Hating Doubters?

Psalm 119 is the longest prayer in the Bible. Traditionally it is celebrated and an ode to the wonders of scripture. But there’s often a dark side to being so committed to the Bible… it can make us feel really judgmental of others. Sometimes we end up being more committed to the Bible than to grace or to love. And so, in the midst of all of Psalm 119’s devotion to the Bible, these verses pop up:

I hate the double-minded. – Psalm 119:113

You reject all who stray. – Psalm 119:118

There are more than a few verses like these is Psalm 119, just like there are more than a few verses about the certainty the author has about how true and right the Bible is and how faultlessly the author follows the Bible. But this is not where we want to end up, is it? Hating people is not our goal, and telling people who have spiritual struggles isn’t really the way of Jesus, after all, is it?k

Fortunately, Psalm 119 makes some really good progress. All of that self-righteousness and blaming and shaming turns a corner at the very end of the psalm. The author realizes how unhelpful all of this rhetoric is, and closes in the final verse with this insightful line:

I have strayed like a lost sheep.
    Seek your servant,
    for I have not forgotten your commands. - Psalm 119:176 

That confession and humility, combined with an earnest desire to reconnect with God - now that is precisely the sort of attitude that Jesus talked about all the time. In fact, the author seems to be realizing that the straying and doubling that were projected on to others earlier may have simply been the doubting and straying in the author’s own heart.

Try praying that final verse. Sit with it for a minute. What is the Spirit saying to you?