We struggle with God's righteousness because of the hurt in the world.
Even Jeremiah questioned God, asking Him,
"You are always righteous, Lord,
when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all the faithless live at ease?"
(Jeremiah 12: 1-3)
But we deserve nothing.
That may sound harsh. That may sound insensitive. That may sound unloving. But it is the truth.
If you look at the account in Genesis, Adam and Eve were given everything they needed and more. They were able to walk with God every day, and they never lacked food or water. Life was exactly perfect.
But they chose to break the one rule God gave them and ate the fruit God had forbidden them to eat. They wanted power. They wanted control. They wanted to be above God.
Once they had eaten the fruit, they ran and hid in shame, fearful of what God would do.
Many people imagine God to be wrathful and angry all of the time, and I am sure Adam and Eve in that moment thought they would be struck down dead for their disobedience. After all, God had told them they would surely die.
And so they waited. And waited.
"Where are you?"
God simply walked in the Garden and asked them, "Where are you?" No fire and brimstone. No wrath and anger. Just a simple question full of grace inviting them to tell him the truth.
Adam and Even did not get away without any punishment, though. They were banished from the garden and told that life would not be so easy any longer. They would have to struggle and toil to provide for themselves. Childbirth would be painful. Death would come one day. But most of all, they would no longer be perfectly content in the presence of God.
Yet they were graciously given the opportunity to live with the option to obey God in faith or continue to follow their own desires.
God describes Himself to us in Exodus 34: 6-8: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
He shows love to thousands, forgiving their sin and wickedness. What grace! He does not leave the guilty unpunished, but his grace far outweighs his punishment, even though he doesn't have to show us grace nor do any of us deserve it.
Now we are here, living in a world broken by our sin, and we continue to struggle with the question, "How can God be righteous or just when there is so much evil in the world?"
We deserve nothing, but God has made a way for us to live in eternity with Him.
He sent His son, Jesus, into the world as the perfect sacrifice to cover the sins of all who choose to repent of their sin, love, obey, and follow Him. He paid the price we should have paid.
Even when the devil tempted Jesus with food after fasting for forty days, Jesus did not sin. Even when people cursed him, tried to kill him, and then actually excruciatingly killed him on a cross for a punishment He did not deserve, Jesus did not sin--not even in his thoughts! In fact, he asked the Father to forgive the people for killing him. Even in that moment, he showed grace.
When we compare ourselves to that, we realize how filthy and evil we truly are in our minds and hearts. We are not righteous at all. In fact, we are just like Adam and Eve, wanting to do our own thing and have control over our own lives.
But there is good news.
The Bible says that we all have died because of our sin. 2 Corinthians tells us "that one [Jesus] died for all, and therefore all died," and the reason Jesus died was so that "those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15).
Through the death and resurrection of Christ, God has given us the opportunity to be raised to new life-to put our sin behind us and walk in freedom through the power of His son by choosing to believe and obey His word. He has reconciled "the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them" for "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
God made Jesus, who was perfect, to be sin. To take every bad thing we have ever done and pay the price for it. That is mercy. The just thing would have been for us to pay for every single sin we had ever done and never be able to live in the love of God. But that is not what happened. God made a way for us to become His children, holy and dearly loved by Him.
When the world seems hopeless and dark, we must remember that the darkness is not because God is unloving or doesn't care. He has already proven that by sending His only son to die for us. Instead, we should remember everything that He has done to redeem the world to Him.
That doesn't make the harder things any less hard. There will still be times where we struggle to have peace, hope, or joy. But the battle against darkness is already won. God has given us the opportunity to spread love and light to this broken world. Even in the moments when nothing in the world seems good, we can remember that God has said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay," (Deuteronomy 32:35). At the end of all time, there will be judgement for every evil deed.
Instead of responding in hate, revenge, or judgement towards those who do evil, we can follow Paul's advice in Romans 12:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head" (vv. 20).
God is the perfect, righteous Judge. He sees every deed, good and bad. And He will judge every person at the end of all time based upon their deeds. But thanks be to God for His incredible grace and mercy! Even though all of our sins will be revealed, Christ's blood will cover us. His righteousness will make a way for us to have life with Him. Whenever we are tempted to despair at the brokenness of the world, let's give thanks for the incredible grace He has shown us. And let's spread the love, joy, and hope we have been given with all of the people in the world who are lost and hurting, just like we once were ourselves. Let's show them the wonder of our Righteous God.
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