Stink Bombs

Psalm 41:6 When one of them comes to see me,
he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;
then he goes out and spreads it around.

Have you ever entered an elevator or public rest room and were taken aback by the smell? I know this is a bit of an abrupt start to today’s thoughts, but it fits. You know in that moment that someone was there before you arrived. You don’t have to know anything about them, but you know they were there.

And in that moment, all you want to do is exit that space. You can’t get away quickly enough. If you could hold your breath, you would. You breath shallow, cover your mouth, and pray for the exit.

It would be one thing if you were walking into a sewage treatment plant and smelled the smells. You expect it there. Or when the honey dipper comes and empties your septic tank. You know it is coming, so it doesn’t take you by surprise. It is part of the territory.

OK, enough of the potty smells! Let’s get on to the topic, will you!

Our text talks about slander, words said by one person about another person with the goal of causing that other person harm. The harm is usually in reputation or standing in the community. There is no basis in fact for the accusations. They are fiction created for the express purpose of harming.

We don’t use the word enemies very often about those who oppose us, but this is the exact word used here by the author. Enemy. Not someone who doesn’t like me very much, but someone who is plotting my defeat. They aren’t after slight changes, but my destruction.

Does this sound familiar in our current political environment?!? Each side has painted the other in the starkest terms. Always and never. No redeeming qualities or ideas are allowed. They are labeled enemies of “us.”

Slander has the ability to linger in the environment and continue to poison. “His heart gathers slander.” And once enough has been gathered it gets released wherever they arrive. They can’t help but stick up the place.

I pray we are not people of slander, gathering stories of those with whom we have disagreements and then spewing them wherever we go. We are to be people of light and hope, peace and joy, reconciliation and restoration. That is what we are to be exuding everywhere we go.

Can this be said of us?