When Other People Fail You, God Is Still Faithful.

When I awoke this morning, I knew, above all the chaos and noise, that God is faithful.

Maybe it was the morning light shining in the window, but I knew.

Then I went to the kitchen to make coffee, and the wretched dog had gone through the trash. But I still knew that God is faithful.

There, on my wall, is a little metal sign that says “God is Faithful.” And I can’t help but think that this is the good news that many of us need to hear.

Last night, another single mom told me about how her own mom had wronged and rejected her.

That is what betrayal is all about: the people who should care and love you do not, and they fail you in the most profound ways.

Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. Psalms 41:9 KJV

This probably describes the last few months of my life. I am sadly aware that betrayal hits all of us at different times.

And it stings.

It’s the fact that family members talked about you without mercy or compassion at a local get-together.

It’s the mom who didn’t want to see you, even though you drove hundreds of miles to check in on her.

For me, it was the people who knew every line of my story and still chose to betray me. They knew how hard I’ve tried and how broken I’ve been.

And there was still no compassion—only gossip and judgment.

See, I believe that betrayal hits us most often when we are already down and out.

I have a theory about this. It’s kind of what happens to chickens.

(I’ve always believed that there are a lot of life lessons from chickens. Stop eye-rolling, please.)

There in the chicken yard is this one hen.

For whatever reason, she is afraid. And she looks a little bit rough. She’s not quite as pretty or as strong as the other hens.

Maybe a hawk tried to grab her, maybe she had been abused, or maybe she has a very quiet personality that causes the other chickens to ignore her.

We may never know. But there she is, hiding out in the corner of the pen. The powerful chickens in the flock do not have the moral integrity to do the right thing.

Instead, one of them walks over to the already shaken bird and starts to pick at her. And one by one, the other birds follow her example.

Until the chicken has been almost plucked bald and she is desperately trying to get away.

In my mind, I cry out for mercy. Why would they do this? Why won’t someone else help her? But there is no one to be found and no one to defend her.

And then I realized something. “Birds of a feather, flock together.”

See, some of us are like that beat-up chicken. We are in a barnyard with the other chickens, but we are not part of that flock.

And strangely, I found relief here.

I’m okay with not being powerful.

I don’t need to run the show or the barnyard. I don’t need to look like I have it all together because I don’t.

The powerful chickens have rejected the poor hen, and she is no longer, or maybe never was, one of them.

That is okay. She (we) can have our needs met outside of that flock.

What we do need is a safe place to belong and a few loyal friends.

And trust me, Friend, you will see your loyal friends. You will clearly see who has your back and who does not.

God sometimes has a way of making things painfully clear.

There are some flocks that we as Christ-followers cannot and should not be part of.

This is more obvious when we ourselves are broken, down, and out.

We may want the approval of the legalistic, judgmental, self-righteous, and arrogant people, but we may not get it.

We, in fact, do not (and probably cannot) measure up in this season of our lives.

And that causes this betrayal.

The betrayal is painful, but eye-opening.

Betrayal frees us to let go of our dreams of being close to them and of being part of that group.

During this season of my life, I felt so betrayed. So talked about. So judged.

The funny thing was, it was all true. I was definitely the poor hen that people attacked.

But that was okay, because God had other lessons for me.

He could have stopped this whole season from happening, but he didn’t. At first I questioned God, but now I realize why he allowed it.

There are some groups he doesn’t want me to be a part of.

He doesn’t want me to “measure up to them.” Because that would make me one of them, and he has better plans for me.

These plans include mercy, humility, and compassion.

We will never be able to help the injured and the down-and-out when we are hanging around people who get their kicks from being powerful. God has to separate us.

He also wants to clean out the junk and clarify our priorities.

When we spend our time, energy, and resources trying to please the “powerful” people, we often neglect our own lives.

The work we had been doing may have been unappreciated and unreciprocated.

Simply put, we may have been taken advantage of, and God put a stop to it.

God is not weak, nor does he tolerate it when his children are taken advantage of or abused.

There will be an end to this kind of treatment of his child.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. Psalms 121:7

And lastly, he allows betrayal to set us free.

Free from the past and from people who do not care or fulfill their God-given roles.

Being free from people who do not treasure you and free from people who are sick in their own sin will open up a whole new world for you.

You are now free to welcome a clean future with open arms.

After seeing the level of betrayal that you have just come through, you know that you can never go back.

You can love, you can forgive, but you cannot ever return. They took that from you.

As bad as that seems, you are finally free enough to turn and face the “good, good” future that God has for you.

I’ve recently been through this in my own life. And as painful as it was, it was exactly the change that set me free in a way I haven’t felt in years.

I no longer work for free for people who took advantage of me for years.

I’m no longer exposed to abuse or harshness.

And I am no longer taking care of other people’s needs while ignoring my own.

This is my prayer for you, Friend.

That you will see that while betrayal is painful, it can be what gets you out of the prison that you were living in and into a new land where you will see miracles and God’s provision.

A new land where you are held tightly by a God who will never leave you or forsake you.

Prayers for your journey,

Lacey