Treasury of David

I've been making my way through the Psalms over the past several months, and reading through Treasury of David as a commentary to each chapter. This is part of what I read today:

"Ought not pious people more closely to imitate their heavenly Father in caring for those who have been condemned to die? An eminent Christian lady keeps a record of all who have been sentenced to death, so far as she hears of them, and prays for them every day till their end come. Is not such conduct in sympathy with the heart of God!" - William S. Plumer, as quoted in Charles H. Spurgeon's book The Treasury of David in commentary to Psalm 79:11, which says, "Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die."

This entire Psalm is basically a prayer by Asaph asking God to drop his judgement on heathen forces who have ransacked Jerusalem and the temple, and have killed God's followers. They were even leaving the dead bodies in the streets to rot in complete disrespect for who the Jewish people were and everything they believed.

And then, toward the end of the Psalm, verse eleven pops out as a comment about those who are in prison, and have become so resigned to their position and their fate that they can only sigh. Without even the power to say a proper spoken prayer, they sigh in defeat. Asaph asks God to hear even those sighs and to act to deliver them from their prisons where they have been thrown. Judging from the tenor of the rest of the chapter, these imprisonments are completely unjust, their only crime being that they follow the one true God.

Then the commentary by Plumer ratchets the plea up a notch, giving Christian believers a great example of how we are to see all of our fellowman. Even those who can rightly be called the worst of us, those who have been sentenced to death for stealing someone else's life from them. Even they are loved by the creator of the cosmos. Which means they should be loved and cared for by us, as well. Because they still have free will, and they can still use that will to accept everything God did for EVERY inhabitant of the planet, including the worst of us. THIS is compassion. THIS is loving like Jesus loved. THIS is loving our neighbors as ourselves.

I'll be the first to admit that I miss it on this point more often than I get it right. I don't know how often I've said (especially in the past few months), "Those people are idiots, and they deserve whatever comes their way." And usually, I'm not talking merely about prison time for their poor life decisions and criminal behavior.

I think the main thing I need to remember is that confused and deceived people act exactly like confused and deceived people. They honestly do not know any better. Should there be consequences, even severe ones, for their actions? Absolutely, there should. But at the same time, that doesn't give me the right to wish harm or bodily injury on them. If things make me angry, I need to do better at stepping back, taking a breath, and despising the action without despising the individual that's perpetrating the action. Otherwise, I've already kind of become exactly like them, haven't I? If that's the case, I've become less like the person I was created to be. Every time.

Until next time, stay safe, and above all, be true to yourself.

That Aaron Guy