Trusting God with the Treacherous
Psalm 25:1-3
LORD, I turn my hope to You, My God, I trust in You. Do not let me be disgraced; do not let my enemies gloat over me. Not one person who waits for You will be disgraced; those who act treacherously without cause will be disgraced.
To act treacherously is to be guilty of betrayal or deceit against someone. Unfortunately, most of us have experienced some degree of betrayal and deception from those we have allowed to be close to us, and it stings like no other personal attack. While our first instinct may be to retaliate, the best thing we can do is to follow David’s example and cry out to God, surrender the matter to Him, and wait on Him to act. Everything within us may be calling us to retatiate, but if we take matters into our own hands to try to avenge ourselves, we can actually make the situation worse. We must learn to surrender the areas where we have no control to God, rather than trying to demand what we want and risk hurting someone else in the process.
When people don’t seem to like us or want to cooperate with us, we must surrender them to God. Even if they are working against us in some manner, God has the ability to override their opinions and their schemes. He can vindicate us like no other, and we must learn to trust Him with attitudes or actions that oppose us. If we turn on them, we begin to act as treacherously as they do and will cause our own disgrace. Rather than worrying about what someone else thinks or does, we must turn our hope to God and trust Him. Let Him handle any wrong opinion or judgment against you.
Is someone making you feel uncomfortable or unacceptable in some way? Turn your hope to God. Is someone acting rudely to you or trying to persuade unfavorable opinions about you? Surrender the matter to God and trust Him to defend you. Has someone betrayed your trust and twisted the truth in order to destroy your reputation or relationships? Not one person who waits on God to move in an unfair situation will be disgraced, but we can bring our own disgrace by attacking where we don’t have a clear understanding. Don’t become treacherous; trust the treacherous to God. He is for you and will not allow your enemy to gloat over you. His grace and favor are all you need to do everything He has purposed you to do. He never called you to win the approval of others, and He will deal with anything that stands against you.
Remember God’s promise in Psalm 23. He prepares a table before you in the presence of your enemies. He anoints your head with oil; your cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life, and you will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Expect God’s favor to deal with those who have acted treacherously against you. His favor graciously applied to your life is the greatest revenge, but it is God’s to grant as He chooses. Trust Him with the treacherous.
Have a blessed day!