Daily Devotional - 9/10

Focus Letter - J





Pray for:
Five things I am grateful for that begin with the focus letter
Five people whose first and last name begin with the focus letter
A place that begins with the focus letter
A characteristic to grow in that begins with the focus letter

Dear Lord - Open my ears. I know You are always speaking to me but often I do not hear. I want to hear. Grant me the strength to obey.


Psalms 10


God sees trouble and grief. I am not alone. I will just commit myself to God. He will take care of me and be my defender. He is Lord.

God is not far off although sometimes it seems He is. Abusers and bullies surround us and I believe that there is a part in all of us that can be this way as well. The innocent and weak are taken advantage of. They are abused. It is a dog eat dog world. There are the abusers and the abused and if we do not respond to God properly, we will become one or the other.

Why do people abuse? They do it because they can. They think they will not be found out. They have forgotten God. In all of their thinking, their consuming thoughts of themselves and their desires, there is no room for God. (vs. 4 & 11)


And why does God allow such bad things to happen? Why does He not stop it? It is difficult to understand but what we live through and survive makes us stronger. We can comfort others with the comfort we have received. If we can forgive and deal properly with something, we can survive, and even flourish. Eventually, we will even be able to help others with those same issues. (II Cor 1: 3 - 7)

But bullies and those they bully are not that different. They are both weak. A bully does what he or she does due to a weakness in their character. They are not satisfied to live. A deep seated insecurity drives them to tear down others. There is no room for everyone to succeed in their world. They are weak. And the ones who are bullied are weak as well. For whatever reason, they have not developed the inner strength to set boundaries or to stand up for themselves.

There is a third type of person, however. There is the strong person. Few of these people exist naturally. Most of us are weak in and of ourselves. We fluctuate between the two ends of the spectrum - bullying and being bullied, sometimes doing both within the same day. The good news is that we do not have to stay this way. We can become strong. This is what God wants and what we need so that we are not caught in the schemes of the wicked. God does not want us to be bullied and He definitely does not want us to be a bully.

Many of us have experience with codependency which is a bully partnering with a weak person who enables the bullying to continue. Of course it is more complicated than this, but if we can become strong in Christ, we will be able to set boundaries. The victim commits himself to God (vs. 14). God sees and will take it into hand. The evil person is eventually found out, if not here on Earth, then at the least on the judgement day which will be worse.

How do we become strong? We put on the full armor of God so that we can finally stand in the day of evil. We need to do this daily and we also need to work out the issues in the meantime (Eph 6:10 -18). God does hear the desires of the afflicted. He knows if we are being abused. He knows those secret thoughts, hopes, and dreams that we dare not mention. He knows the tears we have cried in secret. He knows the times we have hidden in our rooms hoping to be left alone. He was there. He is here now. He encourages us and listens to our cries. He defends us in the end so that as the Psalmist writes, "man who is of the earth may terrify no more."