Vindication and vengeance
It is the sheer Grace of God that makes things Work Together for Good.
Vindication and vengeance is God’s prerogative.
It cannot be exaggerated how much God hates our trying to do His work when it comes to vengeance or vindication.
Whether it be vengeance or vindication, either is solely the Lord’s sovereign right.
He does not like it when you or I try to punish someone, to vindicate ourselves, making ourselves look good or clearing our own names.
This is God’s business; it is what He does.
I guarantee this: try to vindicate yourself and God will immediately get off your case.
On the other hand, let Him take over (He doesn’t want our help), and He will be on your case and do a perfect job of it. But in His time.
Time is on His side. Time is God’s domain.
Romans 8:28 is one of the most precious promises in Scripture. It can refer to when I was in the wrong or messed up—or even when I was right but not affirmed as such.
In God’s time all things work together for good—when I was wrong or badly wrong.
A temptation for many of us is to claim we were in the right because things worked together for good. No! It is the sheer grace of God that makes things work together for good.
Vindication and vengeance
The greater the suffering, the greater the promise of blessing for you down the road
Suffering is “not for nothing.”
This is precisely why James said for us to “count it all joy” when we fall into trials of any kind (Jas. 1:2 esv).
If you dignify the trial rather than complain, you will see that such a trial was worth more than gold (1 Pet. 1:7).
How do you dignify a trial? Don’t complain. Forgive your enemy. Maintain unfeigned thanksgiving.
See the delay of vindication as part of God’s strategy for you. Don’t try to hasten the end of the trial.
Every trial has a built-in time scale. You think it will never end? It will. When it’s over, it’s over.
In heaven the audience of One—the righteous judge—renders a verdict of pass or fail.
For too many years I failed when a trial came. I complained, grumbled, murmured, and forgot that “every joy or trial falleth from above,” as the hymn writer Frances R. Havergal (1836–1879) put it.
God was gracious to me, giving me many, many more chances to pass. Has He not been gracious to you?
Therefore, see the withholding of vindication as the weapon He could be using to drive you to your knees to spend more time with Him.
Vindication and vengeance
Vindication by the Spirit is the best way forward.
There are two kinds of vindication: external and internal.
External—the kind we all naturally want—is when everybody congratulates you. They say, “You were right; they were wrong.” But that is not the way Jesus was vindicated.
The Pharisees did not say, “Jesus, we think You are wonderful.” Pilate did not say, “I will never sentence a man like You.”
Vindication by the Spirit is a secret vindication. It is between you and God.
If God gives you vindication by the Spirit, you should be the happiest man or woman on the planet.
Think about it. It is when the Most High God witnesses to you in a definite and undoubted manner that you please Him. It doesn’t get better than that.
Which gives you more satisfaction: when God pleases you or knowing that you please God?
External vindication is God pleasing you—making you happy by people affirming you. And that feels good.
There is no doubt about that. But there is something better than external vindication. It is the internal testimony of the Spirit that tells you in a definite and undoubted way that you are pleasing God.
You are following the footsteps of Jesus.
Vindication and vengeance
It is the truth that will be vindicated—not you or me.
Only the person who has been in the right—or truly led by the Holy Spirit—will eventually be vindicated.
But it is because the God of the Bible is the God of truth; it is impossible for Him to lie (Heb. 6:18).
If you are not being vindicated, consider this: truth may not on your side after all!
Though the person who has hurt us may be wrong to be unfair or unkind, it does not follow that you and I are always on the side of truth.
If you have vindication coming, then you will get it. Eventually. God knows the truth.
The truth will come out—sooner or later. It may not be in a court of law.
For sometimes people get away with murder. Truth may not be seen as truth in the eyes of the majority.
But God is just. He will be the Advocate of truth and will clear your name and mine, if it is truth we are upholding, in His time.
Never dismiss the possibility that the withholding of vindication is God’s way of refining you!
Don’t despise the means God may choose to drive you to seek His face.
The delay of vindication is an invitation from God to practice total forgiveness.
My suggestion: behave in such a manner that the person who now seems to be an enemy will one day say to you, “You were brilliant in all that. You were great, so patient and kind.”
Believe it or not, today’s enemy could be tomorrow’s friend.
In any case, there is only one way forward when vindication is delayed: total forgiveness.
And I can give you a motivation to forgive totally greater than any other that could be conceived: you do it for an audience of One. Yes. That’s it.
That is how you do it! Total forgiveness comes easily when you realize you are doing it for God and the glory of Jesus Christ! Oh yes.
Vindication will come to you too—when the time is right.
If it is delayed, it is because you aren’t ready for it. In the meantime, esteem and pursue the secret internal vindication by the Spirit.
It is worth more than ten thousand compliments from people. It is that witness that testifies, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isa. 30:21).
Vindication and vengeance
Adapted from the book For An Audience of One: Seek the Praise That Comes From God Alone.
