When People Let You Down

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been hurt by someone in your life.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever hurt someone in your life.

If you’re like me then your hand went up twice. 

You know that saying “wisdom comes with age,” I’ve never experienced that to be so true as realizing that all people are broken people. In naivety, I used to put people on pedestals thinking they were the exception to the rule, sure they weren’t perfect, but they were infinitely better than me. Time and failures on the part of those “nearly perfect” people were what finally exposed my faulty thinking. 

It’s an incredibly painful realization to come to, when the people you look up to fall from grace. Whether it’s a parent, mentor, boss, pastor or friend, when the depravity of others affects us it cuts deep. 

There’s two general ways I’ve seen people (myself included) respond to that pain: 1. Turn to God, realizing He’s the only one who won’t let you down or 2. Put the attributes of broken people on God. Let’s be honest, option one is the obvious choice, but often not the first one. 

Why do we do that? Simple. We can’t SEE God with our eyes, or touch Him with our hands, or hear Him audibly, so oftentimes the best reflection we have of God is Him at work in other people. 

But, there’s a difference. Yes, God speaks through others to us all the time, He longs for us to live in communion with Him and with one another and He gives words of wisdom and prophecy to encourage one another, but they’re all broken reflections of God. 1 Corinthians 13 is a long poetic description of love…you probably heard it read at the last wedding you went to, but this passage isn’t about marriage. It’s about the church. After you get through all the lines about what love is you get to verse 12. It says “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.” Key word, reflection. On this side of heaven, we will never have a complete understanding of God. One person, one leader, can’t give a completely accurate picture of God and they don’t deserve to hold that weight in your heart. 

Scripture tells us that God is perfect. Deuteronomy 32:4 says “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.” It also tells us that He cannot go back on His word (Hebrews 6:18-20), which means what is written about Him in scripture is the truth about His character. He’s good, He’s perfect, He’s just, He’s faithful, He’s kind. 

He’s better than the best person you know. 

So, next time someone lets you down, learn from my mistake…don’t put the attributes of a faulty person on God. Instead, look to Him, look to scripture that talks about His characteristics and let your broken heart rest knowing that He is better than the person that hurt you and He can heal the wound they inflicted.