I Samuel 8:6 tells us that when the people of Israel asked for a king, it hit Samuel wrong: “the thing was displeasing in his sight.” Then, significantly, it says “And Samuel prayed to the Lord.” And :7 adds: “The Lord said to Samuel … they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me …”. Samuel then understood that the rebellion of the people was not against him personally, and he should not take it as such. It was ultimately their rebellion against God as King which was the root issue. But Samuel only received this insight because he took the hurt and consternation he felt about what the people were doing, to God in prayer.

We need to make sure that we do the same thing.

When something someone says or does something that bothers us, we need to do what Samuel did, and pray to the Lord about it. Then watch for the wisdom and insight He will give you about the situation through His word. When you’ve been hurt, or don’t understand, don’t “take it out” on somebody — even yourself! As the old hymn says: “Take it to the Lord in prayer”!