Psalm 41-45

June 17

Psalm 41-45

"Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." (Psalm 41:9, NIV)

Have you ever been betrayed? Have you ever had a close friend stab you in the back and leave you wondering what happened; leaving you broken emotionally and spiritually? Unfortunately, most people have experienced the pains of betrayal by people we have thought were our friends. The psalmist is on his sickbed, a time when they need the support of a friend, instead they feel like everyone is talking maliciously about them. Even his close friend has turned against him. He has nowhere to turn for support, except to God.

Jesus experienced these feelings. He knew what it was to be betrayed by a friend. Jesus quoted from this Psalm " “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’" (John 13:18, NIV)  "After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”" (John 13:21, NIV) Though Jesus knew what was going to happen, it had to be difficult. One of His close friends, one of His inner circle, One of the men who traveled with Him and ate with Him each day was going to turn Him in to the religious leaders for thirty pieces of silver.

When we face tough times, when friends betray us, it is often difficult to believe that God knows how we feel, but he does know. He was betrayed. He quoted the words that had been penned by David during a difficult period of his life. Though knowing that others have suffered the agony of the betrayal of friends does not necessarily make us feel better, we can know we are not alone. We can seek counsel and support from our Lord who loves us and suffered even greater things at the hands of the very people He called to reflect His love.

We have a God who loves us and knows us. He has mercy on us and supports us in our greatest times of need. When the difficult days come, when it seems everyone and everything is against us, we can turn to Him and know He is with us through the good and the bad.