What to Do When You've Been Treated Unfairly at Work

Jocelyn Bell Burnell was a graduate student staring

at long rolls of chart paper when she noticed a strange

little signal, a pulse repeating with impossible regularity. She

had found something no one had ever seen, a pulsar, and it

would change astronomy. The discovery was hers. She was the

one who spotted it, night after night, and pressed to understand

what it was. But when the Nobel Prize came a few years later, in

1974, it didn't go to her. It went to her male supervisor, and

her name was left off entirely. The truth was, the biggest

discovery of her young life had just been handed to someone else,

and everyone watched it happen. We'll come back to what she did

with the rest of her life, but

first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm

Bart Leger. When I was in the sheriff's office, they brought

in an instructor from another state to teach a class Was

certified to teach and had years of experience in it. That

happened more than once, and here's the part of it that got

under my skin. Departments a lot bigger than ours were flying me

across the country to train their people. I was good enough

for them, and apparently not good enough at home. It took me

a while to get there, but I finally came to an understanding.

Those other departments calling me was all the validation I

needed. My own department didn't have to agree with it for it to

be true. There are stretches when your workplace is fair, and

there are stretches when it isn't. You watched somebody less

qualified get the promotion. Your idea showed up in a meeting

with another person's name attached to it. It's one thing

to be treated unfairly, and it's another thing entirely to keep

showing up on Monday and act like it never happened. And

here's where that damage gets done. You start running it on a

loop, rehearsing what you should have said, and wondering who

knew and who said nothing. home composing an email you'll

probably never send. The unfair thing happened once. The

fretting, though, probably is going to happen every day, and

that's the part of it that eats at you. David wrote a psalm

about exactly this, Psalm 37, verses 1 through 3. Don't worry

about the wicked or envy those who do wrong.

Look at what he tells you to quit doing. Don't worry about

the wicked or envy those who do wrong or those who take

advantage. Older translations say fret not, and fretting is a

word for knowing on something, and that is what it does to a

person. It keeps an injustice alive for years after the event

that caused it. It's over. Then David gives his reason, and it's

an argument about time. Like grass, they soon fade away.

telling you to look at the calendar. The person who took

credit for your work is operating on a clock that runs

out. Whatever he built with it is grass. And then comes the

part I would have you write down somewhere. Trust in the Lord and

do good. Two commands, and the second one's active. Do good.

Keep doing your work Keep doing your work well, even where

nobody is handing out credit for it. That asks more of you than

it sounds like. The natural move after you've been passed over is

to start giving less. You pull back an inch, and nobody notices

except you. And then your work slips a little. Psalm 37 says,

He is a truer judge than any HR department that ever wrote a

policy. Jocelyn Bell Burrell could have spent the rest of her

life bitter. Instead, she chose a different road. snub define

her, and she kept doing excellent science for decades.

She became one of the most respected astronomers alive, and

she spent her life mentoring others. Then, in 2018, she was

given a prize worth $3 million. She kept none of it. She gave

the whole amount away to help women and minority students

become the physicists the field had once passed by. The medal

had gone to someone else. The work and the good she did with

it were still hers. Look at that time frame, 50 years between the

snub and the prize. And look at what she did with those 50 years.

She spent them working, and she spent a good deal of herself

building other people's careers while she did it. The medal went

to someone else. Everything she built in the 50 years after it

stayed hers, including $3 million she turned into other

people's futures. Here's today's challenge. Take the unfair thing

to God today and tell Him the particulars. What happened and

who did it? He's not going to be shocked by any of it. Then, do

the second half of the verse. Pick one piece of your work this

week and do it better than the situation deserves because

you're doing it for God and because it is who you are.

Father, you saw what happened. You were in that meeting. You

know who got the credit for it. judge than any committee or any

HR department. For everybody listening who's been gnawing on

something unfair for months now, take it off the loop tonight and

keep them from growing lacks in their work. Do what you do with

people who trust you and keep doing good anyway. In Jesus'

name, amen. If Daily Devotions for Busy Lives has been an

encouragement to you, would you take a minute and leave a rating

and review? It helps more people find these devotions and it only

takes a moment. I'd be so grateful. And thanks for joining

me on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, the unfair

thing happened once and the fretting is what keeps it going.

Take it to God and then go and do good work. Come back next

time for more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's

truth. Until then, God bless and have a great day.