Not to sound paranoid, but do you ever feel like everything and everyone is ganging up on you? Most of us have had those stretches in life where things are going so badly that it feels like maybe there is some kind of conspiracy against us.

Of course, it probably isn’t true but in the moment it sure seems like it.

David experienced this. He had lots of haters  and it was not just in his imagination. There were a number of people actually trying to destroy him.

He wrote about it frequently in the Psalms. In Psalm 64, for example, he said:

1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy. 2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers…

So how did he deal with it? How did David keep from letting his antagonists get the best of him?

The short answer is he let God deal with them. Over and over again David prayerfully turned his problem people over to the Lord.

This way of handling adversaries – whether it is just one or a bunch of them – is smart for at least four reasons:

1. It rightly acknowledges that judgment and vengeance ultimately belong to the LORD (Romans 12:19).
2. It gives us time to cool off before we say or do something foolish and regrettable (James 1:19).
3. It takes advantage of the therapeutic benefit of prayer (Philippians 4:6-7).
4. It helps us to be the overcomers that we are in Christ – not the overcome (Romans 12:21).

If you are in a place where it seems like people and circumstances are ganging up on you, learn from David’s example. Do your blood pressure a favor — breathe deeply as you release the things that threaten and harass you to God. You may have to take additional steps later (i.e. confrontation), but for now let Him handle it.

“Dear Lord, I know that you are much more able than I to deal with the difficult people in my life. Help me not to get sucked into the negativity today. I am trusting that You are with me and for me all day long, no matter who seems to be against me. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.