Stop: Go to God rather than Facebook: A reflection on Psalm 27

                Who are your enemies?  Where is there adversity in your life?  Who makes your blood boil? Who has betrayed you?  Whose actions fill your heart and mind with obsessive thoughts of how to respond or seek revenge?  I bet most of you have an image of someone or more. 

            Social media has been full of more hate filled vitriol in the last two weeks then I care to see.  A friend reminded me this morning that since the birth of Facebook we are apt to judge people solely based on their Facebook profile and news feed.  We do not take the time to sit down and have a conversation with someone before we make a judgement on whether they are friend or foe.  Enemy lines are quickly drawn between political parties, between left and right, conservative or liberal, and between and within denominations. 

            As I have driven around over the last two weeks I have been saddened by the eerie feeling I have that we, as a country, are regressing.  People are driving around with their war flag raised on their vehicles and on their porches.  Confederate flags, rainbow flags, American flags, they are proudly flying everywhere to alert the public to whose side you are fighting for.  I myself find myself easily judging the persons who are flying the “wrong” flag and I am ashamed that I am judging a person I don’t even know. 

            The Psalmist of Psalm 27 didn’t deal with his enemies by taking it up on Facebook.  He took it up with God.  First he recognized who God is to him.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation:  whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid?”  (vs. 1)  He then acknowledges what he himself will do.  “I will seek.” (vs. 4)  “I will sing.” (vs. 6).  “I will seek your face O Lord.”  (vs. 8) The psalmist recognizes that no matter who betrays or forsakes him God will take care of him.  (vs. 10)  After a prayer of deliverance from his enemies, the psalmist concludes his psalm with some very wise advice.  He says:  “Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart.  Wait, I say, on the LORD!.”  (vs. 14)

            I challenge you the next time you are faced with adversity whether it is in your personal life or through something you read in social media that makes your blood boil, to be still, to Wait on the Lord and to take your cares to the Lord through the praying of Psalm 27.  Make this Psalm your prayer in those moments of adversity. 

            I further challenge you to practice this habit in regards to Facebook:  Before you comment on someone’s status or before you post a Facebook status to your own page about something divisive, STOP and pray before you comment.  Chances are you will change your mind about writing that post or comment. 

            I offer these words in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Psalm 6-A prayer from one who has suffered long.

Psalm 6 is a prayer of one who is suffering illness.  Notice that the Psalmist does not try to paint a pretty picture with his prayer.  He is honest in his cries out to God.  He feels that God is punishing him.  He cries out "How long will this last?"  He is "worn out from groaning."  How comforting it is to know through the examples of the Psalms that we can cry out to God in very real ways. 

The Wesley Study Bible has this to say about comfort in illness. 

Illness may seem like a betrayal, serious illness can seem like abandonment.  Being diagnosed with a serious illness is frightening and disorienting.  The future becomes uncertain; and your hopes and dreams are dashed while tears and grief aboutnd.  At the heart of seeking comfort in the midst of illness is the practice of prayer.  In prayer, we are able to share with God our laments and pains, our feelings of betrayal and abandonment.  In faith, we know that God has heard those prayers and we know that God is working for our healing and for comfort. (The Wesley Study Bible, pg. 687)

How great it is to know that those who have gone before us have given us such an example of prayer.  In these examples we know that we do not have to have fancy or right words.  God only desires that we approach with our true hearts, nothing hidden!  Thanks be to God!