What’s wrong in your life right now? Oh, like me you may be very grateful for many things. I hope you are, because being grateful greatly increases your physical, mental, relational, and spiritual wellbeing. But you’re also experiencing a whole host of things that are not as you need them to be, and you’d love for God to make everything right.
In my morning time with God recently I’ve been spending time in the book of Isaiah. It’s been one of my favorite books for a long time, but perhaps even more so in light of the hard, even traumatic, year we’ve all been through recently. And I can’t help noticing over and over again how God promises to make everything right.
And that means everything!
It’s a pretty stunning guarantee when you consider it. And that promise is repeated in countless ways throughout the Old Testament prophets, and perhaps even more clearly in the New Testament.
Your Day in Court
In human terms, if you’ve been the victim of violence or fraud or some other crime you generally want your day in court. Your emotions are in turmoil, but there’s a measure of healing and satisfaction when those who harmed you are held accountable. You are vindicated, and sometimes you can receive restoration of some of what was taken from you.
Human justice is quite limited in its ability to set things right. There’s much that you may not be able to get back, especially the harm to your body, mind, and soul. And human justice is not guaranteed; sometimes it’s very unequal and wrong.
But God is not limited in the same ways. We’ve often been led to see God’s justice as something wielded against us. But what if He is truly on your side? You want the most powerful Advocate in your corner. You want the Righteous Judge deciding your case. Yes, you want your day in court!
That’s the perspective frequently presented in the Old Testament. It starts with Abraham: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25) David cried out, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.” (Psalm 67:4) Isaiah says of Jesus, “He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.” (Isaiah 42:4)
When God is on your side, you want Him setting things right.
Is He On Your Side?
That’s really the big question. If He isn’t on your side, you cringe at the idea of His judgment. If He is, then you eagerly look forward to things being made right.
And that’s what judgment really means; things being made right.
The message of Jesus, the good news of the Kingdom, is that God is on your side! The most powerful Being in the universe is for you. That’s the whole point of Jesus coming here, living and dying and living again. And soon to be coming back!
This is where a large component of modern evangelical Christianity has gotten things skewed. The picture sometimes presented is an angry God who is looking for a reason to get you, and somehow Jesus stepped in between and took the blame so God’s anger is assuaged. While that picture of God may contain a kernel of truth, it misses so much of Scripture and Jesus and truth.
The big picture of Scripture, and the whole story of Jesus, is that God is fiercely against evil – not because He’s egotistical, but because He hates what harms those He loves. And He loves you. He hates what harms you, and evil harms you.
Yes, God is for you. He is on your side!
Setting You Right
You didn’t wake up one day and decide to have issues. You have a story. And your story matters. Yes, your sinful behavior, your rebellion and anger and selfishness, has consequences. But God is not out to destroy you; He’s out to destroy evil.
And that means separating evil from you.
So God needs to set you right.
That’s not just some declaration He makes, although it starts there. He sees you in light of Jesus, and places you in right standing. But it goes much deeper than that. Your very DNA needs to be changed. You need a heart transplant in order to truly be made right.
Let’s look at anger. You get angry when you don’t get your way, and lash out with words or actions that harm yourself and others. When did that start? Perhaps one of your parents did the same, and that’s how you learned to deal with discomfort. But was it your mother or father’s “fault” really? What about their growing up? And on and on it goes.
Or what about sexual “stuff.” You didn’t have the emotional equipment to even know what was going on when you were abused at age 4, or exposed to porn at age 7, or sexualized by an adult when you reached puberty. Your sexual behaviors now came from somewhere.
That’s why it’s usually so hard to truly determine where your “fault” begins and ends.
And it’s why God needs to deal with your insides. This is the very best news of the gospel! “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Hebrews 8:10)
Your role in the process is to keep saying Yes when He works on you.
Setting Everything Right
As good as things may get in following Jesus here and now, it’s not enough. As Paul said, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)
And God has promised that He will not stop until He makes everything right. As much as He makes available to us here and now, it will take entering into eternity for us to finally experience that.
Imagine this:
- Every lie told about you completely corrected and vindicated
- Every pain or trauma you’ve experienced (physical, emotional) fully comforted and healed
- Every confusion cleared up forever
- Every disappointment more than fulfilled
- Every Why question fully answered – intellectually and emotionally
- Every need filled to overflowing
- Every desire generously met
- Every loss and every lack more than repaid
- Every tear wiped away with a touch from His hand so gentle and healing that you will never need to cry again
When everything is set right you are overflowing with a sense of purpose; “This is what I was made for!”
Words cannot fully express what it will mean when God sets everything right.
So in the meantime? Let me encourage you to not stop before you get there! (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Your Turn: What are you wanting God to set right? Leave a comment below.
Tweetables: why not share this post?
- If God is FOR you, you WANT Him to make everything right. That’s the good news of what judgment really means. Tweet that.
Is your Sexual “Stuff” part of what needs to be made Right?
Much of the restoration God offers is available here and now. Sexual “stuff” doesn’t have to keep you messed up.
The Sexpectations online course is a place where you look at your sexual story with honesty and compassion, and find the healing and transformation Jesus offers. It really is possible!
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