Sept 12 - Psalm 18:25-26

To the faithful you show yourself faithful;

to those with integrity you show integrity.

To the pure you show yourself pure,

but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.

Psalm 18:25-26

“How long, O Lord?”

Have you ever cried that?

We all want for there to be justice. Indeed, we expect for our God to be noble and just. In fact, if God isn’t just and life isn’t fair, then sometimes we’re not really sure he really “deserves” to be called “God.” (Now, we may not say that to his face, but isn’t that how we occasionally feel?)

Thus, the question has always been, “If God is God, and God is just, then why are there so many injustices in the world?!”

We want the scales to be balanced. We want Psalm 18:25-26 to come true … daily. We yearn for our acts of faithfulness to be met with God’s prompt and obvious faithfulness. We want the pure to experience God’s purity, and we expect for the upright to experience His integrity. Similarly, we think that the wicked ought to occasionally get a little taste of their own medicine, right?!

What percentage of the time do you settle for the explanation that God will work all things out in the end? Conversely, what percentage of the time do you want to demand a little justice right now?

Here’s the problem with immediate justice: Our Lord and King turned the rule and dominion of this world over to us – see Genesis 1:26. In Genesis 3, however, we turned the rule and dominion of this world over to the serpent. It’s not that God couldn’t just reassert his authority, but he’s waiting for us to act first.

He waits for us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,”

He wants us to put our stake in the ground.

He wants us to declare war against the forces of injustice.

He wants us to be instruments of his peace.

In one of my most careful readings of Revelation, I caught a glimpse of a bowl that sits in front of the Lord. In one of these bowls – see Revelation 6:9-11 – we see God collecting the persistent cries for justice by the faithful – “10 Sovereign Lord … how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood …?”

How long? I couldn’t help but seeing God crying along with us; nevertheless, “11 they were … told to [wait and] rest a little longer.”

The question is this: If God is so just and earth’s inhumanity is so painful, why does he wait?  

It’s grace.

He’s allowing time for one more sinner to repent.

And then another … and another.

Thank God he does! Otherwise, every one of us – including you and me – might have already tasted the awful recompense for our own unique sin.

In Christ’s Love,

an impatient person

who’s glad that God

occasionally waits