The Fiery Dart of Slander
“The best way to deal with slander is to pray about it:
God will either remove it or remove the sting from it.”
~Charles Spurgeon~
Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies.
Psalm 119:22
TAKING IT IN
I know that many of you, my readers, are involved in women’s ministry and hold leadership roles within the church. As the founder of the Women’s Ministry Connection, I have been blessed to teach and encourage women in your ministries and to enjoy getting to know you personally over a cup of coffee.
You are women who love the Lord and are dedicated to keeping His Word. And it is because of your devotion to Christ that I know it is more than likely that you have suffered from a fiery dart of slander; a false accusation that Satan shot your way that landed right in the center of your heart and hurt deeply.
How appropriate that Paul should use the image of a “fiery dart” concerning the enemy’s attack on the people of God.
These missiles were unspectacular. Fired during daylight hours you could hardly see them coming, but when they hit their effects were devastating. Often as we are on the receiving end of one of these darts, they come to catch us off guard and are meant to “steal, kill and destroy”. Having suffered a few of these darts myself, I know that it can be hard to recover.
MAKING IT MEANINGFUL
Aren’t we glad that we can find remedies for our pain in the Word of God? The Psalmist is well acquainted with reproach and contempt; because he has been faithful to the Lord, he can ask God to take it away. His prayer to God reveals his dependence upon God to right the wrongs hurled against him.
It was Thomas Manton who said:
You cannot prove innocence to those who are determined to believe guilt. Prayer many times proves a better vindication than an apology.
Our own attempts to clear ourselves will usually end up in failure.
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:12 that “all” who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but he also tells us in 2 Timothy 3:11 that God delivered him from them “all”.
We also know and recognize from the life of Joseph and many others in the Bible that the “fiery darts” of slander come from within. Joseph’s own brothers sought to destroy him yet we read in Genesis 50:20:
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Joseph was able to move past the evil perpetrated against him and trust God as his Defender. As we seek to move past the evil perpetrated against us in our own lives we must recognize that as we walk closely with Christ in obedience to His word, reproach and contempt will come:
v There will be evil spoken of us
v We will be discredited, ridiculed, and despised
v Our keeping of God’s testimonies is precisely the reason reproach and contempt will be heaped upon us
v Our godliness will expose the sin, foolishness, rebellion, and utter stupidity of the ungodly. Instead of repenting and cleaning up their lives, the ungodly would rather try to shame and discredit those who expose them.
Knowing our enemy seeks to come against us in this way motivates us to always be fully armored. We must have our shield of faith ready and in position because we are told that when we are armed in this way we are able to quench “all” the fiery darts of the wicked one. Our hearts are protected as our faith in God, our Defender, emerges!
Matthew Henry provides us with great encouragement:
“God has all men’s hearts and tongues in his hand, and can silence lying lips, and raise up a good name that is trodden in the dust.”
When He so pleases, God can even make our enemies to be at peace with us (Proverbs 16:7).
WORKING IT INTO MY HEART
As we trust God as our Defender, let us also remember Jesus, our sympathetic High Priest.
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
Psalm 22:6
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
Hebrews 13:12-13
At His second coming in glory every reproach and contempt ever heaped on our sinless Savior will be completely removed and His enemies will be forced to bow the knee and confess that He is Lord. And all of Christ’s followers will share in His vindication.
I pray that is good news to your heart today for it is in Christ that we place our vindication. Yes, there are times where we join Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach, but He will never leave us. In those hard times, where it may feel like we have been forsaken by all, God has our back. He’s got us covered and He promises to work the evil directed toward us for our good.
Nothing can come against “revival” like the sin of self-protection. Let go of the pain caused by those fiery darts and allow God to take it from you. Let your enemies off the hook and know that you are vindicated by God and not man.
Like Joseph, it is time to move forward to walk victoriously in the plan God has for your life.
Follow the example of the Psalmist and pray Psalm 119:22 with a heart of repentance and then meditate on the truths of 1 Peter 4:12-14 this week:
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Your heart will certainly be “revived” and set free as God takes away the reproach and contempt.
Anonymous
Thanks for this. It really ministered to me- josefina