Today I’m detouring into a psalm to show how God speaks to us right where we are. This morning I read psalm 52. This psalm of David starts off with a tirade against Doeg the Edomite who informed Saul that David sheltered with Ahimelech, the priest, who gave him food and a sword, 1 Samuel 21: 1-10. What on earth could this have to do with you or me I hear you ask? Keep reading.
Though David escaped capture, as a result of the information given by Doeg to King Saul, Ahimelech and his family of priests were killed for aiding David, 1 Samuel 22:9-19. They were killed at the hand of Doeg who undertook the job when Saul’s soldiers refused to lay hands on the priests.
Truly, David is right in his assessment of Doeg, ‘your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit,’ verse 2. ‘You love every harmful word’ verse 4.
But even as the words point to Doeg, can we be sure they also don’t point to us? How often are our words boastful? How often are our words designed to tear down another? How often do we not speak the truth? Or use our tongues for wrong purposes like spreading gossip? This is where the rubber hit the road for me.
As I was typing prayer requests to email to my prayer partner,I asked her to pray for another friend struggling with several health issues. That was all had to say. But I found myself adding all the juicy details.
Now,God knows the person, He knows all the details. My prayer partner knew enough to pray. She didn’t need the extra information which amounted to nothing more than gossip. Too often we can use prayer as a disguise for gossip about others.
Look at what the bible has to say about gossip, Proverbs 11:13. 16:28, 20:19, 26:20. And this one, in Proverbs 18:8. ‘The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.’ The same point is repeated in Proverbs 26:22.
Now, look at the lists of evil in Roman 1:28-32. Notice how being gossips sits right amongst murder, malice and being God-haters. Convicted by God, with a flick of the cursor, I deleted the needless information from the prayer request.
David is convinced God will deal with Doeg as He ultimately deals with all who disobey Him. In God’s time the righteous will be vindicated, while those who trusted in their riches rather than God will find out how wrong they were verses 6-7.
David and all who trust in the Lord will be like ‘an olive tree flourishing the house of God,’ verse 8. God’s people will praise Him forever for what He has done, verse 9. Amen.
Bible verses from The New International Version
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