Psalm 27:12
Do not hand me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.
Do you know what it feels like to be the victim of malicious
accusations? To be falsely accused of wrongdoing by someone else? Some of us may have had that experience. Many of us have probably done it to ourselves! "I'm so stupid. I always mess it up. I'm a terrible wife, a hopeless mother, a rubbish friend, an awful employee"
I don't mean the honest, accurate acknowledgement of our
sin, that leads us to repentance. I mean the false view of ourselves as totally beyond help or hope, that leads us to despair.
The devil just loves malicious accusations - he's the expert
false witness. Often his lies are directed against God ("He doesn't love you." "He only wants to make your miserable". "He's left you all alone."). But he's just as happy to accuse us: "You're such a sinner, God could never forgive you" "If your Christian friends knew what you were really like they'd be horrified", "The reason life's so hard is because you're such a rubbish Christian." His desire is not that we come to Jesus for help and mercy, but that we run away from him, ashamed.
When we hear those accusations, we need to remind ourselves
of the truth of verse 1: God is my salvation. He knows I am a sinner and has chosen to save me. My Christian friends are fellow-sinners, equally dependent on his mercy. We need to remind ourselves of the truth of verses 4 & 5: Even the person whose heart is fixed on God faces suffering. We need to remind ourselves of the truth of verse 10: God will always receive me. I never need to run away from him.
How can we be sure of these things? Because Jesus was handed
over to the desire of his foes. False witnesses rose up against him, spouting malicious accusations. He bore it all, willingly, for us, taking our sin on himself and rescuing us from the devil's lies. Let's thank him for that today. And let's pray to we would recognise false accusations when we hear them, and reply to them with the truth.
