Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed over him,"
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
Psalm 13:3-5
It's a mess. And my heart is heavy.
What's really messing with me, though, is how quickly and eager people are to jump on to the Shame-On-You bandwagon. Social media is a powerful platform for connection and communication - but it has a dark side. It has also become a chilling and powerful tool of social conformity through public shaming. Anyone with a blog and a collection of eager and angry readers can sow a scarlet letter on your reputation and call for the world to condemn and mock you.
The internet, equipped with the viral power of social networks like facebook and twitter, have created a modern platform of shame every bit as powerful as the old world public stocks, where people would be locked by the neck and wrists in a public marketplace where every person passing could hurl their insults (or their rotten fruit). Anyone enflamed with self-righteous zeal can abuse you to the adoring and echoing applause of the crowd, many of whom actually have no idea what is going on.
And I have to say that I have seen both Christians and non-Christians try to harness this new power to manipulate people into conformity and eliminate behaviors or beliefs they find offensive (or oppositional to their goals and agendas). Who leads that won't at some point offend? Who leads who won't at some point make a mistake? Who leads who couldn't have their words used against them (either justly or unjustly)?
David prays, Light up my eyes ... lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him.
I think he is praying for courage and joy and a far-seeing wisdom that allows him to have his heart and hands, his thinking and his actions, grounded in the covenant-love of God, so that his enemies will not be able to triumph over him or take joy in his diminishment at their hands.
I think leaders need that kind of joy-fueled courage to lead well in a culture that loves throwing rotten fruit.
Prayer:
Lord, light up my eyes with hope and clarity, so I can lead with both boldness and gentle humility. Lead my heart to fear you more than I fear people, so that I will lead with a loving conviction that isn't self-protective or self-serving. Rebuke my heart when I too want to jump on the shame bandwagon, mocking and deriding people whom I do not know and whose offense I do not fully understand. Rebuke my heart as well when pridefully want to defend myself from accusation instead of humbly seeking truth. Encourage my heart in your steadfast love. The only true success any of can have is to walk in your success, for your glory, in repentant hope in your grace.
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