Good Morning Friends,
“Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with
me; fight against those who fight against me.
Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid. Brandish spear and javelin against those who
pursue me.” (Psalm 35:1-3)
I can’t remember being in a fight since I was
a young boy, at least not a physical fight.
However, I do recall several people through the years who have been
against me in one way or another. There
have been times when a person or two has tried to get me fired from a job. There have been times when someone has spread
false rumors about me to hurt my reputation.
I can think of a few other situations in which someone has clearly stood
against me, although not too many. I’ve
been pretty fortunate through the years.
My inclination when someone is against me is
to lash out at them. If they have hurt
me or tried to hurt me, I want to hurt them back, and do worse to them than
they have done to me. I want to rally
those who support me to stand against those who stand against me. That’s my natural inclination. It’s what I want to do.
I’m sure it was David’s natural inclination,
too. It must have been what he wanted to
do. But it’s not what he did! Instead of lashing out at those who stood
against him, David turned to the Lord for help.
David chose not to take matters into his own hands by fighting back at
those who were against him. David chose
not to rally those who supported him to do battle with him or for him. Instead, David trusted the Lord to deal with
those who were against him.
That seems like a very wise move to me. For one thing, there have been occasions when
those who stood against me were right.
If I’d fought back at them it just would have compounded the wrong I’d
done. God can always see what’s right,
we can trust Him to deal with others only in ways that are right. For another thing, I am tempted to hurt worse
than I’ve been hurt. That would be
responding more harshly than appropriate.
God is never harsher than the situation calls for. And one more thing, when I strike back I am
not thinking about what’s best for the person I’m striking against, only at
making up for what’s been done to me.
But with God, everything that He does is for the good of the object of
His action. When He does strike at those
who have stood against us, it’s not for vengeance sake, but for correction’s
sake, to draw them toward Him.
My goal is to follow David’s plan and trust
those who stand against me to the Lord.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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