Friday 27 September 2019

Psalm: Psalm 65

Background

I remember my eldest son coming back from primary school one day upset about another boy who was being continually mean to him. “When he’s being mean to you,” I said, “just smother him with kindness. He’ll probably end up feel guilty if he’s being mean and you’re consistently being nice and polite … and you responding with kindness will drive him nuts!”

I wouldn’t have gone as far as suggesting that coals of fire should be heaped on the boy's head, but I think I get where Solomon was coming from.

There is much in Proverbs that, reading from a 21st-century Christian perspective, seems like sensible advice (noted re the honey (v. 16), Solomon – thank you) and then there are the verses such as 21 and 22 that, at first, I’m not quite sure what to do with. Is this a good thing or a bad thing to act in this way?

Words from Paul in Romans 12:9-21 quoting these verses from Proverbs help to clarify things. Human nature may try to tell us to repay evil but we are called to be different and show that we are different through the way we act. We must not seek revenge for wrongdoing – we can leave God to ensure that justice will be done, if not in this world but the next. Instead, as God’s people, we need to love one another unreservedly, to live in peace, to share what we have. Showing love and kindness, even when we have been wronged, has the power to convict the wrongdoer and turn enemies into friends.

“Do you think that others have wronged you? Pity them, pray for them; seek them out; show them their fault, humbly and meekly; wash their feet; take the mote out of their eye; seek to restore them in a spirit of meekness, remembering that you may be tempted; heap coals of loving-kindness on their heads; bring them if possible into such a broken and tender frame of mind, that they may seek forgiveness at your hand and God’s. If you cannot act thus with all the emotion you would feel, do it because it is right, and the emotion will inevitably follow.” (F.B. Meyer)

To Ponder:

• Who are the people you need to show love and kindness to even though they may have wronged you?
• What practical things can you do this week to make this happen?