Psalm 41:7-8

Psalm 41:7-8

Imagining the worst

These verses continue where the previous ones left off. David ponders further the news about his enemies, their whispering and gossiping and their malevolent schemes. I don’t think these words are the ramblings of a hallucinating, fever-struck, dying man; this situation is very real and the patient cannot get off his bed to fight the accusations. So, he lies in his feeble state and imagines what is happening, maybe there was someone who was constantly feeding back reports of all that was being said? Well, if David was in a bad place, so were his enemies. They too speculated and imagined what would happen to him and what their plotting and scheming might achieve when he was gone. Whatever was really wrong with the king, in their minds he had such a dreadful illness that he would never again leave his sickbed. His reign was over! 

Please beware of speculation and heightened imagination when you hear of the problems faced by another. I have worked in offices all my life and have met some outstanding speculators in my time. There are some people who can take any morsel of unfounded gossip and turn it into a soap opera! There are others who are so jealous for themselves and their ambitions that they have planned out the future (in their favour) long before the facts of a situation are fully known. Romans 1:29-31 lists gossip as a sin alongside murder, infidelity and depravity! Let’s keep our speculations to ourselves and see what God is going to do, shall we? 

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