Bullying
That thought brings us to the fifth thing that must be done: refuse to lower yourself to act like the bully. In the Bible, David had two occasions to retaliate against Saul. Both times, he let Saul know what he could have done, but choose to show grace to Saul even though he didn’t deserve it. In 1 Samuel 24:4-5, it says, “And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.” In some ways, it is good that David felt bad about what he did here even though he was not wrong to do it. The last thing you want to do is become as callous and mean as those who are hurting you. Often, if we are not careful, that is what retaliation can do in our hearts: we become uncaring about the pain that we cause others. Even those who bully should be shown kindness and forgiveness because without that, we are no different.
For that reason, Jesus says in Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” God so wants us to have a heart of kindness toward one another that He tells us to do good to people who hurt us and pray for those who persecute us. This goes against what we want to do; we want to retaliate and get revenge, but again, the Bible says in Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Prayer should be offered for both the victim and the bully, that there would be healing and change. If you are the one that was bullied, then praying for the offender will help to heal the emotional wounds that are in your heart because of it. Vengeance doesn’t satisfy like we think it will, but forgiveness heals the hurts that anger never will.
