Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your daily prayer,
Speaker 1: where we help you find the words you need to
Speaker 1: connect to your Father in Heaven. No matter what's happening
Speaker 1: in your life today, you can trust that God wants
Speaker 1: to hear from you. Right after this short word from
Speaker 1: our sponsors, we'll pray through today's prayer for encouragement when
Speaker 1: You're Misunderstood. A Prayer for Encouragement when you are Misunderstood,
Speaker 1: written by Sophia Bricker, read by Leah Gerard. He was
Speaker 1: despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
Speaker 1: We turned our backs on him and looked away. He
Speaker 1: was despised and we did not care. Yet it was
Speaker 1: our weakness he carried. It was our sorrows that weighed
Speaker 1: him down, and we thought his troubles were a punishment
Speaker 1: from God, a punishment for his own sins Isaiah fifty
Speaker 1: three three through four. Quietness is often mistaken for indifference,
Speaker 1: sometimes even anger or insubordination. That was what a fourth
Speaker 1: grade substitute teacher assumed when she taught me. As always,
Speaker 1: I sat quietly at my desk, hands folded, and my
Speaker 1: attention focused on the teacher Unlike others in the class,
Speaker 1: I did not yell out, answers or talk during the lesson.
Speaker 1: My mother had taught me to remain quiet at school,
Speaker 1: and I was naturally shy. Even my closest friends knew
Speaker 1: I was not prone to talkativeness. But then the substitute
Speaker 1: teacher paused after a lesson question, anyone have a guest?
Speaker 1: She pointed at me, how about you? Are you too
Speaker 1: good to answer? A little snob Perhaps she was having
Speaker 1: a difficult day or had a bad encounter with a
Speaker 1: class in the past. However, the remark cut deep, and
Speaker 1: not just because of the insult. To be misunderstood having
Speaker 1: quiet attentiveness taken for pride full of judgment was painful.
Speaker 1: Tears stung my eyes, but didn't spill until I told
Speaker 1: my mother about the incident on the way home from school.
Speaker 1: Most of us have experienced times when others misunderstood our
Speaker 1: words and actions or intentions. A student's silence mistaken for snobbery,
Speaker 1: a mother's wise rule for a child is taken as
Speaker 1: an uncaring mandate, or a conversation between friends is misconstrued
Speaker 1: because of hearsay. Regardless of our situation, we can find
Speaker 1: comfort knowing that we're not alone. Our savior knows what
Speaker 1: it's like to be wrongly judged, for he is the
Speaker 1: perfect son of God. Yet Isaiah fifty three three through
Speaker 1: nine shows us that the religious and governmental leaders had
Speaker 1: him crucified as a criminal. They hurled insults at him,
Speaker 1: as if he were a wicked sinner. How wrong they were.
Speaker 1: But still Jesus endured the pain of being misunderstood and
Speaker 1: being called a sinner, though he, the sinless lamb of God,
Speaker 1: hung on the cross to die for the sins of us, all,
Speaker 1: as two Corinthians five twenty one says, for ours. He
Speaker 1: made him to be sin who knew no sin, so
Speaker 1: that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1: Though our experience does not match the lords, we can
Speaker 1: be comforted knowing that he empathizes with our pain, and
Speaker 1: like him, we can entrust our case to the Father,
Speaker 1: who knows the situation perfectly, as others are incapable of doing.
Speaker 1: Just see one Peter two twenty three. We can take
Speaker 1: the tears of being misunderstood and give them to the Lord.
Speaker 1: He sees the truth clearly. May we also learn from
Speaker 1: the hurt of others falsely judging us, so that we
Speaker 1: become more apt to listen and less likely to jump
Speaker 1: to conclusions. Or, in the words attributed to Saint Francis
Speaker 1: of ASSISI grant that we may not so much seek
Speaker 1: to be consoled as to console, to be understood as
Speaker 1: to understand, to be loved as to love. Let's pray,
Speaker 1: precious Savior came to that which was your own, yet
Speaker 1: was rejected and despised. Teach me to respond to mistaken
Speaker 1: judgments with grace and humility as you did, for you
Speaker 1: know the stab of pain that comes when others misunderstand
Speaker 1: and slander the good that was done you, the spotless
Speaker 1: Lamb of God, were falsely accused and sentenced to death
Speaker 1: as a criminal. As I take comfort in your empathy
Speaker 1: knowing that you understand the hurt I feel when I'm misunderstood,
Speaker 1: Help me learn from this experience to remember the sorrow
Speaker 1: of incorrect judgment, so that I may grow in my
Speaker 1: ability to understand and listen to others, to be more
Speaker 1: willing to understand rather than be understood. I don't want
Speaker 1: to hastily come to conclusions about others, just as I
Speaker 1: don't want them to impulsively judge me instead, let your
Speaker 1: grace guide me so that I spend more time listening
Speaker 1: and observing, rather than quickly voicing my opinions. Even if
Speaker 1: others do not come to recognize the truth. I trust
Speaker 1: my pain to you, since you know all things. You
Speaker 1: are the righteous judge who was willing to take my sin,
Speaker 1: dying the death I deserve, so I may have everlasting life.
Speaker 1: In your name, Christ, I pray Amen. Your Daily Prayer
Speaker 1: is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media. If
Speaker 1: you liked to her today, be sure to follow our
Speaker 1: sister show your nightly prayer. You can find your nightly
Speaker 1: prayer at lifeaudio dot com or in your favorite podcast app.
Speaker 1: By following your daily prayer and your nightly prayer, you
Speaker 1: can be sure that your day begins and ends centered
Speaker 1: on the Word of God and prayer