“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!” Isaiah 30:18
A good friend of mine — only 24 — was recently diagnosed with an aggressive and rare form of lung cancer. He has never smoked.
Where is the justice in this?
Sometimes, bad things just happen; I’m sure many of us have experienced situations we’ve deemed to be unfair. Yet the Bible tells us — promises us — that God is still just.
So how do we reconcile the words of the Bible with situations we deem to be unjust, like the situation with my friend? One thing that stands out to me in the verse above is the word “wait.” Note that the verse says “The Lord longs to be gracious to you...” It is clearly His desire to bring justice and to bring it quickly. Yet He’s waiting, and He has told us to wait, too.
All through Scripture, we get a sense of waiting: the earth cries out for restoration; the martyred saints cry for justice; the psalmist asks how long, oh Lord. God is not only just, but He is also good. And in His goodness, we must trust that His timing is better than ours. Even though our situations may be unbearably hard, God has called us to be patient and to wait on Him to bring justice in its proper time.
Although it is not easy, we can trust that no matter how hard our situation, our waiting will not be in vain; “God is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait for Him!”
Dear Jesus, help me to remember Your goodness, even when times get hard. Please bring about justice in Your timing, and help me to be patient and to endure in a way that honors You. Amen.
Take Action
Search Scripture for examples of others who had to wait for God to bring about justice. Do you think it was better that they needed to wait? Reflect on how you would have felt in those situations, and ask God to give you patience while you wait for justice.