Category: Overcoming Adversity

Why More Money Is Not the Solution to Your Anxieties

Are you struggling with financial stress, low self-esteem, depression, or marital discord? People often believe the solution to their stress and unhappiness is more money. Do you often think, “If I only had more money, I would be happier?” Perhaps you imagine winning the lottery and believe all your burdens and financial problems would melt away. Would all your troubles disappear and your attitude permanently change? 

Are extremely wealthy people happier? The rich and famous may have more earthly treasures, but this does not lead them to greater happiness or satisfaction. Many studies have shown that extreme wealth is a hindrance to happiness. American author, Graeme Wood, wrote an article in The Atlantic entitled “Secret Fears of the Super-Rich.” The piece included a behind-the-scenes look at a project that asked wealthy individuals, those with a net worth above $25 million, to write freely about their deepest concerns. The stunning revelation to most readers was that the participants faced many anxieties, including isolation, worries about work and their families, and insecurities about their wealth. Graeme Wood concluded, “The respondents turned out to be a generally despondent lot, whose money had contributed to deep anxieties involving love, work, and family). (The Atlantic, April 2011 issue). Since the release of the landmark project on wealth and happiness, more recent studies have verified these conclusions.

Let us not overlook the idea that some may be in a desperate position and struggle daily to provide the basic necessities of life for themselves. They will likely have some anxieties that money or access to the essentials could resolve. Otherwise, money is not your answer to your worries. 

Life is full of many challenges, and Jesus himself said, “In this world you will have trouble.” John 16:33. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the solution to reducing and managing your anxieties. However, the Bible does not suggest that all your troubles disappear once you have a relationship with Jesus. The scriptures offer a solution to managing our anxiety and lifting the burden of worry. 

Abie Kulynych, a pastor and author, believes one way we can reduce our anxieties is by actively remembering God’s provisions in the past. In his devotional “Thou Art with Me, Volume 2,” he discussed how the nation of Israel became anxious about their needs being met, despite God supplying them with manna daily.  “For Israel, there came a point where gathering manna was simply what they did rather than what God had done for them. They were so accustomed to the miracle that they forgot it was miraculous. What if the key to quieting the voice of anxiety is constantly reminding ourselves of God’s goodness? What if Israel, every morning, when they walked out into the open places to gather their manna, had stopped and said, “Look what God has done for us today?” What if we did more than count our blessings? What if we recounted them? I’m not talking about telling our story to someone else, but telling it to ourselves, regularly, daily, constantly. I think that if we told our testimony to ourselves more often, we’d have more opportunities to share it with others.” (Page 317, Commentary on Psalm 149)

God blesses each of us daily. If we reflect on God’s blessings and His past provisions, we will be more likely to trust Him to meet our future needs. God wants us to trust Him. He does not want us to be anxious but to come to Him with our needs.  

God instructed the Israelites to record their blessings and to remind their children of God’s faithfulness in the past. We need to incorporate that command in our lives and with our children. 

Here are a few suggestions to start recording God’s faithfulness in your life: 

  1. Create a blessings journal.
  2. Read your journal regularly to remind yourself of God’s faithfulness.
  3. Share stories of God’s provisions with your children to increase their faith and trust in God to meet their needs.
  4. Place notes around the house to remind you to take all your needs to God in prayer. He wants you to ask for His help and is delighted to answer your prayers and meet your needs.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 6-7

If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have not yet experienced the peace of God. I urge you to accept Jesus’s free gift of salvation and experience the true peace that can only come by knowing that your sins are forgiven, and you will spend eternity in Heaven. Guidance on how to take this life-changing step is in the link “Basics of Salvation.”

My Bible study, Honoring God with Your Money, is a great resource to help you understand how to manage your money better and achieve your financial goals. It is available on Amazon. If you would like to receive my quarterly newsletter with tips on managing your money, please complete this short form: Honoring God with Your Money (list-manage.com)

8 Steps to Help You Survive Times of Financial Challenges

Sometimes we find ourselves in challenging financial situations, despite our best efforts to budget and manage our money. For my family, one of these times came in 2009 when my husband was laid off from his job. As the primary wage earner, his salary accounted for 70% of our income. Little did we know, it would be nearly three years before he returned to work. 

