Do not be bitter and retaliate. Return good for evil and bless rather than curse. Leave it to God to repay. God has called you to endure unjust suffering without revenge or the desire to hurt back. God is sovereign; he is in control, and yes, even wicked people cannot thwart his purpose.
SHAUNA: Hi, I’m Shauna with Joni Eareckson Tada with a story from Joni about her good friend Vicky.
JONI: When I first met Vicky at a rehab clinic, I was so moved by the anguish; I could see it all over her face. She had been shot in an attempted rape. As the man assaulted her, she fought back. That’s when he pulled a gun, and he shot her in the neck. Vicky became a quadriplegic. When I met her, she’d only been in the wheelchair a few years. The criminal only spent three years in jail. But Vicky, on the other hand, is dealing with a lifetime sentence of quadriplegia. I mean, this woman could've written Psalm 73 where it says, “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Maybe you could write the same—and those around you may not even be arrogant or wicked.
You could be a single woman who has served God faithfully for decades and has always longed to be married, as you watch your spiritually shallow 22-year-old friend wed a wonderfully godly man. You could be a young mother who must watch her two-year-old die slowly of cancer while your girlfriends fret about their child's broken arm or grades at school. You could be a hard-working salesman who holds fast to good ethics, while a conniving coworker cheats his way to the top. Or you could be carrying the heartbreaking scars from a terrible abusive childhood or an abusive marriage.
Life isn't fair. And the unfairness of it all can be so demoralizing. Husbands cheat on wives; drunk drivers slam into school children, and rapists walk out of jail, moving to other states to start all over again. Where is God in all this? How come evil seems to, so often, have the upper hand? And what can we do about it?
It’s natural to think that God seems unjust [it’s dangerous, but it’s entirely natural to think that way]. When injustices happen, we feel it's only right to justify our anger. We think to ourselves: “God must hate injustice, so I guess he must have been helpless to prevent my terrible mistreatment. So, I need to make up for God's inactions. And if the other person is not exposed, or brought to justice or punished, then I must take matters into my own hands or use criticism, or slander, or hold grudges to make certain that they are, in some way, paid back.”
But must we always respond that way? No, no if we’re Christians. We are to respond thinking, “Yes, God hates injustice and, yes, the awful person who mistreated me deserves to be brought to justice. But whether that happens or not, I will not be bitter nor will I retaliate. I will return good for evil and bless rather than curse. I will leave it to God to repay.” Now true that’s a totally unnatural response to injustice, but if you are a Christian, God has called you to endure unjust suffering without revenge or the desire to hurt back. For God is sovereign; God is in control, and yes, even wicked people cannot thwart his purpose. For the Bible says, “The Lord works out everything for his own ends—even the wicked for a day of disaster”.
SHAUNA: Friend, Vicky has spent over 40 years in her wheelchair, and you will never meet a sweeter, gentler sister in Christ than her. But how about you? Are you struggling with suffering and injustice in your life? Are you feeling like your circumstances and your story, they just aren’t fair? If so, visit joniradio.org today. There’s a whole storehouse of biblical encouragement and inspiration from Joni just waiting for you there. Remember, that’s joniradio.org. And let us know how we can pray for you. Remember, that’s joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends