181 Sometimes Scripture's Version of God Doesn't Feel True
Transcript
"The Lord is kind and merciful. He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever. Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes."
Welcome back to Scripture for Your Inner Outcasts. Today is March 7th, 2026, Saturday of the Second Week of Lent. I'll be providing the reflection for today's episode. My name is Elizabeth and I'm the producer and host of Scripture for Your Inner Outcasts.
In today's responsorial psalm, we hear Psalm 103, verses nine and ten. "The Lord is kind and merciful. He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever, not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes." If it feels safe to your internal family system, I'd like to speak to the exiled parts who are listening right now. And if you find yourself moving beyond your emotional realm of tolerance, you can always have the option to turn this podcast off and to not listen. So to you exiled parts or the inner outcasts who may be listening right now, I'd invite you to reflect on this psalm that paints a portrait of our Lord as kind and merciful. He's not wrathful or angry, and he does not punish us according to the severity of our sins. For some of you, this might feel true, but for others this might feel very, very untrue. You might find yourself feeling the exact opposite of Scripture's words, in fact. You might feel that the Lord is unkind and unmerciful, or that he holds on to anger and exacts punishment. You might feel like he always punishes you for your sins, or even worse, that he punishes you not because of something you did wrong, but just because he can.
If any of these statements resonate with you, you might hold on to a false God image, meaning a belief of who God is that is actually different from who he really is. This God image would come from your experiences of people who represented God to you, or from situations where you gleaned a certain false idea of God based on the situation's outcome. For example, you might hold a drill sergeant God image if you feel that God is constantly pushing you beyond your limits. Or if you feel that God has unrealistic expectations of your behavior, yet requires your unwavering devotion, then you might hold a dictator God image. Or maybe you hold a robber God image in which you feel that God steals good things from you. Or perhaps a police detective God image where you are convinced that God is out to get you, like a detective is out to get a criminal. If any of these statements resonate with you, then hearing today's Psalm would feel totally and utterly untrue, maybe even as if God is lying to you. I'd encourage you to notice your reaction to this Psalm, and if it's available to you, to reach out to your innermost self and share what you are feeling.
Many of our parts carry distorted and untrue perceptions of who God is, and these are sometimes called God images. If you'd like to learn more about this concept, I'd recommend you check out our sister podcast, Interior Integration for Catholics episodes 23 through 29, which is linked in the description of today's show.
With that, we'll end with our invocations. Our Lady, our Mother, Untier of Knots, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
