Daily Lesson for December 12, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 35 verses 21 and 26:

21 They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, “Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
26 Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me!

The Germans have a peculiar word, Schadenfreude, which literally means "harm-joy" and is the name for the feeling of delight one gets from the misfortune of others.

Now you might wonder just what kind of people would have a word for such a sick delight? My answer, an honest people.

The truth is we've all done it.  We've all taken delight in somebody else's misfortunes, mistakes, mishaps, misadventures, and missed opportunities.  Something happened to diminish them and we felt bigger. We said we hated it for them, but the truth is we delighted in it; that's why we picked up the phone to tell somebody else. It gave us pleasure to tell of somebody else's misery. It gave us delight to tell on them. And we did it under the pretense of "a prayer concern". Come on; we are only deceiving ourselves. We definitely aren't deceiving God.

God knows our hearts; and God knows there is no place for Schadenfreude in the hearts of His people.