If I see another Instagram post about haters following posts and refusing to hit the “like” button or see another sanctimonious Facebook status dedicated to everyone who wants to see said person lose, but God is going to help them win anyway, I am going to go crazy. You know what I’m talking about. Everyone is burdened by people hating on them getting to the next level of success. Maybe Oprah is to blame, but all of a sudden everyone is relying on God to help them overcome the negative people trying to hold them back. Call me a critic but it seems a bit theatrical and silly to me. Who are all these phantom haters trying to hold others back? And if you do have an adversary, isn’t posting about it simply giving in to the hype, thus giving them power? But then again some of us want to claim “hat ers” just to prove our relevance, in the words of Rico Richie, “If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t poppin.”
It’s Sunday so I resign myself to quieting the sarcastic voices in my head and attempting to seek WWJD. So what does Jesus say about haters? The Bible says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” Psalms 34:19. An affliction is defined as the cause of persistent pain and or distress. One of my favorite pastors, Joel Osteen, says that, “There are so many things that can come against us, but God promises in his Word that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.”
Long story short, I stand corrected. According to the Bible, God will deliver us from all of our afflictions, including the “haters.” So maybe the memes and rhetorical Facebook statuses waging war against the haters are correct. If something or someone is causing you undue stress, the Bible suggests you can pray and God will be faithful and deliver you from your afflictions. I would be remiss not to add that many times I believe we create situations that may not fit that Scripture. The afflictions must be “real” and not made up — after all it sounds cool to say the haters see how blessed I am — even if you don’t have haters. And most importantly the Scripture says “many are the afflictions of the righteous” this suggests that while we can be delivered from others who wish us harm we have to be considered righteous in order to claim those benefits.
The next time you think about posting about your haters, check yourself to make sure your actions could be considered righteous. If not you may want to hold off on adding God to your post or meme. Admittedly I can be a bit of a smart a–, but I doubt the Psalmist meant to be included in some of the sentiments shared on social media, maybe we should be quoting Rico Richie or some of the features on his record instead.
