Have you ever had someone in your life that just rubs you the wrong way. Maybe a fellow brother or sister in Christ, maybe a family member, maybe someone you come in contact with on a daily basis? I have (more times than I want to admit). Why does God put this person in my path? Why is it whenever that person opens their mouth it feels like nails on a chalkboard to my ears? Oh Father, I know you made this person, I know you died for this person, but could you move them away from my line of sight? I want to be a Godly Christian person, but I just can not with this person right there tormenting me.
And then I read Elisabeth Eillots devotional:
How can this person who so annoys or offends me be God’s messenger? Is God so unkind as to send that sort across my path? Insofar as his treatment of me requires more kindness than I can find in my own heart, demands love of a quality I do not possess, asks of me patience which only the Spirit of God can produce in me, he is God’s messenger. God sends him in order that he may send me running to God for help.
The Psalms are full of cries to God about enemies–but it was the enemies that drove the psalmist (for example, in Psalm 64) to cry. If he had had no enemies, he would have had no need of a Protector. God will go to any lengths to bring us to Himself.
“Think of him who submitted to such opposition from sinners: that will help you not to lose heart and grow faint….You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood….The Lord disciplines those whom he loves” (Heb 12:3,4,6 NEB).
God does whatever it takes to bring you to him. And God makes us examine our own hearts and thoughts by struggling with “difficult people”. So do I go around thanking God for the difficult people he brings into my life…heck NO. But what I do say is “Ok Lord where did I get off track, are you trying to get my attention, and what do you want me to learn from this person I am so struggling with. And help me love them, through your eyes”.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
this struggle is also a mystery to me… sigh
Great post, and very timely for me!! I am struggling with this with someone in my life, too! Thanks for writing!
Jennifer R.
OH honey, I am having issues with a few poeple in my life… one that really stands out more then the others… and I absolutley HATE feeling negative towards anyone!
If you need to vent Please know I am just an email away!
{{hugs}}
I relate.
A friend of ours told me once to think of those personalities as sandpaper - people who help us to smooth our rough edges and refine us. I TRY to remember that when I run up on this struggle - which happens more often than I’d care to admit.
Great post! I’ve struggled with this a few times in my life, and the hardest part is admitting that the “problem” is me.
I have found that the best way to deal with this issue is to pray for the person. I can’t genuninely pray for someone and not care about them at the same time. These situations also teach me patience and humility. Because I am certain there are days when I am the one irritating someone else.
I, too, have struggled with difficult relations. I wrote about it here
He helps us learn to love–”not out of necessity or from need, not by constraint or grudgingly, but from a heart of love, out of mercy and kindness, freely and willingly.”
Thanks for your kind encouragement this evening. It means a lot!
Ok, well I have a person in my life that I don’t agree with all of the time…but I don’t think that God requires for me to agree with this person…it’s basically a test to see how I will react to them…if I act in a harsh way (which I don’t) then that would make it a sin of me…but if I act loving and kind and pray for this person…my faith grows!
Oh Laurel, this hit me right in the heart. How true…God sends these people to us to send us running to Him. Thanks for this post.
This is a great post. This came at a great time for me as well. I feel that I’m going thru the same and haven’t been sure what to do about it. Your post helped a lot. I also like the bible verses that you put on your site. Beautiful, uplifting blog.