Tag Archives: Divine Justice

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He Who Laughs Last

Judgment Is Coming—and Rightly So!

PREVIEW: The Founder and Finisher of our faith has commanded us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us—even those who persecute us. (Mat 5:44) But there is also a deep, God-implanted sense in the core of our being which sees injustice inflicted in the world—both the world at large as well as the smaller world of our private lives—and cries out for the day when an all-knowing and all-powerful God will set aright every wrong. Of course, we rejoice when evildoers see the error of their ways, bow their knees in repentance, and make right the wrongs they have committed, but when they don’t, our innate sense of fairness yearns for the innate righteousness at the core of God’s character to hold the wicked accountable for their wickedness. And that day will come. Sooner or later, it will come.!

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 52:6-7

The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying other.”

Christians aren’t supposed to laugh at others, right? Isn’t it always poor form to snicker at their misfortunes—even those who invite calamity upon themselves by their own foolish actions and mean deeds? Isn’t it true that we’re not even supposed to wish “bad things” upon our worst enemies—those who torment us for our faith, belittle our Christianity, and despise our God? After all, the Founder and Finisher of our faith has commanded us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us—even those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44)

True, for the most part! But there is also a deep, God-implanted sense in the core of our being that sees injustice inflicted in the world—both the world at large as well as the smaller world of our private lives—and cries out for the day when an all-knowing and all-powerful God will set aright every wrong. Of course, we rejoice when evildoers see the error of their ways, bow their knees in repentance, and make right the wrongs they have committed, but when they don’t, our innate sense of fairness yearns for the innate righteousness at the core of God’s character to hold the wicked accountable for their wickedness.

And that day will come. Sooner or later, it will come. It may be swift and sure, or it may take a lifetime, or it may have to wait until justice is meted out at the Great White Throne judgment, but that day will surely come. And rightly so!

When David wrote this psalm, he had just come through betrayal at the hands of Doeg the Edomite. David was on the run from King Saul, literally just a step ahead of certain death, and he sought respite and refreshment with the priests of the Lord in the city of Nob. (1 Samuel 21-22) But the dirty dog Doeg spied David there and ratted him out to Saul. Saul promptly marched on Nob, and using Doeg as his executioner, killed all eighty-five of the priests along with the entire village when he couldn’t find David. It was that tragic story that provided the context for this hard-edged psalm of David as he fantasizes about Doeg getting his Divine comeuppance.

Dirty rotten Doeg owned that moment, but it was David who got the last laugh. It didn’t come immediately—how we wish for that—but at the end of the day, it is David who belongs to the ages as the man after God’s heart, while Doeg lives in infamy, his name enshrined in ignominy as Saul’s horrible henchman, ratfink, snitch, and murderer of the Lord’s priests!

And so it mostly goes in God’s economy for believers in every age. We may face trials of many kinds, persecution for our faith, humiliation, injustice, and even death, but we get the last laugh, for that day will come as sure as the dawn when God’s justice will be satisfied. While you may grieve at the slowness of that day, don’t fret, for one day, you will stand in awestruck reverence as Divine justice and righteousness are vindicated—and on that day, in a way that is wholly appropriate, you will laugh!

My Offering of Worship: Are you grieving over injustice in the world? For sure, pray for your enemies, as Jesus commands. But while you are at it, you can also feel right about praying, “How long, O Lord, how long?” In a way that is wholly appropriate, Christians can plead with the Righteous Judge of all the earth to turn his (and our) enemies into friends of God, but if not, to reveal his justice in their eventual punishment.

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A Downright Nasty Little Prayer

When It’s Completely Appropriate to Pray Angry

If you are going to unleash an imprecatory prayer on someone—a downright nasty little diatribe to God—just remember that Divine justice is blind; it cuts both ways. So make sure your own evil has been covered by the blood of Christ, which comes by grace through faith through the acknowledgement and repentance of sin.

Read: Psalm 137 // Focus: Psalm 137:8

“O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us.”

