The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.
– Exodus 14:14
I sat on the bed, heart in shreds.
An accusation had been hurled at me on social media, again, by the same person. Everything in me fought to defend myself against the lies.
Deep inside, though, I knew it was a trap. I could never convince the attacker of my innocence, and it would only draw me farther into a toxic situation. I had already cried many nights over it. I could not fix this, and that hurt.
Then there was a quiet knock on the bedroom door. My daughter slipped softly into the room.
“May I pray for you?” she asked.
Relief washed over me. “Yes,” I said. A thousand times yes, my soul echoed.
She climbed onto the tall old cannonball bed that once belonged to my Ozark grandmother, Bertha Blossom Griggs, whose iron will conquered many hardships. Nanny Griggs endured a hard life as a sharecropper in the South, the loss of a stillborn daughter, the fire that destroyed their home and the store they managed, and the death of her husband.
Nanny knew she had to pick her battles to survive. She told me years ago, “I don’t care what people say about me. When they’re talking about me, they’re giving somebody else a rest.”
I had been giving someone else a lot of rest lately.
My daughter folded her long, slender legs under her at the foot of the bed and bent forward in earnest prayer. Tears filled my eyes at her gentle intercession. Four words especially grabbed my attention, a plea for God to help me shut out the lies.
Bingo. Shut out the lies.
There, in my head, raged the battle that sapped my mental energy and hijacked my emotions. It kept me demoralized and under the finger of the accuser, who by the way, was not the person flinging the mud, but Satan. The devil, my real enemy, was trying to steal my praise and my time and my heart.
I breathed a grateful thank-you to my tender daughter for seeing my distress and helping me cut through the deception. She and the rest of my family spoke the truth I needed to hear. The situation may never be resolved, but I’m no longer listening to the lies.
Maybe you have been under attack lately. Perhaps you struggle to make sense of the accusations, fearing they may be rooted in truth. It’s a good idea to test them against the Word of God and listen for the conviction of the Holy Spirit. If God and those we trust do not confirm any sin, then we can shut out the lies and be glad we’re giving somebody else a rest.
For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.
– 2 Chronicles 16:9
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