8/17 Strength for Today

When Misunderstood
Psalm 69:4

In this psalm David seems to be in a time in his life when everyone around him misunderstood him. In this time of misunderstanding, David was lonely, brokenhearted, attacked, confused and even experienced some despair. The whole reason for this misunderstanding was David’s zeal for the house of the LORD. Yet, in this time of misunderstanding, David ran to the LORD and continued doing what caused him to be misunderstood for he knew it was still the right thing to do.

Many times in our lives there will be people who misunderstand our zeal for the LORD. I know in my life there have been many who don't understand why my wife and I give so much time and effort to the LORD's work. When these times of misunderstanding come, people often say and do hurtful things. Yet, we must be careful about letting those who misunderstand us sway our zeal away from the LORD.

When you are misunderstood, you must first of all keep doing what you have always done. Just because people may criticize, threaten and attack you, is not cause for you to stop doing what is right. The actions of those who don't understand why you serve the LORD the way you do should not cause you to change what you know is right according to the Scriptures.

Secondly, when misunderstood, don't hold the actions of those who do hateful things towards you against them. It is so easy to take the hateful actions of those who misunderstand you personally, but you must realize that it is their misunderstanding that causes them to do these things.

Thirdly, when you are misunderstood you must learn to bring your broken heart to the LORD. Nobody likes being misunderstood, but when you are you must talk to the LORD about it, for He is the only One Who truly understands what you are facing and going through.

Last of all, when you are misunderstood, pray for those who are hateful towards you and be good to them. The best way to bring those who misunderstand you over to your understanding is to let the LORD work on their hearts while you do good to them. They may not understand your good actions, but the LORD can use those actions to help them understand why you are so zealous for Him.

When you zealously serve the LORD, you can expect there to be people who won't quite understand your zealousness. Many times these people will do and say hateful things towards you because of this, but you must continue doing right for the actions of others should never sway you away from doing right. Remember, though people may not understand your zeal for the LORD, He will understand, and He will reward you accordingly.