You may be in a similar situation. Amazon announced this week that they would be laying off 9,000 workers in addition to the 18,000 layoffs that were announced in January. Yahoo plans to lay off 20% of its staff by the end of 2023, and Zoom has recently laid off 1,300 workers. Even if you are in no danger of losing your job, your budget and finances may have been negatively impacted by the steep increase in interest rates or rising prices for food and gasoline.

When my husband called me at work to say he was packing up his office belongings, I did not panic. I was filled with an amazing amount of peace. My faith has never been in the government or the economy; it is in God, and God takes care of His people. I am comforted by the words Jesus spoke to His disciples in Luke 12:27-28. Jesus told His followers, “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!”

If you find yourself negatively impacted by rising costs and your peace shaken, the first step is to put your faith in God. If you have been tithing and managing your money in ways that honor God, He will bless you during this challenge. However, He also expects you to use wisdom to evaluate your expenses and make cuts where possible. Godly principles apply to all areas of our lives, including becoming financially sound during unstable times. 

Here are some of the steps we took that helped us survive without my husband’s salary:

  1. Examine your expenses. Be ruthless in cutting all unnecessary costs. Our first cut was the daily newspaper. Our second was trash pickup service. There is a convenience center near our home, and my husband could drop off our trash. We did not cut out cable and Internet, but we reduced our cable package to save money.
  2. Apply for unemployment. You have been paying into this fund for many years for just such a circumstance. You will likely receive 25% or less of your previous salary, but you will appreciate having it.
  3. Update your resume and start your job search. Let your family and friends know that you are job hunting. They may know someone who knows someone who has a job for you.
  4. Commit to cooking at home and not eating out. Home-cooked meals are healthier and less costly than eating out. Make a list of low-cost meals you like. We “dusted” off the dozen or so meals we fixed regularly as poor graduate students when we were first married. In college, we saved money on food by eating meatless meals occasionally for a week, and we did that again during this period.
  5. Freeze all discretionary spending. Do not spend your new-found free time shopping on the Internet. Only buy what is absolutely necessary, and then shop for the best deal.
  6. Make a list of all the ways you can have fun without spending any money. Invite friends over and pull out the board games and puzzles for hours of free leisure time. Visit free venues like public parks, museums, and community events. Re-engage in activities you have been too busy to enjoy, such as biking, fishing, and hiking. 
  7. Finish projects you started. You may have home repairs that you never got around to doing or unfinished crafts/sewing/needlepoint projects that could be completed and given as gifts.  
  8. Sell unneeded items. While you are unemployed, clean out your closets and basement and have a yard sale. You may have higher ticket items, such as furniture, that you no longer need that you can sell to generate some extra cash.

These are just a few tips to help you survive financial challenges. I would also urge you to (1) continue tithing on any income you receive during this period and (2) record God’s faithfulness to provide for you in unexpected ways during this time.

To learn more about how to honor God with your money and build treasure in Heaven, please click the Finances categories tab to find many blogs on money management, budgeting, and stewardship. My book Honoring God with Your Money is a great tool for financial money management.

Speaking the Word of God

I read a very sad, yet hopeful, story today about a man had suffered great pain and how he was helped by Christian speaking Scripture to him. It was a reminder that Christians need to regularly read the Bible and spend time in prayer so that we are ready to share Christ with those God puts in our path. My mother referred to this as being “prayed up.”

Scott Smith do not have a personal relationship with God when his daughter was raped in a high school bathroom. The attack filled the family with pain and anger. As Smith sought justice for his daughter, he met a Christian man named Jon Tigges. Tigges befriended him and invited him to travel across the country with him. Tigges was going to share with other conservatives ways to defend their constitutional rights. Smith decided to accompany Tigges, as he felt it would give him an opportunity to share his story.

Smith found that most people already knew his story, and over and over, the Christians he met prayed the same prayer for him. The prayer was Ephesians 6:10 – 13, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Man and women sitting on a couch while reading the Bible. Each person has an open Bible, and the man is pointing to a Scripture in the woman's Bible.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Smith found peace through the words and Scriptures shared with him by the Christians he encountered on this trip. He came to the conclusion that the purpose of the trip had been for these Christian people to share God’s message with him. He learned to put his trust in God, and God replaced his anger with peace. Smith is now walking with the Lord, because Christians spoke God’s word to him.

