Communication has to be one of the most wonderfully difficult challenges in life. Whether among friends, family, or co-workers, conversation can be hard work with unpredictable and problematic outcomes.
Even here in cyberspace with all of its self-protective anonymity, who will deny that, depending on how much we’ve been willing to say, we can– from the response of others– feel misunderstood and judged in ways that seem so unfair.
Certainly here, as in our own families, work places, and churches, we can all know the pain of being misunderstood for something we didn’t say or mean to say.
Yet none of us wants to be caught judging someone else. Even though it seems like a foregone conclusion that we will give ourselves the benefit of the doubt– while withholding the same from others, we also intuitively sense, or rationally conclude, that God alone understands where each of us is coming from… and what the intent of our heart really is…
But… do you ever wonder if even God feels the pain of being misunderstood? Should we conclude that Psalm 2:4 says it all when it suggests that the LORD of the heavens can laugh off our global contempt for him? Or does God’s love make even him vulnerable to the pain of our wrong assumptions about who he is, what he has or has not said, and what he longs for?
That might be something worth thinking about together, especially in light of what we are told about the way the Judge of all the earth interacted with both friends and enemies– in the days of the his inexpressibly important but painful visit.
We all know what it means to hurt and be hurt. So what do you think? Is it possible that we can find help in the one who most fully felt our insults and misjudgments? What do we know about him that can help us minimize our tendency to shoot from the hip… and build protective barriers… rather than risky bridges?
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