Has anyone ever treated you unfairly? Maybe your spouse walked out and left you hanging financially. Perhaps your employer promised a promotion but hasn’t fulfilled. Maybe a family member refuses to carry his share of responsibility for an elderly parent’s needs. Whatever the case, you feel burned. How should you respond?
Humanly speaking, David had every reason to feel burned. God had already anointed him as the future king, but Saul was still on the throne and obviously feeling threatened by David’s reputation as a valiant warrior. And so, Saul hunted him…and hunted him…and hunted him.
One night, as Saul and his henchmen slept, David and Abishai had opportunity to sneak into their camp. Abishai, convinced that God had put Saul into their hands, tried to convince David to let him kill the king that moment. But David refused.
“No!” said David, “Don’t kill him. For who can remain innocent after attacking the LORD’s anointed one? Surely the LORD will strike Saul down someday or he will die of old age or in battle. The LORD forbid that I should kill the one he has anointed!” (1 Samuel 26:9-10).
Rather than end Saul’s life and reign so he could assume the throne, David took Saul’s spear and water jug. Then he let it be known that, although he’d had the chance to seek revenge, he’d respectfully declined. He chose, instead, to let God deal with Saul in His timing and His way.
Others may hurt or take advantage of us, and our human nature resists such treatment. We want to declare ourselves innocent, or seek revenge, or do something…anything to stand up for our rights and seek fairness.
We don’t need to allow others to treat us like doormats. We do, however, need to exercise godly attitudes and actions. David did so by refusing to get even with Saul. He walked in integrity and trusted God to deal with the bad guys.
We can do the same. It’s not easy, but it’s possible as we…
- Ask God to see the offender through His eyes. He may be insecure or hurting from unresolved issues.
- Ask God to soften the offender’s heart towards Him.
- Ask God to help us walk in integrity—no badmouthing the offender, no negative retaliatory actions.
- Ask God to come to our defense.
- Ask God for patience to wait as He works out His purposes in and through our situation.
God’s ways are much higher than ours. When we feel burned by others, let’s let Him work in His ways so He receives the glory and we can walk in freedom.
It’s like you wrote this just for me ! Did I ever need to read this.
Thx Grace
Blessings on you, Cindy. You are loved.
it is really difficult to deal with people, of course we pray, we ask for discernment, wisdom, we ask God to intervene in our problems. in business sometimes , we have to deal with difficult people, i still pray at this very moment, and i know i should trust God on this matter. I pray that God intervene by making people civil in their actions, and i pray to God that no retaliatory actions,and no bad mouthing. Ipray that that the Lord will enter the mind and heart of people that is hard to deal with with, so that we can have friendly relation with these people who are unfair in business, because we as human beings can only deal so much, still a trial among Christians.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this blog post. Interpersonal relationships can be really tough sometimes, and allowing the Holy Spirit to fill and control us is the key to responding well to people who treat us unfairly. May God give you wisdom and peace as you strive to have good relationships with others, my friend.