Save me, O God, by your name;
vindicate me by your might.
Hear my prayer, O God;
listen to the words of my mouth.
Arrogant foes are attacking me;
ruthless people are trying to kill me—
people without regard for God.
Surely God is my help;
the Lord is the one who sustains me.
Let evil recoil on those who slander me;
in your faithfulness destroy them.
I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.
You have delivered me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.
Arrogant foes are attacking me; ruthless people are trying to kill me—people without regard for God.
That’s never happened to you, right? You’ve never had anyone talk bad about you or tell people something that wasn’t true, have you? I’m guessing there are many who are reading this saying, “It has happened to me, and it’s happening right now!” Maybe it’s someone at work who is trying to make themselves look better than you. Maybe your friend is cutting you down to make herself look more important. Maybe someone is straight up lying about you. Does it sometimes seem that people are lying in wait to trip you up? They sometimes seem well-intentioned, but then “whammo” they complain about you to your peers or superiors. Or maybe you feel someone is trying to isolate you, and remove others from your life so that you’re dependent on them. These kind of attacks are really hard to take, aren’t they.
They may not be out to kill you, but they’re killing your spirit, because being misrepresented, lied about and manipulated is not good for the soul. These actions are often sadly performed by those professing to be Christians (full disclosure – I’m one of these people. I know that I have fallen short of treating others the way the Lord would treat them). But as painful as it is for me to admit I’m one of these people it’s even harder to hear that what I am doing shows disregard for God. And those who do this to you are disregarding God as well. They’re not following His command to love others as yourself. It’s all to easy to look out for “Numero Uno”. Oh wait. I guess that might be the problem, God should be “Numero Uno” in our lives, and when we replace Him with our own desires, we always get off track.
Surely God is my help.
How do you get through those horrible situations when people are on the attack, when the devil is on the attack and trying to distract you from your walk with God. Well, you’re not alone. God is your help. We need to lean on God in our tough situations and let Him handle them for us. Praying before we interact with those who trouble us, praying for opportunities to have healthy relationships with those who manipulate and to have the words to be firm but kind.