Betrayal

Psalm 12:1 Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.

Betrayal can be one of the most painful things one human can do to another. Betrayal is about someone who you have brought into your circle of trust betraying the very trust you have extended to them. The gift of closeness and intimacy gets stomped on and trampled.

Betrayal can come in many forms. So often the lies of advertising, the promise of happiness and fulfillment through the purchase and use of a product, turn out to be untrue. No product or purchase can bring happiness and fulfillment. You trusted and received disappointment instead.

The person who hired you for your job might have betrayed you. They told you one thing about what you would be doing, and when you started working, the job turned out to be something very different entirely. Their word meant little to nothing.

The political systems of this world constantly disappoint. When we expect them to solve a problem that is created and perpetuated in the human heart, we get disappointed. Problems of the heart, soul, or mind can’t be solved by programs, even the best intentioned ones.

And family disappointment runs the deepest for many of us. When family betrays the trust, the pain runs through our heart. We get physical symptoms of that pain. Our mood changes. We become short-fused. We withdraw.

This problem of betrayal is not a new problem. It existed when the Psalms were written, almost three thousand years ago. You can hear the pain, the anguish in the voice of the Psalmist as he expresses his current situation. Those who he thought were on his side have used their words against him.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” If only that were true. Words can have at least as negative an impact on children as physical abuse. Those negative words spoken to a child can guide those young souls into very negative patterns. Words hurt!

In contrast to the words of those who would hurt us, the LORD’s words are healing. They heal the soul. They penetrate and cleanse our hearts of the hurtful words of others. They bring healing to the deepest recesses of our being.

And yet, so many people who claim Jesus as Lord aren’t even reading His Word. They have no place in their calendar for this healing balm to be applied. They say the Word is the cure, but they aren’t willing to go to the pharmacy, and then actually take the medicine.

If you are feeling betrayed, the LORD has medicine. The Psalms give voice to this sense of betrayal and the peace we can have in Him. Both are there. We have to just go and take the medicine and be healed.