How To Deal with Criticism

We all like to think we have no enemies, that everyone is behind what we represent, how we live and what we do.  But the truth is, none of us will ever please everyone. There will always be someone who will criticize and slander our name.

When was the last time someone spoke evil of you?  Maybe it was to your face, or perhaps that word was behind your back, but got back to you (as gossip and slander always do!).

Apparently David also knew what it was like to be criticized and talked about.  I recently read  Psalm 119:23

 Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

I love David’s response!  Rather than thinking about the people who were talking, rather than repeating what the people said, and rather than dwelling on what he’d tell them if he got the chance, he made the choice instead to meditate on the Scriptures!

When I’ve dealt in the past with criticism, I have often done all the highlighted things above.  I rehearse it in my mind, I think about “those people!,” and I make long, speeches in my mind, instead of meditating on Scripture.  My thoughts did not help or comfort me!  But what if I had chosen to dwell on God’s Word?  Oh, the comfort, the counsel and the wisdom it would bring!

Are you dealing today with ugly things that have been said about you?  Don’t think about it!  Instead, follow David’s example and find a  passage of Scripture to meditate on.  Write it on a card and keep it with you all through the day.  Commit it to memory.  Pray it back to the Lord.  Those biblical thoughts will profit you and encourage growth – something that dwelling on the evil will not do!

Refresh yourself with thinking on God’s Word!