Have you ever been falsely accused of something? Misunderstood? Have you ever had your good intentions twisted around? Have you ever been completely blindsided by someone's interpretation of something you did or said? Have you ever had someone not think the best of you or question your motives?
There's this human need in us to want to confront and set people right, especially when our reputations are at stake. At least I know it's in me! And I honestly believe this is one of the most used tactics of the enemy when he's trying to divide or cause disunity amongst God's people. He loves to cause confusion and offense. He loves to pit people against each other in hopes they will abandon the One they put their trust and turn inward to their fleshly nature. But God has shown me over and over again, that I don't have to play by everyone else's rules.
We can either run to defend ourselves or run to our defender.
“The Lord is your mighty defender…” Deuteronomy 32:4
The enemy wants you offended. In your offense, he has his way with you! He stirs up your pride and anger. He wants you to react and misstep. In your offense, he lays a trap for you. And ultimately this trap is about getting your eyes off God and onto yourself, setting yourself up for destruction.
But God tells us that we don’t have to fall for this. He tells us that revenge is His. He tells us that we are to repay evil with good. Basically, he tells us when others misunderstand us, accuse us, twist our good intentions, or try to smear our reputations, we’re not to defend ourselves but run to our defender.
This has always been an issue for me because I used to love confrontation. I used to love to defend myself!! Because I was good at it. And I still am. But over the years, God has softened my heart. He has shown me that He is good at being defender. And because I have stopped running to my defense, but instead have run to my defender, He has AMAZED me.
I remember the first time. The first time I didn’t defend myself against someone who was bound and determined to misunderstand me. It was hard. I wanted to make a list, draw a chart, throw a punch LOL, basically, I wanted to set them straight! But I didn’t. I was hurt, but I was tired. Tired of doing things my way and things not getting any better. So I decided to do things God’s way. I decided to let God handle it.
And he did.
But it took some time before it was evident. And during that time, I repaid evil with good. And it was hard. But it didn’t take long before it felt like freedom.
The burden was no longer mine to bear. The burden was His. In following His word, He had given me a gift. The gift of a light load. The gift of freedom. I still felt the sting of this person’s actions, but in time, that sting was more like the sting of a little sweat bee. It no longer had the effect on me it had before. Because I knew God was working mightily as my defender and I didn’t have to worry about the outcome. Whatever it was, I had given myself over to my Great Defender. I was under His command, no one else’s.
And for a while things got worse. But He showed Himself mighty in the end. And I say this because sometimes we think that we won’t have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death when we make God our defender, but we still might have to, friends. The promise is that He is with us. AND THAT HE PREPARETH A TABLE FOR US IN THE PRESENCE OF OUR ENEMIES.
And when we follow His leading, we get to eat at that table, friends!! And there is no better guest of honor at that table than Jesus Christ himself, who longs to show you that He truly is your all and all, no matter your circumstances.
He's got you. He's got you. He's got you.
After that, it got easier to not defend myself and run to my defender. And he has truly amazed me at all they ways he has gone before me in the different situations that have come up because I ran to Him and not myself. This has grown my trust in Him and taught me to keep my eyes on Him and not fall into the enemy’s trap of defending myself.
If you are walking through a situation right now where you are fighting the need to defend yourself, give it up. Run to your defender. Let Him do the job that belongs to Him.