Say No to Gossip

Two-faced people, they are those people who come into your life and pretend to be your friend, earn your trust, and then the first chance they get, they turn on you, stabbing you in the back. Usually, you are totally oblivious to the malicious plan they have up their sleeve for you until it is too late; until you are already a victim at the hands of someone you thought was your friend. It’s hard to be in that position, to know that someone you trusted and believed was your friend, really wasn’t. The vast majority of the relationships I had with people in high school were this way. I’m convinced this is just the way that high school is. I would have much rather have had those mean girls, you all know some, who were outwardly mean and nasty to me all the time, than the girls who were nice to my face but talked and gossiped about me whenever they had the chance. I think most of us would. Sadly, a lot of adults behave like this still. I’ve been in a situation at work where a co-worker was gossiping about me. Typically, I would have talked badly about her in return for her ridiculousness, but I’ve grown up and I’ve realized that this is not the way that Jesus would have dealt with the same situation. Instead, I confronted her, asked her pointed questions about the issues, without alluding to my knowledge of her gossiping, and then I asked that she come to me if there are any problems she wished to discuss with me in the future. Her reaction was not one of retaliation, but instead she apologized for not talking to me about it first. I went to her with an attitude of forgiveness and I was willing to take the initiative to make things right between us. Unfortunately, her gossiping continued and I ended up requesting a transfer from that department and she lost her job. Have you ever faced a situation like this? In Psalm 41, David is dealing with a similar situation. “But my enemies say nothing but evil about me. “How soon will he die and be forgotten?” they ask. They visit me as if they were my friends but all they while they gather gossip, and when they leave they spread it everywhere. All who hate me whisper about me imagining the worst. “He has some fatal disease,” they say, “He will never get out of that bed!” Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food has turned against me” (5-9) Can you imagine being faced with a difficult time in your life and feeling so completely alone because even your friends have abandoned you and are talking badly about you? Some of you have been there, I know. That makes a situation that is already difficult to deal with even more so. But you know what? Even in the midst of this situation, David knew he wasn’t alone and the same goes for you. God is with you every step of the way. He is there to help you handle whatever comes your way. Gossiping about others and taking matters into your own hands only makes things worse. It never makes things better. Turn it over to God. He will take care of you.