Read this first: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+55&version=NIV
This sounds less like a prayer and more like an actual conversation:
If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were rising against me,
I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
at the house of God,
as we walked about
among the worshipers.
My companion attacks his friends;
he violates his covenant.
21 His talk is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,
yet they are drawn swords.
What happens when your enemy is a Christian or someone close to you? A family member perhaps?
Well it’s tough. I suppose most of our enemies are close relations or they wouldn’t have the power to become enemies. They would just be a nuisance long ago.
Unfortunately but likely predictably- I’ve had conflicts with Pastors, Principals, and co-workers, certainly amongst my family as well. Sometimes over substance. Often over nothing. What do you do about it? Be as direct as possible if it’s something that matters. Forgive, pray, and move on if it’s not. If you can pray for your enemy that helps. If you can pray with the person you have conflict with- that changes everything. It’s helpful to know this issue is common in looking at this passage and a tale as old as time.
Then the psalmist says to his companion:
Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
Often times the reason the conflict or the acting out exists is because of anxiety or depression or something else in our enemy. I was talking with a good pastor friend Bill Herring about how to handle someone I’m counseling and trying to help who knows what to do to better themselves but will not do it. After months of repeated patterns of saying they would do something to help themself and not doing it I was frustrated. He responded by saying- sounds like they’re depressed. I had to immediately check myself and agree. There’s always a battle we don’t know about. I don’t think I can tell my friend that they’re depressed in a way that they would hear me. I’m still frustrated but I realize it may not be all my friends fault they are acting the way they are. There are bigger things than my issue. And if we’re counseling someone else- their issues shouldn’t become our own anyway.
That’s a tough thing to learn.
Pray for your frenemies. Pray that they might change to just friends- those friends are the strongest those that you have walked through conflict with. But also know it’s ok to walk away. Brant Hansen tweeted this this morning:
“If I forgive someone does that mean I have to stay in relationship with them?”
No.
But if you don’t forgive them you will stay in relationship with them- it will just be toxic.
Forgiveness is freedom.
Marking It Up 