The Wisdom of Forgiveness

Proverbs 20:22, NLT

Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.”

    Wait for the Lord to handle the matter.

Human beings seem to be born with a injustice detector.   Almost as soon as we can speak more than a few words, we string together the words, “it’s not fair!”  This is especially true when WE are the ones on the wrong end of the perceived injustice.  The complaint about fairness is raised as a call to others to fix the injustice – to give us what we rightfully deserve. 

This is not inherently bad, just an immature sense of justice.  What we, as children, often perceive as injustice is but a small part of the big picture that we have yet to understand.  We don’t get what we see our older sibling getting because we are not ready to receive the same and our parents are wise enough to be aware of this.  What we see as injustice is really our parents (or teacher, etc) looking out for us. 

However, some never move beyond this underdeveloped sense of justice.  “It’s not fair” gives way to desire for vengeance, a desire to somehow even the scales.   It is a fool’s errand because such efforts are almost always counterproductive.  Because what is fair is often highly subjective, this constant battle for “justice” ends up being a never-ending Hatfield vs. McCoy feud.

Enter the wisdom of the above proverb. God, who is the only one with an objective and perfectly mature sense of justice is more qualified to “make things right.”  That’s easy enough to admit, but terribly hard to embrace.  What do we do when our injustice detector, however mature or immature, goes off and, though we know God can handle it, it seems impossible for us to do nothing but wait for God.

Thus, God has offered us the gift/tool of forgiveness.  We can make the choice to let go of the need for vengeance just as God has done for us.  It is a call to trust God more fully.  The prophet Amos offers hope that “justice [will] roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)  It’s God’s job to establish justice, because it is a nearly impossible for us to do effectively, especially when we are trying to do it for ourselves. 

The Bible offers much more instruction on forgiveness, but the wisdom in today’s reading is that our justice meter is inaccurate.  We are on the side of wisdom when we embrace that and trust God to ultimately make things right.  Such a stance is actually a step towards a more mature sense of justice.

Question:  Have you ever had a situation that you thought was unfair only to find out later that, because of information you did not have, the situation was much more complicated than you originally surmised?

Prayer:  Lord, we confess our justice meters are not always accurate especially when it comes to ourselves.  Help us mature in such a way that we see more and more like you do and trust You when we cannot see what You see.  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for those who were adversely affected by Hurricane Idalia. 

Song:  Make it Right – Maverick City Music