I had a dream. Oh my dreams are not anything like those of Martin Luther King. My dream was quite silly and I can only recall the smallest bit of it right before I woke up. In my dream I was upset by how unfairly vampires like me were treated. Yep. Nothing like MLK. But it got me thinking about the injustice of so many different groups and I realized that there is no justice for anyone on this earth.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 [NIV]
Recently, I caught myself being angered over the snubbing of female vocal artists in country music. Another instance of my righteous indignation is that I am angered by how teachers are treated in our society. And another pet peeve of mine is how good leaders are ignored even though they choose to step up when others shrink back and judge. But what good is my anger? It only makes me bitter. And that is a weapon of the Enemy. My gut response to my very justified anger is not helpful. It is destructive. Maybe I don’t kill people or tear down store fronts, but I destroy my own peace. And that drains the God-given serenity from my soul.
So how are Christians to handle injustice? Are we supposed to accept it and pretend it doesn’t exist? I’m so glad you asked, because the Bible has so much to say about this topic that it could never be addressed in this little blog. So I will just hit on a few points. To get the real deal, you need to read the Bible. It is full of stories of injustice and it offers practical advice on how to handle each.
One such story is that of David and Bathsheba. It is full of injustice! It takes place after David has become accepted as the reigning King of the Israelites and is sitting pretty in the throne. He sees a hot woman bathing on her rooftop and wants her.(And it is not like he doesn’t already have wives of his own.) Long story short, David summons Bathsheba who is another man’s wife, gets her pregnant, tries to cover it up in several different unsuccessful ways until he resorted to murder. This story has plenty of injustice to go around. But God sends a justifier. He sends Nathan the preacher, to confront David. Nathan does not go in shouting hellfire and brimstone even though David definitely deserved it. I think Nathan was sent by God to address this injustice because Nathan knew how to be smart and control his righteous indignation. Nathan chose to approach David with a story of injustice about another guy who did a similar thing as David. And it worked like a charm. David was livid at the perpetrator in the story. Then, ever-so respectfully, while David was most vulnerable, Nathan tells David that he was this man. Nathan was not out to avenge the wrongs committed to Bathsheba or her husband, his endgame was repentance and change.
I think Nathan can teach us all how to handle injustice. First and foremost he was called by God to do this. If it is not a calling of God. I should not touch it. And I will only know what is my calling if I stay in God’s word and speak with Him frequently. Second, Nathan was not defending an injustice done to himself but was looking out for others. He had no skin in this game. We are called as Christians to look out for others rather than ourselves. If the cause benefits me and mine, it may not be what I need to be addressing. Third, he could control his anger. This is something that is learned by practice. Anger only brings out angry responses rather than remorse. In the case of justifying injustices, anger is seldom an effective tool.
Nathan used his God-given wisdom to address the situation one-to-one, in a non-confrontational manner. And by Nathan’s preparation, obedience, and the power of the Most High God he was effective! David repented and changed his ways. And the last point: If revenge rather than repentance is what I am looking for, my heart is not ready to confront anyone.
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
Romans 12: 19 [NIV}
So my take-away is that unless I am called and equipped by God, I do not need to handle injustices. I need to look for the injustice of others rather than myself and I need to check my anger at the door and be smart. Now is not the time to ignore social injustice but it is also not the time for vengeance. Now is the time to listen to what God is speaking into my heart and to defend the defenseless.