But I’ve Been Wronged!
We’ve all been there.
You do something nice for someone else and they blow you off. Or worse, they blame you or ridicule you for it.
You have been wronged.
How do you react?
Hopefully better than David did…
12-13 David’s men got out of there and went back and told David what he had said. David said, “Strap on your swords!” They all strapped on their swords, David and his men, and set out, four hundred of them. Two hundred stayed behind to guard the camp.
20-22 As she was riding her donkey, descending into a ravine, David and his men were descending from the other end, so they met there on the road. David had just said, “That sure was a waste, guarding everything this man had out in the wild so that nothing he had was lost—and now he rewards me with insults. A real slap in the face! May God do his worst to me if Nabal and every cur in his misbegotten brood aren’t dead meat by morning!”
-1 Samuel 25 – The Message
Hmmm…
Nabal said some pretty harsh things about David, and refused to acknowledge the assistance that David and his men offered. It was an insult and a slap in the face – true – but was it worth his reaction?
David is fuming. He is raging. He is beyond sense as he hears what Nabal said about him, and it sends him into a fury that will only be stopped by bloodshed.
Apparently he is still a hot-headed young man who isn’t quite ready to be king.
But how different are we?
No, we don’t generally set our hearts upon bloodshed, but the bible does say that what we ponder in our hearts is as much a sin as following through with the action.
When we are wronged or insulted our first reaction is often to “get even.” Sometimes we even consider acts of violence (not that we would ever follow through of course. *note the sarcasm*) but that is not how we are called to react.
ruh-roh.
Nope, we are called to forgive. To be humble. to turn the other cheek and – above all else – to love.
What?!!?!?
But God, You don’t know what they said! You don’t know what they did! They need to pay!
Well, actually, He does. The bible also reminds us that vengence is not ours to give. Justice is not ours to meter out. Those belong to God alone. He will judge our hearts and He will act where vengence is needed.
We are to be humble, forgiving souls that love those around us – even when they hurt us. We are to give to those in need no matter if we like them or not.
I must admit that this is an area that I need to work on. My initial reaction still takes a loooooooong time to get past. I fall into the “get-even” trap all too easily, and it is hard to pull out of that. In my own strength, well, let’s just say I can have some violent tendencies. In my own strength I can work myself up to be rather, um, well, not very nice.
But in God’s strength I can learn not only to forgive, but to seek reconciliation.
How about you? How do you react when you are wronged? Do tell…
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