A
good-deed-gone-bad is my personal definition for any situation or scenario
where a well-intentioned individual attempts, out of the goodness of their
heart, to help or bless another individual. In the course of the good deed, the
efforts of the person helping somehow get turned around and the person doing
the blessing becomes the bad guy and the object of vicious gossip.
The act in
question nearly always involves an extraordinary level of expense and/or personal
sacrifice on the part of the person being helpful. Typically in these situations,
the innocent victim is left feeling baffled by the gossip and by the speed at
which the deed went bad. They are inevitably left spiritually shell-shocked,
emotionally wounded and regretful that they bothered involving themselves in
the situation at all.
I have had a long run of good deeds that have
gone terribly bad over the last few years. I won’t waste your time and bore you
with a bunch of depressing details. Suffice it to say that it’s all been the classic
good-deed-gone-bad kind of stuff and it’s all ended in the classic
good-deed-gone-bad manner.
A
conversation the other day revealed yet another good-deed-gone-bad. This one
came out of the blue and was so ridiculous and unanticipated it nearly knocked
me over. I spent the better the part of the night stewing in self-blame. I chastised myself for not having the
foresight to see it coming or wisdom to head it off. By morning self-blame
morphed into self-pity and blaming God. By mid-morning I was fuming about this particular
incident as well as all the others just like it that have occurred in recent
years.
Eventually,
my anger towards God mellowed into something more like a weepy rant. Following
are a few of the highlights…
Seriously? Again?
I thought I was doing what you wanted me to do…
Why would you tell me to do something you KNEW would end
badly?
I was really trying to do the right thing!
How come I’m ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS the bad guy?
I went out of my way to BLESS those STUPID PEOPLE!
I wish you understood how hard this is….
Evidently at
this point in the conversation God had heard enough. Some hard truths flooded
into my mind and I was reminded of a few things. First of all, it occurred to
me that if there is anyone anywhere who could possibly understand how I was
feeling at that moment, it was God.
God is pretty much the poster child for going
out of His way to bless stupid people. Precious few humans even acknowledge His
existence, and fewer bother to thank Him or praise for His efforts. Silly
humans do senseless, reckless stuff all the time, refuse to own up to their
actions; then they blame God for the outcome of their choices. He never fails
to do the right thing and for the most part all he gets from an ungrateful
human race is a bunch of grumbling. He’s omniscient so He knows exactly how
things are going to turn out in the end. Yet, still He continues to bless the
undeserving and ungrateful.
As I considered
all this, I recalled one of my favorite quotes:
When
God wants something done, he has to find someone to do it. If he wants a child
taught, a message brought, a sermon preached, a wanderer found, a sorrowing one
comforted, a sick one healed, he has to find some instrument to do his work~
William Barkley
As I mulled
this over I was hit by the cleverness of the enemy’s schemes. A good-deed-gone-bad
works out to his benefit in many ways. These incidents inevitably plant seeds
of hurt and anger in the hearts of those who are inclined to help others. If
left unchecked, those seeds will mature into suspicion and bitterness. The person
who was inspired to be a blessing is no longer inclined to bless.
When that happens, everyone suffers because the
message of God’s love and care for the human race is stopped in its tracks. The
people He has chosen to deliver that message are too tired and too discouraged
to continue doing what they have been called to do.
Have you been
the victim of a-good-deed-gone-bad? Don’t give up and don’t despair.
God gets it. He’s been there; He knows exactly
how you feel. He loves your willingness to sacrifice on his behalf and He is
blessed by your readiness to act as His instrument. He knows your deeds and He
has blessings in store for those who refuse to give into circumstances.
I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and
perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at
first~ Revelation 2:19
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