We can carry things from our pasts that hold on to our
souls because we have never resolved the feeling that God was not there for us
when they happened. People can struggle to have a good relationship with God in
the present because they are still hurting over things from the past and have yet
to work through their feelings about those things with God, or their feelings
about God because of those things.
At the same time, many church leaders tell us that, if
someone has done bad things to us in the past, the only way to prevent
bitterness is to forgive them. It doesn’t seem to matter how wicked and cruel
those things were, we are told we must forgive them, or we will always be
poisoned by the bitterness we feel. It doesn’t even matter if people are still
doing bad things to us, abusing us, or using us, the rule we are taught is,
just forgive them every single time, and then we won’t be bitter.
Thankfully, that is NOT what the Bible teaches. When we
face the feeling that life is out of control, and people can do to us whatever
they want, and God never seems to intervene for our good, there is something
much better that the Bible does teach, and it can be summarized like this: the
faith-experience of God’s sovereign goodness.
God is sovereign, which addresses his power and authority
over all things. He can do all that he wills. He has the power that is greater
than any other power, and so is fully capable of doing what he desires. And, he
sits on the throne of the universe, so he has the authority to do what he wills.
That question is, if God us sovereign over all, is that a
good thing, or a bad thing? We all know the stereotype of the strongest kid at
school being the bully everyone fears. Some people see God that way. He’s
tough, he’s mean, and we had better do what he wants in order to avoid trouble.
The partner to God’s sovereignty is his goodness. As he has
all power and authority, he is also perfectly good. That is easy to see in the
revelation of his word, so I am not expanding on that at the moment. What I
want to focus on is the way that God’s goodness makes his sovereignty the best
thing we could ever experience, and the way God’s sovereignty means that this
goodness will be expressed to his children without fail.
It is interesting that, when Jesus was on the cross, and he
prayed that his Father would forgive his enemies,[1] he was not forgiving them, but putting their fate
in the hands of his Father’s sovereign goodness.
This is right in line with what Jesus had taught us about
relating to those who did wrong to us. He never once told us to forgive our
enemies, unrepentant abusers, or even our persecutors. Rather, he taught us to
depend on God’s sovereign goodness by loving our enemies, doing good to those
who hate us, blessing those who curse us, and praying for those who abuse us.[2] I assure you that there is a huge difference
between forgiving such impenitent people, and praying for their forgiveness as Jesus
did.
This is also clear when God’s word tells us how to handle
our feelings of vengeance. There is no doubt that animosity, hatred, cursing,
and abuse from others will tempt our flesh to seek revenge. However, when God
tells us what to do instead, he does not tell us to forgive such people who
have stirred up these feelings.
Rather, he says, “Beloved, never
avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”[3] Notice that God does not tell us to forgive such
people, but to trust his sovereign goodness. Vengeance belongs to him, but he
never says he will forgive such people either. He says that he will repay them.
This is why we are to leave room for the wrath of God. Instead of taking on
that wrath for ourselves, we are to leave it to God to handle these things.
When we trust him to be both sovereign, and good, we will find freedom and rest
from what these people do to us.[4]
It is only when we have the faith-experience of God’s
sovereign goodness that we can do the next thing we are instructed after
leaving vengeance, wrath, and repayment to God. We are instructed, “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry,
feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you
will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”[5]
The reason the children of God can overcome evil with good
is because we are trusting in God’s sovereign goodness. We can do the good of
prayer, and blessing, and loving people because we know that God is sovereignly
working all things together for our good in the Lord Jesus Christ.[6] If we personally trust in that sovereign goodness
of God, we will be free to join him in the good he is doing.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1] Luke 23:34
[2] Luke 6:27-28
[3] Romans 12:19
[4] At the same time, God
is free to choose how he expends his wrath. On those he brings to himself, his
wrath has already been expended on his Son, and these people will come to
repentance. It is amazing how genuine repentance, rare as it is, softens our
hearts to forgive. On those who refuse to come to God in repentance, his wrath
will be expended on them at the final judgment. Either way, we leave it to God
to choose which way his wrath against our perpetrators will best reveal his glory.
[5] Romans 12:20-21
[6] Romans 8:28
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