April 7

April 7, 2012  

 

Last night during our Tenebrae service we relived the story of the crucifixion. Of all the scenes, the one that angers me most is when the people passing by the crucifixion hurled insults at Jesus as he is hanging on the cross. "So! You, who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!" The gospel of Mark also records, "In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves."  "Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him."

 

Those words "hurled, mocked, heaped" mean they didn't just speak these words. They deliberately aimed these verbal stones with malice. They had every intention of hurting and bruising. They broke the body of Jesus; now they wanted to break his spirit, so they strung their bows with stinging arrows of pure poison. The words thrown that day were meant to wound. And there is nothing more painful than words meant to hurt. I'm not telling you anything new. No doubt you've felt your share of words that wound. Maybe you're still feeling them. It is possible as you gather with your families tomorrow these wounds will be opened once again.

 

So what do we do?  We can learn from Jesus and from David. Jesus said, "Forgive them for they don't know what they are doing." David wrote Psalm 18. This psalm shows us what he did when he was attacked.

 

Psalm 18:1-2   I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

 

David ran to the Lord and asked God to be his shelter in the midst of the storm. He entrusted himself to the protection and all-encompassing power of God. The practical outcome of this was he poured his heart out to God and let God secure the victory. What David doesn't do is hire some professional bounty hunters to go out and get the bad guys. There is a peace that comes from living in the shelter of the fortress of God's power and love.

 

Many years ago I was on the receiving end of some poison arrows. As I was going through this difficult time the Lord spoke to me through a little devotional book called, "The Pursuit of God." Here is the section that the Lord used to center me.

 

"First of all he should put away all defense and make no attempt to excuse himself either in his own eyes or before the Lord. Whoever defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other; but let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself." 

 

So the next time you find yourself on the receiving end of some poison arrows run to the Lord for his defense services. Pour out your heart to him and commit yourself to his protection and his conflict resolution model.