4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;
Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;
What I did not steal, I then have to restore.
5 O God, it is You who knows my folly,
And my wrongs are not hidden from You.
6 May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts;
May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,
7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become estranged from my brothers
And an alien to my mother’s sons.
9 For zeal for Your house has consumed me,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
10 When I wept in my soul with fasting,
It became my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me,
And I am the song of the drunkards. ~ Psalm 69:4-12 (NASB)
Eternal Lord, the Psalmist was derided, gossiped about, and mocked for no good reason. I have not faced those difficulties to the degree the Psalmist was, but I have had people make fun of me for being “too honest,” “too prudish,” or “too religious.” Let me never change from following You because someone mocks me. Let the mockery motivate me to love You more and follow You more closely. Let me find encouragement rather than discouragement when people see my actions and recognize me as Your follower. Let me wear as a badge of honor the disdain of those who see me as a “goody two-shoes.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.