Silas
Beloved of All
What you have carried for more than ten years is a heavy and wearing trial, and it is understandable that you feel at a loss. Night and day harassment at your home, damage to your property, symbols meant to intimidate, and false stories spread about you in your own community strike at your sense of safety and peace. The Scripture speaks plainly about this kind of brokenness between neighbors, when people deceive and slander and teach their tongues to speak lies, and it does not minimize how painful it is to live under it.
You mentioned knowing you are supposed to love your neighbor and let God bring justice, and that is the right direction. Jesus taught that the whole law is fulfilled in two great commands. The first is to love God with all that you are, with Him foremost on the vertical axis of your life. The second flows from the first, to love your neighbor as yourself. That does not mean you must first learn to love yourself more, you already care for your own needs for food and shelter and rest. It means to extend that same kind of practical care and goodwill toward your neighbor, even when that neighbor has shown you none. And the way we learn how to love and forgive is by looking at Christ. We are called to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. Our measure for forgiving others is the complete forgiveness we have received.
That forgiveness from God is total. He is a merciful God, abundant in tender mercy and loving kindness. He has shown that mercy from of old. When we confess our transgressions honestly instead of hiding or justifying them, He blots them out. Though sins are as scarlet, He makes them white as snow. Holding that picture of how fully we have been forgiven helps us release others to Him, not because their actions are not wrong, but because we have been so freely pardoned.
David is a helpful example here. He was called a man after God's own heart, and yet much of his life was spent with enemies trying to do him harm. He did not pretend the danger was not real. He lifted his soul to the Lord and prayed, do not let my enemies triumph over me, lead me on a level path because of my enemies, deliver me out of all trouble. He trusted God to be his defense and to see what was done in secret. In the older covenant you often hear prayers asking God to repay evil to enemies and cut them off in truth. In the new covenant Jesus teaches us to bless those who curse us and to not return cursing for cursing. Both point to the same truth that justice belongs to the Lord. He is the one who exercises loving kindness and also righteous judgment in the earth. His judgment of the wicked is part of His loving kindness toward His children. He sees the rocks thrown, the vandalism, the lies, and He will deal with them in truth and in His perfect time.
This does not mean you are forsaken. Even when it feels as though God is not hearing, His compassions do not fail and He never stops loving you. Persecution and prolonged pressure are not signs that you have been abandoned. In the early church, believers were scattered and faced heavy persecution, and yet their faith grew and their love for one another abounded. God uses such hard seasons to deepen trust, though He never delights in the evil done to you.
So keep the two axes in order. Keep loving God foremost, bringing your hurt honestly before Him, confessing your own need for His mercy, and asking Him to keep your heart tender. Then, in His strength, choose to love your neighbor as yourself. That love will look like refusing to retaliate, refusing to spread slander in return, praying for them and blessing them rather than cursing them, doing good where you have opportunity, and planting what edifies rather than what tears down. It also looks like entrusting justice to God rather than taking it into your own hands. You can ask God for a clear and unobstructed path forward, for protection, for wisdom in how to document what is happening and when to seek lawful help for your safety, and for deliverance from trouble.
You have not done wrong by wanting peace in your own home. The wrong lies with those who have chosen to harass and deceive. God knows the truth when others believe fabrications. He remembers His tender mercies, He hears the soul lifted to Him, and He does not let those who wait on Him be put to shame. Continue to wait on Him, to love Him first, and to let Him be the one who justifies and vindicates. He is able to lift your head above the trouble around you and to give you joy even while the trial continues.
You mentioned knowing you are supposed to love your neighbor and let God bring justice, and that is the right direction. Jesus taught that the whole law is fulfilled in two great commands. The first is to love God with all that you are, with Him foremost on the vertical axis of your life. The second flows from the first, to love your neighbor as yourself. That does not mean you must first learn to love yourself more, you already care for your own needs for food and shelter and rest. It means to extend that same kind of practical care and goodwill toward your neighbor, even when that neighbor has shown you none. And the way we learn how to love and forgive is by looking at Christ. We are called to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. Our measure for forgiving others is the complete forgiveness we have received.
That forgiveness from God is total. He is a merciful God, abundant in tender mercy and loving kindness. He has shown that mercy from of old. When we confess our transgressions honestly instead of hiding or justifying them, He blots them out. Though sins are as scarlet, He makes them white as snow. Holding that picture of how fully we have been forgiven helps us release others to Him, not because their actions are not wrong, but because we have been so freely pardoned.
David is a helpful example here. He was called a man after God's own heart, and yet much of his life was spent with enemies trying to do him harm. He did not pretend the danger was not real. He lifted his soul to the Lord and prayed, do not let my enemies triumph over me, lead me on a level path because of my enemies, deliver me out of all trouble. He trusted God to be his defense and to see what was done in secret. In the older covenant you often hear prayers asking God to repay evil to enemies and cut them off in truth. In the new covenant Jesus teaches us to bless those who curse us and to not return cursing for cursing. Both point to the same truth that justice belongs to the Lord. He is the one who exercises loving kindness and also righteous judgment in the earth. His judgment of the wicked is part of His loving kindness toward His children. He sees the rocks thrown, the vandalism, the lies, and He will deal with them in truth and in His perfect time.
This does not mean you are forsaken. Even when it feels as though God is not hearing, His compassions do not fail and He never stops loving you. Persecution and prolonged pressure are not signs that you have been abandoned. In the early church, believers were scattered and faced heavy persecution, and yet their faith grew and their love for one another abounded. God uses such hard seasons to deepen trust, though He never delights in the evil done to you.
So keep the two axes in order. Keep loving God foremost, bringing your hurt honestly before Him, confessing your own need for His mercy, and asking Him to keep your heart tender. Then, in His strength, choose to love your neighbor as yourself. That love will look like refusing to retaliate, refusing to spread slander in return, praying for them and blessing them rather than cursing them, doing good where you have opportunity, and planting what edifies rather than what tears down. It also looks like entrusting justice to God rather than taking it into your own hands. You can ask God for a clear and unobstructed path forward, for protection, for wisdom in how to document what is happening and when to seek lawful help for your safety, and for deliverance from trouble.
You have not done wrong by wanting peace in your own home. The wrong lies with those who have chosen to harass and deceive. God knows the truth when others believe fabrications. He remembers His tender mercies, He hears the soul lifted to Him, and He does not let those who wait on Him be put to shame. Continue to wait on Him, to love Him first, and to let Him be the one who justifies and vindicates. He is able to lift your head above the trouble around you and to give you joy even while the trial continues.
