My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die and his name perish?” – Psalm 41:5
As we follow in the way of Jesus Christ in this life we will suffer in the way he suffered. Jesus was maligned, gossiped against, slandered, criticized, they accused him, falsely represented him before others, people spoke evil of his name, in the end our Lord was so despised that men wanted to kill him. Jesus suffered all these things more and never sinned, never winced from the cross that he knew he needed to bear in this life to become the author of eternal salvation. We see in this passage that David the soon to be Old Testament king was going through a period of great suffering and testing in his walk with the Lord. He felt all things were against him and many were seeking his very ruin. His name became synonymous with an terrible thing and they wanted his name to perish. When people come to try and reconcile with him, “he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it around” (Psalm 41:6). Everything was used against David even good attempts for him to be a righteous men before others. Then we come to the famous verse in this passage that our Lord quoted on the night of his betrayal, “Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me” (Psalm 41:9). We see in this passage that it is not only speaking of the earthly David but of the Heavenly Jesus. For he went through all these misunderstandings, hurts and betrayals. Even his close coworkers turning on him.
Such speaking to others is something even as believers we are not immune to. The Apostle Peter exhorts us “rid yourselves of all malice” (1 Peter 2:1), when believers are hurt by other believers we can so easily speak words that at their root are full of a desire to injure and cause ill-will. The Apostle Paul exhorts believers to “rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8). The word picture we have is to put aside or to cast off something from one’s self. We should never be content to harbour ill-will towards others in anyway in our hearts, such thinking can result in bitterness and all other sorts of evils. Do you sense hurt in your life towards a brother or sister? Give it before the Lord, cast it from yourself. Whether we are on the receiving end of slander and malice, or the one giving it to others, we must realize this is all activity that is condemned by our Lord and something we give to the Lord. You will be defiled and do the work of the enemy by condemning others in the body of Christ with words of malice. Suffer against such sins, never repay evil with evil. If we wish another in the body of Christ to be judged by the Lord in the last day, we do not know of calvary love. If you are glad that a brother or sister will be exposed in the last day with their sins then we do not fully know the forgiveness of the Lord in our lives that he showed us. When we heap a word of malice to another in the body of Christ we do it towards the very Lord himself. A double injury and something true believers will regret when we see our wounded Lord with tears saying “what have you done?” Any circumstance in our lives when measured on with the Cross of Jesus Christ will be put in its right perspective.
