The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"When Treated Unfairly"
The most unfairly treated person who ever lived responded in an interesting way to the waves of injustice that crashed upon Him.
"He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).
The Lord Jesus Christ had every right to call the twelve legions of angels ready to heed His call for help and apply justice to His offenders (Matthew 26:53). Instead, He quietly bore the wrath of man in the realization of God's will and purpose. "He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously" (I Peter 2:23). How did He accomplish this mighty inward and outward act of merciful self control? His response to Pilate provides one powerful aspect of the answer:
"Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above" (John 19:11).
Our Savior knew that nothing and no one in God's creation can move a finger apart from the enabling that comes only from Him. "He giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25). Certainly, this does not mean that God determines everything that happens. He is never the executor of evil (James 1:13; Psalm 145:17). It does mean, however, that even the devil himself cannot act apart from God's overriding providence (as confirmed by the story of Job). Thus, every conscious being in existence must accept the truth - joyful to some; miserable to others - that our doings are wrought in scope of God's purposes and working in all things. "God… worketh all thing after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:3; 11). This the Lord Jesus knew, which kept Him in peace even when "taken by wicked hands, and… crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23).
When treated unfairly, the born again believer's first response must be the determination to join our Savior in realizing our offender can do nothing apart from the power "given from above." We also commit ourselves "to Him that judgeth righteously." Upon the basis of such faith, we go forward in the confidence that God will lead us to address the matter in a way that honors Him, and reflects our awareness of His presence, involvement, and keeping. We seek to do nothing out of bitterness or vengeance, and if steps to mediate the issue lie before us, we take them in the Christ-honoring dignity that reflects our confidence that God has purpose not only in the things He directly determines, but also in that which He allows. God… worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:3; 11).
From everlasting, our Heavenly Father has known all that will come our way, enabling Him to "work all things together for good to them that love Him" (Romans 8:28). Thus, injustice cannot find us without having traversed perhaps a dark and twisted path, but which nevertheless weaves its way through God's ultimate purposes. Whatever steps we may take outwardly must be preceded by inwardly walking with our Lord in the same faith and submission He practiced when treated far more unfairly than we will begin to imagine or experience…
"Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name."
(John 12:27-28)
Weekly Memory Verse
He giveth to all life and breath and all things.
(Acts 17:25)
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