Misunderstood

“As for you, Solomon, my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the mind’s thoughts.” 1 Chronicles 28: 9a

Have you ever felt misunderstood? I bet we all have. And it’s not too fun. Perhaps you were in a situation with a classmate or co-worker and you made a comment and they took it the wrong way. Or you tried to make a joke with a friend or sibling and it hurt their feelings and they accused you of being mean. Maybe someone made a judgment about you because of the way you were dressed, or the color of your skin, or because you were wearing a crucifix around your neck. Maybe you’ve stood up in class or in other public situations for your faith and people have mocked you for it and accused you of being bigoted for your beliefs.

But at the core of our being, we all just want to be understood. At times don’t you just wish that people could look past your words, appearance or actions and see your heart and your intentions? I think this is one of the reasons the human heart seems to yearn for an intimate relationship with another. We want to be understood by our parents. Then we want to have friends who understand us. And ultimately we seem to desire a permanent, intimate relationship with another that will bring us the understanding we seek. This is really one of the purposes of marriage (along with procreation)—the idea of intimately bonding with another soul in such a way that it becomes as much of a concrete image of the Trinity that it can be in our imperfect, fallen world. However, even in the best of marriages, where the man and woman are connected in every way, there can still be times when one spouse feels misunderstood by the other. Even in this most intimate of relationships, one can feel lonely.

This is why all of us, no matter our vocation, need to have Jesus as the most intimate of friends. Only He and He alone will never misunderstand us. In fact, He understands us better than we even understand ourselves. If we are really honest with ourselves, there are times when even we don’t understand why we said something or did something. Ultimately, we need to take comfort in the fact that Jesus will never misunderstand us and that if we have Him as our best friend it will not matter if everyone else in the world misunderstands us. Only Jesus can satisfy this desire of our heart. The sooner we learn this and invest more time into growing in love with Him, the sooner our hearts can be at peace and our lives can reflect the joy and confidence of Jesus to the rest of our seeking world.

Dear Jesus, please comfort me when I am misunderstood by others. Help me to invest more time into my relationship with You so that I can reflect Your love and peace in all of my relationships. Amen.