Gospel Reflections #1120: Who is our True enemy?

Psalm 109:4–5 ‘They repay my love with slander, yet I pray for them; they repay my good with evil, and my love with hatred.’

This passage depicts David’s profound suffering at being repaid with unjust hostility, malice and hatred by those he had treated with love and goodwill, and his steadfast resolve to turn not to retaliation against others but to ‘prayer to God’.

 Although David had shown ‘love’ and ‘kindness’ to those around him, they repaid him with malice in the form of ‘hostility’ and ‘hatred’. This illustrates the absurd plight of being surrounded by groundless slander and ill will.

The words in the second half of verse 4, ‘But I will pray for them’, signify a choice not to retaliate with hatred or abuse in kind, but rather to pour out all one’s emotions and pain to God and entrust oneself to Him through prayer.

Psalm 109 as a whole illustrates a ‘process of prayer’ in which one pours out to God, without concealment, the inescapable resentment and sorrow that humans harbour, ultimately entrusting justice and salvation to Him.

We, too, find our emotions laid bare in such situations.

Rather than directing those emotions towards someone else or seeking a listening ear, by laying our feelings bare before God just as they are, we are led to the next step.

And whilst in prayer we may seek judgement upon the other person, when we come to realise that we ourselves are sinners and so is the other person, our gaze turns not towards them, but towards God.

And whilst finding rest in the presence of God, who embraces all our thoughts, we are led to pray for God’s will to be done.

Once we have laid all our emotions before God, all that remains is to accept whatever guidance He provides.

Perhaps our true enemy is not the other person, but our own emotions.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.