In one part of the world, people who name Christ as their savior are being murdered and driven from their homes. In another, rioters and looters are terrorizing an entire community. A godless barbarian beheads a journalist and we see the pictures.
You and I see only a fraction of what is happening and understand very few of the facts in any of these situations. God, however, sees every single evil deed, and knows everything there is to know about each victim of injustice and each one of those who perpetrate it.
God knows the persecuted and the persecutors. He knows the identity of each rioter and each of those who’ve done the looting. Rest assured, God knows the one who murdered James Foley, who operated the camera and everyone else who took part and all who gave assent in word or in heart.
God also knows those who deal in the drugs and who makes the money off of other’s pain. He knows the names of all those who’ve taken the lives of innocent babies with their mother’s consent. He knows every person with power who has used their power for evil rather than good. He knows who the real “haters” are, those who hate being interrupted in their evil who, in their rebellion against God, reject his teachings.
God knows the liars and the gossipers. He knows the cheaters, the fornicators and the adulterers, the abusers, the drunks and the druggies, the hypocrites, the self-righteous and the atheists who deny his very existence as well. He knows me. He knows you.
God has chosen a day upon which he will judge the world (Acts 17:31). There is a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries (Hebrews 10:27). Some will discover that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31). He owns vengeance and will exercise vengeance because he is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 32:34-35 & Hebrews 12:29), and he knows how to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment (2nd Peter 2:9).
This is exactly why God sent his own son, to save us from this terrifying judgment.
Are the headlines unsettling to you? Take courage; they don’t scare God. In his good time he will bring each of us before him and give judge according to our deeds. Knowing then, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men to come to Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:10-11).
Justice will be served according to God’s righteousness, but mercy will also be given, according to his grace. Marty Kessler