Tormented in Your Righteous Soul?

2 Peter 2 starts off talking about false teachers and their destruction.  It speaks of the righteous and godly who were spared when God's judgment fell on the wicked.  It speaks of Noah being spared when God brought the flood to destroy the world.  It speaks of Lot being spared when the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

While reading this chapter, one verse stuck out and a question whispered through my mind.  Verse 8 says about Lot:

for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.

The question I keep coming back to is "Am I tormented in my righteous soul by the deeds I see and hear all around me?"

In the past when I saw or heard things that were evil, things that went against God's Truth, I would become indignant.  How could they?  I would speak out at times, other times I would not, but either way I would smolder with righteous anger.

But lately I've noticed that has changed.  As I've prayed for the Lord to give me His Eyes and His Heart for others I've found that while I do still get angry about certain things, I am filled with an even more powerful emotion.  A soul wrenching sadness.  It is as if the Lord has begun to open my eyes to the person beneath it all.  Instead of seeing someone evil and defiant of God, I now more often see the deceived and lost soul underneath - the person who is hiding behind a facade of defiance and self-reliance.  A person just like I used to be and honestly still am at times.

There are times I actually find myself in horrible internal agony for a person, tears and sometimes sobs rise up in me for a particular person and the only relief is for me to pray for that person.

I would not say that I am necessarily in torment all the time regarding the evil around me, but the Lord has begun to transform my heart and open my eyes to how He sees others.  It is amazing and heartbreaking at the same time.

I never would have thought in the past that I would find myself praying for more torment in my soul, but I do find myself desiring this - to more fully understand how God sees and feels for others.  To feel the love He has for them and along with that the sadness that He feels when those He loves dearly choose to turn away from Him.

Give Me Your Eyes

I keep hearing this song on the radio and it speaks to me. God has been speaking to me lately about seeing and praying for those who I would normally not give a thought to or who I would normally show anger or bitterness towards. You know, those people you come in contact with who have wronged you in some way and now if you are honest you don't see them as a person any longer. You just see them as someone to hold a grudge against. I know this song is more about those who we usually just don't "see" as we walk by them in daily life, but I think we can just as well apply it to those we do see, but through eyes of contempt.

In two particular situations this past week God has shown me the humanity of someone I would normally not see as a "real" person.

One was our president-elect. I did not vote for him and I have some major issues with his policy. This makes it very easy to forget that he is a person just like me. In the past it would have been easy to do to him what many do to President Bush now because he stands for so many things in direct opposition to what I hold dear. But I committed to pray for him and through that God has been showing me the humanity of Obama. I may not agree with him on certain things, but he is still a human being. He is a father and a husband - just like my own wonderful husband. God has shown me the importance of not losing sight of this.

The other(s) were the individuals which I wrote about yesterday. Normally I would see them only as hateful individuals who have attacked me. People to loathe and despise. But as I mentioned yesterday God started to revel to me that they are just lost individuals filled with hate and bitterness. Very much the way I was at one time.

It is so easy when someone hurts us or makes us angry or does not agree with us to dismiss their humanity. It is easy to see the humanity in those who agree with us, but to deomonize those who we do not see eye to eye with. God does not want us to do this. He sees us clearly through all our sin and still loves us. He wants us to see others the way He sees them - through his eyes of love. But we can only do this through His power and strength.

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes lyrics



Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
All those people going somewhere,
Why have I never cared?



Chorus:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah


Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what's underneath
There's a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He's out of work
He's buying time
All those people going somewhere
Why have I never cared?



Chorus



I've Been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just moving past me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong
Well I want a second glance
So give me a second chance
To see the way you see the people all along



Chorus (x2) 



Lyrics  Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes lyrics