There are a few fundamental questions that everyone asks: Why do bad things happen to good people is one. Another is why bad people seem to prosper even when they attack the good guys. The why bad things happen is a whole ball of wax in and of itself, but I can help anyone who has that question. This post is going to center on how to handle unjust treatment from guilty people. We received this teaching in church today and it was profound, let me tell you. I'll summarize it for you real quick, then try to see if we can apply it to our lives.
The teaching came out of Jeremiah 11 and 12. The first point Pastor David made was to Call is as God sees it. Jeremiah 11:1-4 basically says that God's requirement of us is to listen to Him and obey Him. This has never changed. Later in Jeremiah 11, in verses 9-11, it tells us that God's people, in this case the southern country of Judah, were not following God's laws whatsoever. God says here that He is going to bring disaster to Judah, and even if they cry out to Him, He will not listen. The next point is that unjust attacks are just part of the deal. God was asking Jeremiah to try to get Judah to repent, but instead of repenting, Judah plotted to kill Jeremiah (Jer 11:19). Jeremiah was a victim of "don't shoot the messenger." God sent him to give Judah a message and Judah was shooting the messenger. Jeremiah then asks God to take vengeance on Judah on his behalf (Jer 11:20) and God says, OK (Jer 11:22-23). Wow, wouldn't that be nice, huh. Pray to God for Him to punish those who wrong us. What a concept. Let's take this teaching farther though. The next point is that God's justice for us personally rarely comes fast enough. After God says OK to Jeremiah (the end of chapter 11), some time passes and we enter Jeremiah 12 where we find Jeremiah talking to God asking Him WHY? Why is Judah still around, still prospering, still having children (Jer 12:1-4). This would have been a good time for God to tell Jeremiah to just forgive these people who have wronged him. Isn't that what most churches teach...arbitrary forgiveness? You hear it all the time. Just forgive him/her. You will feel better. 1 Cor 5:1-5 says that God is delivering someone to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. This person was being immoral to a degree that even the Gentiles didn't go. Gentiles were the people who didn't follow God, believe in God, etc. Doesn't sound like forgiveness to me. In Galatians 1:8-9, God says that any man who preaches bad doctrine is to be accursed. Doesn't sound forgiving either. Further in Galatians, 5:12, talks about taking circumcision a bit farther than normal. That's definitely not sounding very forgiving. God doesn't call us to arbitrarily forgive. Remember something: the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19) and our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12). We are on enemy territory everyone! Why do I tell you this now? God didn't tell Jeremiah he would have to wait for God's vengeance on Judah. God immediately said, OK, remember? But, Jeremiah was still waiting while Judah still prospered. What gives? Let's check out a story in Daniel. It starts off in Danial 10. Daniel is fasting for 3 weeks (21 days) asking God for help. Once you get to Dan 10:12, you read that an angel had come to Daniel to explain to him that he was sent to his aid the first day that Daniel started fasting and asking for help. In verse 13, you read, however, that he was detained by an angel of darkness (prince of the kingdom of Persia) for 21 days and was finally freed by another angel named Michael. WOW...did you read that? Daniel had been fasting for 21 days, and it took the angel 21 days to be freed from the prince of the kingdom of Persia. BUT...God sent help immediately! We are on enemy territory!!!
With that being said, the next point in the teaching is endurance is a drag, but is necessary. Let's head back to Jeremiah 12 and start with verse 5-6. God here is telling Jeremiah that if he's already tired and weary just dealing with men, how is he going to make it when things get really tough? Sounds like God is telling Jeremiah to "man up, dude." Hebrews 10:36 says "For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised." Hebrews 12:1-4 starts out "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" and ends with "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin." Folks we have not endured anything like Jesus did on the cross. So, let's put on our Big Boy and Big Girl pants and man up. This is a race of endurance...we need to be in it for the long haul. Something else in Jeremiah 12 is verse 6, "For even your brothers and the household of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you." Ouch. How many of us have had our own families turn against us when it comes to God's Truth? I know I have. It tells us over and over in the Bible that this will happen. Put on your Big Boy/Girl pants and move on to win the race.
The last point is God is always working on the fix to our problem, and it comes from Jer 12:7-8 and 12-17. We have to remember that God is working behind the scenes on our behalf, but because of our choice to sin, He can only do so much. Remember, we are on enemy territory...this world lies in the power of the evil one. Remember also, that if someone DOES repent, we are to forgive them and have compassion on them, just as God has forgiven us and has compassion on us.
So, we need to stop shooting the messengers of God, those who speak truth to us whether we like it or not. We also need to stop being afraid that people will shoot you, the messenger, too. Speak God's Truth...always. We also need to remember that God IS working on our behalf, but we must wait on His timing and also remember that we're on enemy territory and sometimes God just can't get to us as fast as we'd like.
I hope you enjoyed that. I thought that teaching was profound and needed shared. If you have any questions, please let me know. I'd be happy to chat with you about this topic or any other topic.
G'night...sleep tight
Hugs!
Bobbie Jo