Remaining Vertical With God

Being accused of doing something I have not done or being slandered for holding a position of righteousness and then not defending myself is one of the most difficult things I have to deal with. The Lord says this about defending ourselves and seeking vengeance, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19

It has been my experience the Lord is much better at defending me than I ever could. Time and time again, when people have harmed me, the Lord, in His time, has dealt with those individuals. Where I could have had immediate self satisfaction in dealing with the problem, the impact would have been minimal and made me seem small to those around me. Leaving it in the Lords hands was the best thing I could do. He impacted those peoples lives at a level I never could have.

He is faithful in every aspect of my life. I have learned to trust Him and His ways. You can do the same, all you have to do is make the decision to do so.

Blessings

Remaining Vertical With God
by Os Hillman

“When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.” 1 Peter 2:23

Have you ever been wrongfully accused? Oh, the need to defend and justify becomes so great. “What will people think if they believe these things are true?” we reason. Imagine what Jesus thought as they hurled insults and threats upon Him. The God of the universe had visited planet earth only to be slandered and accused of blasphemy.

Jesus could have done two things in response. He could have used His power to put the people in their place. He could have responded “horizontally.” He could have fixed the problem right then. However, He chose to respond in a different way. He chose to “entrust Himself to Him who judges justly.” It requires great faith to entrust ourselves to God in the midst of personal assault. However, if we can do this, we will discover a level of grace and wisdom that will be birthed from this experience that we never thought possible. We will discover a freedom in God we never knew before. Whenever we suffer for righteousness without seeking to protect our reputation and rights, we are placing our total faith in the one who can redeem us. This activates God’s grace in our lives and enables us to experience God’s presence like never before.

Ask God to give you the grace to stay vertical with Him. Avoid the temptation of responding horizontally each time some event comes into your life that you want to “fix.” Entrust yourself to the one who judges justly. It may be a divine appointment for your growth to another level in grace.