Dan slumped on the edge of his bed, his gaze fixed intently on the pages of his well-worn Bible. A heavy weight seemed to press down on his heart, burdening him with the countless pressures he faced each day. At only twenty-two years old, he was a young man steadfast in his Christian beliefs, but lately the world had been relentless in its attempts to test and shake his faith to its very core. He could feel the weight of society’s expectations bearing down on him, threatening to break his resolve. But he remained unwavering, holding onto his convictions like a lifeline in the midst of a stormy sea.
He worked at a marketing firm where the culture was progressive and outspoken about it. His coworkers often discussed topics that conflicted with his beliefs: abortion, the LGBTQIA+ agenda, and more. Dan had always tried to maintain an amicable relationship with them despite their different beliefs, but they were always intent on bringing the debates up, questioning him about his beliefs. And when he would answer honestly and then politely refuse to abandon his convictions for theirs, they’d become apoplectic, calling him a homophobe, a transphobe, and a right-wing bigot, despite the irony that the ones who remained obstinate in their prejudices were the ones accusing him of bigotry.
It hurt, of course. He wasn’t a homophobe or transphobe because he didn’t fear them. He remembers saying such to them, and one of his coworkers said, “Being a transphobe means you hate them,” which he didn’t understand because phobia means fear, not hate. But neither did he hate them, yet they don’t have ears to listen to reason.
He was constantly bombarded by insults, each one cutting deeper into his already fragile self-worth. At times, he questioned whether it would be simpler to just conform to their myopic beliefs in order to escape the relentless barrage of their thoughtless invectives. But then he would remember who he truly is, and then the inner turmoil would rinse and repeat.
The sun shined brightly on the quiet streets as Saturday afternoon approached. Dan had been eagerly anticipating his meeting with Pastor Gonzalez, where he could find solace and guidance in his tumultuous life. He buttoned up his well-worn jacket and tucked his Bible under his arm before stepping out the door into the warm, welcoming air. The chirping of birds and distant sound of children playing provided a peaceful soundtrack to his walk toward the church.
The church was serene and still, the only sound being the occasional gust of air conditioning. The sanctuary was filled with a blinding sunlight that streamed in through stained-glass windows, casting a kaleidoscope of colors across the room.
Pastor Gonzalez stood at the doorway, his face illuminated by a soft glow as he welcomed him into his office. Despite the quiet atmosphere, there was a sense of warmth and comfort emanating from the space, making it feel like a safe haven.
“How’re you holding up, Dan?” Pastor Gonzalez asked in his Puerto Rican accent, concern evident in his eyes.
Dan sighed, straightening his beard. “It’s been tough, Pastor. Everywhere I turn, it feels like I’m being attacked for my beliefs. It’s like high school all over again—they call me names, won’t let me get a word in edge wise. I don’t know how to respond.”
Pastor Gonzalez nodded, his expression thoughtful. “From what you’ve told me before, you’ve simply stated and restated your beliefs in a polite manner, right?”
“Yes.”
“Sometimes all we can do is confess. Unfortunately, times are no longer like the Lutheran Reformation where the opposing side gives us a platform to explain our views, like at the Diet of Augsburg, although that didn’t stop others from trying to prevent them, of course. Most times, simply confessing what you believe is sufficient when the Enemy creates such an environment that we are unable to explain our doctrines to a respectful audience.”
“That makes sense,” Dan agreed, “but lately I’ve been wondering if it wouldn’t just be easier to give in to their beliefs so they’d stop attacking me and spreading lies about me.”
“Hmmm,” Pastor Gonzalez was thinking, “that’s perfectly natural. It’s not easy to stand firm in your faith when the world is against you. I wonder if some words of Jesus won’t be comforting for such a time as this.” Pastor Gonzalez reached for his Bible. “Open your Bible to John 15:18-21.” He waited for Dan to open to the right page. “Can you read the verses please?”
“Sure. Jesus said, ‘If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My Word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.’”
Pastor Gonzalez placed his Bible down, still open. “Does this resonate with you in any way?”
Dan’s eyes widened with understanding, a glimmer of clarity dancing in his gaze. “Yeah. Jesus said this so long ago that I should’ve expected such hate toward me. My mind keeps going back to what He said, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If the world hated Jesus so much for what He taught and did, of course the world will hate me for believing what He taught and did. If I were like the rest of the world, they would love me, but since Christ has called me as His own, they hate me since they hate Him.”
“Precisely,” Pastor Gonzalez said with a grin. “You’ve always been an astute student.”
“These words are comforting, but also in a way they’re not.” He laughed, despite himself. “I mean, yeah, it’s good to know that such hatred is coming, but it’s so hard to bear that hatred, you know? How do I find the strength to keep going?”
“Excellent question,” Pastor Gonzalez said as he leaned back in his chair. The chair creaked softly as he shifted his weight, the armrests worn smooth from years of use. “Going to Scripture is the obvious answer, and in that spirit, what do you think the saints in the Bible did to find the strength to continue being faithful when the world was dead set against them?”
Dan thought for a few moments. He thought of the many people who went to Jesus to be healed, but he couldn’t exactly do that, could he? Jesus is ascended; you can’t exactly go to Him. Except, of course, in His Word and Sacraments. Then he thought of Moses, who always sought the Lord’s counsel whenever his own people were against him. He thought of the Israelites in Judges and their repeated cycle of seeking deliverance from the Lord when foreign nations oppressed them.
“Basically,” he finally said, “they went to the Lord—like the people Jesus healed, Moses, the Israelites in Judges…”
“Good,” Pastor Gonzalez agreed. “There’s one particular place in the Bible though that I find extremely helpful in trying times of various kinds: the Psalms.”
