Getting Ready

Sometimes we know the right thing to do, but we just don't do it.  And, the truth is, it may just be that we are not ready to do it.  The first time I heard such a sentiment was back in the '60s when the civil rights issues were very much on everyone's minds.  "I know what the right thing to do is, I just ain't ready to do it," was how it got put in one story which made its rounds more than just a few times.   It may not sound pretty and it may not sound like who we want others to see as they look at us, but sometimes that sentiment is just where we are.

 

I thought of this the other day while reading the 69th Psalm.  In this rather lengthy Psalm we finally come to a place where the much maligned and unjustly persecuted writer tells God what He should do about his enemies, "Add to their guilt; may they have no acquittal from You.  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous."  (Psalm 69:27-28)  His honest sentiments are a long way from what we hear Jesus saying in the Sermon on the Mount.  "But, I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."  (Matthew 5:44)

 

So, how do we get from the harsh and brutal honesty of the Psalmist to the gracious forgiveness of Jesus.  It may not be a short or easy journey.  It is easy to talk about forgiveness when we are neck deep in our hurt and anger, but often hard to really do.  Perhaps, the beginning point of the journey from the desire for revenge to a willingness to forgive is honesty about the real feelings which lurk in our heart.  Only when we face our honest feelings can we decide we are ready to do something about them.