If you are going to enjoy the psalms, sooner or later you’ll have to deal with a psalm like this. Psalm 137 is a downright nasty little song/prayer that calls for the violent destruction of the Babylonian people—akin to the call for a Jewish Jihad! This is what we called an imprecatory psalm—the calling down of a divine curse; a prayer for violent vengeance.

So the question is, what place does such an angry psalm have in the song book of a loving God?

First, this isn’t simply a religious rant. Psalm 137 should not be isolated from the others psalms—or from the rest of Scripture, for that matter. It makes sense only in context of both the theological and historical setting. The writer wasn’t just calling down vengeance because he didn’t like someone. The Babylonians had perpetrated great violence against God’s people, so the psalmist was only calling on God to do what God had promised to do. (see Jeremiah 52:4-11)

Second, this is not a call to take vengeance into human hands. The psalmist sees God as judge, jury and executioner, and upon that basis makes his plea for the proper execution of Divine justice. (James 4:12)

Third, though it isn’t acknowledged within this psalm, other Scripture shows that before the Jews had called down judgment on their captors, they had first thoroughly repented before God for the very things that had brought them under the iron-fist of Babylon to begin with. (Daniel 9:1-19) They had, as Jesus later called us to do, taken the beam out of their own eye before they bothered with judgment for their tormentors. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Finally, this prayer, and others like it, is aligned with God’s prophetic indictment of Israel’s enemies. The writer is praying what the Scripture has already declared, calling into fulfillment God’s judgment against some extremely evil people. (Psalm 103:6)

For the most part, our prayers should be along the lines that Jesus taught: “love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.” (Luke 6:27-28 NLT) But when evil goes beyond the pale, it is certainly appropriate to pray for what is at the core of God’s being: Justice.

However, I think I need to offer one caveat: If you are going to unleash an imprecatory prayer, just remember that Divine justice is blind; it cuts both ways. So make sure your own evil has been covered by the blood of Christ, which comes by grace through faith through the acknowledgement and repentance of sin.

Making Life Work: Are you angry about someone or something? First, make sure you are good and angry. (see Psalm 4:4 and Ephesians 4:26) Next, confess your own sins before God and thank him for his undeserved mercy and grace in your life, Now you are ready to pray for what or for whom you angry. So go for it!

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The Antidote For Spiritual ‘Road Rage’

Making Life Work
Read: Psalm 36:1-12
Focus: Psalm 36:10

Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.

I have to admit it—I was really ticked off! I was fighting back road-rage. I was considering intimidating the driver of the other car with hyper-close tailgating, or perhaps speeding up and cutting them off, or maybe even performing the dreaded PIT maneuver (and if you don’t occasionally watch “Cops”, you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about).

So what was my problem? Well, I was on the way to a birthday celebration—a friend had turned 90 this week—and the car in front of me had about every bumper sticker offensive to Christianity on it you could possibly imagine. Can you believe it! The one that sent me over the edge was next to the pirated “fish” symbol—you know, the one that has feet and the name Darwin on the inside of our beloved fish. Anyway, next to that was a bumper sticker that said, “We Have The Fossils—We Win.”

I was beginning to hum “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Stand Up For Jesus” and I would intermittently mumble, “the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” (Judges 7:18) I was ready to pounce—in Jesus name, of course. But I didn’t do any of that. Rather, I eventually settled for calmingly passing the car that was causing my upset and giving its multi-pierced occupants my most righteous stare.

Drats! They didn’t even see me.

Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad, but I was more than a little ticked off. You get that way too, sometimes, when you see the unrighteous flaunting their disregard of God and their disrespect for Christians. And as followers of Christ, we sometimes long for the day God steps in and judges sin with a display of Divine justice that will leave no doubt—although when we consider the lives of the sinners we know and love, that prospect is rather frightening.

