God’s justice will come…
perfect and complete
How many of you get angry watching people do evil and nothing seems to happen to them? Not only do we feel angry, but we may even feel like acting like those who have agitated us. I must admit, I do. I watch the news and see people acting like criminals and there are no repercussions, causing me to have a large range of thoughts and emotions. It makes me mistrust society (even more). It makes me not trust the legal system. It makes me see more vividly that good is called evil and evil good. It makes me think that those who act wrong get attention; so maybe we have been doing it wrong the whole time. Then I begin to think, “what if those things were happening in my community” and I start to meditate on that.
The truth is we have a right to righteous anger. The Bible teaches us, “be angry and yet not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). Anger is not a bad thing when used as it was intended. Our emotions (yes, anger is an emotion) have been given to us by God to be a catalyst to action. Unfortunately, in our corruption we have allowed sinful behaviors to dictate our lives. Church, as we see the wicked and evil behaviors of people, I want you to know that they are not getting away with evil. No one gets away with evil. They may not be held accountable for a period of time, but that is not the end of their story.
I believe in our hunger for righteousness, we want to see immediate justice. We may even feel like we need to become those administers of justice. I am grateful that there is a strong desire for righteousness! I am grateful that seeing evil and wickedness abounding causes a desire for action! But, we must not act out of accordance with God’s Word. We must fight these battles God’s way, not join in the world’s sinfulness. As these feelings rise up, please remember the words of Jesus about the plank and the speck. It is ok to want to remove the speck, but we must first check ourselves. We have the Bible, God’s Holy Spirit, the example of Jesus Christ, and the community of believers and we still slip, struggle, and stumble. It is not easy to think right, act right, and speak right. We who have the truth should know that more than anyone else and be compassionate, patient, and merciful to others. We know what will happen in the end to those who do not confess that Jesus is Lord. The truth is, those who are seeming to get away with injustice are not. God will deal with the unjust, in His time and there may/will come a time for us to act. However, we cannot respond to the world in a worldly way. We cannot fight Kingdom battles as worldly citizens.
The feeling of frustration that we are feeling now is not new. In Psalm 73 the psalmist wrote about his frustration seeing the wicked getting away with evil. He beautifully articulates the struggle that many of us may feel as we see what seems to be injustice. He speaks to the temptation of wanting to act like them and then remembers the truth. The truth is God’s justice will come. The truth is God’s justice is perfect and complete. The truth is that our eyes should be on our real treasure and that will give us strength to pursue righteousness. The psalmist realizes that even though the unrighteous seem to get away with sin and have great pleasure because of sin, there is no greater pleasure than pursuing God:
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25,26)”
May we be most satisfied in God and not distracted by what appears to be injustice and allowance for sin. The pleasure of sin is fleeting and will lead to destruction. Following God and His Word will lead to eternal pleasure, protection, and peace.