When You Feel Misunderstood!

 “You are the God who sees me” for she said, ”I have not seen the One who sees me”. ~Genesis 16:13

Have you ever felt misunderstood? Very few things hurt worse than being misunderstood, especially when the one who misunderstands is someone very close to you. Whenever I face a situation like this, I want to get defensive. I want to explain myself.

What do you do? Do you just go and Pray? Or do you get defensive? At times it might feel like you are talking a different language. Jesus taught in parables to keep some people from understanding what he was teaching. Jesus gave us more than 30 parables in the gospel of Mathew, Mark and Luke. Others suggest the total number of parables by Jesus totals more than 50. On more than one occasion Jesus was misunderstood too. Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand”.  There is a woman in the bible that really caught my attention. Her name was Hagar. Hagar was Abraham and Sarah masters.  Sara was barren, Sadly, she decided to take things into her own hands and give Hagar to her husband. Hagar was mistreated, they used her and took advantage of her for the moment needed. Hagar was not given a choice, instead she obeyed. After everything that had happened, Abraham said. “Do with her whatever you think best”. Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her”. But the Lord was with her. The angel of the Lord said to her: “ You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. 

Jesus understands. Take comfort in knowledge that God knows you better than you know yourself. Today, In Butterfly by Grace “Mommy and daughter blog take heart. If you are being misunderstood, don't intend to defend yourself. Have you noticed that very often misunderstandings start over something small? This is usually the way it happens. Suddenly people seem cold when they used to be glad to see you. The good news is that Jesus was misunderstood by the religious and political leaders of his day. Jesus' enemies put him to death all because of a misunderstanding about the nature of his being the Messiah and of his kingdom. Jesus never responded back to anyone or defended himself, nevertheless, Jesus said: “ Forgive them father”.  When Jesus was tempted, Jesus did not us any supernatural powers to resist the devil. Jesus simply quoted the written world of God to the devil. We must do the same thing, Jesus was our example, showing us how to overcome the attacks of our enemy. The devil also quoted the bible but twisted the meaning. Jesus said to him, "It is written again, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God". Word was the only defense Jesus used against the devil. Nothing else. If we are going to overcome the attacks, misunderstood of people, we can only do so by overcome temptation and walk in victory, we must follow Jesus example and quote the Bible to the devil. There is no other way. The word of God has power! "Lets take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God".

Father God,

We bow down to you Jesus. I come before humbly  and confess that I have, at times, misunderstood you. You are a father who sees me. God even if the circumstances I am facing are difficult, challenging, and heartbreaking. Lord, I ask for anyone reading this blog that has been or is being misunderstood. Father forgives us. We ask that you allow us to see from the other person's view. You see my heart, you also see other people's hearts. Lord, we love you and we give you all honor because you are sovereign and we will forever give you all honor and glory to you God. Give us the wisdom to remain silent, even when we feel misled or attacked. I ask that if I am to remain quiet, that you would fight for me. Lord, fill my mouth with words you want me to say. Lord, I love you; help me to be better. In the name of Jesus, Amen.