Turning Toward God when Betrayal Cuts Deep (Psalm 54-55) - Pastor Lisa Durant
Betrayal does not have to turn you into someone else. It can turn you to God instead.
Psalm 54: (1-3) NLT
Come with great power, O God, and rescue me!
Defend me with your might.
Listen to my prayer, O God.
Pay attention to my plea.
For strangers are attacking me;
violent people are trying to kill me.
They care nothing for God.
Psalm 55 (Psalm 55: 1-8, NLT)
Listen to my prayer, O God.
Do not ignore my cry for help!
Please listen and answer me,
for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.
My enemies shout at me,
making loud and wicked threats.
They bring trouble on me
and angrily hunt me down.
My heart pounds in my chest.
The terror of death assaults me.
Fear and trembling overwhelm me,
and I can’t stop shaking.
Oh, that I had wings like a dove;
then I would fly away and rest!
I would fly far away
to the quiet of the wilderness.
How quickly I would escape—
far from this wild storm of hatred.
When someone turns on us, it hurts.
Chapter 55, vv 12-14
It is not an enemy who taunts me—
I could bear that.
It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—
I could have hidden from them.
Instead, it is you—my equal,
my companion and close friend.
What good fellowship we once enjoyed
as we walked together to the house of God.
Betrayal cuts deepest when it comes from someone we trust and love.
David could have retaliated. But David refused to become Saul. Instead he turns to the One he knows really has his back when others don’t. He didn’t reach for the sword- he reached for God.
Psalm 55: 16-18 (NLT)
But I will call on God,
and the Lord will rescue me
Morning, noon, and night
I cry out in my distress,
and the Lord hears my voice.
He ransoms me and keeps me safe
from the battle waged against me,
though many still oppose me.
Prayer is a salve for every sore and a relief to the spirit under every burden. - Matthew Henry
Betrayal doesn’t have to turn us into someone else; instead, it can turn us toward God.
Gene Edwards once observed that God often shapes His servants not through justice received, but through injustice endured—and David’s prayers give voice to that long, difficult forming.
Psalm 54: 5 (NLT)
May the evil plans of my enemies be turned against them.
Do as you promised and put an end to them.
Psalm 55: 23 (NLT)
But you, O God, will send the wicked
down to the pit of destruction.
Murderers and liars will die young,
but I am trusting you to save me.
David did exactly what many of us do when we are hurt. He brings it to God.
God’s response to betrayal is deeper than justice alone. God doesn’t just absorb our hurt and anger.
He transforms what betrayal produces in us.
In John 13, Jesus quotes a Psalm of David, Psalm 41, when he says , “The one who eats my food has turned against me.” not just to say “Here is a prophecy fulfilled” but also that “the pain of betrayal is not my end- it signals the beginning of something new.”
Relational pain happens. It happened to David. It happened to Jesus. But trust is possible. Healing is possible. And so is transformation.
1 Peter 2:23 (NLT)
He did not retaliate when he was insulted,
nor threaten revenge when he suffered.
He left his case in the hands of God,
who always judges fairly.
David entrusted justice to God. Jesus entrusted His entire life to His Father. He did something that none of us are equipped to do- He offered forgiveness.
When you choose to forgive someone who has hurt you, you absorb the pain. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean trust is instantly restored, or that boundaries disappear. It means we place the debt into God’s hands instead of continuing to demand repayment.
Jesus chose to forgive. We can take the same step.
Romans 12:19-21 (NLT)
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge;
I will pay them back,”
says the Lord.
20 Instead,
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap
burning coals of shame on their heads.”
21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
The message is kindness. Not revenge.
This is true Gospel transformation in us, because this type of internal change is not possible without the work of Jesus! But as Christ works within us, He begins to shape us to look more like Him.
The sting of betrayal begins to loosen as Christ gives us His eyes for those who have hurt us.
Spurgeon once said that bitterness wounds the heart that carries it more than the hand that caused it — and Christ invites us into a way of seeing that loosens that sting.
Jesus understood the pain of betrayal — and He carried it all the way to the cross, entrusting justice to the Father and purchasing our salvation.