Psalm 31:4
“Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.”
The Christian always needs to understand that we are in a war. This war which we are engaged in is not a war against anyone else other than Satan. One thing we must remember is that Satan is not going to be fair in this fight. He will do whatever he can to win, including using people whom we love to fight against us. In fact, you will often find that Satan uses the weapon of personal attacks to discourage and defeat the Christian. David certainly faced this in the verse above. Yet, God gives four ways to deal with these personal attacks.
First, ask God to help your spirit. Verse 5 says, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit…” Every day you are going to have to ask God to help you not to get a bitter spirit. One of my daily prayers is for God to give grace for my spirit. If the Devil can defeat your spirit, he will defeat you as a Christian. You are going to have to watch your spirit. The more battles you fight, and the more personal attacks you endure, you will have to watch that you don’t allow your spirit to become angry and bitter towards others. The Devil is after your spirit more than he’s after you going into sin because he knows if he can destroy your spirit, your spirit will destroy others. You are going to have to closely watch your spirit when you are dealing with personal attacks.
Second, trust God to take care of the situation. It says in verse 6, “I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.” You can’t try to help God out in your situation, but He knows how to deal with your situation without your help. If you trust God to handle those who are personally attacking you, you will find that He will handle it in a much better way than if you had personally tried to stop the individual who is leveling the attacks against you.
Third, choose to focus on that which makes you glad. Verse 7 says, “I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy…” You must purposely control your thoughts in the days of personal attack. Don’t allow yourself to dwell on it. It won’t be easy, but with the LORD’s help you can do it. Instead, choose to focus on those things that the LORD is doing through your life. Be careful not to equate God’s blessings to His caring for you because of the personal attack. Don’t go there! Just enjoy God’s blessings and don’t let His blessings cause you to refocus on the personal attacks. Enjoy the blessings as God’s goodness and mercy towards you.
Fourth, ask God for mercy to deliver you from the personal attacks. Verse 9 says, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble…” Even when David was attacked by Shimei, he understood that he didn’t deserve better; likewise, you must realize that God’s mercy in helping you is not because you deserve it, but because He is a merciful God. Certainly, everything that comes our way we deserve, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask God to be merciful and deliver you from the personal attacks.
The result of dealing with personal attacks is found in verse 16 when it says, “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant…” If you deal with personal attacks properly, others will see God through you. Your desire should be that God’s face shines through you during these troubled times so that others will better see the goodness of God.