing this psalm, he observed that David’s difficult pre-king years in the wilderness were excellent preparation for trusting God when he became king. In contrast, David’s son Absalom, who tried to usurp the throne, had grown up in luxury and without a true fear of God. Wiersbe added:

A prosperous life is an easy life until you find yourself in the midst of the storm, and then you discover how ill-prepared you are; for what life does to us depends on what life finds in us.

Blunt and transparent, David began the psalm with descriptions of the negatives he faced. He wished he could fly away from it all and not have to go through it (vv. 6-7). But it is in the “going-through” that we learn how to draw on the strength of the Lord. When all was said and done, David concluded with this verse, echoed in 1 Peter 5:7:

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

David ends with a kick, asking God to drag his enemies into the pit of corruption. Strong language! But today, because of Christ's death for all (including the "hurters" and the "hurt"), we're to pray that those who hurt us will be convicted of their sin and wrongdoing and be reconciled to God. Then, in the next step, that they'll seek reconciliation with those they have wronged. These may be the hardest words they ever say:  “God has shown me how wrong my behavior toward you has been. I want to make a fresh start and turn away from acting like that. Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?” The apologies should conveyed in person, if possible. If the sin was on social media, there needs to be a public retraction.

I grieve my "difficult" relationship. Painful memories of their wrongs against me still resurface. Over and over I give them to Jesus, who understands my hurt and their deep need for Him. I continue to pray for the miracle of reconciliation and transformation.