Divine justice is complicated. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, sometimes evil goes unpunished. There is not always a direct correlation between how people act and the blessings (or consequences) they receive — at least not from our limited human perspective. The world and the reasons for things happening as they are, are within God’s sovereign plan. God not only considers everything through His infinitely wider perspective, but He is also patient.
2 Peter 3:9 reads:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
God also wants to forgive. Jeremiah 14:11 is interesting, it reads:
Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.
Jeremiah 14:11
In this chapter God is angry with Judah and particularly false prophets that haven’t properly been directing Israel towards repentance. God tells Jeremiah to not pray for the well-being of this people. Is this because it will do no good because God has already made up His mind? Or some other reason? He then goes on to say in verse 12 how He will reject their burnt offerings and fasting — basically that He will not forgive them. This is a similar theme to the people of Nineveh in Jonah, who God did end up forgiving — when they repented. This is the key difference, Jeremiah pleads with God to have mercy on His people and Jeremiah spends a lot of time traveling and delivering God’s prophecy to the people of Israel, but they reject the message and do not repent. God knew the outcome before it happened, this is why He said there was no mercy for them.
God has this perspective and knows people’s hearts. He knows who is capable of repenting and whose motives are pure. Who has a hardened heart and who is just on the wrong path and needs a nudge in the right direction. We humans do not know.
Jesus came to this world in human form to teach us how to humble ourselves and to assume the best intentions of others while showing them mercy. Vengeance is for the Lord, humbling is for humans. Why show mercy? Because unlike sacrifice which can have impure motives, mercy does not. We have nothing to gain by being merciful:
- It forces us to connect with sinners, and those who have wronged us, and to love them.
- It forces us to serve, not condemn.
- It forces us to be humble to God and leave the justice to Him.
Jesus said it like this in Matthew 9:13:
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Matthew 9:13
And this is precisely what Jesus did for us.