What would you do if you knew someone was trying to get you fired?
What would you do if a classmate was trying to get you in trouble with your teacher or friends?
I think it’s safe to say the majority of us would attempt to counteract the troublemaker’s actions. In the battle to save your job, friendships, etc. we think our actions would place us in a position to get the upper hand (I’ll hurt them before they hurt me).
I’m not advocating that you should not defend yourself if your character is under attack. By all means, you have the right to defend yourself.
However, you don’t want to lose your perspective by lowering yourself to your enemy’s level. Once you start retaliating by lying, cheating, stealing, etc. to get them back you allowed yourself to ruin your good reputation.
Although the methodology of getting the upper hand in a situation may appear to be logical, it will oftentimes prevent Christians from experiencing the blessings that God has in store for our lives. Joseph the son of Jacob received visions from God that he was going to be important.
Joseph’s brothers hated him because their father loved Joseph more. This started a chain reaction of the events that would later fulfill Joseph’s prophetic dreams (Gen 37:-50).
Think. What would have happened if Joseph found out his brothers were selling him to the Ishmaelites? Had Joseph operated under the “get the upper hand methodology” he never would have made it to Egypt became a ruler over Egypt and saved his family from starving to death.
Many of us spend so much time thinking about how people are trying to hurt us that we stop concentrating on God (Matthew 10:28). Your first reaction when you hear someone is planning to harm you either physically or mentally should be to pray (1 Thes 5:17).
Job is the perfect example of how we should control our desire to retaliate. Mainly because God has a hedge of protection around us.
Picture yourself inside of a well-guarded house. There are only three ways that you can be in danger:
- You can leave the house of your own free will.
- . Due to your disobedience, God kicks you out of the house.
- Like he did with David in the story of David and Goliath, God asks you to help protect the house.
We should keep in mind that when we retaliate this removes God’s protection because we’re going outside of God’s will. Although your enemies want to hurt you, God will always cause all things to work together for good if you trust him (Rom 8:28). We need to maintain a positive attitude when we’re dealing with someone out to get us because God will make their actions work in our favor (Gen 45:5). Don’t move ahead of God’s timing. Things happen for a reason.
God wants us to wait on him so He can safely guide us through those dark times. He does not want us exerting our energy or plotting “pre- retaliation” moves because he already stated vengeance is mine (Rom 12:19). If we stay in faith, our enemy poses no real danger to us (Rom 8:31). Therefore, we must be patient and let God do his job. He is our Father and wants nothing more than to protect us. He will never put his children In harm’s way.
The next time you hear about someone being “out to get you,” don’t worry (Matt 6:25-34), pray, and wait and see what He has in store for you.
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