I like court shows. And Datelines and 20/20s and documentaries where the guilty person is finally proven guilty and pays for their crimes, or where an innocent person who was wrongly convicted finally goes free.
I love justice and truth. But the more shows I watch the more I see that justice is not always served in this lifetime.
There is one court show I occasionally watch where there are three judges who hear each case. So many times they don’t all agree. Two will come to the same conclusion, but one will dissent from the others. How can that happen? They all heard the same case, they’re all sworn to deliver justice, but somehow, someway, they come to different conclusions. Was justice actually served? Was the verdict correct because the majority agreed, or did the one lone holdout have the correct verdict? Three judges, two conclusions.
Or, a whole jury hears the same trial, convicts, and then later the conviction is proven wrong and overturned.
Makes you wonder how many innocent people have been convicted, and how many guilty people have gone free.
Or, closer to home, there are doctors who misdiagnose, friends, family, spouses, or children who misjudge or mistreat us, basic human rights go unmet, and now, what is all too common, an entire internet of people who, virtually overnight, will rashly judge, convict, and verbally carry out their harsh sentences.
I have a dear friend who, years after we had gotten to know each other, confessed to me that when she first met me she thought I was “stuck-up.” I’m not exactly sure what made her believe that, but oh boy was she wrong.
Parents may have warned us that life isn’t fair, and they were right.
And maybe, especially when we’re hurting very deeply, we wonder why God hasn’t answered our prayers, and if God hasn’t made the wrong decision, too.
It can seem as if we’re suffering unjustly, and the truth is, maybe we are.
Jesus did. He didn’t deserve to be nailed to a cross, every nerve in his body searing with pain, heaving to fill his lungs with even the slightest bit of air, a mob of people standing before him who have rashly judged and convicted him and were verbally carrying out their harsh sentences.
It was wholly unjust, but here’s the thing: it was right. In God’s sight it was good because of what He was doing through it, and though no one knew it at the time, it would have an effect, a purpose more meaningful than any other act of injustice ever would.
God has the power to do that.
So if you’re suffering unjustly right now, remember the cross. Remember that the glory Christ’s Heavenly Father brought about through His suffering, our Heavenly Father can and will do through ours.
He saw His Son suffering unjustly, and He sees everything that’s happened or is happening to us. Nothing escapes Him. He is compassionate and understanding toward us and always knows the right thing to do, because He is the Righteous Judge. He is right 100% of the time.
In fact, there are three Persons to the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they never disagree. There are never instances where One dissents from the conclusion of the other Two. There is no miscarriage of justice that He doesn’t see and that will not be paid for, either through His Son’s work on the cross, or through judgment in the next life.
And there is no suffering, no injustice, no unfairness – whether He allows it to continue or stops it, whether He heals or doesn’t heal, whether He restores a relationship or doesn’t, whatever the case may be – that He cannot use for His glory and make something out of it more beautiful than we can ever imagine.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:18-21
God is using those painful circumstances (if we let Him) as a holy fire in our hearts to burn off the sin that would separate us from Him, steal our peace, cause us pain, and probably injustice in another person’s life.
I’m glad my friend eventually changed her mind, and I’m glad my Father sees my heart, my life, and will use all my painful circumstances, those done to me and by me, when given to Him at the foot of the cross where all sin goes to die, to create in me and through me something beautiful.
And my pain is just one piece of the puzzle. When we stand before Him and all our puzzle pieces are put together, we’ll see the whole picture, and know that truth and love and righteousness has prevailed because we have the Perfect Judge who judges rightly every single time.
I’ve watched those stories where someone was wrongly convicted and spent 10, 20, 30 years in prison, and then those people are proven innocent and released. Almost every time, when asked if they’re bitter because of the time spent in prison, with a huge smile on their face, they say no. They’re just happy it’s over and now they’re free.
It will be that way with us when we’re released from our time spent here, having suffered all kinds of trials, and we see our Savior face to face. All the pain will be gone, and we’ll just worship Him and rejoice that we’re finally free. And I’m convinced that somehow, someway, our Father will more than make it up to us.
Sometimes the state will pay restitution to someone who’s served time unjustly. In some cases millions of dollars. If human beings do that, imagine what our Heavenly Father has planned for those who love Him, who trust Him through the injustices we face here, knowing our Righteous Judge will more than make everything whole and right and perfect in the end.
So take those injustices and give them to our Righteous Judge. Give Him those circumstances, that pain, those people, and let Him judge rightly. Then hold onto Christ. Hold onto Hope. It may seem like a long time away, but it isn’t. Justice is coming, and all things will be made right.
with this image of Chris Fields and Miss Baylee Almon that was taken, unbeknownst to him, on April 19, 1995, the day of the Oklahoma City bombing.