O my soul,
Would you build a dam across the river of living water? Would you reduce to a trickle that which has been flowing so abundantly? Would you be a busy little beaver, hoarding and assembling your pain and disappointment and cementing it all in place with unforgiveness and resentment? Would you?
O my soul, know that I do understand why you would want to build your dam. I acknowledge that you have been treated heinously and that you have been brushed aside and disregarded. And I know that you’re hurting, really hurting, and from time to time you want to assert that nobody cares. You want to shout it out across the rooftops at the top of your voice: nobody cares. It’s a lie, by the way, that nobody cares. For sure, there are some who don’t, perhaps several, and others who are only pretending. But there remain those who are loving and kind and faithful and true. Be grateful for them.
And what of those insolent ones whose behaviour has been so heinous⸺those who should care and yet do not? Beware, my soul, of how you regard them in return. This is perilous ground indeed upon which you stand.
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
― Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, O my soul. This means that you must forgive and you must let go of all resentment. You must do these things! And you must not build that dam!
Let me remind you just what is at stake here.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
― John 7:37-39
O my soul, do you thirst? Do you thirst for love and wholeness and relational authenticity? Come to Jesus and drink. Believe in him and listen to him. Listen to him in your sorrow and pain and dismay.
“But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
― Matthew 5:39
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
― Luke 6:37-38
Forgive and you will be forgiven. Extend love and kindness to those who do not, and it will be measured back to you, O my soul, how it will! And rivers of living water will flow out of your heart and you will be a blessing to many.
But isn’t the way these insolent ones carry on simply egregious? Yes of course it is, and appallingly so. What’s to be done then about their heinous behaviour?
Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.
― Psalm 4:4-5
Be angry, O my soul. Be angry and do not sin. Notice it is “and” not “but”. Interesting! The dam on the river is not made of anger. Was Jesus angry when he cleared the temple? Yes of course he was and rightly so. There is a righteous anger and it is of the Lord. Be angry and do not sin. The behaviour is egregious and it cannot be excused. It can only be forgiven, and this you must do.
And listen to the heart-cry of the Psalmist to the Lord. Make it your own as you put your trust in the Lord.
Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments. Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies.
― Psalm 119:17-18, 21-22
The Lord himself is the one who rebukes these insolent ones. And there’s more.
The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.
Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds.
― Ezekiel 34:1-3,10
And there is good news indeed for these poor sheep.
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
― Ezekiel 34:15-16
But beware, O my soul, there is a warning also to these very same sheep.
Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?
I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep.
― Ezekiel 34:18,22
What then are we to do? Two things:
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
― Luke 6:37
and:
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
― Isaiah 58:10-11
You must do what those insolent ones will not, and then you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water. You must forgive, and love and care for the hungry and the afflicted, and pursue humility and hope and joy in the Lord!
Keep your heart with all vigilance, O my soul, for from it flow the springs of life! 🙏