I reconnected with someone recently who reminded me of a nasty incident of years ago when I was wrongfully accused of a misdemeanor. Has that ever happened to you? If it has, then you will know that it’s all rather disconcerting. You feel as though your whole foundation of integrity has been knocked away from under you.
It’s even worse when it is in public, as this was, because you feel that now the whole world is learning about this, without your having the opportunity to make your own announcement that everything was false. The sense of frustration is enormous. One can well understand how tortuous the frustration must be for those who are unjustly committed to prison.
Fortunately, or unfortunately I’m not sure, I was accused of mishandling some funds, but the good thing was that I did not even handle funds of the organization. This was the very reason I had refused years earlier to even have signing authority which, unknowingly, turned out to be a wise move! However, the question is, “How do we handle these kind of situations?”
Although difficult, we have to resist any sense of revenge. I believe, as I believed then, that God is sovereign, He knows the truth and He will vindicate the situation. After the public accusation my response was very simply, “You may make any accusation you wish, you may write it down and record it if you wish, but I believe the truth is the truth and like cream on milk, the truth will rise to the surface.” As it happened, God took care of the situation in quite a dramatic way.
However, these situations also call for genuine forgiveness, again which does not come readily. But I believe it is possible when we truly and implicitly trust God in every circumstance. We are not promised an easy passage but we are promised strength and grace for the journey.
