Scandals have no
respecter of persons. These days’ scandals seem to go from one person to
the next. Sometimes one may have caused the scandal, but there are other times
when an innocent person becomes the victim of a scandal. Scandals in our
day and age are very sensationalized by the media. Before an individual
is able to make their personal statement about the scandal in their life, the
media has already judged that person and delivered a verdict. Scandals
are so popular these days they have even named a show after the word 'Scandal.'
I can imagine that going through a national or international scandal must
be hard on any individual. It is must be hard to wake up in the morning
and see your life story all over the World Wide Web. Condemnation seems
to be in style for many (God is not pleased with such). But, what happens
when a scandal finds you? You don't have to be a prominent member of society or
celebrity to walk through a scandal. A personal scandal can be just as
challenging to walk through as a national scandal. The bible is full of
characters that have endured scandals and were able to overcome.
So let's
look at the story of Joseph. In Genesis 27, the story of Joseph begins.
Joseph was Jacob's (aka Israel) son. Long story short, Joseph was gifted
(Joseph had prophetic dreams) and favored by his dad; Joseph's jealous brothers
had him sold into slavery. Later in Joseph's story, we find him living in
the home of his master a man named Potiphar (A top ranking official in
Pharaoh's army). Potiphar's wife was a thirsty woman. She wanted to
sleep with Joseph. Joseph continued to turn down this woman's advances.
Thus, one day he turned down her advances and ran for his life. She
in turn accused him of an attempted rape. Now let's stop right here.
If Joseph had lived in our times, this incident would have been all over
the news. The headlines would have read, "A Butler tries
to rape his employer's wife."
Most of us would believe it because after all, it sounded like it could
have been truth. We are already programmed to believe the worse in people
anyway, right? This indeed was a SCANDAL for Joseph. He was thrown back into to jail with no hopes of
ever getting out. All of this happened because a loose woman falsely
accused him. The story gets better though, Joseph was later named the
second in command over Egypt and was able to save his family from a serious
famine that hit the land. Even though Joseph was able to overcome being
lied on and falsely accused, it probably was painful to walk through such a SCANDAL. Notice that even though GOD elevated
Joseph to rule over Egypt, Joseph's name was never clear from being accused of
rape. See sometimes you can be falsely accused of something and you name
will never be cleared. Think about that the next time you believe a SCANDAL that the media has sensationalized.
The last story I
want to briefly touch, will be about King David (this story starts at 2
Samuel 11). David was a great man, but he struggled with lust. David found
himself in love with a married woman by the name of the Bathsheba. He
slept with her; she became pregnant. Instead of admitting his sin to Bathsheba’s
husband; David had her husband killed. This indeed was a SCANDAL.
Our news would have read 'King of Israel caught in adulteress
affair...He also murdered his mistresses' Husband!' God wasn't pleased and sent a prophet to
call David out about this sin. God told David that Bathsheba's baby would
surely die. God also told David that the consequence of his sin would
never leave his house. Thus, we have David's son Amnon raping his own
sister Tamar (David's Daughter). This is a SCANDAL. We then have David's other son Absalom set up
Amnon to be killed. Yet another SCANDAL. In this story, David caused his own scandal due to bad decision-making.
But, David repented and continued to seek after God's heart.
Going back to the
original question: Can you survive a SCANDAL??? Yes you can! Now, if the scandal isn't your
fault. God will get you through. Don't worry about those that condemn and
believe those lies about you. The word says, 'For in the same way you
judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you.' (Matthew 7:2 NIV). God will handle those that have
falsely accused you. All you need to do is forgive them and continue to
pursue your relationship with your Creator. Now, if you caused a SCANDAL in your own life; first repent and then apologize to those that you have hurt.
Remember that GOD doesn't condemn you in spite of your mistakes, flaws,
and etc. He LOVES all of his children. Even though SCANDALS can be painful to walk through, allow GOD to
use that bad event as a teaching moment to aid in your maturation in him!!!
God Bless you!!!
Virtual xoxoxo
Tanika Honey Ward
