Can You Survive A Scandal???

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