Silas
Beloved of All
It is painful to feel that many people dislike you and wish you harm, and to carry that weight every day. Thank you for sharing this honestly and for wanting to bring it to the Lord in prayer.
Scripture does speak about this kind of experience. David often wrote about feeling greatly hated while also being greatly loved, and about enemies who tried to harm him. At times the hurt came from strangers, and at times it came from someone close, a companion with whom he had shared sweet fellowship and walked into the house of God together. That sense of being surrounded or hunted without cause is something the psalmists and prophets knew well. They cried out, give ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide yourself.
It is true that God sees when you are troubled and that He is your refuge and strength. The promise you quoted, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, comes from Isaiah and rests on this truth, that God Himself is your protection. When enemies are too strong for you, He is able to reach down and draw you out of deep waters and deliver you. Even when you are outnumbered in a practical sense, God with you is more than enough, and He has often put enemies to flight for His people. He is the one who avenges and who lifts you above those who rise against you.
At the same time, the way we pray about those who wish us harm matters. In the older covenant you find prayers that ask God to deal directly with enemies, but Jesus teaches His followers in the new covenant to bless those who curse you and to pray for those who mistreat you. That does not mean what they do is unimportant to God. It will be a righteous thing for God to judge, and Scripture says that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels He will give rest to those who are troubled and bring just judgment. That judgment is described as everlasting destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, which is a most solemn and terrible reality, to be eternally separated from God. It is not something to wish lightly upon anyone.
Because that judgment is so serious, our place is not to devise vengeance or to ask that harm return upon people, but to ask God to keep our own hearts from wanting to take vengeance. One psalm prays, renew a right spirit within me, and asks God not to cast us away from His presence. When guilt or hurt makes us withdraw and close ourselves in, our spirit can become wrong. God invites us instead to stay near to Him and near to other believers. Persecution and opposition often have the effect of separating what is real from what is not, and of binding true believers closer together in love and support for one another. When you feel hated, the temptation is to isolate, but that is when you most need the fellowship and encouragement of other Christians who can stand with you.
You also need to remember how God has dealt with your own need. All of us were separated from God by sin, banished in that sense, and the wages of sin is spiritual death and separation from Him. Yet God Himself devised the means whereby those who were banished need not remain expelled. Through Jesus Christ the door is open, and He has removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west, and His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. He saved His people from the hand of those who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. That mercy is what we now extend to others, even those who wish us ill.
So I will pray for you that God will be your fortress and deliver you from those who would harm you in any way, that He will give you rest in the knowledge that He sees and will act justly in His time, and that no plan formed against you will ultimately succeed apart from His loving purpose for you. I will pray that He renews a right spirit within you, guards your heart from bitterness and from the desire for payback, and helps you to bless those who curse you and to leave vengeance in His hands. And I will pray that He draws you into closer fellowship with other believers so that your faith grows stronger and you are supported in love, and that you walk in the assurance that through Jesus you are not cast away from His presence but kept securely by His mercy.
May the Lord keep you, give you peace, and help you to rest in Him as your help and protector each day.
Scripture does speak about this kind of experience. David often wrote about feeling greatly hated while also being greatly loved, and about enemies who tried to harm him. At times the hurt came from strangers, and at times it came from someone close, a companion with whom he had shared sweet fellowship and walked into the house of God together. That sense of being surrounded or hunted without cause is something the psalmists and prophets knew well. They cried out, give ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide yourself.
It is true that God sees when you are troubled and that He is your refuge and strength. The promise you quoted, no weapon formed against you shall prosper, comes from Isaiah and rests on this truth, that God Himself is your protection. When enemies are too strong for you, He is able to reach down and draw you out of deep waters and deliver you. Even when you are outnumbered in a practical sense, God with you is more than enough, and He has often put enemies to flight for His people. He is the one who avenges and who lifts you above those who rise against you.
At the same time, the way we pray about those who wish us harm matters. In the older covenant you find prayers that ask God to deal directly with enemies, but Jesus teaches His followers in the new covenant to bless those who curse you and to pray for those who mistreat you. That does not mean what they do is unimportant to God. It will be a righteous thing for God to judge, and Scripture says that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels He will give rest to those who are troubled and bring just judgment. That judgment is described as everlasting destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, which is a most solemn and terrible reality, to be eternally separated from God. It is not something to wish lightly upon anyone.
Because that judgment is so serious, our place is not to devise vengeance or to ask that harm return upon people, but to ask God to keep our own hearts from wanting to take vengeance. One psalm prays, renew a right spirit within me, and asks God not to cast us away from His presence. When guilt or hurt makes us withdraw and close ourselves in, our spirit can become wrong. God invites us instead to stay near to Him and near to other believers. Persecution and opposition often have the effect of separating what is real from what is not, and of binding true believers closer together in love and support for one another. When you feel hated, the temptation is to isolate, but that is when you most need the fellowship and encouragement of other Christians who can stand with you.
You also need to remember how God has dealt with your own need. All of us were separated from God by sin, banished in that sense, and the wages of sin is spiritual death and separation from Him. Yet God Himself devised the means whereby those who were banished need not remain expelled. Through Jesus Christ the door is open, and He has removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west, and His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. He saved His people from the hand of those who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. That mercy is what we now extend to others, even those who wish us ill.
So I will pray for you that God will be your fortress and deliver you from those who would harm you in any way, that He will give you rest in the knowledge that He sees and will act justly in His time, and that no plan formed against you will ultimately succeed apart from His loving purpose for you. I will pray that He renews a right spirit within you, guards your heart from bitterness and from the desire for payback, and helps you to bless those who curse you and to leave vengeance in His hands. And I will pray that He draws you into closer fellowship with other believers so that your faith grows stronger and you are supported in love, and that you walk in the assurance that through Jesus you are not cast away from His presence but kept securely by His mercy.
May the Lord keep you, give you peace, and help you to rest in Him as your help and protector each day.
