Do you sometimes feel like you are being treated unfairly?

I certainly have. And even worse, I have often felt that those around me were not being treated fairly.

I have always made it a habit of being friendly to the support staff. These employees are vitally important to any endeavor, yet they usually receive no credit at all. It was no different many years ago when I was working at the school board office as a French Consultant. I often spent time with the secretaries, encouraging them and trying to make the feel appreciated for the hard work they did.

One day, as I laughed and joked with some of the ladies on the secretarial team, our boss came in the room. He took one of the laughing ladies and blurted out, “You are making fun of me!”

I was in shock. We had been talking about something that was in the news, and we hadn’t even been thinking about our boss. When we tried to explain this to him, however, he began to accuse ALL of us of mocking him!

During this same time period, there were two ladies were working on school curriculum. They were doing a great job, and the feedback they received from teachers who were using their curriculum was very encouraging. For whatever reason, however, our boss didn’t like them, and he outright fired them for reasons that they never understood.

All of us working in that office could certainly identify with David when he cried out in Psalms 10:1-2: “Why, Lord do you far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (NIV). Especially when my secretary turned in her resignation a few days later.

These were all great workers. They were friendly and a pleasure to be around, but some of them outright quit, while others decided to retire at the end of the school year. They all looked forward to no further conflicts!

“Arise Lord! Lift up Your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” (Ps. 10:12 NIV) Can you identify with any of these workers? Do not fear, for: “The Lord I King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.” (Ps. 10: 16-18 NIV).

Even if you don’t see immediate change, remember that God takes special care of those who are treated unfairly, and He is the judge of those who are doing the bullying. We have no reason to fear!

In His love,
Rob Chaffart


(To access the entire “The Sling for God” devotional series, please click here.)