An Attitude of Unforgiveness - Tim McIlwrath

In the first of a series on the Psalms, Tim McIlwrath choose Psalm 55, a Psalm of David. David, the King, had a passion for his God, but he was not a perfect man. Despite his burning desire to serve His God, there were times when David failed in his walk with the Lord. There were times when he felt crushed under the burdens and the responsibilites of life. And it is at one of these moments that we find David in Psalm 55.

A believer is not immune to rejection, to hurt and to pain, but Tim used this passage to remind us that our reaction to the hurt, pain and betrayal is what really matters. Reminded of David's sin with Bathsheba, we looked at firstly his reaction to that sin. David sought the Lord, he asked for the cleansing of God and for the joy of God's salvation to be restored to him.

Later in David's life, as his own son was in rebellion against him, David showed his reaction to the hurt and turmoil which had befallen him. With the throne of the King under threat, David turned to the Lord. He showed a willingness to turn his back on the throne, in favour of his God. Yet even in the midst of this turmoil, David suffered further pain and rejection. His chief counsellor, Ahithophel, was revealed to be on the side of Absalom, David's rebellious son, rather than on the side of David the King.

It is here that we begin to understand the significance of Psalm 55 in David's life. This Psalm reveals the thoughts of the King as the news is brought to him. Verse 12, 'it was not an enemy that reproached me' and in verse 14 he recalls how the two had taken 'counsel together, and walked into the house of God'. Yet it was this counsellor, this friend that turned against him. The circumstances David found himself him in were unthinkable, but he could do nothing about his circumstances. What he could do something about was his attitude.

In verse 16, David says 'As for me, I will call upon God'. David brought his pain, his hurt and his anguish to to the Lord. And that is what should be the reaction of every believer in positions of hurt. We may not have done anything to deserve the hurt, but we have a responsibility to bring the pain to the Lord before it destroys us. Sadly, many Christians, both young and old, have been destroyed by bitterness and anger over some wrong done to them. A life wasted for God, and destroyed by the volcano of emotions of within them.

Unforgiveness. 

Unforgiveness destroys lives. Unforgiveness destroys Christian lives. When Ahithophel turned against David, the King could have allowed it to destroy him, but instead he brought it to the Lord.

But what of Ahithophel? Why was it that he turned away from the counsel of David, and from the path of truth? In 2 Samuel 11:3 we read that Bathsheba, the woman whose husband David had killed, then took her as his wife, was the daughter of Eliam. And in 2 Samuel 23:34 we find that Eliam is the son of Ahithophel. So it seems, if the individuals are the same in each case, that Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba. This could explain Ahithophel's willingness to turn against David when the opportunity arose, and reveal a bitterness hidden for many years.

If this is the case, Ahithophel may have allowed bitterness to lie dormant in his heart, rather than dealing with it. Despite his closeness to the King, despite the counsel he gave over many years, Ahithophel may have displayed this attitude of unforgiveness that is held by so many of God's people today. And it was an attitude that destroyed him in the end. While David was restored to the Lord after his sin, and found peace with God at a time of hurt and pain, Ahithophel had reached such a point of destruction that he ended up taking his own life.

Don't let bitterness destroy your walk as a Christian. Don't let the attitude of unforgiveness affect your relationships with others, waiting to jump on any opportunity to seek revenge. But instead, take the example of David, who, depsite the hurt and pain he suffered, turned to seek the Lord and found peace of mind and of heart.