All the Injustices Made Right

My daughter was complaining to me the other day about all the ways her classmates misbehave. Her teacher doesn't correct everything and that really annoys her. This is not a new complaint. At home she complains about her brothers too. They don't follow all the rules. Her older one likes to push the boundaries and her younger one often doesn't know any better. And I, like her teacher, can't correct everything either. 

First, I don't know about all the injustices that go on nor could I rightly deal with them all even if I did know. If I addressed every stuck-out tongue, elbow prod, and rude voice, I wouldn't have time to make dinner and my children would probably feel micro-managed. Plus, while I can demand correct behavior, I can't demand correct hearts. That's outside my domain. There's far too much sin happening here for me to make right.

So what does a seven-year-old girl do with the knowledge of all the unaddressed wrongs? Her angst comes from her desire for righteousness, but her impatience for righteousness now is a real inner struggle. The impatience will have to be brought to the Lord, but in the meantime I've thought of three ways to reconcile injustices on the earth. And no, I probably won't explain this in quite so much detail to my daughter.

One: Even if people were to receive a man-given consequence for their errors, this wouldn't fix the problem. Spankings or jail time or large fines don't change people, nor do they heal the victims' hurt. Man-given consequences are just a temporary fix for all parties involved.

Two: God sees every wrong and keeps track of them. For every wrong someone does, it's like he puts a rock onto his scales of justice. It is a sin that must be paid for. If the person trusts Jesus' blood to pay for the sins, then God's scales are balanced. If the person continues to think they'll right the scales themselves, then the person pays for their sins through eternal separation from God.

Three: Every wrong action or thought or wish we make has an internal consequence that we cannot see. It either hardens or awakens us. It either makes us more stuck or makes us more free. It either turns us more into a creature that is decaying or turns us into a creature that is eternally living. These little inner changes can make a person's life far more unbearable than a mere spanking or jail time.

Unchecked, an unjust person will eventually become a rather hardened, unsympathetic, and predictable creature with a very limited number of friends and a limited number of things they like. On the other hand, the just person will become more adaptive, imaginative, and ever-changing. They will find they can be friends with everyone and interested in everything because everyone and everything is interesting. 

The unjust person will find things less and less satisfying while the just person will find themselves blessed by more and more things. The unjust person will fight wildly for control. The just person will trust God who is in control.

This gives the words "just" and "unjust" a fresh new meaning to me. It reminds me of all the times the Bible and especially the Psalms uses these words. The just person is the one who not only acts rightly with his fellow man but also towards God. This means that the just person also judges himself and others rightly. He might see how others are not behaving rightly, but he also knows that he has not behaved rightly towards God, so he has more patience and understanding for other's imperfections. He trusts in the Lord's justice more than his own and he waits for him.


Psalm 37

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
 For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.

The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him,
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose way is upright;
their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.

Better is the little that the righteous has
than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.

The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
and their heritage will remain forever;
they are not put to shame in evil times;
in the days of famine they have abundance.

But the wicked will perish;
the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;
they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous is generous and gives;
for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land,
but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the Lord upholds his hand.

I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
and his children become a blessing.

Turn away from evil and do good;
so shall you dwell forever.
For the Lord loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land
and dwell upon it forever.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.

The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
The Lord will not abandon him to his power
or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.

Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
for there is a future for the man of peace.
But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

Comments

Laura Provencio said…
I needed to read this!! Thank you for posting it!!