Psalm 55:12-14 If an enemy were insulting me I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. 13 But ti is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, 14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.
Some of the deepest pains in life come when we are betrayed by a close friend or relative. We don’t expect those closest to us to pull the knife and use it to surgically remove our heart. And yet this does happen, and all too often.
We have seen so much death and misery in the last year. The ending of businesses and livelihoods. The stifling of children’s education and increasing detrimental role of technology in our society. The illness, both physical and mental, that has gone untreated. The suffering has been great.
But this has been primarily from an outside source, from something beyond our control. It has been the reality of COVID and the misinformation and overreaction of COVID. At first we didn’t know, but now we do. But the results of not knowing and then political gamesmanship have been far worse than was warranted.
But what is far worse than COVID is the betrayal by those who felt were on our team. This is the betrayal that is much worse. Who do we trust now? Who do we allow into our circle of trust?
You see, when a companion, a close friend betrays us it rocks our world. Our place of safety and security is breached. We lose our refuge from the dangers of the world.
In Iraq and Afghanistan the military for on FOBs, Forward Operating Bases. They are places of relative security and safety. They are built to protect those ‘inside the wire.’ We know those ‘inside’ have our backs. They will be fighting with me if things go south quickly.
But we have had some ‘insider’ attacks, foreign military personnel who have gained our trust and been allowed to operate inside the wire. They have turned on us and made us wary of all who aren’t our own. This situation makes living and working on a FOB very difficult. There is no place of safety and security, two of humanities basic needs.
The writer of our text today had experienced an ‘insider’ attack. Someone with whom he had very close relationship with had betrayed him, and the sting was almost unbearable. He uses language like anguish, terror, fear, trembling, and horror to describe what he experienced. This was very difficult for him.
And it can be very difficult to find a way to reconcile after a betrayal like this. And that is my fear with what is happening in our world. We as followers of Jesus are to be people of reconciliation, but not just reconciliation between God and His people, but between people.
I think the only way reconciliation will happen is when the parties become reconciled to the LORD. Then reconciliation can happen. Justice will be the order of the day. Grace will fall like rain. Then and only then can this kind of betrayal be healed.
The Arnold Journey 