David was feeling that way in this psalm. Out of the twelve verses that make up Psalm 36, six are used to complain about the wicked (Psalm 36:1-4,11-12). But as David is venting, I think he comes to grips with the fact that there was not much, if anything, he could do about the evil residing in the hearts of those wicked people who were ticking him off. So, as he often does, he talks himself out of his “road rage” by focusing on the character of God—his love and faithfulness (Psalm 36:5), his righteousness and justice (Psalm 36:5), his protection and abundance (Psalm 36:7-8), and life itself (Psalm 36:9-10) that the godly find when they make the Almighty their sanctuary.

Oh, and one more thing, just for a bit of perspective: the Bible tells us there is none righteous, not even one. (Romans 3:10) I guess that would include you and me. So aren’t you glad God hasn’t given in to our venting about the unrighteous quite yet!

__________________

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” (C.S. Lewis)

 

Making Life Work: Dwelling on the eternal character of God is the antidote to the spiritual road rage that threatens to consume us when we focus on the ephemeral nature of the sinner. You’d think I would get that by now—but I guess like David, I have to relearn it just about every other day. I’ll bet you do too!

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The Complete Appropriateness Of A Downright Nasty Little Prayer

Read Psalm 137

Featured Verse: Psalm 137:8

“O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us.”

If you are going to enjoy the psalms, sooner or later you’ll have to deal with a psalm like this. This is a downright nasty little psalm that calls for the violent destruction of the Babylonian people—akin to the call for a Jewish Jihad! This is what we call an imprecatory psalm—the calling down of a divine curse; a prayer for violent vengeance.

So the question is, what place does such an angry psalm have in a loving God’s book?

First, this isn’t simply a religious rant. Psalm 137 should not be isolated from the others psalms—or from the rest of Scripture, for that matter. It makes sense only in context of both theological and historical context. The writer wasn’t just calling down vengeance because he didn’t like someone. The Babylonians had perpetrated great violence against God’s people, so the psalmist was only calling on God to do what God had promised to do.

Second, this is not a call to take vengeance into human hands. The psalmist sees God as judge, jury and executioner, and upon that basis makes his plea for the proper execution of Divine justice.

Third, though it isn’t acknowledged within this psalm, other Scripture shows that before the Jews had called down judgment on their captors, they had first thoroughly repented before God for the very things that had brought them under the iron-fist of Babylon to begin with. (Daniel 9:1-19) They had, as Jesus later called us to do, taken the beam out of their own eye before they bothered with judgment for their tormentors. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Finally, this prayer, and others like it, is aligned with God’s prophetic indictment of Israel’s enemies. They are praying what the Scripture has already declared, calling into fulfillment God’s judgment against some extremely evil people.

For the most part, our prayers should be along the lines that Jesus taught: “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.” (Luke 6:27-28 NLT) But when evil goes beyond the pale, it is certainly appropriate to pray for what is at the core of God’s being: Justice.

However, there is just one caveat: If you are going to unleash an imprecatory prayer, just remember that Divine justice is blind; it cuts both ways. So make sure your own evil has been covered by the blood of Christ, which comes only by grace through faith through the acknowledgement and repentance of sin.

“I tell you, brethren, if mercies and if judgments do not convert you, God has no other arrows in His quiver.”
~Robert Murray M’Cheyne

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Psalm 137: The Complete Appropriateness Of A Downright Nasty Little Prayer

One Year Bible: I Kings 20:1-21:29, Acts 12:23-13:12; Psalm 137:1-9; Proverbs 17:16

The Complete Appropriateness Of A Downright Nasty Little Prayer

O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you
for what you have done to us.
(Psalm 137:8)

If you are going to enjoy the psalms, sooner or later you’ll have to deal with a psalm like this. This is a downright nasty little psalm that calls for the violent destruction of the Babylonian people—akin to the call for a Jewish Jihad! This is what we call an imprecatory psalm—the calling down of a divine curse; a prayer for violent vengeance.

So the question is, what place does such an angry psalm have in a loving God’s book?

