I like the way the Psalms touch on the whole range of human conditions. Take this for example.

For I can see nothing but violence and strife in the city….
If this had been done by an enemy, I could bear it.
If a rival had risen against me, then I could hide.
But it is you, my own companion, my intimate friend!
(How lose was the friendship between us.)
We walked together in harmony in the house of God.
(Psalm 55, Grail translation).

Betrayal by a close friend–that’s the kind of thing that turns up in the Psalms. Every time I read these verses; the tragedy strikes me. It’s one thing to have an enemy who dislikes you and does hurtful things, but it is devastating when it is a friend who turns on you. What must it have been like for Jesus to have one of his own, close followers betray him? And add to that Peter’s denial and the others desertion. Jesus knew the fullness of human experience.

But consider the different responses. This is the psalmist:

May death fall suddenly upon them!
Let them go to the grave;
for wickedness dwells in their homes
and deep in their hearts.

And this is Jesus:

Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they’re doing.

I am not the Christ-like person I ought to be. I’m with the psalmist. Let ‘em have it, Lord. But I grateful that in the end it will not be me who judges me, but Christ.

Read Luke 23:33-34 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne