Question: How do most of us respond when we feel we have been wronged? Most of us would have to acknowledge that we at least want to retaliate. I know the feeling well. But did you ever notice how Moses and Aaron responded when their leadership was challenged? Remarkably, they fell on their faces.
And they weren’t “just being wronged.” At times, the congregation came close to stoning them (Exodus 17:4; Numbers 14:10), which was the primary means of execution for the worst possible crimes. So, even though Moses and Aaron were only trying to lead God’s people well, the people often greatly misunderstood them and, in the process, deeply, deeply wronged them. Yet, at the very moment Moses and Aaron received this kind of treatment, they fell on their faces.
Jesus speaks into situations like this when He says, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Grandstanding when we have been wronged is a form of exalting ourselves. But, in light of Jesus’ teaching, and of the example we have in the Old Testament, the painful times in our lives are precisely the times when we need to humble ourselves because, as James tells us, God gives grace to the humble.
Another word for “grace” is “favor”—undeserved favor. He gives His favor to those who humble themselves. This favor is one of the primary expressions of His steadfast love, a love the Psalmist recognized is “better than life” itself (Psalm 63:3). If we really believe that His favor is that valuable, we’ll do anything to get it, which means that we will humble ourselves in His presence, especially during the painful episodes of life, for that is when we need His favor the most. This doesn’t mean we deny the pain, but humility has a way of transforming our hurting place into a holy, humble hurting place.
Allow the pain to work for you, embrace it, and take it into your soul. When our pain is surrendered to God, it ceases to be merely a source of bitterness and becomes a place of profound reliance on Him, of deeper fellowship with Him. We say things to Him in our pain that we wouldn’t say at any other time. Pain has a purpose!
Don’t be surprised if you eventually find yourself giving thanks for the situation that brought you to where you are. Think about it: the people who cause us the most pain are often the very instruments God is using to bring His favor into our lives.
Have you been wronged lately?
You don’t need revenge.
You don’t need justification.
You need favor.
So when someone does you wrong, do the right thing: go to a place where it’s just you and God, close the door, fall down, and stay there for a long, long time.