Without Cause

For without cause they hid their net for me;

without cause they dug a pit for my life...

They hate me without cause—35:7,19

Some folks will hate you even though you're trying to do the right thing, indeed because you're trying to do the right thing. That's something wise people have always known.

They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft. When they were sick I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning. But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not knowJtore at me without ceasing; like profane mockers at a feast,Thhey gnash at me with their teeth" (35:12-16).

Ingrates! What's the matter with these people? 

Well...what can we say: some people hate goodness. (I think here of Joy Beher's recent, unprovoked attack on Mike Pence's faith, equating it to mental illness.) What then should we do?  

David shot up a prayer, which is always the first thing to do: "Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord! Vindicate me, O LORD, my God according to your righteousness” (35:23,24). Put your case in God's hands for His resolution.

Self-defense is a null set, as math guys say: It amounts to nothing. Let God take up your cause. He is righteous and just and will bring justice in due time (35:17).

Our Heavenly Father "delights" in us (35:27). Why then do we care what others think of us?

David Roper