Serving the Haters


Psalm 123
1To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.
3Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt.
4Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

When I was in Junior and Senior High, my best friends were not people of faith. They never went to church and quite often made fun of me for doing so. That was rather a mystery to me, for I had never really hung out with non-Christians before and I didn’t have a good answer for their taunts. One of those friends laughed in my face whenever it suited her. Apparently, I had rather thick skin, because I don’t remember caring about that very much. I was confused by it, but not put off the friendship.

At no point in the Bible are we told that everyone will be kind to us because of our faith. In fact, Jesus promises the opposite and clearly, David (the writer of this prayer) experienced the same derision for his faith. But he was not deterred from his faith by the taunts of those who did not love God. Instead, he lifted his eyes to the Lord. Clearly, he’s tired of those harsh words (and perhaps actions) but he continues in the faith, turning the naysayers over the Lord instead of lashing out himself. We find that same model in the Lord Jesus as He faced His accusers and torturers during The Passion. He remains mute in the face of terrible words spoken to Him and of Him.

That position of silence is enviable. How many of us can remain quiet in the storm of angry, harsh, or derisive words? I struggle, that’s for sure. A quick response always stands ready to be spoken. But maybe a better response would be to look to the heavens and turn that person over the Lord. Perhaps an attitude of love and kindness might cause them to stop and think about the fact that they are receiving grace rather than a defensive (or perhaps even offensive) retort. It’s really hard to do, but maybe it’s worth a try.

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