First, this isn’t simply a religious rant. Psalm 137 should not be isolated from the others psalms—or from the rest of Scripture, for that matter. It makes sense only in context of both theological and historical context. The writer wasn’t just calling down vengeance because he didn’t like someone. The Babylonians had perpetrated great violence against God’s people, so the psalmist was only calling on God to do what God had promised to do.

Second, this is not a call to take vengeance into human hands. The psalmist sees God as judge, jury and executioner, and upon that basis makes his plea for the proper execution of Divine justice.

Third, though it isn’t acknowledged within this psalm, other Scripture shows that before the Jews had called down judgment on their captors, they had first thoroughly repented before God for the very things that had brought them under the iron-fist of Babylon to begin with. (Daniel 9:1-19) They had, as Jesus later called us to do, taken the beam out of their own eye before they bothered with judgment for their tormentors. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Finally, this prayer, and others like it, is aligned with God’s prophetic indictment of Israel’s enemies. They are praying what the Scripture has already declared, calling into fulfillment God’s judgment against some extremely evil people.

For the most part, our prayers should be along the lines that Jesus taught: “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.” (Luke 6:27-28 NLT) But when evil goes beyond the pale, it is certainly appropriate to pray for what is at the core of God’s being: Justice.

However, there is just one caveat: If you are going to unleash an imprecatory prayer, just remember that Divine justice is blind; it cuts both ways. So make sure your own evil has been covered by the blood of Christ, which comes only by grace through faith through the acknowledement and repentance of sin.

“I tell you, brethren, if mercies and if judgments do not convert you,
God has no other arrows in His quiver.”
~Robert Murray M’Cheyne

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Psalm 36: Arrgh Thar Drivin Me Nuts

Read Psalm 36:1-12

Arrgh, Thar Drivin’ Me Nuts!

Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.
(Psalm 36:10)

I have to admit it—I was really ticked off! I was fighting back road-rage. I was considering intimidating the driver of the other car with hyper-close tailgating, or perhaps speeding up and cutting them off, or maybe even performing the dreaded PIT maneuver (and if you don’t occasionally watch “Cops”, you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about).

So what was my problem? Well, I was on the way to a birthday celebration—a friend had turned 90 this week—and the car in front of me had about every bumper sticker offensive to Christianity on it you could possibly imagine. Can you believe it! The one that sent me over the edge was next to the pirated “fish” symbol—you know, the one that has feet and the name Darwin on the inside of our beloved fish. Anyway, next to that was a bumper sticker that said, “We Have The Fossils—We Win.”

I was beginning to hum “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Stand Up For Jesus” and I would intermittently mumble, “the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” (Judges 7:18) I was ready to pounce—in Jesus name, of course. But I didn’t do any of that. Rather, I eventually settled for calmingly passing the car that was causing my upset and giving its multi-pierced occupants my most righteous stare.

Drats! They didn’t even see me.

Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad, but I was more than a little ticked off. You get that way too, sometimes, when you see the unrighteous flaunting their disregard of God and their disrespect for Christians. And as followers of Christ, we sometimes long for the day God steps in and judges sin with a display of Divine justice that will leave no doubt—although when we consider the lives of the sinners we know and love, that prospect is rather frightening.

David was feeling that way in this psalm. Out of the twelve verses that make up Psalm 36, six are used to complain about the wicked (Psalm 36:1-4,11-12). But as David is venting, I think he comes to grips with the fact that there was not much, if anything, he could do about the evil residing in the hearts of those wicked people who were ticking him off. So, as he often does, he talks himself out of his “road rage” by focusing on the character of God—his love and faithfulness (Psalm 36:5), his righteousness and justice (Psalm 36:5), his protection and abundance (Psalm 36:7-8), and life itself (Psalm 36:9-10) that the godly find when they make the Almighty their sanctuary.

Dwelling on the eternal character of God is the antidote to the spiritual road rage that threatens to consume us when we focus on the ephemeral nature of the sinner. You’d think I would get that by now—but I guess like David, I have to relearn it just about every other day. I’ll bet you do too!

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable,
because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
—C.S. Lewis