Speaking the word of God is the most powerful tool we have. It can help to overcome despair, bitterness, loneliness, anger, and a host of other negative emotions. People across this land are hurting, and they need to hear the word of God. The word of God is light and life. It offers hope to a dark world.

Ask God today to provide opportunities for you to share His word with those you encounter. Read your Bible, prayer, and be ready to share the word of God.

hands folded in prayer atop an open Bibel
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Generosity is a Response to God’s Saving Grace

God exemplified true generosity by providing a means of salvation for all who will accept His free gift.  Romans 5:8 tells us, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Jesus is the only perfect person who has ever lived on this earth.  The rest of us are not perfect.  We do not deserve to be saved.  Yet, Jesus went to the cross and paid the price for our sins.   Jesus’s sacrifice was a manifestation of God’s love and generosity.

Because God is generous to us, we should be generous with others.  Generosity should flow from the hearts of Christians in response to God’s love for us.  He has given us so much and we, in turn, give a portion of  it to those around us who are in need.  James tells us that “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”  James 1:27

In the seventh chapter of Zechariah, the people of Israel are crying out to God for relief from their oppressors. They protest that they have prayed, fasted, and mourned.  The Lord tells Zechariah that they are just going through the motions, without having a right heart.  If there hearts were right, they would take care of those in need.  “Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.”  Zechariah 7: 9, 10

James goes on to say that true faith is demonstrated when we take actions to help our fellow man. “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”  James 2: 15 – 17

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Generosity should not be confused with socialism or income distribution. God has never directed His people to take care of those who are able but unwilling to care for themselves.  In fact, Paul wrote that “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”  2 Thessalonians 3: 10 

Generosity is to be shown to widows, orphans, and those who are in true need of help.  We should take every opportunity to help those who need help as an outpouring of gratitude to God for His love for us and as a means to demonstrate to those in need that God loves and cares for them.

That the Works of God Should be Revealed

The entire ninth chapter of John is devoted to the story of Jesus healing a man who had been blind from birth.  As I listened to my pastor preach from this text on Sunday, I was particularly impressed by the first few verses in which the disciples assumed that the man’s blindness was the result of sin, either by the blind man himself or his parents.

Jesus responds to their question in verse 3, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”

What a powerful statement.  This was a grown man who had spent his childhood and some portion of his adult life blind, in order that Jesus could heal him on this particular day and reveal to the world that He had the power to forgive sins and to heal infirmities.

This struck a personal chord with me.  When I was 5, my mother gave birth to my brother John.  In the weeks after his birth, we came to realize that John could neither see nor hear.  The doctors said that John’s birth defects were due to my mother having contracted German measles while pregnant. When John was 3, however, it became clear that he was born as he was in order that God might reveal Himself to our family.

 

My mother casually asked the wife of my father’s commanding officer to pray for John, as he was to undergo surgery in an attempt to provide him with some limited sight.  The woman responding by coming over to our house immediately and sharing Jesus with my mother and encouraging her to read the Gospel of John.  My mother read John that very night and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

Over the next four years, all the members of our immediately family accepted Jesus as their Savior.  Soon after my father’s salvation, God called John home to Heaven.  John did not receive his sight or hearing while on Earth.  He never learned to speak and never shared the Gospel with anyone, yet we know that the salvation of our family and many others is credited to his account in Heaven.

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful to God for revealing Himself to our family by sending us John.

Do Not Fret Because of Evil Men

There is no doubt that our nation is becoming ever more accepting of sin and wickedness.  Over the past several decades, we have legalized the murdering of unborn children, accepted adultery and other forms of sexual immorality as the norm, and determined that everyone should do what is right in his or her own eyes.  As a person who strives to honor and glorify the Lord in my life, I find it is easy to become discouraged.  Our nation is pulling further and further from God and Christian are becoming persecuted for standing up for our beliefs.

