Psalm 41:9: “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, / Who ate my bread, / Has lifted up his heel against me.”

February 16th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

One of King David’s close companions, Ahithophel, betrayed him. Ahithophel was David’s personal counselor; something like a modern cabinet advisor to the US President. According to 2 Samuel 23:34, Ahithophel’s son, Eliam, was one of David’s mighty men. And according to 2 Samuel 11:3, Bathsheba’s father was named Eliam, which would make Ahithophel, Bathsheba’s grandfather. It seems Ahithophel never forgave David for destroying his granddaughter’s marriage to Urriah. So when David’s son Absalom rebelled against his father’s throne, Ahithophel joined the rebellion against David, betraying his trust. We should all rejoice that God both forgives and forgets our sins when we confess and repent.

In the New Testament, Jesus quoted this verse in reference  to Judas’s betrayal of him (John 13:18). Being betrayed by someone close to you inflicts one of the deepest wounds. Such betrayal causes us to put up walls of protection in order to keep from being hurt again. Later, if we find a new friend, one who looks safe, and we pull our defenses down; and that new friend then turns and betrays our trust once more, the damage can feel irreparable. The simple yet not easy answer to this problem is to not build higher walls and become harder and more calloused, but rather to choose to forgive and release again and again, just as God does with us.

Down through the ages followers of Jesus Christ have experienced similar betrayals. In 1535, William Tyndale, the first to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English in order to make a Bible that the common people could read, was betrayed by a friend and taken prisoner to the castle of Vilvoorden. In spite of more than 500 days of horrible conditions, he continued to work on his translation. But he was unable to finish it because he was sentenced to die a heretic’s death: strangulation and burning at the stake. On October 6, 1536, he cried out his last words of forgiveness: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” This prayer was answered 3 years later with the publication of King Henry VIII’s 1539 English “Great Bible.”

“LORD, we choose to forgive those who have wronged us, because You have forgiven us.”