What Picks Us Up When People Put Us Down?

By Mike Foster Yesterday I unfortunately started and ended my day with someone harshly criticizing me and my work.

It was uninvited. It was personal. It was untrue. It hurt.

We have all had moments like this where we've received criticism that wasn't constructive, it was destructive. Someone put us down on our Facebook page. The lady behind us in the grocery line cast a judgmental look when our child threw a temper tantrum. Our best work got a bad review. We have all faced the haters and will continue to bump into critics.

So, how do we respond when we feel like our hard work and best effort is getting slammed? We have two options. Either we can let their words injure our confidence and get us off track. Or we can put more value in God’s opinion than people's perspective of us.

Aedriel Moxley wisely stated, “What God knows about you is more important than what people think about you."

And Psalm 119:8 so bluntly puts it, “It is better to take refuge in God than to trust in people."

The critics will come. They will have their say. Their words will hurt. But God is a refuge. He will pick us up when we feel put down. And we can move on knowing what God knows about us is more important than what people think about us.

Mike Foster is the founder of People of the Second Chance and the author of Freeway: A Not So Perfect Guide To Freedom. He lives in San Diego with his family and fluffy dog.

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