let them curse

Let them curse, but you will bless!

They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!

Psalm 109:28

No way in the world will I always be well thought of among all people! Some people just won’t like me. Some will never tell me that. Some will, and we have a shot at working it out. Others may just hate me. Some my mutter curses against me or work against my welfare. I never want to deliberately create that kind of conflict and I hope to offer grace should this kind of thing come into my life when I respond to it. But this kind of thing happens. It happened to David. He had people who cursed him and wished him to be dead.

All of the 109th psalm is a prayer turning these kinds of situations of oppression, false accusations, and curses over to a sovereign God to perform what His righteous justice will decree. And David trusts that God will work these things out. Let the accusers curse, but God will still bless him. Eventually God will expose their sin, be their judge, and put the accusers to shame. And David was happy to let God take care of the whole mess!

So if in the clear course of following Jesus I am accused, cursed, or oppressed, I will seek to learn from David’s faith. Praying for justice while trusting God, secure in the unshakeable belief that He works it all out for our good and His great glory, will always be the best way to respond to personal attacks. And this humble faith is what I hope to always seek.

The world says: “Fight for your rights! Stand up to your bully! Be loud and proud!” But the scriptures call us to yield our rights to God, to let God fight for us and help us withstand, and to humbly declare our faith as we are right in our cause. That is how we will see God bring justice. We can’t make it ourselves, but God will.