They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. – Psalm 64:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 28, 2013): Psalm 64

I have thought about writing a blog sometime simply entitled “Lies We Tell Our Children” – because if we are honest there are a few big whoppers that we tell. One is that you can be anything that you want to be. It is the American Dream – anyone from anywhere can be a star. But that really is not true. We are all gifted to become something, but not to become anything. The truth is that B. F Skinner was wrong; we are not blank slates waiting for someone to create something in us. We are born with innate abilities and interests – and a grace given by God - that carry us toward something special. But we cannot be anything. A case in point is found in the story of Absalom and David. Absalom wanted to be king – not someday, but now. But the reality was that God’s hand was on David. He had ordained David to be king and there was nothing that Absalom could do to change that. It might have been that Absalom would have been king someday had he not rebelled, but this was not the time for King Absalom. Absalom could never achieve that dream.

Another lie that we tell our children is encapsulated in a little poem that we teach them – “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” The truth is probably more that the bruises and cuts from the sticks and stones will eventually heal, but a lot of us are still suffering under the wounds that we have felt because of what has been said about us. I know that I am. And sometimes at night when I am alone, I admit that the voices I often hear are the ones that have hurt me with words (and not the things that have thrown things at me to hurt me physically.) The idea that names will never hurt me is simply a lie.

David understands this. The civil war was over with Absalom and David has turned to mourn the death of his son. But Sheba comes and starts to cry out against him. He insults him claiming that he was not really the king; he was just the son of Jesse – and ordinary person. He accuses David of ignoring the eleven tribes of Israel to give all of his attention to the tribe of Judah – the tribe that David had descended from. But at this point they are just words. There are no sticks and stones and there are no broken bones, but the pain was very real.

So David cries out to God and he prays a prayer that recognizes the pain of the words that have been spoken. And he draws an image that is very physical. The image speaks to the reality of the pain that he is experiencing. David says that their tongues are like swords, and their words were like arrows. And when swords and arrows hit their mark, they hurt.

As much as we might want to believe that names will never hurt us, the truth is that words cause a very real pain. But God understands that, and he wants to speak a different name over us – he calls us beloved sons and daughters, worthy ones of all that he has to give us. He is the one that sees us – and calls us beautiful.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 70