The comfort in committing it to Him

You either have been, are being, or will be maligned or misunderstood. It is a trial and temptation "common to man" (1 Corinthians 10:13). If you are not a Christian, it will eat at you and perhaps result in your taking sinful action.

But if you are a believer in Jesus, you have the choice and the ability to handle it a different way. And though you will hear the scary billows outside the storm-tossed boat, it will not affect you inside, where your heart is hidden with Christ. And here is the way to that peace-the imitation of Christ:

"… Christ … [leaves] you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. … When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:21-23).

For Jesus is not only Savior but also Lord (Master). He is not only Lord but also Pioneer (Hebrews 12:2). He is not only Pioneer but also Refuge (Psalm 91:2). He shows us how to be safe no matter what is hailing.

King David showed understanding of this spiritual principle of handing over unfair personal treatment to God. When he was fleeing, heartbroken, from his own son Absalom's attempt to usurp the throne, and when a worthless Benjamite named Shimei, thinking the king washed up, came out of his house to hurl stones and insults at him, David's men asked permission to "take off his head" (2 Samuel 16:9).

David replied:

"What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, 'Curse David,' who then shall say, 'Why have you done so?' … Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today'" (2 Samuel 16:10-12).

The way I look at it is the way David looked at it: If the one who accuses me is right, then he is right and I needed to be rebuked, he has done me a favor. If the one who accuses me is wrong, then I am still OK because the Lord will lift me up in due time.