I know a kind businessman whose wife and children were brutally murdered nearly thirty years ago. He was then charged for their murder—this family he adored—and spent seven years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Last month I had lunch with him and his wife of ten years, and learned that he lost his faith in God when other Christians said to him after the murder, “God must have a great plan for your life.”
The next morning, as I opened The One-Year Bible, I couldn’t get the conversation out of my mind. Then, I read a startlingly similar story. The main character of this story was also a good man. In fact, Jesus said of John the Baptist, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater” (Matt. 11:11).
And yet, John went to prison, just like my friend. Why? Simply because he had the guts to tell King Herod that he shouldn’t steal his brother’s wife Herodias.
I don’t know how long John sat there, but one day he was roused by footsteps nearing his cell and a key turning in the lock. Could it be? The day of his release?
No, they had come for his head.
It turned out that the wife John had said King Herod shouldn’t steal had a daughter who was a spell-binding dancer. At Herod’s birthday party, her dance pleased the king so much that he promised to give her whatever she wanted. Prompted by her bitter mother, she asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter.
I would expect God to intervene. After all, Jesus had said there wasn’t a greater man on earth than John! But He didn’t.
Sometimes it’s too much to take in. Injustice threatens to overwhelm. I try to make sense of the blackest black, but come up short. Looking up, hopeless, I cry out . . . and that one look changes everything. Oh, I still don’t have all the answers. But now I see Him.
My God who loves justice.
“Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD” (Jer. 9:24).
“Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne” (Ps. 97:2).
My God who suffered at the hands of the unjust.
“In his humiliation justice was denied him. . . . For his life is taken away from the earth” (Acts 8:33).
This just God knows. He, too, has suffered profoundly at the hands of wicked men. There Jesus hung, taking it all without a word, so that He might defeat injustice and murder and Death once for all. So that He might justify the ungodly. Because even if we are the victims, aren’t we also often the perpetrators in our hearts? Hating God and our fellow-man?
My God who offers eternal Resurrection life in Paradise with Him forever.
Because Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave, I believe that John the Baptist and my friend’s wife and three children are now in paradise with Jesus (Luke 23:43). And while God didn’t shield them from the ravaging effects of living in a sin-cursed world, I take great comfort in the fact that He has personally wiped every tear from their eyes and they will never know pain or crying anymore (Rev. 21:4).
My God who will set all things right.
I’m especially comforted when I remember that justice will be served. The Judge of all the earth will not miss a thing:
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen. 18:25)
“It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27).
The Need for Thoughtful, Humble Speech (or Silence)
While this upward look quiets my questions for the moment, I’d be the first to admit that I’ve never had anything even remotely horrific happen to me like it did to my friend. While I believe that God is just and sovereign, I realize that I need to be careful—oh-so-careful—with the words I offer to those who are aching because of injustice here and now. I thought of my friend when I read the following in Katie McCord’s In the Land of the Blue Burqas. Would he have found more comfort in these words thirty years ago, I wonder?
“I believe God is good and when we do good we are submitted to God. When we do evil, we are not. When God said, 'You shall not murder,' did He mean, 'You shall not murder'? If He did, then when a person murders another person, shall we say that the murder is an act of the will of God when God has already expressly forbidden it?"
Are you grappling with how to reconcile a good, just God ruling over an unjust world? Are you struggling to offer hope to the hurting? Or are you the one hurting? I’d love to learn from your own wrestlings here.
Leave a Comment:
We love hearing from you, and will post your comment as long as it is appropriate, and is written in a tone that is encouraging, edifying, and loving to others. Even then, know that the following comments do not necessarily reflect the views of Revive Our Hearts.
Comments
Does anyone know of any appropriate books to help explain these things to younger children?
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 7:27 am
My insurance co told me that several HIPPA rules
were violated and asked me what I wanted to do. I knew I wasn't emotionally stable enough to go to court with this, so I accepted the insurance co's offer to see a counselor.
It helped some, but I have remained angry at myself that I didn't realize this wasn't the "normal" way I should have been treated.
I realize from this post that I need to spend some time with God confessing my anger; my emotional hurt;my feelings of stupidity that I didn't realize something was wrong. I have to let this go and move on. I think I have, and something will trigger the emotional pain and feelings of worthlessness and I am engulfed in anger and self-doubt again.
The positive out of this experience is that I tell cancer patients what they should expect...a dressing room; no trainees if they don't want them present, etc. I have been thanked by others who said that they were treated as they should have been but they appreciated my heads up as to what they shoutd expect...it took away some of the apprehension and empowered them to be a part of the team instead of a speciman as I was.
I will be spending some time with God seeking His forgiveness for my unforgiveness; His mercy and grace to put this behind me and to Look to Him to heal me emotionally and spiritually.
Thank you!
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 8:04 am
Thank you for this post. It is encouraing to know that our God will do right.
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 8:59 am
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 9:49 am
Praying for all those who suffer injustice. May we seek God in the pain and find Him to be more than enough :)
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 10:03 am
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 10:24 am
I am one of the hurting. Thank you for this perspective. I lost my Dad in a very horrific way just a few months ago. It has been hard to find joy again. People's words hurt sometimes. I have found it easier to just realize that they are not purposely trying to hurt me, they just don't know what to say or how to deal with my pain. I've given it all to God. It doesn't take away the pain but it does help to know of God's character and that He will make all wrongs right, He works all things together for my good, and He is a loving, faithful God who has never left my side. God bless you - thank you for this article.
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 11:05 am
on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
“He won’t call me to account”?
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would not otherwise be found out.
The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.
on Friday, July 27, 2012 at 6:50 am
on Friday, July 27, 2012 at 2:18 pm
http://www.cornerstonejh.com/essentials-of-the-faith-lesson-6-the-apparent-problem-of-evil-part-1/
on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Your words were a real blessing. I just recommended this article on the ROH blog. It helps to remember and think about John the Baptist, his righteous life, his unjust death, his life's powerful witness in the earth even today. It helps to hear examples like your friend, whom God has helped to overcome such a difficult circumstance.
Yes, I have wrestled with injustice and been the hurting. Yes, I have also been the one who has been insensitive to those who are suffering. Amen that we must be careful what we speak to/about others who are hurting.
As you say, drawing closer to Him, beginning to understand His ways, His sovereignty, His love -- trusting in Him no matter what -- is a big part of the answer. He is good, infinitely good, even when we can't understand it. ROH/Nancy (as you know) have played a big part in helping me understand this truth!
Lovingly and with a prayer for those who are hurting,
Leslie S.
Gen. 50:20
on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 11:56 am
on Saturday, August 25, 2012 at 1:13 pm