How Can God Love My Abuser?

Hi, this is Bernie Dake.

Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Hi, welcome back to Words of Life. I'm Cheryl Gillum, and I'm here with the birthday boy. I'm Bernie Dake. Thanks, Cheryl.

Happy birthday, Bernie. As we continue our series called Skeptics Welcome, Ken continues from the conversation last week about why bad things happen to good people by talking about what God is doing in our world today. And if you've missed any episodes, be sure to subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit salvationarmysoundcast.org. Glory in all that you've done, all that's to come, you are holy. Through doubt and through pain, you've made a way, you are holy. Unfailing God, you go before me. My every breath is held in your grace.

I will rest my soul in the peace I find in your footsteps. And whatever life brings, I'll trust in your goodness. You've always been faithful to me. And whatever life brings, I'll trust in your goodness. You've always been faithful to me. And whatever life brings, I'll trust in your goodness.

You've always been faithful to me. God be the glorious one. God be the glorious one. To God be the glory of love. To God be the glory. Well, good morning again, and welcome to the show Skeptics Welcome.

Perhaps there's no greater skeptic than King David himself. When you look at the Psalms, they are filled with this idea of, God, why have you forsaken me? God, what are you doing in my life? There's people who are haunting me. There's people who are out to get me.

I am considered a worm at some points. When I look at Psalm 22, and the words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, come up, written by David, I can't help but think about Jesus on the cross. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And a lot of us have sort of taken this one word and said, oh, God has forsaken, maybe God couldn't look at his son on the cross because of all the sin of the world. And that's nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that that verse is there when Jesus is on the cross in the gospels to remind us that he's actually referencing this Psalm. And the fact is he could possibly even be singing it. Can you imagine Christ singing from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

But that's not where it ends. You'll even get to the point in verse 12 where it says many bulls surround me, strong bulls of Bashan, they encircle me, roaring lions, tearing their prey, opening their mouths wide against me. I'm poured out like water. My bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax and it's melted within me.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. I thirst, Jesus might even say. But what did Jesus also say from the cross? Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. It's impossible for us to understand that while Jesus was on the cross in pain, that he was actually offering forgiveness for those who were causing him pain. I don't know that I am always there.

And I don't know that you need to be. But it is a great reminder of what mercy and grace is all about. We received a question in regard to somebody who has been harmed.

A child has been harmed. Is there grace for the person who harmed them? Does God still love that person? The answer is, does God still love that person? Absolutely, yes. In many cases there, but for the grace of God, have we gone.

And we've done some things that we are not proud of. And we know that there is never, there is nothing in all creation that we could do to separate ourselves from God if we are truly repented and want to be in his love. So does God love that person?

Yes. Does God show grace to that person? Well, that's a more tricky question. Should I forgive that person?

Well, here's the deal. If you don't forgive that person, I'm sure it's not hurting them any. I'm sure that that person is not sitting around waiting for your forgiveness. No, the forgiveness that we might give to somebody else who's hurt us or hurt someone we love is more for us. We can choose to live in the victimization. We can choose to live in the pain, but what's all that worth to us in the end? Just more and more pain that we've plopped on top of ourselves. But Jesus actually gives us the model by which we can live our lives at peace, that even when we are hurt, and in pain, and people have even tortured us, we can say, Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. Psalm 22 doesn't end in defeat. Psalm 22 has actually continues to build in this crescendo of praise, where it says in verse 24, for he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one.

He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help. I guarantee you, if you are in pain because of something someone has done to you, if you are in pain because of something that someone has done to someone you love, God has heard your cry, and he wants to come and give you peace, to come and strengthen you. For then comes the theme of the praise and the great assembly. Before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows.

The poor will eat and be satisfied. They who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever. All posterity will serve him, it goes on to say.

May your hearts live forever. All posterity will serve him, it goes on to say. Even those who have yet to be born, they will proclaim his righteousness, for he has done it.

It is finished. Christ's act on the cross is that one place where we can show that despite pain and things going wrong, we can have peace. And here is the great promise that from the cross comes the empty tomb. And while we might stew in this period between the cross and the empty tomb of maybe even wanting to go back to do fishing, maybe what the disciples trying to hide in closets, and I don't know what to do, the empty tomb is coming.

The poor will eat and be satisfied. God is going to bring great blessing upon your life as you give his word out to those who need it. As people see the peace in your own life, as people see the grace and mercy that you have in your own life, despite what you have faced, there can be no greater testimony.

And people will come to faith because of what you have overcome through the strength of Christ our Lord. I pray today for those who are suffering. Father, in this moment, there is someone in deep pain. Father, in this moment, there is someone who has gone through great tragedy in their past. Somebody has done something to them.

Father, even now there is a, maybe even a mom and a dad who have had to hear something that happened to their child. And Lord, it seems unforgivable. Lord, we don't even know what to do with this pain. Do we carry it?

Do we somehow oppose it? Do we seek justice? Father, you remind us that in the midst of your son's suffering, he was still able to say, Father, forgive them.

They know not what they do. He was able to turn to the thief on the right and say, today, you'll be with me in paradise. Father, it is not our responsibility for the thief on the left who may or may not receive that forgiveness because of their own heart, but it's certainly within us to allow all the things that are negative, to allow all those things that make us feel like a victim, all those things that keep us locked and bound by something that happened in the past to just be let go, to be free from it once and for all, to be able to say not for the sake of someone else, but for the sake of ourselves, Lord, I forgive and I let this go. Father, give them the strength to do that through your Holy Spirit right now. Lord, just allow those scales to fall off of their eyes and ears and Lord, help them to be able to breathe again, maybe for the first time.

Allow your Holy Spirit to enter them in a way that they've not experienced yet and may your Holy Love just surround them and wrap them. Father, we are so thankful for the grace that you gave to us and the ability to live in peace and your strength. So, Father, as we close this moment, we ask that all hearts be clear before you because we acknowledge that you are the only one who has the strength to live in peace and joy to our hearts. For it's in your name that we pray.

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