Life has its ups and downs. Some things are minor, and some
things are major. But, even the minor things sometimes can be upsetting. And,
this is especially true if there are a lot of them in rapid succession, one
after another after another. Sometimes when they come like this we don’t even
have much time to process the first one before we are hit with another.
Life is constantly changing. Plans change. People get sick.
Your city has a water main break and people have no water or limited water and
so they have to not use the water they do have for several days. And, this
might happen right before you have guests coming in from out of town. And, you
aren’t even sure if you are going to have food to feed people, etc.
Those are “first world” problems, I know, but for “first
world” people, they can be disturbing, and unsettling, especially if things
keep changing and adjustments have to be continually made, and especially if
you are working with multiple people groups in trying to find solutions
everyone can agree on. And, in the midst of it all, sometimes communication
breaks down, too. And, then you might have another whole set of problems to
deal with.
Again, I know these sound like minor issues, but often it is
the minor ones that have the tendency to unsettle us the most, and maybe that
is because they can be so subtle in how they get to us, kind of like a leaky
faucet. They just kind of poke at us a little at a time and we don’t even
realize that they are piling up inside us until we break down crying (female)
and then we realize we need some alone time with God to sort it all out.
Psalm 62:1-2 ESV
For God alone my soul
waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock
and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
It is during these stressful times especially that we must
get before the Lord. I know this is not always possible. I know that not
everyone can have time alone unless it is when everyone else is sleeping. But,
if that is when you need to do it, then do it then. For, we need that. We need
those times of silence when all the voices of the world are silenced and we can
hear God’s voice. We need that time to just give it all to him, and to rest in
him.
And, if we need to cry, then cry. If we need to holler, then
we probably need to be somewhere that we are not going to disturb other people.
But, we need to let it go, and we need to get the pain out, in a healthy way,
and release the stress, and just talk with our Lord and let him counsel,
encourage, and strengthen us. And, he will fill us with his peace.
Psalm 62:3-4 ESV
How long will all of
you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
They only plan to
thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their
mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
Like I said, some things are minor disturbances, while other
things that go on in our lives can be major issues. And, it is a major issue if
we are being attacked physically or verbally (emotionally) by other people. In
this case the attack is verbal and it is in the form of lies being spread, like
gossip and slander. And, the purpose is to take another person down and to
cause him or her harm, perhaps to destroy his or her reputation.
One of the reasons people do this is jealousy. They are
jealous that someone has something they don’t have, or that someone has been
more successful than them, or that another person is more talented or is more
gifted in a certain way or that they have more education or money or whatever.
And, out of jealousy they lie about that person in order to bring him or her
down in hopes of raising themselves up.
And, a lot of times these who are jealous and who are
gossiping about and slandering others will do this behind that person’s back
while to his or her face they are all smiles and approval, and they may even
pretend they are your best friend. So, they may be full of compliments to your
face while they stab you to the heart when you are not looking, and thus they
turn other people against you, for this is the way in which they get
satisfaction.
Psalm 62:5-8 ESV
For God alone, O my
soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and
my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my
salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all
times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
We may not know that we are being gossiped about or
slandered, but it could be that we notice that people are changing how they
treat us, like they may begin withdrawing from us when they used to like to be
around us. And, so we sense that something has changed, but we don’t know what.
Yet, this could happen for many reasons.
So, we have to be cautious here that we don’t imagine these
things, and that we don’t become paranoid or decide these things are happening
when they are not, for Satan will lie to us that people are against us when
they may not be at all, so we do need to not assume anything about others.
But, these things do happen, as you know. And, sometimes we
may get wind of it, or we may see the result of it in more tangible ways. Like
for instance, something might leak out and we hear about it. Or someone will
say something hurtful to us like they are upset with us about something only we
don’t know what it is, and so we ask, and then we learn that they had heard
something and so they just assumed it was the truth.
I find that this stuff happens so much because people fail
to communicate with each other. They hear something. They jump to conclusions.
They tell others about it. Facebook is a feeding ground for this kind of stuff.
Twitter, too. And, those who hear it then decide it is true, and then they tell
others or they withdraw from you because they believe the lie, etc. And,
sometimes people will get rejected for a lifetime because someone believed a
lie and then had nothing to do with that person from that point forward.
Sometimes, because people fail to communicate, they think
they hear something, and so they go off on what they thought they heard, and
then they draw conclusions, and then they abuse others because they thought the
other person was against them when they were not. Oh, if only we would all
learn how to communicate with one another in love and not presume things that
are not true. And, none of us should entertain gossip.
Nonetheless, if we have been injured by others telling lies
about us or by people assuming things about us that aren’t true and so they
reject us or mistreat us based on their conclusions, then we just need to take
this to the Lord in prayer, too, alone, in the quiet, when we can shut out all
other voices and we can hear God and him alone.
And, we need to cry it out to our Lord in prayer, and
release it all to him, and let it go, and let his peace fill our hearts. And,
then we need to forgive those who have hurt us, and we need to love them in
return by praying for them, by doing good to them, and by saying to them what
will be beneficial to them, and not retaliate, but leave it all to God.
And, God will comfort us, and he will fill us with his
peace, and he will direct us in the way we should go in how we should respond
to those who have done evil to us.
And, we should care about those who do evil to us, that they
are delivered from their hate, jealousy, resentment, and slanderous ways. And,
we should share with them the truth of the gospel of our salvation about how
they can be delivered and how they can find peace with God and eternal life
with God.
We should share with them that Jesus died on that cross that
we might die with him to sin and live with him to righteousness, and that
through faith in Jesus Christ we can walk with Christ in obedience to his
commands. We can be delivered from our addiction to sin and truly walk in
freedom. Amen! We can be delivered from hate, jealousy, bitterness, and all
sinful habits. There is hope! And, we need to share that hope with others,
too!!
The
Lord’s Anointed
An
Original Work / December 16, 2011
Based
off Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;
Anointed to preach the Good News;
Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;
Proclaim freedom for the captives.
He sent me to preach release for pris’ners
Who are walking in sin’s darkness;
Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;
And tell them about God’s judgments;
Comfort all who mourn;
Give crowns of beauty;
Oil of gladness and thanksgiving.
They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,
A planting of our Savior, God,
For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and
They will rebuild God’s holy church.
God will renew them, and will restore them,
And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.
You will be ministers of our God, and
You will rejoice in salvation.
The Lord loves justice;
He is faithful to
Reward those who are seeking Him.
I delight greatly in the Lord;
My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.
He has clothed me with His salvation,
And in a robe of His righteousness.
He has given me priestly garments to wear,
As the bride of Jesus Christ.
As the garden of our Lord and Savior,
He causes us to grow in Him.
He makes righteousness,
Praise, and thanksgiving
Spring up before all the nations.
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