It can be so, so frustrating at times. Someone out to “get you” lies, cheats, and steals your reputation and you cannot do anything! Someone accuses you of something that is clearly not true and there is no way to answer the charge without creating even more accusations. I am not unique. I see Lance Armstrong accused of using drugs to achieve his success. I watch at politicians ambush each other with ease. Husbands and wives pluck barbs out of each other’s life somehow believing that in the hurting justice is being realized. What about relationships? What about commitments? What about mission and values?
The frustration doesn’t end there. What about the situations where there is no obvious protagonist, just a victim? Check your emotions when the next scene of the recurring famine in central Africa plays across the screen. What about the innocent children who struggle on without parents while carrying the Aids virus? Is there an answer to the sugar farmer in an emerging market that cannot compete with sugar grown by a farmer using a western-government subsidy to win? It is not just sugar; rice, corn, steel, bananas, and ships all come into play. People suffering because things just are not fair!
At best we can respond to the symptoms. We can do something! In the midst of our anger and action there is one step that we often miss. We can trust that God will take care of those who perpetuate the pain, destroy the lives, and exploit the weak.
“One of the Seven Angels who carried the seven bowls came and invited me, “Come, I’ll show you the judgment of the great Whore who sits enthroned over many waters, the Whore with whom the kings of the earth have gone whoring, show you the judgment on earth dwellers drunk on her whorish lust.”” (Revelation 17.1, 2)
God has, is, and will do what needs to be done. All the while there are people dying, literally and emotionally dying for lack of compassion, mercy, and love. Are we taking care of business?
