Trusting God When People Hurt You

Psalms 56:4

⁴ In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? (NIV)

People can be difficult. Our stress and fear levels can quickly overwhelm us when people are unhappy, angry, or just plain mean. We run conversations through our minds repeatedly, feeling the daggers of their words pierce us again and again. These times weigh us down. But God is greater.

As we examine our passage this week, we will consider how to approach difficult relationships and challenging encounters with people, and how to overcome them without allowing fear or anger to overwhelm us. 

The psalmist quickly points out that our trust in God is directly related to how deeply a person can disturb our souls. To navigate challenging conversations and difficult relationships, we must first place our trust in God. This is more than mere belief. Trust is the result of letting our faith direct our behavior. We must follow God’s way in these moments. And if we do, people will no longer have power over us. They will not have the power to stress us or worry us. They will not have the power to ruin God’s plan for our lives. They will not have the power to steal what God has already given. 

People do not have any more power than what we allow them to have in our lives. Yes, some people may hold power in a particular position. A boss can write you up. A boss can fire you. An aunt will have an inroad to gossip about you to the whole family. Yet, God has promised that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. When God allows a person to close one door, He remains our Provider, and another door will soon open. When God allows a person to tarnish our reputation with accusations and innuendos, we may experience a dark night, but as surely as the sun rises, His light will rise to redeem and restore our reputation. The key to all of this is trusting Him. We must let His Word dictate how we will respond in our behavior, our words, facial expressions, body language, and side conversations. Then, we can know our deliverance will soon appear. 

Prayer: Lord, give me the discipline to not take the bait to respond with behavior unbecoming of a child of God. I put my trust in You. Amen.