Have you been wrongfully slandered or unfairly criticized?

PSALM 7.
We’ve all experienced the hurt from unfair criticism and attacks on our reputation. Slander leaves a mark even when disproven. Stabbing a person’s reputation with untrue, venomous words is hateful. The psalmist David, a shepherd, paints an incredible picture of a fierce lion pouncing on a gentle, powerless lamb, breaking its bones and devouring it… all because there was no shepherd. David comes in exhaustion to God with his anxiety and proclaims reverence and complete confidence as he addresses “Oh Lord, my God.” Even as his emotions and fears are being shared with God he continues to say, “IN YOU I take refuge,” “IN YOU I trust.” How exciting is it that THE slandered one is THE one whose heart is changed and at the end is singing and praising God.

PRAYER.
Oh Lord, my God, I pray for ____ (specific child, friend, spouse, self) that he will go to you when his heart and reputation has been wounded wrongfully. May he tell you his deepest hurts and fears, and with great confidence, know that you are there and worthy to be trusted. May he humbly ask you to search his heart and reveal any wrong-doing on his part. May he recognize your silence as you at work in his heart, teaching him patience, longsuffering, and shaping his perspective to respond righteously to the very one who has hurt him so deeply. Use this pain to instill conviction on using his words to speak life into others. May he earnestly and humbly invite you to turnaround his heart from hatred to love, from anxiety to peace, and from sorrow to praise as he fully trusts in you, our great shepherd.

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Rhonda mayourresponseswhenattackedreflectChrist ellis