Justice May Not Have a Swift Arm

“Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.” (Pr 20:22 AV)

In a world obsessed with fairness and litigation, this is a difficult thing to do.  One thing to remember, though.  Our instinct to make all things equal drives us to abrogate in the courts of public opinion, or handle it ourselves.  Sometimes, letting it lay and letting God work is the best solution for an injustice.  Being preoccupied with what is fair or right will bring us heartache in the end.  That is not to say law should be ignored.  There are times to pursue justice.  There are times to sue for damages.  There are times to take it before the church for their unified opinion.  However, not every time is that time.  In fact, speaking just quantitatively, there are more times we should take one on the chin that to seek to even the scales.  In fact, Jesus himself testifies to this very truth.  “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” (Mt 5:38-42 AV)

Waiting is never easy.  I don’t do amusement parks.  For various reasons.  One of those is waiting.  It astounds me how much people will pay to stand and wait.  I don’t like peak times of anything.  If we go out to eat, we will try to go between lunch and supper.  Standing in line holding that elaborate pager that blinks like a Christmas tree is annoying and a complete waste of time.  Waiting for justice is one of the worst experiences of waiting once can endure.  Knowing we have, or are, suffering a loss makes it even more intolerable.  When someone cuts us off in traffic, specially if they violated a law to do so, causes us to look down the road hoping to see blinking lights with the violator pulled over.  If someone slanders us, we hope and pray there is unbearable gossip which will boomerang right back at them.  Waiting is not in our nature.  The problem is, God is much better at recompense then we are.  If we take it upon ourselves to recompense an injustice, we will either be far crueler than the injustice deserves, or our recompense will not be appropriate to the injustice and injustice will continue.  I have learned this truth many times over.  God is always better at evening the scales then we ever can be.

Whatever we may lose by waiting on the LORD to recompense our injustice was only temporary anyway.  If someone slanders our character, the truth will come out in eternity and all of heaven will know.  If we suffered a physical loss, we are taking nothing with us to glory anyway.  So, what difference did it really make?  If we suffer the loss of time, it will be made up in the time we save by being patient.  Time is only temporary anyway.  All things, including this life, was given to us by the grace of God anyway.  It is not ours to have emotional reactions over its loss.  The LORD giveth and the LORD taketh away.  Let the LORD recompense.  He does a much better job at it than we ever will.