My Accusers Voice
The accuser screams,
You are worthless,
Harsh words echo
Deeply wounding
Seeking despair
Attacking weakness
Betraying confidence
Desiring revenge
A voice of pain
Anxious uncertainty
Self destructive
Wishing hate
Empty hope
Suffering
There are the deep valleys that come from living in a broken hearted world. These valleys are full of shadows that obscure the path forward. Our inner reserves become quickly depleted because we feel lost and our vision becomes increasingly limited. This limitation develops insidiously like the physical disease of glaucoma when our spirits are depleted we see less and less but at first we don’t recognise its effects.
God steps into our world and his light pursues relentlessly the shadows that seek to overcome his light. We feel this most when we are broken and our hearts laid open. When we are devastated from facing hate’s lash and its stinging words. When we feel like every avenue of faith is blocked. Our story intersects with David’s at the point where it feels like there is no hope.
Is it so wrong to be rescued? I know that I struggle with this. The broken hearted person knows what it is to be humbled. They know what it is to have their world turned upside down, to be in a place where the darkness threatens to overwhelm every glimmer of light. The descent into brokenness brings God’s child to knowing that their deepest need can only be met through being rescued. This is the moment where all pride is released, and we can rest in our Father’s loving embrace.
You rescue the humble,
but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them.
O LORD, you are my lamp.
The LORD lights up my darkness.
There are times where I feel like I am totally in over my head. These are the places where the enemy seems to have the upper hand. It’s comforting to know that our God rescues us from this situation. These are those times when life’s deep waters threaten to inundate us. Like a drowning person we clutch for something to save us. This is where God speaks loudest to those who turn to him.
He reached down from heaven and rescued me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
At that point where life feels like it’s about to be snatched from us we will take any solution but over and over David cries out to God. And, God responds by reaching down from heaven, he seeks us out and we are saved from the darknesses, suffocating he moves us from being in over our head to being able to draw breath again.
They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress,
but the LORD supported me.
What is worse when travelling through a valley is to be down and then be attacked. David experiences this with the betrayal of his closest friends. He know the deep pain that comes from the rejection of his love towards them. It’s a difficult lesson to learn that our enemies are not capable of returning love because they are locked into their own prisons.
He led me to a place of safety;
he rescued me because he delights in me.
But, then God brings us to a place of safety because he takes delight in us. His words to Jesus at his Baptism echo in our lives today. You are my beloved [Child] with whom I am well pleased. Our Father sees us as his beloved child because our presence on earth delights him. He rescues us and brings us to a new understanding of his love in the midst of the accusations, the betrayal, the hatred. From the brink of despair God brings us to the threshold of new hope, because he is our deliverer.
Praise be to God.