Psalm 119:21 Stray Cats

You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed, those who stray from your commands.

Psalm 119:21

It may seem, if you've been reading my blog posts thus far, that I tend to ignore the laws of God against sinners, against people who aren't following God at all. In my rush to pick on my fellow believers, it can seem like I'm ignoring the sins of the world.

Quite to the contrary, I'm quite aware of the large number of people in our culture who are wantonly trampling on the laws of God. In verse 21, David triples down on the people who are worthy of God's rebuke.

The arrogant:  As Paul describes in Romans 1, there are many people who, even though the evidence of God is clear, are too proud to submit to Him. Instead they worship themselves, their abilities, and their possessions.

The arrogant unbelievers are a tough nut to crack, because they're going to have to come to a point of doubting their own self-sufficiency before they will even consider acknowledging a Lord outside of themselves. Times of crisis can present the best possibility of a turning point for them.

The accursed: Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the accursed are those who have violated the laws of God to such a degree that both God and His people consider them to be "cast out" from their presence. Jesus makes clear that in His church this is to be done only after an earnest attempt has been made to redeem them, to bring them back into a reconciled relationship with God and with the community of believers (Matthew 18:15-20)

Paul takes that principle a step further and makes it clear that the purpose of banishing someone to the outside of God's community is to bring them to their senses. The hope is that they will return repentant and both God and the church will then forgive. (II Corinthians 2:1-11)

The strays. Did you know there's a difference between a stray cat and a feral cat? 

"A stray cat is a cat who has been socialized to people at some point in her life, but has left or lost her domestic home, as well as most human contact and dependence. Over time, a stray cat can become feral as her contact with humans dwindles. Under the right circumstances, however, a stray cat can also become a pet cat once again."

"A feral cat is a cat who has either never had any contact with humans or her contact with humans has diminished over time. She is fearful of people and survives on her own outdoors. A feral cat is not likely to ever become a lap cat or enjoy living indoors." (alleycat.org)

The spiritual parallels are clear. For those who are wandering far from God, understanding whether they are a stray believer or a feral unbeliever is crucial. People are not cats, and both can be redeemed by the grace of God and the love of God's people. But a different approach is required for stray vs. feral wanderers.

As Christians, we need to see the arrogant, the accursed, and the strays - and the ferals - the same way God sees them.

It is true, though, that I tend to not write as much about how horrible such people are. I tend to take that for granted. We're all horrible people. We all lean toward arrogance, are deserving of being accursed, and prone toward straying from the loving arms of God.

What I see, though, is that among believers there is a terrible tendency to point the fingers of rebuke at other people who are arrogant, accursed, and straying. We're much more interested in rebuking the wrong we see outside our Christian community than we are in responding the way God intends. 

In our religious arrogance, we take it upon ourselves to rebuke others, rather than trusting God to rebuke them. 

We tend to talk about "those sinners" with sanctified curses, wrapped in religious language, rather than allowing God to be the one who rebukes.

We tend to treat the church's strays the same as we treat the feral sinners of the world, without carefully considering the best way to help each individual. Instead we rebuke them all as members of "not us".

David doesn't say, "I rebuke the arrogant." Nor is he commanding or recommending God rebuke the accursed. He is humbly deferring to the Lord, who alone has the right and the wisdom to rebuke the strays. 

By all means, we need to recognize the arrogant, the accursed, and the strays for what they are. And then let God decide when and how to do the rebuking, while we go about doing the job He gave us, which is to draw them toward Him.