People Talk - Psalm 7

Once something is tweeted it cannot be retracted. Someone can tweet anything they want to about you and there is nothing you can do to get the words back. That is power.

As a minister, there are always people talking about me. I have no control over that. Much of what is said is not true, even the good stuff! There is nothing I can do about it. That has the power to drive you mad.

People will talk about you and some will spread rumors and lies sometimes to hurt you directly, sometimes just because they can. This is evil and an evil that David is experiencing. Yet again, he goes, not to image management, but to God. He puts his life before God and says, "You know these are lies, you know that, in this matter, I am righteous."

Having someone who knows and cares is everything. Having someone who really knows you and really knows what is true in the face of lies is life. We were made for truth, not lies. We were made for encouragement and love, not gossip and hate. God is the one David goes to for He is the One who really knows and cares. He is a refuge, One we can rest in, and find peace in His love. We can even blow off stem and ask that He create large painful sores on the backs of our enemies. He probably won't do it, but He is one in whose love it is safe to ask, even rage.

He understands our rage. No one was more falsely accused than Jesus. No one went through life more misunderstood, and judged than He. Yet, "like a lamb is led to the slaughter," so he quietly went with us in mind. Yes, he embraced the lies so we could have One to draw near to when we become the object of lies. He genuinely knows our hurt, fears, pain and rage and he invites us to come and lay it all down on Him.

That seems to be what David is doing. He is going to God as opposed to expending his energy writing a defense. He goes to God that God might win his heart away from hate, fear and self doubt. He goes to God that he might not step out of this refuge for outside the walls of the refuge of God there are arrows and evil. He goes to God that God's voice might become louder than mans INSTEAD of going to man to get revenge and vindication.

And in going to God to work out the lies being told, he finds peace and he is restored from turmoil to worship, "I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High." May we find that kind of rest when the lies are told and we are tempted to retreat and turn inward and hide. May we rest in Him, that we might stand strongly even in the presence of our enemies. 

love, 

dad