Psalm 40:1-3
“I waited patiently for the LORD; 
he turned to me and heard my cry. 
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, 
out of the mud and mire; 
he set my feet on a rock 
and gave me a firm place to stand. 
He put a new song in my mouth, 
a hymn of praise to our God. 
Many will see and fear the LORD 
and put their trust in him.”
(NIV)

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“I’m going to make an example out of you.”

This was not a friendly declaration. By punishing me, a warning would go out to everyone else. This was not quite fair in my way of thinking. Gratefully, God doesn’t feel the need to humiliate us as warnings to others. 

He makes examples of us, as this psalm says, but not the bad kind. Verse 3 tells us the kind of example he makes out of us:

Many will see and fear the LORD 
and put their trust in him.

God is trustworthy in how he handles discipline and humiliation. He prefers to show people how good, kind, and merciful he is. He has no need to make us look bad so that, in comparison, he will look good. He desires his highest and best for everyone. He wants everyone in on the joy. 

A sign in front of a church said something I needed to hear years ago. There was a guy who was kicking me around in his conversations with others outside of my hearing. I heard about it. Isn’t that always the way it works? Some secrets are too big to keep. 

Driving down a street on the far side of the town from where we lived, the sign in front of the church said, “You can’t build yourself up by putting others down.” I smiled and thanked God for speaking to my heart in that way at that time. 

My friend would not enhance his reputation by ruining mine. I would grow stronger and wiser by not retaliating. 

I might not have wanted to learn that lesson that way at that time. You might want to learn it now. I might not want to relearn it! But it’s a good lesson we’d better learn now. Let God use you as a positive example, a proper role model who turns the hearts and minds of others toward the goodness of God. 

Trusting God is worth temporary setbacks. God plays the long game. He is crafting character, not raising mushrooms. 

In Philippians 1:3-11, the Apostle Paul, one of the most brilliant intellectuals of his day, and one of the men who followed Jesus more completely than anyone who ever lived, writes in his later years, “God’s still working on me.”

If you recently failed the test above, you will probably get another chance to do it right. Do it right. God is still working on you and me, and what he started, he will finish. 

I came into this world undone. I do not want to go into the next one unfinished.

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I will live the kind of life God can use as a positive example. 

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Our Father, make an example out of me. Empower me to live the kind of life you can put on display for others to learn from. Bless me with the necessary humility and kindness to always choose the hard, right thing in moments when I am mistreated, misunderstood, and tempted to take the path of misdirection. Amen.