“WHEN YOU ARE SLANDERED ON THE JOURNEY”
Psalm 120
May 25, 2008
SERIES: “SONGS FOR THE JOURNEY”
Today we begin a look at 15 songs which are called, literally, “songs of going up.” These Psalms, marked in your Bibles as “Psalms of Ascent,” were sung by pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem for the three major feasts of the year, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. They were written to be sung along the way to the Holy City. Isaiah the prophet refers to this: “But you, God’s people, will be happy and sing as you do on the night of a sacred festival. You will be as happy as those who walk to the music of flutes on their way to the temple of the Lord, the Defender of Israel. (Isaiah 30:29, Good News Translation) These songs, found in Psalms 120 through 134, cover a wide range of themes and life issues. We begin today with the idea of slander.
In October of 1989, the city of Boston was pushed almost to the edge of racial rioting hen an outraged public believed a slanderous accusation against one Charles Stuart. He said that he and his wife had been shot by an African-American man on their way home from childbirth class. Feelings were running high when the incident took a bizarre twist a little while later. The husband, Charles, who survived his wound, jumped to his death from a bridge into Boston Harbor. His wife, Carol, age 30, had died form a shot in the head. Later it was discovered that she had been shot by her husband. His story was a lie. And it came to be known that members of his own family were involved in the plan to deceive police and pin the guilt on someone else. Matthew Stuart came forward three months later to confess that his brother had asked him to be near the site of the murder, to take a bag from Charles with a revolver, Gucci handbag, wallet, makeup kit, and engagement ring, which he disposed of in the Pines River. Several of these items were almost immediate recovered. The truth did come out – but what of the pain suffered by the falsely accused African-American man?
Here’s another story. It is serious, and yet there is a lighter side to it. At the beginning of the Joseph McCarthy era, Floridian Claude Pepper, one of the Senate’s most outspoken liberals, was on the conservatives’ “hit list”, along with many other senators. George Smathers lashed out with some typical right-wing invective: he called his opponent “the Red Pepper” – and he launched a campaign to expose Pepper’s secret “vices.” Smathers disclosed that Pepper was “a known extrovert,” his sister was a “thespian,” and his brother a “practicing homo sapiens.” Also, when Pepper went to college, he actually “matriculated.” Worst of all, he practiced “celibacy” before marriage. All of it totally innocent – but many rural voters who did not understand the fancy words were horrified, and Pepper lost big.
Slander can be lethal. It can be almost as effective as a gun at destroying a life. Charles Spurgeon is famous for saying, “A lie can travel around the world while truth is putting on its boots.” Lies always travel faster, and they can take a long time to be undone, even after they are discovered. So how do we respond to slander when it comes out way? This Psalm gives us three strategies – and of course, they are not the same as what the prevailing culture would recommend. Here’s the first one in verses 1-2.
PRAY.
Why is prayer so often a last resort, when it is intended to be the first resort? The verb “call” in verse one is in the perfect tense in Hebrew. The idea is that the Psalmist had been praying and continued to pray. He was “praying through.” He prayed for deliverance from his “distress.” This word in Hebrew is the opposite of the idea of being in a large, spacious room. So he is feeling constricted, hemmed in by his problem. And the problem is shown to us in verse two – “lying lips and deceitful tongues.” We’ve all heard, since we were children, that “sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” But this simply is not true. Names can hurt a lot. Lies told about us can leave us weeping into our pillows at night. And at one time or another, we have all been victims. Slander is so difficult to deal with. We don’t know who started it, where it got started, where it has gone, how to follow it, or how to stop its influence. But there is a good thing about trouble – it drives us to our knees. Whenever we are slandered, we have options – we can worry, we can complain, we can try to manipulate the situation – or we can pray. The Psalmist chose prayer. His reaction was silence to his detractors and prayer to God.
And his prayer was intense. He said, literally, “remove, tear this thing from my soul.” I believe his prayer was twofold: first, to be delivered from the temptation to indulge in slander as a response, and second, to be delivered from the results of the slander against him, because he knew that the God who is the God of Truth also said, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16, New King James Version).
And he is confident that his prayer will be answered. We see this at the end of verse one. “He answers me.” He hears me. More than that, he hears me, not the lies that are spoken about me. Always begin with prayer when you are slandered. There is a second response in verses 3-4
TRUST.
He trusted that God would fight his battle for him. The Scriptures, in general, and the Psalms, in particular, are filled with verses about this kind of evil tongue. Here are just two out of many texts.
Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit. (Psalm 5:9, New International Version)
Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats; they are quick to speak hateful, evil words. (Psalm 10:7, Good News Translation)
In verse four, God is depicted as the warrior. It is his battle. And he will use two weapons: sharp arrows and burning coals. This is quite significant. I could cite numerous verses, but here are just two.
Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them. (Jeremiah 9:8, Today’s NIV)
The tongue is that kind of flame. It is a world of evil among the parts of our bodies. The tongue sets our lives on fire, and is itself set on fire from hell. (James 3:6, God’s Word Translation)
See that? God is going to use their weapons against them. We do not need to attack. Their arrows may hurt for a while. God’s arrows will last a long, long time. Their words may burn for a while. God’s fire, if they do not repent, is eternal. The image of the “broom bush” speaks of a tree that grew up to 12 feet tall, and its roots could provide coals that were valued for their ability to burn long and hot. God’s judgment may not be immediate, but it will come, it will be appropriate, and it will last for the slanderer. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow captured the idea in his famous words:
Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small.
Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all.
In God’s time, he will expose and remove the lies, even if it is not finally done until eternity. Revelation 21:8 reminds us, “…and all liars – their doom is in the lake of fire and sulfur. This is the second death.” (New Living Translation). Jesus was even more graphic when he described hell as a place “where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out.” (Mark 9:48, New Living Translation).
We can leave it in God’s hands. We can trust that he knows, that he cares, and that he will deal with the situation and vindicate those who place themselves into his care. This is far better than answering the slanderer with slander of our own. It is far better to be the victim of slander than the author of it. Trust teaches us that. There is one final response in verses 5-7. After we begin to pray and grow in trust, what s left?
ENDURE.
Verse five is sort of a sigh. If you have been slandered, you know how alienated it can make you feel. You wonder what others will think about you, what they will believe about you? Meshek was a son of Japheth and grandson of Noah. His people settled far to the north of Israel near today’s Black Sea. Kedar was a son of Esau, and his nomadic tribes wandered in the deserts to the south. The Psalmist cannot be speaking literally here, because it would not be possible to be in two places so far apart at one time. But what is known about the people of Meshek and of Kedar was that they were both violent and brutal people. The Psalmist is saying, “I feel like I am living among barbarians because of this slander.” Assuming the slander was coming from fellow Jews, this made no sense. No faithful Jew would defame the name of Yahweh and disobey one of the Commandments by using his tongue in this way. But this person or persons was doing just that. They were not acting like God’s people. How true this still is today, sad to say. Warren Wiersbe writes:
“After over 50 years of ministry, I am convinced that most of the problems in families and churches are caused by professed Christians who do not have a real and vital relationship to Jesus Christ. They are not humble peacemakers, but arrogant troublemakers. Until God changes them or they decide to go elsewhere, the dedicated believers must be patient and prayerful.”
It is tempting to wonder after a while if God will respond. Maybe he is too occupied with more important things than my little need. So maybe I should just handle it myself. But the Psalmist does not choose this. “I am for peace.” They seek to start a fight. To respond, even in a loving way, only makes them angrier. So be patient. Hang in there. Endure. And don’t give in. We are of a different world than they are. So we do not respond as they would. Remember what Jesus said when on trial before Pontius Pilate?
“My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36, Today’s NIV)
We are called to love peace, to pray for peace, to seek peace, to pursue peace, and to give everything except a good conscience for peace. They are for war. Endure, seek deliverance, but do not respond in kind.
In closing, let me call you to two ways of life.
First, BE PEOPLE OF TRUTH. We cannot sink to the level of the slanderer. We must resist error, falsehood, slander, half-truths, God is truth, he speaks truth, and he calls for truth from us.
Second, BE PEOPLE OF PEACE. Ultimately, they will deal with God. Our responsibility is to live as Jesus would have us live. God will see to the slanderer, either through conviction of the Holy Spirit if they are believers, conversion if they are not, or judgment in the end, if they refuse to repent.
Remember Joseph and how he dealt with his brothers after they lied to others about his death and sold him into slavery in Egypt? Remember David and how he dealt with Saul who pursued him mercilessly with the intent of murdering him? These are even greater crimes than just slander. And most of all, remember our Lord.
People insulted Christ, but he did not insult them in return. Christ suffered, but he did not threaten. He let God, the One who judges rightly, take care of him. … But if you suffer for doing good, and you are patient, then God is pleased. … Do not do wrong to repay a wrong, and do not insult to repay an insult. But repay with a blessing, because you yourselves were called to do this so that you might receive a blessing. (1 Peter 2:23, 2:20, 3:9, New Century Version)
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and say every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12, Holman Christian Standard Bible)
No one suffered more slander than Jesus. He was called, among other things, a blasphemer, an !illegitimate child, a demon possessed man, and a maniac. Yet even the slander of sinful people he took upon himself on the cross and paid for it. If you have been slandered, he understands and will comfort you in the midst of it. If you have been a slanderer, he has died for those sins, and he will you forgive you. He died in the place of slanderers, too.
I am going to close each week with the words of Isaac Watts, the great hymn writer, who took every Psalm and put it into a hymn form. I really like the way he paraphrased this one.
Thou God of love, thou ever blest, pity my suffering state;
When will thou set my soul at rest from lips that love deceit?
Peace is the blessing that I seek, how lovely are its charms!
I am for peace, but when I speak, they all declare for arms.
New passions still their souls engage and keep their malice strong;
What shall be done to curb thy rage, o thou devouring tongue!
Should burning arrows smite thee through, strict justice would approve;
But I had rather spare my foe, and melt his heart with love.
Let’s pray.