As I read God’s word, however, I realize that this is nothing new.  Sinners have always done evil and tried to persecute those who serve the Lord.  David wrote often about his sufferings in the years between being anointed to be the next king of Israel and the fulfillment of that promise.

Psalm 36 opens with these words from David, “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:  There is no fear of God before his eyes.  For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.”  (Psalm 36:  1,2)  Wow!  Interesting choice of words, for sure:  “in his own eyes, he flatters himself.”   I have never thought of those who are leading our nation deeper into sins as flatters of themselves, but it does make senses.  Those who support the killing of innocent, unborn children have convinced themselves that they are ‘protecting the rights of women.’  This is certainly an example of self-flattery.  Not only have they convinced themselves that abortion is not a sin, but they congratulate themselves on doing something good and noble.

David continues, “The words of his [the wicked] mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.  Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.”  (Psalm 36: 3, 4)

It truly is discouraging to witness politicians and political activists leading our nation to even greater depths of sin.  Yet, I know that God is on the throne.  He allows mankind to run the show for a while, but He is never far away and He will not allow this evil to continue indefinitely.  In Psalm 37:7 – 9 David reminds us of this.  “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.  Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret–it leads only to evil.  for evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.”

 

Meditations of My Heart

Psalm 19: 14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” 

This verse is an oft-quoted one.  I have used it numerous times in teaching children that it is important to watch what we put into our heart and what comes out of our mouths.  In particular, I have used it to teach that God is displeased when we speak words that are angry, hurtful, vulgar, or lies.  In conjunction, I teach them that these displeasing words will be in our hearts and come out of our mouths, if we feed our minds with similar thoughts through the shows and movies we watch and the books we read.

As I read this verse recently, however, the Lord opened my eyes to see that all words and thoughts that are self-focused are unacceptable to Him.  When I dwell on my problems and the challenges I face in life, then the meditations of my heart are not acceptable to Him.  I turn my focus from Him to the world.  My thoughts can easily become dark and depressing, because we live in a troubled, fallen world.

We will all face times of enormous challenge in life, such as the loss of loved ones, the loss of a job, and struggles with our health.  In these times, we will naturally focus more on ourselves than on others.  But, we should never take our eyes off Jesus.  “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)

The psalmist David cried out to the Lord in a time of trouble, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” (Psalm 13:2, NIV)  Then he reminded himself, “But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:5-6, NIV)

The way out of the pits of despair we dig for ourselves is to turn our eyes upon Jesus and to remember His unfailing love.  When the meditations of my heart are not pleasing to the Lord, I need to turn my eyes back to Him and rejoice in His salvation and sing to Him.  For indeed, the Lord has been good to me.

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When God Sends Hardships Our Way

Hardships are a fact of life that we prefer to avoid.  We ask God to send blessings our way and to keep hardships far from us.  When hardships do come, we tend to blame them on the devil.  But, have you ever stopped to think the God might have sent hardship your way?

This reality hit home recently as I read Genesis 15.  This is the chapter where God promises Abram that He will make him a great nation and that His descendants will be as numerous as the stars.  Yet, in the same breath, God tells Abram that the his children will be enslaved in Egypt.

“Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.'”  Genesis 15:5

“Then He said to Abram: ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them for four hundred years.  And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”  Genesis 15:13, 14

“But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Genesis 15:16

Stop and think about this for a minute.  Is that the kind of promise you want for your unborn children:  They will be enslaved for 400 years.  I might have been tempted to tell God that I was just fine without children.  But, Abraham didn’t.  He believed God would supply him with many descendants and that God would bless them through the hardships that would come their way.

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In Exodus, we see this promise fulfilled.  When God sent Moses to Pharaoh to demand His people be set free, Pharaoh made life harder for the Israelites.  As Pharaoh continued to ignore Moses’ warnings, God encouraged Moses that He was in control and that these things were happening so that “the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 7:5)

Later Moses tells Pharaoh that the plagues are being sent so “that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.” (Exodus 8:10).  In Exodus 10:1- 2, God encourages Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

Through the hardships of enslavement that the Israelites endured, God showed His mighty power and instilled in them that He is the Lord God almighty.  The Israelites grew to be a mighty nation and left Egypt with great wealth. When they left Egypt, there was no doubt in the minds of the Egyptians that the God of Israel is the one true God.

