Yesterday when I was teaching on worry at King Mountain Church (FUHGEDDABOUDIT~June 19) I made a mildly provocative statement: “As you’ve probably learned in life, not everyone will like you and some will even hate you.” That’s a tough one for many of us because we’d like to think that if we live and love like Jesus, then people will like us. Umm, not so quick! Things didn’t end too well for Jesus, as you remember, and he was perfect! For many reasons, which we won’t go into in today’s blog because it’s not the point, we frequently encounter challenges in our different relationships in life—personal, work, business, church, etc. I made another statement in yesterday’s teaching: “It’s hard to remain patient and silent when people are acting evil towards you, but it’s the only way to go because we can’t handle revenge and retaliation. I say it like this…’You can’t be BITTER and SWEET at the same time.’”
When we have conflict, of the kind described above, there are different types of evil which are often on display: lying; slander; gossip; backbiting; false accusations; etc. If you’re the target of these evil actions it’s a huge personal challenge. The immediate reaction is to want to protect and defend your character [reputation]. The next reaction is to want to respond to the things which are being said and done. This response can range from a more passive response to an extremely aggressive one. Most of us have the capability for a range of responses and it’s only through self-control and the strength of the Holy Spirit that we choose the path of grace.
Since none of us handles revenge and retaliation very well, there’s always a period of time between the assault on your character and the resolution of the situation. During the between time you have to hold on to the hope: TRUTH WINS. The difficulty in this very difficult situation is that it often takes time for the truth to win. So, the question is: What does a person do while they wait for truth to win?
1) Stay focused on the fact the battle is the Lord’s, not yours. (1 Samuel 17:47; 2 Chronicles 20:15) This is the core message of Psalm 37, which was the focus of my previous blog. Determine you will trust the Lord to fight your battles and to reveal the truth.
John 3:21 NIV “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
Psalm 24:5 (NIV) provides this promise to the person who lives by the truth: “He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.” VINDICATION is a great word, which means: “a fact, evidence, circumstance, etc, that serves to vindicate a theory or claim.” (World English Dictionary; dictionary.com) Check out this promise from God through the prophet Isaiah: “’…no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,’ declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:17 NIV)
2) No matter how long it takes for truth to win, don’t panic and let impatience cause you to seek revenge or retaliation.
Romans 12:17-21 NIV “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Leviticus 19:18 NIV “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”
3) Keep on praying, “Deliver me from evil.” When Jesus taught the disciples to pray (Matthew 6:9-13), he instructed them to include in their daily prayers: “deliver us from evil.” (V13) We need to petition the Lord for his protection and deliverance because, unfortunately, we’ll encounter people as we go through our day who are intent on being evil and acting evil towards us. Maybe you’ve heard about the guy who said, “I’m not paranoid, people really are after me.” It’s a funny line, and unfortunately there’s a lot of conflict in our world which frequently carries over into the different relationships in our life. God protects us from the evil, not by preventing it from happening, but by guarding our spirit from becoming overcome [controlled] by it.
These aren’t three easy steps, because there’s nothing easy about it. I also didn’t intend for these three things to be the complete answer to how any of us responds when we’re on the receiving end of evil. Hopefully, what I’ve shared today will help you to react and respond in a way which honors God and keeps you in a place where TRUTH WINS.
In my next post, I’ll deal with the issue: WHEN EVIL GETS PERSONAL
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