Your Daily Devotional for June 13, 2007

 

June 13,  2007

 

 

Wrongful Accusations

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

"The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."

 

Psalm 34:17-18

 

 

Some people often ask the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" None of us are good in and of ourselves, yet sometimes it seems as if trials come even when we are faithfully serving God. God does not promise that our lives will be free of injustices, but He does promise to help us through them.

 

Sometimes we may be faced with the injustice of a wrongful accusation. Even when our testimony is pure, others may accuse us of things we did not do. There are many injustices in life, yet sometimes these accusations can become discouraging.

 

We've all heard the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." That is simply not true. No matter what age a person is, unkind words or wrongful accusations can hurt us and result in broken hearts.

 

When we go through the heartache of an injustice in our lives, we must look to the Lord. He was wrongfully accused when He was on earth. Mark 14:58 says, "We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands."

 

In order to "rightfully" crucify Christ, the religious leaders had to accuse Him of some crime, yet He had no fault. This was a lie, and I'm sure it broke our Lord's heart to know that the people He loved were falsely accusing Him. Yet He did not retaliate; He simply loved them.

 

Even when those around us accuse us or slander our names, we must love them. It is not easy to overlook injustice, yet we must look to Christ as our example and love these people. Matthew 5:44 says, "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."  Christ wants us to love even those who purposefully try to hurt us. We must look to Christ for strength to love those who wrongfully accuse us.

 

I once heard a missionary to China describe the different characters of the Chinese alphabet. He came to one symbol that looked like a knife through a heart and explained how that character symbolized the word "perseverance." Even when others have hurt us, we can persevere through God's strength.

 

Have you been wrongfully accused? Have you been hurt by someone around you? God never promises to keep us from trials, yet He does promise to help us through them. Ask Christ to help you love those who have hurt you. Seek His strength to continue faithfully serving Him today.

 

 

 

 

Daily Bible Reading

Ezra 6-8 • John 21

 

 

 

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