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Have you ever struggled with your own feelings when some injustice has taken place in your life?
Some one attributes a comment or an action to you that you didn't make, and consequences in your life result from their actions. When you eventually find out the source of the problem--the other person--it is too late to undo what they have done. They seem to go about their merry way repeating their actions with no consequences in their own lives.
A crime happens, you are robbed, your house is torn apart by vandals. The vandals are either never found or when they are found, they are given a slap on the wrist while you are left to clean up their mess and deal with the loss of possessions that may be irreplaceable.
Worse, a life is taken. A few years ago a young woman formerly from our community was murdered in another city by some one looking for a few dollars. A lovely person's life was snubbed out, creating a permanent and horrifying injustice in her life and in the life of this young woman's family. An injustice that will never be corrected fully because she is gone.
How do we deal with such things? And how do we as believers who preach forgiveness, reconcile these colliding feelings in our souls: one feeling crying out for justice, the other an awareness of how much we have been forgiven by God and that we should thus likewise forgive?
Even when we do forgive, as we should, we want to feel that we have forgiven not just know that to be true intellectually. But we often battle with feelings that don't match the forgiveness we know we have chosen to give. There is not-so-latent anger and frustration, even bitterness in our hearts.
What do we do with these feelings when injustice happens and appears to be the final outcome of our situation?
It is complicated and what I am about to share won't be the full answer, but if you are struggling with some injustice in your life, I think this will help.
As I battled to think through a major injustice that happened in my own life by people who lied and manipulated and appeared to get away with it, I've prayed and prayed and prayed for the Lord's direction and help with my own feelings. Until today. This morning I ran across some verses that are a great help. I still have some things to work through as I consider these verses, but I've finally found a starting point: 2 Timothy 4:14-18.
Listen to what Paul says here and notice the difference between Paul’s view of Alexander the coppersmith and Paul’s view of those who deserted him (Paul):
Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Be on your guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching. 16 At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.
17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Alexander listed here is almost certainly a fellow believer whom Paul knew.
In Acts 19:33 an Alexander attempts to make a defense of Paul, but the Ephesian crowd shouts him down. Ephesus is the place where Timothy was, to whom Paul was writing in our passage above.
In 1 Timothy 19:20 an Alexander is also mentioned. This time Paul speaks of a disciplinary action he had to take because of blasphemy being spoken by this Alexander. The kind of discipline that Paul refers to is one that is spoken of elsewhere regarding believers. Alexander, therefore, appears to be a believer, surely the same Alexander in each instance.
I mention that Alexander is almost certainly a believer because it is often the case, sadly, that it is a fellow believer who perpetrates injustice in our lives. These hurts are the most painful.
David wrote in the Psalms,
“If an enemy were insulting me I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked along with the throng in the house of God. (Psalm 55:12-14)
How does God deal with believers who do injustices to other believers?
Well part of the answer is in 2 Timothy 4. He repays them for their deeds. We must be careful as we think about this. This isn't the only way that God deals with us as believers. Thank the Lord that he doesn't always repay us for our deeds! The Cross of Christ is about forgiveness and God does forgive.
But here we find that Alexander did harm to Paul as he was preaching the Gospel. He did harm by opposing Paul's teaching. Rather than just write this off and say, "The Lord forgive him," Paul says something quite different. He says that the Lord will repay Alexander for his deeds.
Paul was very direct about what had happened to him. He didn’t put on a happy face and pretend that nothing inappropriate had been done by Alexander, nor did he excuse Alexander’s behavior as simply the actions of a fellow sinner as Paul was quick to point out that he was himself. On the contrary. Paul says frankly that Alexander had done him great harm and that God would repay Alexander for what he had done.
In contrast, in the very same context, Paul mentions those who had deserted Paul when he desperately needed defending. About this group Paul says, "May it not be counted against them."
Interesting isn’t it?
About one he says, "The Lord will repay him..."
About the other he says, "May it not be counted against them."
Why the difference?
In part because the one who had done harm clearly had not repented. Paul says to be on guard about him. Alexander is still who he has been, out there causing problems. In that condition God is going to deal with him. God is going to repay him for what he is doing.
The others, those who deserted Paul, while acting inappropriately, were merely cowards not perpetrators. Paul openly extends forgiveness to them.
Frankly when I read this and understood it, it was a great relief.
This nagging internal conflict of, on the one hand, having forgiven others and recognizing my own need for forgiveness, and on the other hand, wanting justice to be done and truth to be known, had left me confused about how God deals with such things.
It always seems in my own life that God doesn't let me get away with things. He brings things to my mind to get them dealt with and if I don't deal with them consequences result. But I was unwilling to see that as God's way of dealing with others.
It seemed that forgiveness, full and complete on my part toward them, should wipe away that need for action by God...yet that didn't seem right. Like me, people still need to deal with what they have done and not "get away with it" so to speak.
These verses have shown me an aspect of all this that has been helpful in dealing with the unresolved internal conflict in my own soul: the conflict of wanting justice and truth to be known even when I have forgiven people—but not feeling an internal release about that forgiveness in my own soul. Something seemed to be left out of the equation: their repentance and reconciliation with God.
What these verses have shown me is that God will bring about consequences in the lives of those who do damage to others. The point should be made that it is God who will repay; we are not to do the repaying. God is perfectly capable of handling things and he will, no matter what it looks like to us on the outside.
One more point in closing. Notice that even with all deserting Paul--that is all human beings--verses 17 and 18 say:
17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth.
18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Lord will stand with us when no one else will. When all have deserted us, God will not. When some one does us harm, know that God has a plan to bring us safely to His heavenly kingdom. He will deliver us from every evil deed. Every evil deed. Every one.
That delivery is not a promise for an escape of the evil actions of others here on this earth. Clearly the passage acknowledges that evil deeds happen. This delivery from every evil deed is a promise that all will be made right in heaven. We’ll be brought safely to that heavenly shore. Count on it. This is His promise to you.
Perhaps I should say a word to those who are perpetrators of harm to others. Know this, that God will not let you get away with it, even though for a season it will seem that you have gotten away with it. God, in his time, will bring you face to face with the consequences of your actions. It’s how he does things.
For those who are merely weak and who fail, may it not be counted against you. That is how God does things as well.
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