Proverbs 15:29; Proverbs 16:5; Proverbs 28:10

29 The LORD is far from the wicked
but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

5 The LORD detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

10 He who leads the upright along an evil path
will fall into his own trap,
but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.

When I took my first job out of college I would say I was far away from God. At this job I worked along side a guy who was a real gung-ho Christian, over the top with witnessing and writing "I love Jesus" on work documents and things like that. He got on everybody's nerves and it became kind of the uniting force in the office to slander him and by the end basically to hate him. I was not the leader of that movement against him but was at the very least, a willing and enthusiastic participant. He was somewhat socially inept and his behavior was often inappropriate but he was not really judgmental about it and the response to him by the office was definitely disproportionate to his offenses.

So at some point a plan was devised to convince the boss to force this guy to temporarily transfer to another office in another city. The plan worked and the boss made all of the arrangements to ship him off for awhile. Then, about three days before he was to leave, we went a step further and were able to convince the boss to get rid of him altogether-- to fire him. Well the boss said that he took it very graciously-- he said that the Lord never closes a door without opening another and left the company without incident. We accomplished our goal.

But here's where the story get interesting and the subject verses begin to apply. Since my boss had already made the arrangements for someone to go to the other office, he felt he had made a commitment that he needed to keep. So guess who now had to go--- me! This was maybe the most miserable six weeks of my life. The other office really didn't need anyone so there was nothing to do all day, then more nothingness at night, miles away from my family in a strange town. I also got the flu and couldn't sleep and so was physically miserable as well. Th flu caused me to miss several days of work and when I was there I was depressed, and so became even more of an outsider in the new office. I found myself in a very similar situation to the one I had helped put my former coworker in back home! My desperation prompted me to try to pray (which I had not done in years) but found myself completely cut-off, unable to talk to God.

The good news is God did not turn His back on me forever, only while it was good for me for Him to do so. I learned a lot from that period and it comes to mind when:

1. I am tempted to pile on someone who is down
2. I feel that a sense of self-sufficiency is taking the place of my sense of dependence upon God.
3. I find myself beginning to devise a trap for someone, or see that a trap is being set by the group for an outsider
4. I see that I may be basing my self-worth on a comparison with another person
5. A relationship is starting to be established with another person based upon a common dislike for a third party