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Is someone taking unfair advantage of you? I can’t think of anything more frustrating and humiliating, can you? What is an appropriate Christian response when you find yourself being dumped on?
Jesus set out principles in Matthew 5 of allowing people to take advantage of us. Let me give you one example that happened to a friend of mine on her job. She took a new position within her organization, and she encountered a coworker who tried to advance herself at my friend’s expense. This coworker began a campaign of lies and treacheries in order to make herself look good while making my friend look bad. This coworker played the political games and worked her way into the confidence of management, convincing them that my friend was not doing her job.
My friend really struggled with this, because she always tried to make her job performance reflect her love for Jesus, and the lies were damaging her reputation. She found it impossible to defend herself because it was her coworker’s word against hers. For two years she endured this situation, constantly seeking God’s wisdom. And each time she prayed, the Lord gave her the same answer: “Wait.” Now, that’s not the answer we want to hear when someone is dumping on us, is it?
But during this period, my friend determined to pray for her attacker and let the Lord defend her. After two years this coworker became seriously ill and my friend was left to do the job alone. After four months her boss nominated her as Employee of the Month for the entire very large department. He came to understand what kind of an employee my friend truly was, and she was totally vindicated. No one dumped on her after that.
So, you see, sometimes God is working behind the scenes, and when we desire to obey him and live by the principles of Matthew 5, we open up great avenues of blessing that God can pour on us.
If you’re being dumped on right now, before you do anything to correct it or get out of it or get your pound of flesh, will you first do what my friend did and pray to God for guidance. Instead of begging him to change the situation, ask him to work his will in it, both for you and everyone involved. Ask him to teach you what you need to learn through this ordeal. Give him permission to keep you in that predicament as long as it can bring glory to him. And then, let go and wait for his direction. You’ll know when it’s time to take action.