The realization hit Dan like an oncoming freight train, his eyes widening and his brow furrowing in surprise and sudden understanding. He could see the pieces of the puzzle falling into place before him.
“What I love so much about the Psalms,” Pastor Gonzalez continued, “and why I think it’s one of the most beloved books of the entire Bible is that they speak to the common human experience with such raw honesty. Let’s turn there.” As they were turning the pages in their respective Bibles, he said, “I think Psalm five will be particularly helpful. It’s the first imprecatory psalm. Do you remember what that is?”
“Isn’t it, like, a prayer that asks God to bring disaster upon one’s enemies?”
“Yes. More precisely, it invokes Him to do something definitive about the reign of death and evil in our world. Many Christians think we can’t pray these psalms since Jesus commands us to love our enemies, but I disagree with them. Jesus’ words don’t forbid such prayer; rather, they guide us on how to pray these psalms, which is with great humility rather than vengeance. As we read Psalm five, note that humility is exactly the disposition David takes as he prays. I’ll read this time because there are only a few verses I want us to focus on.”
Pastor Gonzalez cleared his throat. “David begins, ‘Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You… You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple… For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their throat is an open tomb; they flatter with their tongue. Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; cast them in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against You. But let all those who rejoice put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as a shield.” Pastor Gonzalez set his Bible down. “Does this resonate with you?”
“Yeah,” Dan said immediately, his eyes lighting up as he spoke. “Like David, I’ve been calling out to the Lord and meditating on His Word constantly, it feels like.”
“Good. What might the imprecatory parts be?”
Dan looked back down at his Bible, scanning. “The part where David says God finds no pleasure in wickedness and evil—like the evils my coworkers want me to confess. They’re bloodthirsty with abortion. They’re faithless in their LGBT beliefs and practices, and they seek destruction and death—like abortion and my own ruin. And based on these evils, he calls upon the Lord to judge them.”
“Right, and that’s the part of the psalm that might seem troubling for us Christians whom Christ has commanded to love our enemies. I recently read a helpful blog that said the imprecatory psalms function in the same way as the refuge cities in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, which were safe havens for those who had accidentally killed someone. According to Israel’s laws at the time, it prevented the act of vengeance for that killing. That’s what these imprecatory psalms are for us—they are refuge cities where we can name our enemies and the pain they have caused us. They bring us to lay our vengeance at the foot of the cross, leaving it to God, as He said, ‘Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.’ Speaking of which, what does David actually do? Does he take vengeance into his own hands?”
Dan looked down at his Bible again, scanning through the verses. Then it hit him. “He goes to the house of the Lord and worships Him in His temple, and he asks Him to lead him in His righteousness. And he puts his trust in the Lord.”
Pastor Gonzalez smiled. “Exactly. So, going back to your question, based on everything we just discussed, what do we do to find the strength to keep on going?”
Dan thought for a moment. “We pray and meditate on God’s Word, we sacrifice our vengeance to Him, and we worship Him at church.”
“Exactly,” Pastor Gonzalez said again, closing his Bible with a sagacious finality. “Before we pray, let’s consider all this in terms of Law and Gospel.”
Dan nodded, waiting for the pastor to continue.
“As Law,” Pastor Gonzalez continued, “the Word of the Lord reveals our sinful nature and, therefore, our own evils the Lord hates. Like David does in Psalm 51, we repent of these evils, asking God for His mercy, to blot out our transgressions, to wash us thoroughly from our iniquity, to cleanse us from our sin, to create in us a clean heart, and so on. And that’s precisely where the Gospel comes in because the Lord answers us in His mercy—according to His lovingkindness, as David says.
“I love that word in Hebrew,” he added with a grin. “It can be translated in a variety of ways—lovingkindness, mercy, steadfast love, unfailing love. The Hebrew word is connected to His covenant promise, and I’m privy to the word ‘lovingkindness’ because it speaks of God’s lasting love and kindness to deliver His promises to us. Nothing forces God to forgive our sins; He does it out of love and kindness, and He delivers those gifts to us where?”
“At church, in the Word and Sacraments.”
Pastor Gonzalez smiled again. “So then, what might you do to receive strength, Dan?”
“Keep praying, leave vengeance to the Lord, and continue to receive His Means of Grace.”
Pastor Gonzalez’s smile didn’t leave his face. “Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”
Dan thought briefly and said, “No, Pastor. You’ve been extremely helpful.”
Pastor Gonzalez nodded. “How may I pray for you today?”
Dan thought for another moment and said, “For strength to face the hatred of my enemies.”
“Let us pray,” Pastor Gonzalez said as they bowed their heads. “Lord Jesus Christ, You have commanded us to love our enemies. Alas, it is difficult for us to keep this command in our culture’s current climate. Grant Dan both the courage and the strength not only to continue being faithful in a faithless and bloodthirsty world, but also to lay any vengeance he may desire at Your cross, upon which You took the vengeance of Your Father for our sake and in our place. Continue to lead Dan to Your holy temple, trusting in Your will, that he may know vengeance is Yours and that in a world so full of hatred, You give him an even wider and deeper lovingkindness; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”
“Amen,” Dan repeated with a lifted spirit.
As Dan stepped out of the old stone church, a warm sensation of courage and determination flowed through his veins. He knew the days ahead would be full of challenges, but with the Lord by his side and a deeper understanding of his baptismal identity, he felt ready to face them head on.
As he made his way home, Dan sent up silent prayers for strength and guidance, and the wisdom to speak the truth with love and the steadfastness to remain faithful in the face of adversity. Each step he took felt like a firm foot forward on a path towards righteousness.
The Lutheran Column 