https://odb.org/2026/07/28/recovering-from-betrayal
Psalm 55:12–20 (NIV): 12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide.
13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers.
15 Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the realm of the dead, for evil finds lodging among them.
16 As for me, I call to God, and the LORD saves me.
17 Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
18 He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.
19 God, who is enthroned from of old, who does not change— he will hear them and humble them, because they have no fear of God.
20 My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.
In one of her novels, Toni Morrison tells the story of Nel and Sula, friends since childhood. But the friendship frays as Sula’s self-centeredness grows, culminating in her seducing Nel’s husband. “Why didn’t you think about me?” Nel asks Sula. “Didn’t I count?” Sadly, Sula doesn’t even care enough to answer.
As anyone who’s experienced it knows, the pain of a friend’s betrayal is hard to rival. King David felt such “malice and abuse” when a political conspiracy of “threats and lies” engulfed him (Psalm 55:10-11). The worst part was who was behind it. “If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it,” he says. “But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend” (vv. 12-13).
How should we respond to such betrayal? While David takes his turmoil to God (vv. 16, 20), he prays retribution will fall on his betraying friend (v. 15). We see a different approach taken by Jesus. Faced with Judas’ betrayal, he says, “Do what you came for, friend,” refusing to retaliate in kind (Matthew 26:49-50). (Sheridan Voysey, Our Daily Bread 28th July 2026)
I think most of us can relate to what David wrote in Psalm 55:12-14 – If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were rising against me, I could hide. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about among the worshipers. It becomes more painful and heart wrenching when a close friend, someone we trusted and may even know from back in the day, betrayed us. It is especially wrenching if he or she “stole” our girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse. In fact, seeing a good friend with our exes itself is already a “no no”, what more a betrayal. Betrayals can come in different forms. For example in the corporate world someone may intentionally plant what we call a poison pill to our higher-ups to perhaps slow down our ascension through the ranks. Usually it’s elimination of a perceived threat for one’s own benefit and interests. How I wish people could just focus on their own abilities and achievements than to rise by destroying other people!
As believers, we are presented with two choices – we could apply what David did or follow Jesus’s example. As both are biblical, the former is not wrong. With David, he prayed for vengeance through God. It is not wrong as the decision to punish lies with the LORD. It is His choice, His decision and He is sovereign. It’s just that in the New Covenant, our hearts have been transformed to be like Christ. We’ll rather forgive and move on, instead of dwelling on the hurt lest it turn from resentment to hatred to bitterness. We could end up killing ourselves from the inside when there is so much ahead of us in the Kingdom of God. In other words, it’s better to follow Christ’s example.
My own view, and this is personal, is to just leave it behind like Paul said before, forgetting what’s behind and look ahead to the crown of glory ahead at the end of our race. Our lives are not our own. We belong to Christ. He has redeemed us with His blood. He chose us to be holy and righteous before the foundations of the world. We are created to do good works, not to willow in our misfortunes or in this case our close friend having betrayed us. But practically, as we are human, I don’t think Jesus expects us to be pretentious and continue to be friends with that person. We forgive and we move on to the greater adventures the Lord has in store for us in the future. If one day an opportunity is presented for us to reconcile, then we reconcile.
The lesson this morning is that if we had been betrayed, let it hurt and then move on. Forgive and leave it to God. Don’t pray for God to destroy our betrayer by fire and brimstone! This is not Sodom and Gomorrah!
Have a good week ahead everyone! I pray that the LORD our God will grant us His wisdom and discernment to deal with our issues of life and at work!
Ronnie's Thoughts 