Who Will Defend You?

“The Lord is your mighty defender, perfect and just in all his ways; Your God is faithful and true; he does what is right and fair.” (Deuteronomy 32:4)

During my nineteen years as a sports television and news reporter, one of the most important lessons I learned is that you must always show both sides of a story. Otherwise, your report is considered slanted and unfair.

However, it doesn’t always work that way in life. If you are the subject of criticism, not everyone will ask you for your take on the situation. They just accept what’s said and use the one-sided information to form an opinion. If that’s the case what do you do?

Do you demand a meeting to defend yourself? Then you look defensive.

Do you tell as many people as possible what happened? That often backfires.

We should pray.

I have found that prayer is the best battle strategy when we are the subject of an unjust transfer of blame.

In Psalm 146:5 it says, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.”

I believe that these situations can be a test from God.

Are we going to take matters into our own hands, or will we stand still and let God fight our battle?

One of the Hebrew names for God is “El Roi.” Translated, that means “The God who sees me.” He sees what’s going on in our life. He knows the truth, and if we cry out to him, he will defend us.

When the apostles were unjustly imprisoned for preaching about Jesus, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and released them saying, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20). When the religious leaders found the apostles doing exactly what they told them not to do, they were furious and wanted to kill them. Teacher of the Law, Gamaliel, talked some sense into them and said, “Keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing, but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God” (Acts 5:38–39).

The point is, God knows our hearts and if we are in the center of His will, he’s got our back. He understands our pain and he can work behind the scenes to correct a situation. We just have to trust and let go.

In the meantime, stay positive and joyful knowing El Roi sees you. He wants to help.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1).