Explore the Bible Series for August 26: Trusting the God of justice
Posted: 8/15/07
Explore the Bible Series for August 26
Trusting the God of justice
• Malachi 2:17-4:6
First Baptist Church, Duncanville
You know you’ve thought it. It’s the age-old question that haunts us at the end of the day. But Malachi says we have “wearied the Lord” with our words (2:17).
It seems as if the world couldn’t be more mixed up. What is evil is called good. What is good is called wrong. Moral fiber is rewarded with ridicule rather than respect. Courage has more to do with extreme sports than with following the call of God. And meanness is rewarded, while goodness is punished.
Is it any wonder we cry out, “Where is the God of justice?”
Professing faith in God seems easy. Expected even. But is it as easy to obey him? Obviously not, or else we wouldn’t be reading exposés about ministers who prey on children and seniors. We wouldn’t worry about locking our doors when we park our cars at church. And we wouldn’t have to talk differently at work or in our neighborhoods just to fit in.
It doesn’t take much interaction with the world to become a little jaded. It seems as if God allows evil to be rewarded while ignoring his faithful few. Can he really mean what he says in Malachi 3:5: “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me”?
The answer lies in faith
Job had as much reason to doubt God as any of us. Throughout his ordeal, he did in fact question God, but his faith could not be shaken. “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing” (Job 1:22). In spite of the unfairness of his situation, at the end of the day, Job still could not say God had made a mistake.
At the end of the day, we too must stand on faith. Trusting in God means more than believing he’ll allow us into his heaven. It means believing he knows what he’s doing and has a plan. It means believing he sees what’s going on and will respond at the right time. It means trusting his words to be true, even when it doesn’t look that way.
It’s the timing issue that makes trust so hard. Because we’ve grown accustomed to immediate results, we often get discouraged when we get no reward for our efforts. Hence, someone might tithe for years, but when financial blessings never come, he’ll decide tithing doesn’t work. Someone else might make a habit of answering harsh words with soft answers, but after years of people taking advantage of her, she’ll decide God’s word isn’t true. We build expectations around God’s promises and call it faith. But when this “faith” isn’t rewarded, we become resentful.
Malachi tells us this faithlessness offends God. Listen as he quotes what many of us have thought, if we haven’t actually spoken the words: “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape’” (3:14-15).
Rest assured. God’s word is true. He just works on a bigger scale than we can imagine. When God says he’ll testify quickly, he doesn’t mean tomorrow. A lifetime is quick to the God of eternity.
Furthermore, God has a plan. We like to focus on the passages promising blessing on God’s children and judgment on his enemies. But we fail to remember the passages revealing God’s nature. The Bible plainly says God is patient and willing to wait for his enemies to change their hearts and become his children. It isn’t that God doesn’t see the evil in the world. It isn’t that he is going back on his word. It’s that he has a plan. And that plan is for everyone to discover his love and follow him.
Malachi wants us to line up our expectations with God’s. Yes, God will punish. And in rare cases, that judgment occurs here on earth. But we always must wait on God. “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire … .But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall” (4:1-2).
All too often, because we don’t understand God’s ways, we think he has failed us, or doesn’t hear us or, worse, uses difficult circumstances to punish us. Yet faith can see us through the times that don’t make sense. Regardless of our circumstances, we are called to follow God, loving him and obeying him.
We must trust that the rewards will come. “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not’” (3:16-18).
We must focus on God, not the world
The promise is clear. God does see, and he does remember. In fact, he even records our faithfulness in a scroll so it will never be forgotten. But we must not grow discouraged when we aren’t immediately showered with blessings. God says he will distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. We must be patient until that day.
But how do we manage until that day? We must learn how to focus. If we spend our days focusing on the unfairness and inequality of our circumstances, our attitudes will disintegrate. When we focus on the world, we develop a worldly heart, and we begin to resent God.
Instead, we must learn to see through the smoky haze of life to the truth. Yes, it seems the evil are getting away with their wrongdoings and the good are not being recognized for their faithfulness. But God, who sees all, is keeping a record. We don’t need to worry. We only need to take our eyes off the world and focus on him.
Like Peter, who dared to walk on stormy waters, faith will take us outside the boat and into the storm. But we mustn’t think about the impossibility of our situation. We must simply focus on Jesus. Yes, it appears dangerous, but if we’ll keep our eyes on Jesus, we’ll find ourselves walking on water.
Discussion questions
• Have you experienced circumstances that made you doubt the truth of God’s word?
• How did you respond?
• Is it possible to remain faithful even when it seems futile?
• What are some strategies for focusing on God during difficult times?