God allowed the hardship of slavery to come to the Israelites to bring glory to Himself and to spread His fame throughout the world.  God’s fame was still being talked about forty years later when the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land and spies were sent out Jericho. Rahab told the spies, “We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt….And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”  (Joshua 2: 10, 11)

As God has revealed to me that He uses hardships for His glory and His purposes, I have become more willing to pray that God bring into my life whatever circumstances will glorify Him and draw my unsaved loved ones to Him.

Resilience Despite Mistakes and Adversity

I have just finished chapter 5 of Jodi Detrick’s book The Jesus-Hearted Woman.  The chapter is titled ‘Resilience.’  In it Detrick discusses the need to continue fulfilling the tasks God has called us to even when (1) we make mistakes, (2) others hurt us, or (3) life throws curve balls our way.  Detrick refers to these events as My Bad, Their Bad and Too Bad.  Her discussion questions at the end of the chapter focused on Joseph and the resilience he needed in order to become the leader God desired him to be. Unfortunately, Joseph experienced a number of My Bad, Their Bad and Too Bad moments along the way.

As a young man, Joseph had a dream that his brothers bowed down to him.  Unfortunately, sharing the first dream was one of Joseph’s ‘My Bad’ moments.  His brothers already were angry with him because he brought a bad report about them to his father, and they were jealous that their father loved Joseph more than his other sons. This dream added fuel to the fire.  Genesis 37:8 tells us, “So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.”  If this wasn’t enough, Joseph had a second dream in which not only his brothers but also his parents bowed down to him.  And, of course, he shared this dream with his father and brothers–another ‘My Bad’ action. His brothers were angry and wanted revenge on Joseph.

Joseph experienced a ‘Their Bad’ moment when his brothers sold him as a slave to a company of Ishmaelites.  Joseph was bought by Potiphar, a captain of the guard in Pharaoh’s army.  God favored Joseph, and he rose to a position of prominence in Potiphar’s household. Apparently Joseph wasn’t yet ready for the leadership role God had in store for him, as he was falsely accused of inappropriate behavior toward his master’s wife and thrown in prison–another ‘Their Bad’ moment.

We don’t know how long Joseph was imprisoned, but we do know that thirteen years passed between the time his brothers sold him and when Pharaoh released him.  At least several of these years were spent in prison.  It must have been difficult for Joseph to sit in prison year and year waiting for God to deliver him.  I am sure that he recognized that he and his father bore some responsibility for his brothers’ hatred toward him, but he was completely innocent of the charges brought against him by Potiphar’s wife.  It would have been easy for Joseph to become bitter about the circumstances of his life.  He could have convinced himself that God was against him and that his life was over.  But Joseph didn’t get angry and he didn’t give up.  He persevered.  He was resilient despite all the adverse things that had happened to him.

Genesis 39: 21 – 22 tells us, “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.  And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing.”  Joseph’s rise in the prison to a position of leadership did not come overnight.  He had to prove to the keeper that he was reliable and responsible. As he did, his responsibilities increased until Joseph was running the prison.   After some time had passed, the king’s chief butler and chief baker were imprisoned.  Joseph interpreted dreams for each of them which came to pass just as he had foretold. Joseph had shared his plight with the butler and asked the butler to mention his situation to Pharaoh.  How he must have hoped that his release from prison would come soon.  Yet, we read in Genesis 41:1, that another two years passed before the chief butler remembered Joseph.  ‘Too Bad,’ but again Joseph was resilient and persevered.

Eventually, however, Pharaoh had a dream which his wise men could not interpret.  It was then that the butler remembered Joseph.  Joseph interpreted the dreams, being careful to give all the glory to God.  He shared with Pharaoh that God was giving him an opportunity to prepare Egypt for the coming famine.  Pharaoh appointed Joseph to a position of great power, second in command only to Pharaoh himself.  Joseph was used by God to save Egypt and Joseph’s own family from starvation.

We can only surmise as to why God delayed Joseph’s release from prison.  Certainly, in prison Joseph was developing the leadership skills he would need later as a leader over Egypt.  During those years, Joseph continued to serve the Lord and God’s favor was on him.  As the leader of Egypt, Joseph had grown and changed much from the arrogant teenager his brothers had sold into slavery.  When Joseph appeared before Pharaoh, he was humble and quick to give the glory to God.  God opened Pharaoh’s eyes to see that Joseph was the right person to lead Egypt through the coming famine.

Any one in leadership positions faces My Bad, Their Bad, and Too Bad situations on occasion.  The challenges Joseph faced prepared him for more leadership responsibilities. Like Joseph, we must be resilient and allow the adversities we face to help us develop as leaders.  As we do, we will be able to do more and accomplish more, until we complete the work God has called us to do.

Showing Up One’s Enemies

Have you ever been in a situation where you were hurt or embarrassed and you said to yourself, “I’ll show them.”?  I have on many occasions.  I can remember thinking something along the lines of, “If I win the award, that will teach them.”  Or “People will take me seriously if ….”  It’s seems odd to me that as I write this, I cannot remember any of the offenses that caused me to have those thoughts, but I clearly recall thinking them.  I hope, and pray, that my lack of recall stems from truly forgiving those who hurt me.

As I read Psalm 109 this morning, I felt like David was expressing this same basic sentiment.  He begins Psalm 109 by calling on the Lord to come to his defense.  “O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent.”  (Psalm 109:1).  David spend the next several verses laying out his complaint to the Lord:

  • “they have spoken against me with lying tongues” (v. 2)
  • “they attack me without cause” (v. 3)
  • “they accuse me” (v. 4)
  • “they repay me evil for good, and hatred for friendship” (v. 5)

David then clearly and specifically asked God to destroy his enemies.  He asks that God cut his enemy’s life short, leaving his wife and children with no means of support, so that they have to take to the streets as beggars.  He furthers requests that no one show kindness to this family and that the family name be blotted out.

David then reminds the Lord that David was not the only one his enemy treated badly.  “For he never thought of doing a kindness, but hounded to death the poor and the needy and the brokenhearted.” (v. 16)

Does David’s complaint sound familiar?  If we are honest, we all have to admit that we have made, or at least thought, similar statements.  “He’s the meanest man I have ever met.”  “She never has a nice word to say about anyone.”  “He would step on his own mother if it would help his reach his goal.”

heaping coals

There will always be mean people in this world, and when we encounter them, we often wish evil on them, as David did.  Or we hope to show them up.  If we can play fair and still win, that will really show them.  Or if God blesses us mightily, they will wish they had been nicer, fairer, kinder.  This sentiment is expressed by David near the end of this psalm.

In verse 21, David writes “But you, O Sovereign Lord, deal well with me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.”  He goes on to say, “Let them know that it is your hand, that you, O Lord, have done it.  They may curse, but you will bless; when they attack, they will be put to shame, but your servant will rejoice.  My accusers will be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak. (Psalm 109: 27 – 29)

If David, a man after God’s own heart, wanted to show up his enemies and disgrace them, we cannot hope to feel less animosity toward our enemies.  The desire to show up one’s enemies and force them to realize that God is blessing you is a natural one.  However, like David, we need to remember that if God answers our prayer as we desire, it is for His sake and for His glory that He does so.  David reminded God that since David is his servant, God is glorified when David prospers.

We should also remember that David’s son Solomon advised treating our enemies with kindness.  “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”  (Proverbs 25:22)  Solomon is reminding us that although we may pray for God to embarrass our enemies and show them up by blessing us, we are still to treat our enemies fairly.   And Jesus taught us to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  (Matthew 5:44)   Justice is to be left to the Lord. 

love your enemies

So, the next time you feel like showing up your enemy, maybe you should stop and pray for him.  Ask God what kindnesses He would have you show him.  You may be heaping burning coals on his head, but you may also open his eyes to the love of the Lord, and in doing so,  your enemy may become your brother in Christ.

What situations have occurred in your life where you really wanted God to honor you in a way that would show up your enemies and make them take notice that God had blessed you?

How have you ‘heaped burning coals’ on your enemy’s head?

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