Every so often, I am asked to go to my daughter’s house and organize. Organization is something I am good at. Therefore, when she needs a room organized and doesn’t know where to start, she calls Mom. When the call one week a couple years ago, it was to organize Bryson’s room. He was away at bible camp, and we wanted to surprise him.
When I arrived at their house, I got busy cleaning and organizing as soon as I entered his room. Then, something on his wall caught my eye and I stopped to read it. Bryson has a dry erase board; he puts things on it that he wants to remember. As I read his latest addition, this Nana was overwhelmed with pride. His note said, “People can be like garbage trucks. They can dump all their garbage, their anger, frustration, etc., on you and all you can do is wave and wish them well.”
Oh, my goodness! How profound for a teenage boy! That was my first thought. My second was, how true that statement is.
Psalm 109:3 says, They have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause.
Has this ever happened to you? Someone verbally attacks you without a cause. I know it has happened to me, more than once.
I have learned from experience that you cannot let those words get inside your heart; you must deal with them right away. And you must do it God’s way. Otherwise, it will eat you alive.
Let’s see what the Bible says about this:
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12
Exceedingly glad!!??? Really! That is not what you feel like doing when you are attacked.
Proverbs 19:11 in the Passion Translation says, A wise person demonstrates patience, for mercy means holding your tongue. When you are insulted, be quick to forgive and forget it, for you are virtuous when you overlook an offense.
I love this! Mercy means holding your tongue. I want to reap mercy from God; therefore, I will sow mercy by holding my tongue.
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Romans 12:14
And this one.
Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3:9
The Word of God is clear. When someone dumps their garbage, their anger and frustration on us, we can only do this.
Forgive them. And bless them. In doing so, the Word of God says we will inherit a blessing. Wow, I think it is more than worth it, don’t you?
