“One of the hardest areas in which to trust God is in the matter of justice.” Henry Blackaby absolutely ‘nails it’ in his devotional book “Experiencing God Day by Day”.
As a Certified Christian Conciliator© for 20+ years, I can affirm that one of the most frequent obstacles to people being able to reconcile broken relationships has been this “matter of justice.”
I lost count of how many times I heard “It’s Just Not Fair!”
As Blackaby points out, when we PERCEIVE an injustice, we want to see the guilty party punished – and immediately!! And especially if we are the victim – and we will talk in terms of “justice” or “fairness”.
We feel a great need to be “avenged” as Blackaby calls it. But here’s the rub: God warns us that vengeance is not our prerogative. We are to desire justice, but we are not to seek vengeance.
Micah 6:8: He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (NASB)
Usually, I found I needed to help people stop talking about WHAT had happened (the details of the situation) and focus more on WHO was truly offended (the Lord). And His power. As Blackaby’s piece so perfectly describes it, God takes the responsibility to see that justice is done. And He is the perfect one to handle it – all-knowing, all-seeing, reads hearts, nothing escapes Him.
But more importantly, while He is patient and long-suffering before He brings judgment (2 Peter 3:9), God has prepared for absolute justice, says Blackaby. There will be no sin committed that He will leave unpunished. It either falls on His Son or it will be charged against the sinner.
Why? Because of His nature. God is absolutely just, and only He can ensure that justice is fully carried out.
Now here’s the main thing, and it is a humiliating one – “If we are impatient and seek revenge, we presume that we are wiser than God, and we reveal a blatant lack of trust that God will do the right thing. Only by trusting God’s sovereign wisdom will we be free from our anger and preoccupation toward those who have committed evil.” Blackaby says it so well.
And he wraps it up with the truth I have seen played out again and again – “If we refuse to trust God’s justice, we become enslaved to bitterness and anger. We must guard our hearts and trust God to exercise His judgment against those who oppose Him.”
“Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: ‘Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Romans 12:19
My best illustration of this, and in such pure terms, is a story from my church’s mission trip to Goma, Congo, where my role was teaching “peacemaking” while the majority of the team were medical volunteers. The translator took two of us (women) to meet with a 90+ year old woman who was in the housing wing for patients being served at the hospital.
She told her story through the translator – widow in an outlying village living alone when local rogue militia came to her hut in the middle of the night demanding money. She had none. They beat her and raped her. She was brought to the hospital for the back injuries where they stomped on her plus the test for AIDS, rampant in the area. When I asked if she knew the attackers, she said “no” because it was dark at the time. Yet she knew by their speech that they were local.
I then asked how she felt about them – without hesitation, she replied “Oh, I have forgiven them.” My surprise showed, I guess, because she immediately added “God will take care of them.”
Her faith and knowledge of scripture served her well. And gave her peace. Exactly as Blackaby described it – free from anger and preoccupation toward those who have committed evil.
In fact, she humbled me in her grateful attitude when she replied to my question about whether she would return to her village. She smiled and said “oh no” explaining that she had a pot to cook in (showed it to me) and clothes (wearing an LLBean shirt) and she “sleeps safe”. She smiled in gratefulness. (And I realized I had NEVER thought about the wonderful gift of “sleeping safe”.)
Has bitterness and anger robbed you, or your friends, of peace? Do you want to trust God to take care of the situation, but…..you just can’t?
If you have joined my Facebook group, you will know my Journey Well: Heart, Body, and Soul business involves 3 areas, one of which is assisting Christians with conflict that is robbing them of their peace.
As I am finishing my website, I can share that the service I offer in the Soul section is a free interview with inquirers about the biblical guidance and available processes and people to help guide them through a conflict or broken relationship situation. The link is HERE……and feel free to reply to this email for more information.
Not subscribed to my weekly email? Click HERE
