Psalm 55:20-21

Psalm 55:20-21

Flashbacks

Well, if you thought that David had had enough of complaining about his adversary, you were wrong. Just at the point when he appears to be making progress and trusting in the Lord, he has another swipe at the one who is his enemy; the one we believe to be his son, Absalom. “My friend, my companion, the one whom I trusted; he is duplicitous beyond words. He treated us so amiably, we yet he was stabbing us all in the back. Nothing he said was true, every promise, every agreement has been broken. All the while we thought him an ally and true friend, he was maliciously plotting our downfall and his own prominence. How smoothly he talked, how utterly believable he was, yet every soothing word was a sword, every smile hid a scheming assassin. He cared nothing for us, his thoughts were only of civil war and division.”

Listen carefully my friends, when we are on the road to recovery, there will always be flashbacks, moments when the old hurts are resurrected, and the old anger resurfaces. In this instance David cannot help himself from have another swipe at the one who has caused so much hurt and pain. Memory takes a long time to heal, it is very difficult to walk away from a painful situation as if it never happened. Maybe it’s good to give voice to those moments of recall, to let it out as we continue on the road to recovery? Certainly, our God is willing to listen and to pour His healing balm where jagged thoughts still torture us. There is a difference between wallowing in our hurts and letting them dominate us; and facing them, naming them and then moving on beyond them. If you still carry pain from things that have occurred in the past, tell the Lord about it, tell someone you trust. But don’t stay there, move on, you have a life of faith to live. Yes, the dark times will be remembered but those memories become less painful as we allow our Lord to take us forward into the future that He has prepared for us. 

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