But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend ... Psalm 55:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 1, 2013): Psalm 55

Have you ever wondered why former lovers have such a problem just being friends? It seems that the journey away from the one that we used to love is not a journey from love to less love or from love to like – it is a journey that very quickly traverses the distance between love and hate. It almost makes us really believe that love and hate live only a hairsbreadth away from each other.

But that is really not true. The problem is that we allow those that we love inside of our defenses – over time we gradually remove the walls that we have built up around us. But that makes us vulnerable – those we have let within our walls can hurt us like no enemy on earth. The pain is incredible – and very real. To be honest, while the pain is real, I am not sure that the hate we seem to grow into is real. If we are truthful with ourselves, we have to admit that in the open moments of our life we long for the restoration of the relationship we once had with them. But we also know that we could never allow them behind our walls again – never allow them to return to the place where love and the ability to inflict pain exist as close partners in a weird dance of their own making.

Theologians have long argued about the companion and close friend David mentions in Psalm 55. Some want to argue that the man really does not exist in the mind of David. He is no more than an invention created for the poetry and the message that David is drawn to write. But a more logical conclusion is that, once more, we are revisiting the rebellion of Absalom and the betrayal at the hands of Ahithophel. The return to that event should not be surprising; the betrayal of David by the one who was a close advisor caused pain to David, but his relationships with both Absalom and Ahithophel were so close and intense that they would never be totally dismissed; his love for the two men meant that Absalom and Ahithophel would always be with him.

So the combination of love and intense pain continually brought him back to the scene of the crime – and it would never let him go. For some, that is enough of a reason for them to keep their guard up and never fall victim to love. But David’s truth was that he had gained much through his relationship with Absalom and Ahithophel – and in spite of the pain, I think he recognized that the positives he had shared with the two men were worth the risk. And the positives of love are worth the risk for us as well – even in the midst of the pain. In fact, we actually need those kinds of relationships with the people who are just like us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 58