Psalm 120:1-7 NIV
I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.
Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.
What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?
He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom bush.
Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
Psalm 120 is written by a person who is living among foreigners. The psalm mentions Meshek and Kedar. These are the Arameans and Arabs. The patriarch Jacob lived among the Arameans in Padan Aram. They were idol worshipers like many other peoples. The Kedarites are sons of Ishmael, the firstborn of Abraham through Hagar the Egyptian slave. Ishmaelites bought Joseph from his treacherous brothers and sold him into slavery in Egypt. There's a conflicted history with these peoples. Sometimes Israel fought against the Arameans. Sometimes they were allied against a common enemy. The Arabs are sons of Abraham. They and the Israelites were sometimes on good terms, but there is a long standing jealousy, pointing to God's choice of Isaac, over Ishmael, as the child through whom He would fulfill His covenant with Abraham.
Within this setting among potential enemies of Israel, the psalmist cries out to the Lord. The psalmist calls these foreign peoples liars. We don't know what they are lying about. My guess is they speak maliciously against Israel.
Imagine yourself living as an American on a foreign country. You sense resentment and rejection from the people among whom you live. You don't understand why. You've done nothing to harm them. Their animosity is against your nation, your people, your home. Because you are from America, and they disagree and even hate America for its foreign policy, economic drive and social freedom, you are hated too. They speak against you and your country. They treat you poorly. Would you not find yourself praying something like Psalm 120?
But we don't have to live among foreigners to experience rejection and hostility. That happens everywhere. When you feel unjustly accused, treated with contempt, and you know you are innocent of their judgments, what can you do? Should we lash out in retribution? No!
Follow the example of the psalmist. Cry out to God knowing He will help you. Trust in His justice to come to you and to those who despise you. As Jesus taught, pray for your enemies and those who persecute you. Pray for their well being. Pray for their edification, that the love and grace of God might build them up. Pray that God opens their hearts. Pray that together you and they might be humbled before God. Ask God to search your heart and be shown your part. Continue to be a peacemaker, even when their hearts remain set upon war. Bless and do not curse.
Romans 12:12 NIV
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
It's not an easy life to which the Christian is called, but it's the only life that actually leads to life everlasting. May you be given abundant grace for the journey.
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