Abusers and the Abused

Psalms 62:3-4 ESV

“How long will all of you attack a man

    to batter him,

    like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.

    They take pleasure in falsehood.

They bless with their mouths,

    but inwardly they curse. Selah”

This passage of Scripture is somewhat open to interpretation, so it can be applied in different ways. But the main gist of it appears to follow the subjects of abuse and persecution. And the abusers and the persecutors appear to be liars and those who are manipulative, who are also two-faced hypocrites, saying one thing outwardly but the opposite in secret. This would be like someone who will profess one thing with his lips (out loud) and then turn right around and journal or tell someone else the exact opposite.

And this could be about a lying cheating spouse, who declares with the mouth faithfulness, purity, love, and truthfulness, while in private is committing adultery via the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life. Or this person may say kind things to the spouse in person but then blast the spouse to someone else or in writing. Or this person may be giving a false impression of something outwardly while something else is really what is going on, which is being kept hidden from the spouse.

But this subject is not just about marriage relationships. It is about all relationships, or it is specifically about the relationships God’s people have with other humans who are mistreating them in some way or another. And when I say “all relationships” I do not mean that this is an example of all relationships but that this isn’t just about Christians and marriage relationships, but it is about non-Christians, too, and any relationships. It is just that Christians have the Lord as their rock, and so they lean on him.

For there are a lot of nasty and hateful and abusive people out there in the world, and some or many of them may also be professers of faith in Jesus Christ. And some of them could be pastors of churches, too, or priests, or parents or spouses or children or actors or government heads or teachers, and the list goes on. But the thing about these abusers is that they appear one way outwardly, and they may be very winsome and charming, and so you may be drawn to them, but they can have a nasty bite in private.

And because they are liars, and they are two-faced, and they are charming and manipulative, they can gain many supporters, and they may lie to these supporters about who they really are, and they may even try to gain their sympathies, and they may even lie to these supporters about the person they are attacking and battering. So, if the ones being abused try to speak up and to say they are being abused, others believe the abuser over the abused and so the abused get no help and they may even get more abuse.

And this happens more often than most people probably realize or are willing to accept. But the abusers do often get away with the abuse while the abused end up being treated as though they are the ones in the wrong, instead, which only just adds more abuse on top of what they are already experiencing. For the abusers take pleasure in falsehood, and they will claim one thing while the opposite is true, and since they are abusers, they have no problem at all letting the abused take the fall and to be more abused.

Psalms 62:5-8 ESV

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

    for my hope is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my salvation and my glory;

    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

“Trust in him at all times, O people;

    pour out your heart before him;

    God is a refuge for us. Selah”

But the encouragement for Christians is that our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is our rock and our salvation, and not just salvation from sin, but salvation from the impact of our circumstances on our lives. Even if we are being abused by anyone, and not all abuse is physical, and so not all abuse leaves physical scars, and so a lot of abuse goes unreported because it is not physical and so it can’t be proven, God is still our refuge and our strength and help. Yet, it may just end up in a “he said she said” situation.

But our Lord did not promise any of us that life was going to be easy, or that we would not have to suffer. In fact, he said we would be hated and persecuted as he was, and he was continually hounded and falsely accused and harassed and verbally attacked by his adversaries. So, we are to rejoice in the Lord in our sufferings, and we are to trust the Lord with our life situations, and pray for wisdom and for guidance and direction, and not let other people’s treatments of us shake us. But we must rest in our Lord.

Hated and Persecuted: [Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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